- Dev Diary #75: Old Friends, New Developments - 10 April 2024
Hey again, dear readers. As promised, in this update we will be going over more about the romance options available during the Freeborn story campaign. Introducing this new social mechanic into the game was something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and we feel it will greatly enhance the narrative experience as you navigate deeper relationships with your party and other recurring characters you meet across your adventures. Caption: Mark stands among surreal, blue trees and floating crystals. Last time, we teased two brand new characters that will have the potential to become romantic partners as you progress through the game. But what about some of the old faces in the Freeborn crew? Mark will be spending a significant amount of time with his traveling companions. Could the spark occur with any of them? Caption: The new Ekosi board shows Krista and Maria facing off. A sign of things…
- Dev Diary #74: Love is in the Air Tonight - 11 March 2024
Howdy folks, Today I wanted to talk about a feature that has become a staple in many story-driven RPGs. It is something we get asked about during every convention we attend and has been, by far, our most requested addition to the game. I am, of course, referring to having romanceable companions throughout the story campaign. We have mentioned in the last few posts the great amount of time spent restructuring the opening sequences of the campaign to reflect some of the darker tone that was initially seen in the “mindscape” sections while Mark is dreaming. Caption: Surreal environments like this show off the escalated nature of Mark's journey. Caption: Floating platforms welcome Mark into another realm entirely. Well, I am pleased to announce that Mark’s adventures are not only taking a darker turn, they are taking a romantic turn as well. This is something that has been a long time in th…
- Dev Diary #73: Maximum Razzle and Dazzle - 3 February 2024
Hey folks, Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to their New Year. As with most of you, the holiday season has been extremely busy for us. In the spirit of sharing, we have a preview of the new UI and visual effects we have created for the Ekosi battle board. As part of our complete overhaul of the game during our engine update, most of the focus initially was on fixing core systems that got broken (or completely replacing them) and working on the overworld environments. However, it’s been a while since we’ve done a full upgrade of the Ekosi board. We’ve recently completed rework on every element of the board and updated the visual effects that occur at the conclusion of rounds. The rough paint-stroke aesthetic is combined with electric particle effects in the new set outcome messages. In this screenshot, the set is tied. Wins, losses, and ties have unique brush stroke and particle…
- Dev Diary #72: The Results of Updating 100K Lines of Code - 6 December 2023
Howdy folks, In our last update, we briefly mentioned the massive update we made to convert the game into Unity 2022. Freeborn has spent the last several years in Unity 5. As you can imagine, suddenly switching to a new version of an engine after 6 years of updates can cause many existing parts of the game to break. There were also many systems that we ultimately decided needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. Fortunately, most of that process has already been completed. All of the environments that people saw in prior conventions and screenshots are already playable in the new engine. We wanted to show you some previews of this monstrous undertaking and the visual results of converting to the new engine. This process required the updating of over 100,000 lines of code. The reason so many lines needed to be updated is because the original project was written in Javascript. When updatin…
- Dev Diary #71: Huge Engine Update, Ohayocon and Beyond - 31 October 2023
Howdy everyone! Sorry that it’s been a while since the last update. Before we get into the latest Freeborn updates, we wanted to go over why we’ve been gone for so long. Narrative updates are bringing Mark to some surprising new places. Ekosi, the heart of our game, has gotten a UI refresh. To be frank, 2023 has been a pretty terrible year for us health-wise. From multiple hospitalizations for family members, many urgent care visits, and significant eye issues, work on the game has been sporadic ever since Ohayocon. The convention itself was a highlight this year though, and definitely one of the best conventions we’ve attended. Thank you to everyone who voted and helped us secure 3rd place in the People’s Choice Award (for Digital Games!) Ohayocon 2023 gave us a chance to show off new art. 2024 excites us even more. The most significant issue was an injury that occurred to Jesse’s eyes…
- Dev Diary #70: A first look at our UI updates! - 5 October 2022
Hey, friends! The Deckpoint Studio team checking in with another update on Freeborn. As you can tell by the title, this update will be focused on our ongoing UI updates. As with so many things, inspiration for our UI update struck when we stepped outside of Unity. The rebrand to Freeborn, and the rough, painted logo design has inspired and played into a long desired goal to make the UI more cohesive and minimal. The UI has historically had a very metallic, sci-fi look which came from our roots as we expanded upon Knights of the Old Republic’s minigame Pazaak. Of course, Freeborn came to be much more than a card game, which meant so many new systems – for the minimap, dialogues, and inventory – and menus to organize them all! Caption: A look at the classic Ekosi interface: metallic, sci-fi, physical. We’ve long known we wanted to bring these systems under one cohesive theme, and one that…
- Dev Diary #69: Giving and Receiving - 23 August 2022
Caption: the devlog we've all been waiting for: number 69. Hello, dear reader! It’s finally here. People come to game development from every imaginable direction, and with all kinds of genres, platforms, and stories as their vision. But what unites us all is the dream that one day, we’ll be able to publish a silly blog based on a 69 joke. After all these years, after a facelift for our protagonist, after changes to the dialogue system and several in-person events, the special day has come for us too! https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Freeborn/ Caption: Our hero Mark, head lovingly photoshopped onto a tuxedo model. It's a special occasion! Mark has even swapped out his trademark Protagonist jacket for a more appropriate tux! What we’ve been up to. For the most part, we’ve been working to welcome others onboard the Freeborn train. You may have noticed our Twitter being more active…
- Dev Diary #68: Level Design Done, UI Refresh In Progress - 2 July 2022
Some of our newest art is created by Emma @MizukoArt! This will be used in promotional contexts and as a loading screen between Ekosi matches and the game's isometric overworld. Hey friends, It’s been an unbelievably busy couple of months for the team. Who knew that updating your game’s name and assets on all platforms would be so much work? Okay, so we knew it was going to be a pain, but still. Updating all our information reminded us of the sheer number of platforms developers need to be on these days. Sheesh. Thankfully, most of the admin is done and we can get back to more updates on development. https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Freeborn/ Level design is done! Today, we’re proud to announce that all the environments have been completed for Freeborn. We are now in the process of populating the later environments and implementing the quest structures and associated battles/di…
- Dev Diary #67: Springing Ahead - 5 May 2022
The Amethyst Casino has grown up a lot over the years. Howdy, long-time pals and new friends alike! We hope springtime is treating you well! Spring is a time of renewal. We just reintroduced the game as Freeborn. Tulips are popping up in our gardens. Things are heating up! https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Freeborn/ While there’s a lot of excitement about what the warm months will bring us, April’s relaunch put us in a reflective mood. The support of longtime followers was a cause to look back at how far we’ve come in the nearly 10 years of development. And there’s no better example than the Amethyst Casino. You'll first reach the Amethyst Casino on Day 2 of the Freeborn journey. This is the first big competitive Ekosi venue players arrive at in the game, and it was one of the first, largest levels we built. (We’ve done most of our writing and story development in chronological…
- Dev Diary #66: Luckless Seven is now Freeborn - 21 April 2022
Hey, friends! Happy spring (to our northern hemisphere followers) from the Deckpoint Studio team. Today, we’re bringing you the last-ever update on Luckless Seven. (Record scratch.) Because Luckless Seven is now Freeborn. https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Freeborn/ Why we're changing the name We’ve been on this journey for a long time. (Historians debate the actual origins of the game, but a Google doc titled “Card game 2012” indicates the game has been in progress for a whole decade.) And as we approach the final stages of development, marketing is becoming a top priority. Few things are as important as the name. But in the decade since we started conceiving of Luckless Seven, things have changed in how indie games are distributed, promoted, and found. Our attention spans are shorter than ever, and indie gaming is more crowded – both in general, and in our immediate namespace.…
- Dev Diary #65: Grand Voyage - 22 September 2021
Hey everyone, your boys at Deckpoint Studio are here to deliver a cool update as we enjoy our last days of Summer and head into the Fall. We’ve been working hard on finishing some of the final environments of the game, and we have some new areas to show off! Caption: New concept art of Mark's bedroom at home. As you may know, the cruise ship is one of the final areas the player will be exploring. Not to give too many spoilers, but Mark isn’t exactly here for pleasure. The main antagonist of the game, the Mint family, has a big presence here. Some of the toughest opponents you will face will be encountered on the ship. https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Luckless_Seven/ Most of the work we’ve shown before in our previous Dev Diary #64: Clear Skies Ahead was showcasing the outer areas of the ship. Below you can see some of the interior rooms Caption: Mark's cabin room for his stay o…
- Dev Diary #64: Clear Skies Ahead - 20 June 2021
Hello everyone, and welcome to another hot update for all things Luckless Seven. Continuing our efforts to expand the artwork showcasing the world of Luckless Seven, we have a new scene in development showcasing our favorite party members Bertrand and Jamie standing in front of the Amethyst Casino. It's been a couple of months since we released our previous Dev Log #63. Caption: New wallpaper for Luckless Seven featuring Jamie and Bertrand at Amethyst Casino. https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Luckless_Seven/ We really feel that the Amethyst area is one of our showcase environments, and we’re really excited to see it brought to life outside of the game. We are also working on showcasing some more slice-of-life scenes with close-ups of some of the characters going about their lives. We hope to have more to share soon. On the game development side, things are proceeding nicely on s…
- Dev Diary #63: Warming Up - 1 April 2021
Dev Diary #63: Warming Up Hello everyone, your friends from Deckpoint Studio are back and here to warm you up with some hot updates for Luckless Seven. Caption: New wallpaper and concept art for Luckless Seven. It’s been a busy winter for everyone on the team. In spite of the intense cold, mounds of snow, and trying to keep friends and family healthy, progress has been made on many of the goals we had set for the past year. Besides continuing work on finishing the soundtrack (which has grown to a monumental size now), we’ve wanted to make revamps to the UI and have more artwork to provide another view of our environments. Lastly, it's been a hot second since we released Dev Diary #62: Looking Fresh. https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Luckless_Seven/ Caption: So many many dialogues to investigate and so many choices. As you may have remembered from one of last year’s posts, we wan…
- Dev Diary #62: Looking Fresh - 2 January 2021
Hello friends! We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy as we head into the heart of winter. It's been a moment since we last released Dev Diary #61: Old is New. The team is still working hard to finish the prologue version of the game ready for Steam. This has involved going back through the game and brushing up some spots, adding updated music tracks to certain areas, and including new art assets such as Mark’s new portraits. It's not released yet, but we’ve made many changes to improve the opening segments of the game, so the prologue should still provide a fresh experience to those that have already spent time with our previous demos. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fd1990ec12176bcf7d265c69d38e0bbbc07181568.png Caption: New wallpaper and concept art for Luckless Seven. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F3%25E2%2580%25A6
- Dev Diary #61: The Old is New - 30 June 2020
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fc23ebbccbe1881a96e491ac00b6fa850d778d7aa.png Caption - Mark's not the only one getting a new face. Here are some new faces that you will battle in the upcoming Neropolis City! Hello friends, Welcome to another hot Luckless Seven dev diary! Today we wanted to go over some of the final updates we are making to the introductory experience. While most of the work we’ve done recently has been focused on the later portions of the game, there have been some additions we have made to the beginning sequences to improve the quality. These changes will all lead up to what we hope will be the final pre-release demo. Previous Dev Diary #60 - Inner Workings https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Luckless_Seven/ On the art side of things, we are continuing to update Mark’s look via new character portraits for him. Not only…
- Dev Diary #60: Inner Workings - 26 May 2020
Hello super friends, We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there. We here at Deckpoint are currently in the midst of a statewide lockdown and are pretty much confined to our comfy (mostly) quarters. Previous Devlog #59: New Beginnings https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2F5b84f6d6967946065ca8608e7f3fc6d81a0ac96e.gif Caption: Luckless Seven is the story of Mark Vesco’s journey from a listless existence to competitive glory. Blending a fast-paced card battle system with conversations and stories that respond to your choices, we offer one of the first card games with a story exciting enough to match it. Ready to play? https://store.steampowered.com/app/433370/Luckless_Seven/ Check out the Demo and Wishlist Today! Trying to make the best of a global pandemic, these last couple weeks gave us some time to reflect on our workflow and the road ah…
- Dev Diary #59: New Beginnings - 9 March 2020
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fa19097a70f53590c99c2765e2de762606ef0c448.gif GIF: Beautiful ambient backgrounds. Watch dancing shadows turn to conversation. Hello again everyone! 2019 was a busy year for us, but 2020 will be the biggest year yet for Luckless Seven. Each of us at Deckpoint hope all of you have had a great start to the new year. It's been a while since we last posted a devlog but we started off 2020 with a bang with Ohayocon! A big thank you to everyone that stopped by our booth to check out our game or just to chat. Ohayocon remains one of the most popular conventions we attend, and we love every minute of the crowded chaos. Over the next couple months, we’ll be going over the great feedback we received from everyone that tried the game. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2F118ba3373d364a1%25E2%2580%25A6
- Dev Diary #58: The Pursuit of Art - 16 September 2019
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2F882da757823bdb15c6dabdd817731facd60b7768.gif GIF: More good gifs and screenshots and even dabbing below! NEW Dialogue Window and Response Menu. Also, NEW Mini-Dialogue System! Lots of sneak previews! NEW TRAILER?!? Previous Devlog #57: Party on the Beach (ft Skookum Arts and The Pedestrian) Hello everyone, This year we had the opportunity to attend one of the largest events in Ohio, the Columbus Arts Festival. Deckpoint Studio along with a few other Ohio indie game teams joined to form the Virtual Reality Booth. White Castle was kind enough to sponsor the big tent area we were set up in (ironically, only 2 of the presenters in the booth were actually showing off VR products but it was still awesome)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnYf0KWcdAA VIDEO: New trailer showing off many beautiful locations, Ekosi battle…
- Dev Diary #57: Party on the Beach (ft Skookum Arts - The Pedestrian) - 19 June 2019
Previous Devlog #56: Time For Change https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2F691301b93023d03c9d168845677d9f9b6f211955.gif Progress update with new songs! and new gifs! and subtle hints at the future! and featuring our friends over at Skookum Arts! Hello again everyone! If the summer weather is hitting you hard, I’m sure you’d love nothing more than to visit a tropical paradise. One with pristine beaches, plenty of attractions, and an army of card game enthusiasts. Unfortunately, a place like that may be hard to find. Lucky for you, that perfect place is within reach in Luckless Seven! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fd3f6f493efbe406bee0943c72ff58ca30cfdacc9.png Join the mailing list! We send out emails approximately once a month with the latest happenings and dev diaries! Work continues to progress well for N…
- Dev Diary #56: Time For Change - 29 May 2019
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fb7f23d7b6102048666f4a88279f5a1a5b6ace24a.gif I think it’s time for a change. More specifically, I mean a change in the time of day. For Neropolis City, we have been working on a small day/night cycle for the new environments in the area. Since players will be spending a much longer time in Neropolis compared to the last city, we wanted to explicitly show the passage of time. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2Fdd8f8fe717e5d88628e7a9fb494303a7a8a8b6c7.gif More about Sunset Environments and Dialogue UI Prototypes Below! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F33414907%2F00385e46326dfa7fa3dfc3f2c33daa9b53384bfc.png If you haven't already, please Follow and Wishlist Luckless Seven on Steam! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc%25E2%2580%25A6
