What kind of game is Still Up?

A single-player narrative game played through a phone. You text the characters, take their calls, trade voice notes and photos, scroll their social feeds, travel the city on a map and step into live scenes when you arrive. Every choice branches the story.

Yes, for now. You play alone with a cast of written characters. Multiplayer, where friends hold different characters' phones in the same story, is on our roadmap.

Is there a real person or an AI on the other end?

Neither. Every message, voice note, photo, post and call is written and made by our team in advance. The game decides which ones you get, and when, from your choices and the story clock.

What do multiple points of view mean?

At certain moments you can switch whose phone you're holding. The same night reads differently from each side, and what you learn as one character changes what you can do as another.

Does it really run in real time?

The characters' days follow a clock, so someone might be asleep, at work or ignoring you when you open the game. You can also choose to play straight through.

Do my choices actually matter?

Yes. Every branch is written by hand. Some choices change how it ends; most change the people in it: what they trust you with, and what they keep to themselves.

Phones first. We'll confirm platforms with the waitlist before we announce them anywhere else.

When does it come out?

When it's ready. The waitlist hears the date first, then the playtests open.

We haven't set a price yet. We can tell you what it won't have: paid timers, or choices you have to buy.

Yes. Choose Playtests too when you join the waitlist and we'll invite people in small groups.

Yes. We're forming the founding team now: engineers, writers, artists and sound designers. Apply to join the founding team and tell us what you'd like to build.

Strixz, an independent game studio. Press, partners or just saying hello: write to strixzconnect@gmail.com. A person reads every message.

Still Up?A story that texts you back.

A single-player story game from Strixz, played through a phone: texts, calls, voice notes, photos, a social feed and a city map, with live scenes when you arrive. Every character is written by hand, and every choice changes what happens next.

Join the waitlist Play the demo

Developer, writer or artist? Join the founding team

Pick up the phone

A playable scene from Still Up?. Mira’s messages arrive on their own. Open any app: read the texts, call back, scroll the feed, check the gallery, then follow her across the city map.

Single-player. Every character, message, voice note, photo and call here is written by us and plays back based on your choices. Sample writing from a game in development.

StoryDay 1 of 7Thursday night. Mira’s week has started.

Tap any app. Messages arrive on their own.

One night. Every side of it.

Every story follows a whole cast. Switch whose phone you’re holding and the same night reads differently. What you learn as one of them changes what you can do as another.

JonahHer oldest friend

His old number rings your phone now. He hasn't answered anyone since Sunday.

On Jonah’s phone, Thursday 2:14 AM

2:15

Thursday

Mira3 missed calls2:09 AM

Mirathe light’s on in the flat upstairs again2:14 AM

?Unknown numberdon’t answer her. not tonight.2:15 AM

Every app is part of the story.

In Still Up? you play on a phone that works like yours: messages, calls, a gallery, a social feed, maps and notes. It’s single-player and written by us, and all of it responds to what you choose.

can you come? please

Who gave you this number?

Messages

Characters who text first

They message you when something happens to them, not when you open the game. Every line is written by us and sent by the story. There's no chatbot on the other end.

Mira0:06

Mira: can you hear that?

Footsteps. Slow, right above her.

Calls

Calls that play out

Pick up, call back, or let it ring. Every call is a scripted scene, captioned line by line.

Gallery

Photos, video and voice notes

What they send lands in your gallery. Answer with a picture or a voice note of your own, chosen from what the story offers.

Tess@tess.lind · 3 Mar

found this at the market. he watches the window for me now

41 6Last post

Hoot

A feed full of clues

Old posts, likes and comments say what the characters won't. Scroll back far enough and things stop adding up.

Halden Court · 6 min

Maps

A city you can travel

Shared locations become places you can go. Where you choose to be changes what happens.

Scenes

Scenes you step into

Arrive somewhere and the phone gives way to a live scene, with the people who are there and choices of its own.

Mira lives at Halden Court, flat 3B.
Tess lived in 4B. Last seen 3 March.
Mira remembered: you came when she asked.

Notes

A notebook that remembers

Everything you learn is written down. The characters keep notes too, on what you said and what you did.

Friday, 8:52 AM

at work. can’t talk

Friday, 11:47 PM

you there?

Delivered

Settings

Real time, or straight through

The characters keep their own hours. Let the week unfold on the clock, or play it in one sitting.

0:09

Every voice note, photo and call is made in advance by our team. Nothing on the other end is generated, and nobody else is playing. It’s your story.

Single-player now. Multiplayer later.

Right now Still Up? is a story you play on your own: the characters on the other end are written by us, not other players and not a chatbot. Here’s where it goes from there.

Now In development
Single-player stories
You and a cast of hand-written characters. Every text, voice note, photo and call is written and made in advance, and arrives based on your choices and the story clock.
Next Planned
More phones, more stories
New characters and points of view, more of the city on the map, and longer weeks to live through.
Later Exploring
Multiplayer
One story, played with friends. Each of you holds a different character’s phone, and the night only makes sense when you compare notes.

Join the founding team.

Strixz is a small studio building Still Up?, and the founding seats are still open. If you code, write, draw or make sound, and you want to shape a new kind of story game from the first line, build it with us.

I’d like to help with

Game client, web, tools, the story engine and its clock.

Apply to join See our GitHub

Opens your mail app with a short template to strixzconnect@gmail.com. A person reads every application.

Questions, answered

What kind of game is Still Up?: A single-player narrative game played through a phone. You text the characters, take their calls, trade voice notes and photos, scroll their social feeds, travel the city on a map and step into live scenes when you arrive. Every choice branches the story.
Is it single-player?: Yes, for now. You play alone with a cast of written characters. Multiplayer, where friends hold different characters' phones in the same story, is on our roadmap.
Is there a real person or an AI on the other end?: Neither. Every message, voice note, photo, post and call is written and made by our team in advance. The game decides which ones you get, and when, from your choices and the story clock.
What do multiple points of view mean?: At certain moments you can switch whose phone you're holding. The same night reads differently from each side, and what you learn as one character changes what you can do as another.
Does it really run in real time?: The characters' days follow a clock, so someone might be asleep, at work or ignoring you when you open the game. You can also choose to play straight through.
Do my choices actually matter?: Yes. Every branch is written by hand. Some choices change how it ends; most change the people in it: what they trust you with, and what they keep to themselves.
Which platforms?: Phones first. We'll confirm platforms with the waitlist before we announce them anywhere else.
When does it come out?: When it's ready. The waitlist hears the date first, then the playtests open.
What will it cost?: We haven't set a price yet. We can tell you what it won't have: paid timers, or choices you have to buy.
Can I playtest it?: Yes. Choose Playtests too when you join the waitlist and we'll invite people in small groups.
Can I help build it?: Yes. We're forming the founding team now: engineers, writers, artists and sound designers. Apply to join the founding team and tell us what you'd like to build.
Who makes Still Up?: Strixz, an independent game studio. Press, partners or just saying hello: write to strixzconnect@gmail.com. A person reads every message.

Text us back.

Join the waitlist and we’ll write once, when Still Up? is ready to play. Want in earlier? Ask for a playtest invite.