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.
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 on this luxury cruise ship.
Caption: Cruise ship hallway and rooms.
Caption: The tournament card game Ekosi will take place on the floors above.
As with most things where the Mint family is concerned, we wanted to convey the grand and decadent aesthetic that has been a core part of their buildings and other property. I mean, just look at how spacious those cabin rooms are!
Caption: Someone left the shower on!
Caption: Each cabin room on this cruise ship has its own private deck for those wanting to soak up the sun.
Once all the areas for the ship are complete, we just have a couple of minor environmental pieces to complete. Thank you for continuing to follow us as we march slowly but surely towards finishing the major parts of Luckless Seven.. One thing that we HAVE crossed the finish line already is the soundtrack. If you haven’t been keeping up to date, you can listen to almost all the tracks for Luckless Seven on our composer’s SoundCloud!
That’ll be all for now - thanks for reading and stay safe out there!
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.
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 some of the last remaining areas the player will visit. One of these areas will be a grand cruise ship!
Caption: New cruise ship for the next part of the tournament! TO THE SEA!
Caption: Palm trees on a boat? Oh yes!
Although everything looks bright and sunny on this ship, let’s just say Mark isn’t here to soak in the pool. Some of the most difficult opponents in the game will be encountered here, and the main story will be at one of its most tense points here.
Caption: Come relax on the Mint Cruise Liner.
While we are on the topic of finishing certain parts of the game, our soundtrack is also nearing its completion. Our talented composer Brandon has released what has already become one of our favorite additions to the soundtrack. You can probably guess where this piece will play during the game - let’s just say it contains elements of many of our previous tracks.
Caption: Updated version of the concept art and wallpaper from the previous devlog.
Caption: Come visit the Amethyst Casino and check out the Pure Ekosi card shop.
Be sure to check some of the other Luckless Seven tracks (of which there are many) while you are on his SoundCloud!
That’s a wrap for now. Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!
Jonathan
Dev Diary #63: Warming Up
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.
Caption: So many many dialogues to investigate and so many choices.
As you may have remembered from one of last year’s posts, we wanted to add some environmental art to help immerse the player into the world of Luckless Seven. Although we have not managed to complete all the pieces we want, the blueprints are ready for some additional scenes to add to our existing wallpaper art. These pieces are meant to add another perspective to the environments and people you will come across on your journey.
Caption: Dialogue system in Luckless Seven with new Mark portraits.
We’ve also been making progress on finishing up all the character portraits we need to finish the story. Almost every major character so far has their portrait set completed. The latest addition to our arsenal of character portraits is Captain Ron and Tyler, two of our favorite new characters being introduced in the game.
Caption: Say hello to new characters Captain Ron and Mini Tyler.
Our next goals are to finish the soundtrack (which will most likely be completed after another couple of tracks), wrap up some additional character portraits, and continue to add more environmental art.
Caption: Dialogue system in Luckless Seven.
Thank you everyone for the support you’ve given over the years. We know that due to the pandemic and severe winter we’re having, things are pretty tough all around. Everyone here hopes that you are staying warm and healthy.
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.
Caption: New wallpaper and concept art for Luckless Seven.
Caption: Mark's new portraits in the dialogue system.
For veterans of the game, one of the constant elements in every build of the game has been the soundtrack. While almost every aspect of the first few days of the story campaign has undergone significant revisions, players still listened to the same tracks that are now almost half a decade old. We are continuing to replace some of our very old music tracks with some of Brandon’s more modern works. Check out some of his latest creations on his SoundCloud.
Caption: Portraits from sketch to fully painted.
Work continues on the daunting task of updating Mark’s entire painted portrait set. We have roughly 100% of all his expressions updated to his new look.
Caption: Mark is much more animated in his expressions. Using more arm/body movement and a more expressive face.
Mark’s new portraits are not the only art we are adding. As we mentioned in a previous post, the team has wanted to add more wallpaper/splash screen artwork to the game for a long time. This has been something we had to postpone due to the number of portraits and other art assets that were desperately needed at the time. Today, I am happy to say we have our first new wallpaper art for Luckless Seven:
Caption: Are those new UI elements?! We'll talk about that more next time.
We want to continue to expand the number of art assets we have to showcase the world of Luckless Seven. We hope to have more environmental art like this in the near future.
As always, feel free to comment or ask questions on our Steam page or Discord.
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.
On the art side of things, we are continuing to update Mark’s look via new character portraits for him. Not only will he have almost every expression redesigned to his new look - we are adding additional expressions to his already expansive set. By the end of Mark’s portrait redesign, he should have around 25 unique portrait expressions. We are also in the stages of creating more wallpaper/loading screen art. These pieces will showcase some of the environments of Arithia as well as many of the core characters in the story. A lot of work is going into these, and we can’t wait to show you the final products.
Caption - The Emerald Casino - The next stage of the tournament and story. Very large area with over 50 NPCs and many optional battles!
On the music side, our composer Brandon is continuing to pump out new tracks. Some of these new tracks will be replacing the music that plays during the starting areas. Many of those tracks are now several years old, and the style of our soundtrack has advanced greatly since our earlier years. We felt it would only be proper to update the tracks to areas such as Krista’s home. This should help freshen up the experience a bit for those who have played through the demo multiple times.
As we talked about before, the biggest change to the introductory experience is the inclusion of a new area called the Mind Lounge. This dream sequence area gives players a chance to run around, explore, and talk to people before their first Ekosi battle. This helps break the player into the game and also gives us a chance to better set up the story. It also gives us an opportunity to break out the werewolf into the game world!
Caption - The Mind Lounge contains our werewolf friend.
I’ll be honest - when we go to conventions, we get a lot of questions about the werewolf. You see him in the introductory nightmare battle, and then he’s gone for the rest of the demo. When we first designed the werewolf encounter, we wanted something that represented Mark’s anxieties and how he views himself. A manifestation of his self-doubt. The purpose of this is to paint a picture of how Mark sees himself and how he believes other people perceive him.
Caption - Over 40 new skybox backgrounds for Ekosi!
While the sequence is meant to evoke an otherworldly feel, the people that you will meet in the Mind Lounge are all people that exist in the “real” game world. While some characters may act or talk in an odd way, almost all of what they say is grounded in truth. In fact, much of what happens in the Mind Lounge is based on events that actually occurred in Mark’s life (some of them being directly related to actions the player performed during the campaign).
Caption - New skybox backgrounds include sunset, night, sunny, cloudy, and stormy!
We hope the Mind Lounge sequences, especially the introductory one, will give the player an idea of Mark’s backstory and help inform his relationship with the rest of his party members. All these changes will be included in the final demo build we are releasing. Over the years, the demo has gotten rather big in size. Due to the changes we are adding to the beginning day, the final demo build will most likely be focused on just day 1 of the campaign.
Caption - Luckless Seven dialogue system with the group's ringleader Krista.
We’ll have more news about the final demo release and new art assets in the coming weeks. Feel free to reach out to us on our Discord if you have any questions.
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.
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?
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 ahead. We are quite a ways from the initial target date we set for Luckless Seven, but we are still absolutely committed to seeing this through.
Caption: New Mark Portraits in development!
Caption: Old portraits for Mark that will be phased out in time.
One drawback to the long development is that earlier parts of the game tend to not reflect the level of quality of the parts we work on today. During playtesting feedback, this gets pointed out. Oftentimes, we end up going back to those sections and bring them up to snuff.
Caption: Help people find their path.
Today I wanted to take a quick dive into the inner workings of Deckpoint Studio. Specifically, I wanted to talk about the main person handling the ropes. That person is the developer and lead of Luckless Seven, Jesse Kooner. Given the very long span of Luckless Seven’s development, Jesse has been the only person who has continued to work on the game full time since its inception. We’ve gotten some questions from people over the years on how we’ve managed to keep up game development for so long. The answer is that most of us on the teamwork other jobs that help keep us alive.
Caption: Emerald Casino is the next stage of the card-game Ekosi tournament! Containing over 50 NPCs and every inch is full of detail!
This means, of course, that Luckless Seven has experienced all the great positives and stifling negatives of a project with one sole coder. Jesse being the only programmer means that there is always cohesiveness with all the technical aspects of the game. However, this also means that when he gets extremely sick (please stay away coronavirus), it almost always means the personal deadlines we had for that time period have to be moved back. While we can continue to produce music, art, or story, those are frequently not the bottleneck for releasing a new major game build.
Caption: Jesse Kooner, Lead Developer on Luckless Seven. Programmer, Environmental Artist, and Implementer of everything in the game engine.
The ultimate result of this is that Jesse has had a hand in every aspect of Luckless Seven, from marketing, website design, game development, and business management. Fortunately for the rest of us, Jesse had developed many of those skills already from previous work experience. Jesse’s time studying business for his MBA program also helped with managing the finances and tax work for the studio.
Caption: Your "friends" just got even more interesting.
This wide range of experience has helped him manage the work done by the rest of the team and bring everything together in Unity3D. With him being the only one working in the engine, he’s managed to rack up some impressive stats: he’s written almost 100,000 lines of code, built dozens of unique environments, and created the models for hundreds of characters. But wait, that’s not all! Every piece of art, music, or dialogue from each member of the team has to be worked into the game by him as well. Given how large the project has become, it’s been very handy to have someone who has physically put each asset into the game.
Caption: Notice that this is line 2600 and where the slider bar is on the right (20% down). Jesse has written nearly 100,000 lines of code for Luckless Seven in Javascript/ Unityscript and C#.
Caption: Talk with your party members and learn more about them!
Although the road has been long, Deckpoint continues to receive support from Tyler, Emma, Brandon, Jonathan, and Jesse. Together, we Captain Planet our way through the project and help keep each other sane. This year will be big for Luckless Seven, and we hope you will continue to stay tuned to the final leg of this long journey.
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.
Photo: Ohayocon 2020! Front center in the dark blue collar is Jesse Kooner (Lead Developer), back right with the beard, glasses, and white shirt is Brandon Ledbetter (Composer), and behind him is his brother Casey Ledbetter (supportive friend).
Last year saw some of the biggest quality of life improvements to the game so far. We are also closing out on some massive changes for the beginning sections of the game. These changes include a completely new opening section for the story campaign, additional story quests scattered throughout the first few days, and a redesigned movement system. With these changes, we feel the game will be in a great state going into Early Access in Q1 2020.
GIF: Explore the beautiful island of Arithia! Cross bridges and make some of your own with the people you meet!
GIF: Ekosi cards! Battle your way to the top. Winning, stealing, finding and buying cards!
Screenshot: New primary dialogue system! Much bigger and feels much better.
A frequent suggestion we receive at conventions is that players want to have control of the character immediately, even if it’s just a short segment where they can run around and interact with things. The opening of the game now starts at The Mind Lounge, an eerie dreamscape room that the player will visit occasionally throughout their story. The Mind Lounge will contain shadowy reflections of the people and things Mark will encounter during the journey.
GIF: New Secondary Dialogue System. This doesn't stop the player from moving around! Easier than ever to chat with more people!
The area will serve as a way for Mark to reflect on his choices and actions: items he stole may appear in the lounge, and an NPC may confront him about this. Story-centric conversations may play out between his party members’ reflections that reveal some of his backstory.
GIF: The MindLounge. Spooky nightclub/bar with even stranger patrons. This new story area helps introduce Mark and will be a place that is revisited several times.
Screenshot: Talk with your friends around the campfire!
GIF: Sunsets await these weary travelers.
Also, we wanted to give a shoutout to another Ohio game developer, Shawn Tanner (another Ohio game dev?! (yes, we will do this every time))! Shawn is the man behind the 1-man studio ANProductions. Shawn has over a decade of experience making easy-to-pick-up games, from popular flash games to the Soda Dungeon series. He also posts videos on his YouTube showcasing his game dev journey. Shawn is currently hard at work on Soda Dungeon 2. If you are interested in fantastic turn-based RPGs and dungeon crawlers, go check it out on Steam and give it a wishlist!
Photo: A good friend of ours is Shawn Tanner! Indiedev working on Soda Dungeon 2 and is the creator behind Soda Dungeon 1!
Screenshot: Soda Dungeon 2 is a laid-back dungeon crawler. Featuring adventure, a whole town to upgrade, crafting, new classes, alternate dimensions, and beautiful pixel art!
GIF: Entering a new dimension changes the background and setting of your town!
Getting back to Luckless Seven, we’ve also made some major quality of life changes such as a completely redesigned movement system. One of the flaws of the previous movement system was that Mark did a little circling maneuver sometimes he tried to turn a sharp corner. This new system makes his turns more snappy and feels smoother in general. The camera is also now locked to his position rather than slowly following behind him.
GIF: Ambient backgrounds in Neropolis City!
Screenshot: So many paths to take in Luckless Seven. Will you maintain an open mind or focus on Friendship, Glory, or Fortune?
We can’t wait to showcase the Mind Lounge in our new demo. In our next dev log, we will have a comprehensive look at 2019 and give a proper reflection at the new additions to Luckless Seven. The Early Access version of the game is so close to being complete. Once we hit Early Access, it will be a sprint to the finish line. We don’t plan on lingering in Early Access for an extended period of time. That’s the plan, anyway! All of us at Deckpoint hope everyone had a pleasant holiday time and a happy New Year!
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?!?
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 battles, hanging out with friends, and more! Please note that it is showing off an intermediary version of the dialogue system. We have an even newer one down below!
GIF: Explore the beautiful island of Arithia with your friends!Read on our website for the best formatting experience. (Larger Pictures/Gifs on our website because Steam images are limited to 3mb).
Though it was hot and humid, we were very happy with the location and booth itself. Weather forecasts going into the weekend were gloomy, but we lucked out and didn’t get much rain while we were open.
GIF: Tyler Clementi (Storywriter) dabbing at Columbus Arts Festival
The festival was a good experience for us since it provided us with a very different demographic of people compared to the other conventions we typically attend. At an event like GDEX or Ohayocon for example, most of the people that would play our game seemed to be in their 20’s. This time around most of the people that wanted to try our game were young children.
IMAGE: The Luckless Seven Booth at Columbus Arts Festival VR Tent
We were very surprised at how quickly some kids were able to pick up the game. Ekosi ain’t exactly rocket science, but it was still surprising to see sub-8-year-old kids get a hang of the game after playing one match without reading the tutorial.
Image: Make meaningful and impactful dialogue decisions that change the story. New response menu and dialogue window! Gif version on our website, it is too large for Steam (3mb limit).
Since the festival, we’ve continued to work on updating the dialogue system for the game. This new system is a vast improvement in almost every way: it’s more presentable, easier to work with, and is much less resource-intensive on the CPU. We’ve always felt our artwork was one of the stronger aspects of our game, and this new system will help show off the character art more. It’ll also give us new formatting options for how we present conversation text.
Image: New mini-dialog system to have small chats with different characters. The player can move around and talk to different characters. Gif version on our website, it is too large for Steam (3mb limit).
We can’t wait for this new system to be available in the public demo build. Since there is a great deal of dialogue that would need to be inputted into the new system, it will, unfortunately, be a few more weeks before this happens. We’ll definitely show more screenshots and gifs of the new system over the coming months. Hopefully, we’ll have the new system running for the demo build we’ll be presenting at GDEX later in October (11th-13th). Be sure to stop by our booth if you’re attending!
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!
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 Neropolis. We’re continuing to make changes to the city based on feedback we’ve received over the past couple weeks.
The dialogue system continues to advance! In the next couple of updates we will show off the even newer-UI look for the dialogue system and the choice/response menu.
Besides work on the environment, we’ve also been busy populating the city and making it the most NPC-filled place we’ve made yet! Neropolis will feature tons of people you can battle for practice, money, or cards. The most challenging opponents can, of course, be found in and around the casino.
The journey to Neropolis will have you see the sites, meet interesting locals, and then CRUSH THEM IN BATTLE. Read on our website for the best formatting experience. (Larger Pictures/Gifs on our website because Steam images are limited to 2mb).
On the music side, we’ve also whipped up a new victory and defeat theme to play at the conclusion of battles. Our composer Brandon has been cranking tracks out like crazy, so if you haven’t checked out his SoundCloud in a while, be sure to catch up on his newest masterpieces!
Just non-stop victory! All the Ekosi Cards! All the Monies! And All the Stars!
Outside of our game, we wanted to do a shoutout to our good friends over at Skookum Arts. This small team of talented developers are working on an amazing game called The Pedestrian. The game is a 2.5D side-scrolling platformer where you solve puzzles in an environment where you move through signs (you’ll get the gist of the game after looking at one picture).
GIF: The Pedestrian by Skookum Arts. Fantastic game with many beautiful environments.
Jesse had the recent pleasure of making a trip to their studio in Waldo (where’s Waldo? It’s near the center of...), Ohio (another Ohio game dev???). The fine folks at Skookum have a small, cozy area in the woods where they are making the finishing touches to their game.
Jed Lackey (left, Programmer) and Daniel Lackey (right, Artist) at Skookum Arts.
Joel Hornsby (Designer) with his beautifully decorated desk at Skookum Arts.
Joel Hornsby suited up and ready to design.
Daniel Lackey working on one of The Pedestrian environments.
We’ve been watching The Pedestrian over the years and it’s definitely one of our most anticipated upcoming games! If you like puzzles or side-scrollers, be sure to check them out.
They also have a short demo (20-35 minutes) on their website and it's a fun play!
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.
More about Sunset Environments and Dialogue UI Prototypes Below!
Demo recently updated ~25 days ago with many many bug fixes and a giant UI upgrade to the dialogue system. This approximately 2.5-8 hour demo can be downloaded and played on Steam, IndieDB, GameJolt, and Itch.io Game Site! For Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, MacOSX (Universal), and Linux (Universal).
We now have a sunset version for every outdoor area in Neropolis. Water is very abundant around Neropolis, and the changing reflections make for a very different vibe!
Version 1: Accidental Kool-Aid River.
Version 2: Accidental Fanta Sea. Thank you so much to r/indiegames for the detailed, constructive feedback on our sunset environments.
Version 3: Might need a bit more color. What do you think? (The water and foam are more transparent and water reflections are pink)
Overall, we’re really happy with how the water is looking in the sunset scenes. The design of the city provides us with a good opportunity to show off the game’s lighting and water effects. We’ll be taking another pass at the reflections to make the water look a bit less uniformly orange.
In our last update "Dev Diary #55: The Write Stuff" we showed off this very work-in-progress animation. For those who guessed, it is a new walking animation! This new walking animation is only used in certain story segments.
What happens in the story to use this new walking animation?! Well, you'll just have to play to find out! ;]
But the tides aren’t the only thing changing. In the near future, we have plans to do a revamp on our UI. The graphics for our environments have improved over the years, but we still have some legacy UI that was created back in 2014/2015 (wow, it’s been a long time!). We want an interface as polished as the world. But it’s not just appearances: these changes will also lead to better performance. We should have a lot more to share with you in the coming devlogs.
Join our mailing list to stay up-to-date! We will send out emails once a month with a summary of our weekly devlogs.
New dialog UI Prototype that we're working on. This will enlarge/fullscreen the talking character. We are very likely to move the smaller portraits around and also shift the response/choice menu so there is no overlap.
As always, if you have any questions about how we tell the story, leave us a comment or join the conversation in our L7 Discord! We love questions and feedback.
