Giant new dialogue overlay idea we're thinking about. More below!
Hi there! Tyler here. Hope your week is going well. Just checking in to share an update on Luckless Seven’s development. This week we’ll focus on my contribution, the game’s storyline!
New dialogue and characters in Neropolis City! Your choices can make all the difference in the world.
The big news this week is that we’ve fully outlined the final three “Days” of the story. If you’ve been following the development for, let’s say 3+ years, you might be asking yourself, “Wait a minute. These guys didn’t know where the story was headed?!”
Hang on! I can explain. Yeah, we knew roughly where things would end and which notes we wanted to hit, etc. But over several years of writing, resources and timelines can shift, requiring some flexibility. So the story shifts too!
Overarching Narrative: At the highest level, we have a massive text document outlining the whole story in broad strokes from the moment Mark wakes up on Independence Day until the end credits.
Quest Structure: A level down from that, we have individual documents going into more detail with quest structure: what the player can do, where they’ll do it, what actions will advance the quest, etc.
Dialogue List: In the same document, we typically include a comprehensive list of all dialogues for that story segment. Here we include detailed notes on ideas we want each dialogue to include: narrative exposition, plot advancement, choices, and fun character interactions.
Dialogue Scenes: At the most detailed level, we have the dialogue scenes themselves: written using Twine then imported into Unity. This is where the characters’ voices come in and bring the story to life.
Those two higher levels are what we’re celebrating. We’ve made some changes to the high-level charted course and now formalized the story’s thrilling conclusion with quest structure. It’s done! Now begins the delicate process of listing each dialogue scene with all the important notes they have to hit.
Once that’s done, all we have to do is write 3-ish days of dialogue. Each day tends to have 20-30 dialogue scenes, and each dialogue can contain as few as 15 or as many as 300 potential lines.
Dialogue List: Story dialogues with narrative exposition, plot advancement, choices, and fun character interactions. Some of the picture is blurred to not spoil the game.
The story has called for some new animations! This animation is still a work-in-progress. Can figure out what the animation is supposed to be? We'll post the answer in our next devlog so make sure to stay tuned!
Dialogue Scenes: Zoomed in screenshot of our storyboarding software. Twine. It helps us plan, create, and implement dialogue for Luckless Seven. Some of the picture is blurred to not spoil the game. Program is Twine.
Zoomed out screenshot of the same dialogue scene. There are many choices and they change the direction of the story and ultimately how it ends. Some of the picture is blurred to not spoil the game. Program is Twine.
We're thinking of enlarging the portrait of the speaking character and to bring them in from the side. Do you like it?
Demo recently updated two weeks 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).
So, we’re close to the finish line! Kinda, anyway. Please don’t tell me the math on that one. ;)
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.
Written by Tyler Clementi, Pictures by Jesse Kooner
Dev Diary #54: In the Trenches
Hello everyone!
Last time on Luckless Seven
Wow, it’s been an absolutely hectic week! In case you missed it, we’ve recently launched Luckless Seven on Itch.io Game Site and Gamejolt, created a new Discord server, published one of our biggest blog posts yet (so big that we had to split it up into multiple parts!), as well as released a massive update to the public demo build. Thank you so much for the wonderful response we’ve gotten on our new platforms!
Ekosi last time got a big upgrade with the transparent card indicator to let you know if the opponent is going for another green card or standing.
Itch.io and GameJolt Releases and New Demo!
We’ve been meaning to put the game on itch.io and Gamejolt for the longest time. We wanted the launch to coincide with a big update to the game, so we held off until we were ready to showcase everything we’ve been working on for the past several months. Good things come to those who wait, but we want to deliver a little bit faster going forward.
New Demo 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! For Windows 32-bit & 64-bit, MacOSX (Universal), and Linux (Universal).
Jesse with Giant Dialogue UI Improvement
Speaking of good things, we’re very happy to showcase a quality-of-life change that almost everyone has been asking for the past few years. Yes, that’s right! You can now click on the text button directly -- not just the colored hexagon -- to select a dialogue option. This was a change we wanted to make for a long time, but we knew it was going to be very time-consuming due to the way our dialogue system was built. Play this earth-shattering change in our newly released demo build!
Hover over different dialogue choices. Choices affect the outcome of quests, how much people like you, and ultimately the story.
Fantastic Feedback
We’re also including a heap of smaller quality of life changes in the next demo build. Over on the itch.io subreddit, u/nestedradical gave us some great suggestions including the recommendation to slow down the text speed. Message received, and we plan to add a variable speed slider in the near future. Then, we recently received some fantastic suggestions on our Discord server from @MegaMan regarding Arcade Mode: buggy AI, grammar fixes, and more. (Thanks, James!) Most feedback we receive is on Story Mode, so this was especially helpful input. If you have any questions or just want to chat, be sure to join the conversation there.
Working on the Sunset Water for Neropolis City. Accidentally made a river of some tasty Kool-Aid.
Here is the Sunset Water for Neropolis City with a little less red.
Brandon Creates New Victory Theme
Last but certainly not least, we have a new Victory Theme from our composer Brandon Ledbetter! He’s been cranking new songs out at a blazing pace, so if you haven’t checked him out recently, there are probably several songs you need to catch up on.
Future Blog Posts
Our blog posts are usually super gigantic, but we actually get a lot of feedback to make them smaller. And we agree! So, we’ll be splitting them up and making them much more frequent. Expect to hear from us again soon!
Written by Jonathan Lee, Edited by Tyler Clementi, Pictures by Jesse Kooner
Dev Diary #53: Not Only Are We Alive!
Hi everyone,
Tyler here from the Deckpoint Studio team. Again, it’s been a while! If you aren’t following us on Twitter, you might have thought we were dead. But I’m happy to report that not only are we alive, we are THRIVING -- by which I mean we’re still working hard to deliver you a great game called Luckless Seven. Last time I wrote about everything under the Arithian sun, but this time… No, this will be the exact same. Buckle up!
Neropolis got populated! With over 200 characters!
This update is another big one! With way too many screenshots and gifs.
This Luckless Seven indiegame devlog update will show off NEW Sunset areas! New dialogues! New NPCs! New Story! New Demo available! New website launches on both Itch.io site and Gamejolt! Additionally, we talk about the exciting next step for Luckless Seven! Also, we launched a Discord Server! Get in here!
BRAND NEW DEMO! Beta Candidate 0.830! This latest update is for all operating systems: Windows in 32-bit and 64-bit! and Mac OSX and Linux! Download on Steam!
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
Boy, where haven’t we been? We can get into more detail, but since the last dev update we’ve concluded our informal “expo season.” That means we saw all our regional gamedev pals at GDEX in October, then had the pleasure of showing off Luckless Seven in the second annual indie gaming showcase at Ohayocon, a Columbus, OH anime and pop culture convention. As always, these were great opportunities to check in on the fine accomplishments our midwestern gaming peers have made and to garner player feedback. And at Ohayocon, we hosted our first live Ekosi tournament! Congrats to James on winning first place, and thanks for all the great L7 feedback!
Live Ekosi Tournament at Ohayocon 2019! It was an absolute blast! Thank you for playing! Also, we are thinking of making Ekosi decks for sale again, please let us know if you are interested! (Credit to Brooke for the photo)
The Deckpoint Studio booth at Ohayocon! Left is Jesse Kooner (Lead Developer), Center is Casey Ledbetter (supportive friend and QA tester), Right is Brandon Ledbetter (Composer). (Credit to Brooke for the photo)
Griffin Voyl is the Ohayocon director for the Indie Game Showcase! He has greatly improved and expanded the showcase from the previous years. This year was absolutely massive and we got to host a Live Ekosi tournament! Thank you to Griffin and all of the Ohayocon staff for helping make this year's event fantastic! (Credit to Brooke for the photo)
Picture from the live Ekosi tournament at Ohayocon. Picking the right card for each situation is key. (Credit to Brooke for the photo)
Congratulations to the Winner James! The top four tournament winners received a Premium Linen Ekosi deck! Additionally, the top three winners received Amazon gift cards. Well played and good game, guys! (Credit to Brooke for the photo)
Join us on Discord!
Luckless Seven launches a Discord server! Come join us and hang out for a bit!
But we haven’t just been showing off the same Luckless Seven from September. Nay, we’ve also been setting up the most important thing ever: the Luckless Seven Discord server! We love talking to our loyal, insightful, and fun supporters, and the new server allows for quick, fun conversation between you, other players, and our dev team! It’s a great time. Come on in!
What’s ahead
When we aren’t meming it up on the server (vomits in mouth), we’ve been hard at work getting the game ready. More on how we’re progressing shortly, but first a quick word on what we’re getting ready for. Of course, there’s the game’s release. We’re on target for end-of-2019 with a reasonable chance to wrap up early. But there’s more!
Last but not least, we’re approaching an Early Access release for the game. Why? Entering Early Access is the natural next step in our progression towards a full release. Waving our big “This Game Is Pretty Good, We Think It’s Worth Your Dollars!” sign will bring all-new players to Luckless Seven. The influx of new players will bring necessary feedback and funding that will help us finish development strong! What does this mean for the availability of Luckless Seven?
New side quests: We are planning to add new side quests to Days 1, 2, and 4, so there will be new content for those who have played the demo before!
Quality over quantity: We haven’t yet, but we will soon be shortening the public demo to “Day 1” while rounding it out with some sweet side quests at the very beginning of Mark’s adventure. (If you want to play the full demo in all its current, free glory, get your fill today!)
Already backing? Newer content (including upcoming releases of Days 5, 6, and 7) will be available to Early Access buyers and Kickstarter backers. Kickstarter backers will receive both a Steam key and Itchi.io key when the game enters Early Access.
Launch: When? Luckless Seven will enter Early Access in 3-5 months!
New Sunset Areas! More on that below.
Tyler writes the story, makes a trailer
My favorite section! So what’s new? Since the last update, I’ve completed all the dialogues for Days 5 and 6! These are the days when Mark and company arrive in Neropolis, that beautiful coastal paradise, and take their next arduous steps in the tournament. Who will survive? The tournament, we mean. No one dies. Or do they?! I wish I could tell you, but you’ll just have to play the game to find out!
So many options and paths. This is a screenshot of a small section for one dialogue scene.
The choices players make will affect the storyline and ultimately the ending.
In a later post, I’ll go into more detail about the fun I’ve had writing for Neropolis and some of the new themes we’ve gotten to explore. For now, I’ll give you not more text, but a short video: Luckless Seven’s new teaser trailer! It had been a while since our last trailer was created, and we have so much more to show now. Take a look and let us know: what do you think?
Brandon makes the songs
Speaking of worlds, ours wouldn’t be the same without Brandon. At the simplest level, it’d be a heck of a lot quieter. Since the last update, Brandon has started and finished four stellar songs. We’re sharing two of those today! If you read our profile on Brandon from -- it can’t be January 2017, can it? Oh God. How long have we been working on this game?! -- then you’ll know just how little we give Brandon to work with when prospecting a song! That he’s able to produce the perfect tune every time is a testament to his skill and patience. Without further ado, here they are:
Raindown - “Why is Brandon so good at this?” - Jesse Kooner, 2019. Energetic and motivational, Raindown will help drive Mark from location to location in Neropolis.
Long Distance - Dreamy. Ambient. Aspirational. Long Distance is also used to bring a sense of wonder to Neropolis’ Emerald Casino.
Here’s the playlist for what we have done already (30+ songs!)
Jesse puts it all together in Neropolis
I told you we were working hard! But even when the paint is dry on all the portraits (just kidding, they’re digital), even when every line of NPC dialogue is written, and when every song is mastered and uploaded, they ain’t a game. Just parts of one. To turn those pieces into a whole, we turn to Jesse, who’s been putting it all together in Neropolis.
Neropolis Canals at sunset. (The boat might need some repairs.)
And let me tell you… you’re gonna love the final product. The days spent in Neropolis are shaping up to be some of the most interesting in the game. Across several areas, Neropolis contains 200 NPCs who are happy to share the local history, tell you their own stories, or (of course) challenge you to a friendly match of Ekosi. Across Neropolis, you’ll see lots of new faces on quirky side characters and new characters integral to the main story.
Day 5 is ready to release -- coming soon! -- and Day 6 is nearly finished too. If I can just focus and wrap Day 7’s dialogue, its release won’t be far behind! These are truly great times to be on the Luckless Seven wagon. (That’s right, we have a wagon now.)
Get in! There's no time to explain!
Neropolis City has been populated with over 200 NPCs! So many battles and quests!
Talk with everyone! Their dialogues change each story day too in Neropolis!
The Emerald Casino at Sunset!
Many great story and character moments in Neropolis!
The Emerald Casino Interior has ~60 NPCs and hosts the next stage of the Ekosi tournament!
The Ekosi tournament area full of players battling and casino staff assisting.
In the VIP lounge are the Professional Ekosi players. Some of the most challenging battles in the game yet!
The Emerald Casino has many side battles available with some great cards up for grabs.
The Emerald Casino Interior.
Mint Hotel Lobby with guests and crew.
Just outside the Neropolis Ekosi Card Shop.
A group of friends are hanging out. Some are willing to battle!
This is just outside the Neropolis Restaurant.
The bridge leading to the Mint Hotel.
Just outside the Mint Hotel.
The Neropolis Restaurant interior. It has undergone so many changes. Huge thank you to Reddit and the r/IndieGaming, r/Isometric, and r/Unity3d.
Sunset Canals.
An ambient hangout.
The bridge leading to the Emerald Casino.
New battles and quests in Neropolis!
Day 5 dialog sneak peek. The gang figures out what to do in the new city.
Day 5 dialog sneak peek. New fun characters to talk to and advance the story.
Day 6 dialog sneak peek. Many new dialogue decisions!
Other great improvements
If you’ve read this far, give yourself a pat on the back. You may not have known it, but you’re a Luckless Seven super fan! This entitles you to free drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the VIP lounge, plus this list of changes big and small that we’ve implemented to make the Luckless Seven experience as luxurious as you deserve:
Ekosi, digital and physical: More details to come, but Ekosi is getting smoother and may be coming to a tabletop near you...
Quality of life: Clicking on people who have dialogues will autorun Mark and activate them. Trust us, this one’s bigger than you’d think.
UI improvement: Interactable environment icons now have a nice border and background to make them easier to read.
Speed: Dialogue scrolling is significantly faster for the quick readers among us. Next step: variable read speed.
New battles and opponents! Also, let's talk about our latest Ekosi board upgrade! In the above screenshot circled red is a semi-transparent Ekosi card to indicate that the opponent is not standing and that they're going to get another Green card on their turn. This makes the game easier to pick-up and conveys important information without words. Although, if you're into words, then in the top right under the opponents name it will state if they're Idle, Standing, or Active. We got you covered both ways.
We added new pick-up item spots throughout the game! With many new spots added to the Patrida Children's Hospital.
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
Seemingly little changes to performance and UI add up to another big step forward in polishing the game as we approach a proper release! We’re proud of all these changes, and we think you’ll notice their impact. So go play it and let us know what you think!
Brand new start menu! With many ambient effects and fish! With A D V A N C E D F I S H A I.
Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Please note this article is posted late on Steam. We will have a brand new article posted everywhere within two weeks! (Sorry about the delay).
MASSIVE DEVLOG with so many new shiny things! New areas completed: Neropolis Canals, Emerald Casino Exterior, and Emerald Casino Interior. New start menu, new versus screens, new inventory/store UI, new journal UI, updated dialog UI, new songs, small graphics update to many areas, many quality of life improvements, many bugs fixed, etc. etc. More pics down below!
BRAND NEW DEMO! B E T A Candidate! This latest update is for all operating systems: Windows in 32-bit and 64-bit! and Mac OSX and Linux! Download on Steam!
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
Jesse and the levels
Jesse’s been working feverishly on the level design for Neropolis, a charming and growing coastal city that serves as our second story hub. And our story is about a competitive card game, so one of the most essential levels has to be the casino area!
Neropolis is home to the tentatively-titled Emerald Casino, a shining new architectural accomplishment on the water. The casino, decorated by swaying vines and green gems, is owned by the famously wealthy Don Mint, an Arithian real estate mogul whose sons are participating in the Ekosi tournament. Once we get around to filling this place up with people, you’ll get to meet them! Charming folks, the Mints.
Just recently, Jesse has made some Finishing TouchesTM to the casino’s interior. On the inside, the casino is a bit more traditional. Separate areas host table games and slot machines, and then a special area is of course reserved to host the Ekosi tournament matches. Oh, and for the most fortunate, there’s another private VIP area.
No level is an island. Well, this one kind of is. But regardless, you’ve got to get there somehow. And to get to the Emerald Casino, you’ll have to navigate through Neropolis’ considerably more rustic canals. This little level is primarily functional, but we think it looks nice and will offer a great space for the story-invested players to get to know the locals. Now we just have to figure out what they’re called… Neropolites? Neropolitans? (Seriously, “Neropolitan” is one letter away from an ice cream flavor. Please send help.)
New Area Completed: Emerald Casino Interior! The area is divided up into 4 sections: the slot machine area, card tables, Ekosi tournament area, and a fancy VIP section.
Emerald Casino Interior: Hallway.
Emerald Casino Interior: VIP area. The V I P sign is animated.
Emerald Casino Interior: Slot machine area. The slot machines have animated lights.
Emerald Casino Interior: The card table area.
Emerald Casino Interior: Ekosi Tournament area. The E K O S I letters on the back wall are animated.
Emerald Casino Interior: Hallway corner.
Emerald Casino Exterior! This place has several sections including an Ekosi card shop! The green ivy and trees move with the wind.
The path and steps leading to the Emerald Casino.
The front entrance to glory! Emerald Casino front entrance.
A lounge area at the Emerald Casino.
Ekosi card shop at the Emerald Casino!
Lounge area and battle tables.
More lounge area and battle tables.
GIF: The Emerald Casino Sign is animated and the ivy moves with the wind. Also BIRDS!
The side entrance to glory! (Emerald Casino side entrance.)
Neropolis Canals: Leads to both the main city hub and to the Emerald Casino.
GIF: The planks of wood and boat float on the water. The plants and trees blow in the wind.
Neropolis Canals: A very zoomed out screenshot.
Neropolis Canals.
Neropolis Canals: A very zoomed out screenshot.
BEFORE: We received a ton of constructive feedback over on Reddit's /r/isometric. Huge thank you to everyone for helping!
AFTER: New restaurant no longer has mutli-colored lights. New table and many small details were added.
Jesse and the various UI improvements
That’s right. Jesse’s been so busy, he gets two sections! In addition to the level design progress, Jesse has -- as always -- been keeping an eye out for overall improvements to make to the UI and gameplay loop. Here are some of the substantial changes:
New! Versus Screen: Now, before each Ekosi match, a VS. overlay will appear over the 3D world, posing Mark and his opponent opposite one another. We think it’s a pretty cool way to excite players right before the match, but this feature is very young. If you have any suggestions to make it great, let us know!
New! Start Menu: Okay, so this one is a little bit of level design. And we’ve been down this road before. When designing the Emerald Casino, we thought there was a lot of potential in the observation deck overlooking the water. With a little bit of work, we think it makes an even better home for our intrepid cast of characters to introduce the game!
Updated - Menu UI: Both the Journal (quest) and Inventory/Store interfaces were previously a bit restrictive. We’ve made changes to expand the screen area available for reviewing your quest progress and customizing your deck. Check it out and let us know your thoughts!
Updated - Dialogue UI: Now, you’ll notice a glow behind the character portraits during dialogue. We think this looks nice everywhere, but it’s especially helpful in darker levels.
Updated - Day 4 Krista tracking: if you’ve played through Day 4, you know there’s a lot of ground to cover. And, as fast as Krista is, it can be hard to keep track of her. To help, we’ve added quest markers to the minimap and the overworld -- just in case you get lost in the grass!
NEW VERSUS SCREENS! The VS. screen is shown right after accepting an Ekosi battle with someone.
Every story Ekosi battle has a versus screen!
Many characters to battle!
Versus Screen
NEW START MENU! Includes a brand new lyrical track "Far Beyond"
BEFORE: Previous Start Menu.
The opening gets right into the action!
BEFORE: The journal menu. It was too small and didn't show enough information at once.
AFTER: NEW JOURNAL MENU! The new menu can show much more information at once now and list more quests.
BEFORE: Inventory system. It was too compact.
AFTER: NEW INVENTORY AND STORE WINDOW! Saves data significantly faster. The cards are much larger and the tooltips more clear.
New Ekosi merchants have been added and they sell new cards.
The inventory system and deck builder without the store/merchant window.
BEFORE BEFORE: Dialog UI had problems in very dark areas.
BEFORE: A little better but dialog UI had problems in very dark areas.
AFTER: New backgrounds for all characters. The slight glow behind the characters really helps them pop out and shine.
A multitude of dialog decisions that affect the outcome of quests and ultimately, the story.
Hang out and talk with your traveling friends.
New "X" Score Icon appears when replenishment cards are no longer available (top right of the screenshot).
New "Continue" and "Rematch" buttons. They are much easier to see.
Improved Day 4 Trail adventure experience by adding in destination quest markers. This makes it much easier to journey with Krista.
Brandon and three new tunes -- including a vocal track!
I don’t shine a light enough on what Brandon does behind the scenes. Between just about every update we give, Brandon churns out one or two amazing songs. This time, there have been three! One recent work involved collaborating with recording artist Zefora Alderman on “Far Beyond,” only the second non-instrumental track for the game. We think it’s a great accomplishment. Give “Far Beyond” a listen today!
Players will first encounter the lyrical track "Far Beyond" in the start menu.
But have no fear. Brandon’s not abandoning the ambient instrumentals. As part of our constant desire to provide a great aural experience, Brandon has recently finished two ambient songs: “Quiet Beginnings,” which will play outside the Amethyst Casino area in Mark’s hometown of Arithia, and “The Unanswered Question,” which will play in Mark’s apartment and the Patrida Hospital. You can give both, and the rest of Brandon’s impressive soundtrack work, a listen on his SoundCloud. Let us know what you think!
Tyler writes dialogue
Since the last update, I’ve also been working away in the background. In tandem with Jesse’s level design work, I’ve been sprucing up and writing new dialogue scenes for Mark and the gang’s arrival in Neropolis. Some minor ones include the casino/tournament check-in and a fisherman’s generous offer to ferry Mark to the coastal city.
Massive massive dialogue trees with a wide array of choices and outcomes.
What I’ve spent most of my time on, however, takes place on the trail from Patrida to Neropolis. Sensing that the enormous level needed some more stops along the way, Jesse and I decided to introduce a hearty sidequest where Mark can intervene in a contentious situation between a park ranger and some unusual parkgoers. I don’t want to spoil anything, but we think it’s pretty entertaining and intriguing. Until we implement it, you’ll just have to take a look at these pictures.
So many options/choices.
I’ve also just finished a couple big exchanges between Mark and the Filippelli sisters, Krista and Maria. I’m excited to use these upcoming dialogues as a deep exploration of the sisters’ backgrounds, and I think you will be too! Up next, I’ll be turning my attention to Mark’s adventures in the next stage of the tournament.
Interview with NerdStash
At Ohayocon in January, our team met Shelby Royal, a local writer for The Nerd Stash. Shelby stopped by to discuss development with the team. After, we sent her a copy of the demo and arranged an interview, which was posted back in May. Take a look to learn more about our history with the game! And thanks, Shelby!
Matsuricon is a Columbus, OH Japanese pop-culture convention that just celebrated anime, manga, and video games for its 13th year! In 2017, we participated in their first Indie Gaming showcase, and we were excited to return last month with Luckless Seven in the best shape it's ever been in. For those who attended, thanks for stopping by!
Luckless Seven booth at Matsuricon! We and other indie developers were with The Indie GDEX showcase.
A cosplayer dressed as D.va (from Overwatch) is playing Ekosi!
Take a seat and play!
Dramatic angle!
Two friends playing Luckless Seven!
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
If you can tell me what to call citizens of Neropolis, please let me know! I’ll be grateful to have your suggestions. Otherwise, thanks for checking out the update, and let us know your thoughts!
Day 4: The beach received a huge graphics update! New water + Added many new trees, rocks, sandbars, and more! And a massive update to the overall graphics of the game!
Tyler again from the Deckpoint Studio team. In our last post, we took the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come in the last few years. Since then, we’ve been working our butts off, and I’m happy to share some of that work today.
Big graphics update to the dialog system!
A radical new perspective. A huge change to how the world is viewed! More details about everything further in the dev blog.
BRAND NEW DEMO! Available on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux! Play on Steam!
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
But first, a quick word about Ohayocon! In January, we had the opportunity to show off Luckless Seven at the biggest anime convention in Central Ohio. Ohayocon held their first Indie Videogame Showcase, and it was a huge success. We got to meet tons of local gamers and non-gamers alike, and the feedback was really positive.
The beautiful Luckless Seven booth at Ohayocon!
A cosplayer dressed as Rick from the Rick and Morty tv show plays Luckless Seven!
Several IRL Ekosi battles took place throughout Ohayocon. Pictured is Brandon Ledbetter (Deckpoint Studio's composer) who is cosplaying as the protagonist from Persona 5. (He is located on the right with the black suit and black hair.) Also in the picture is Griffin Voyls in the red cape on the left and he created the Ohayocon Indie Videogame Showcase!
Jesse Kooner (Deckpoint Studio's lead developer) joking with attendees. (Located center with the gray colored sweater.)
Attendees crowded around the monitors.
Brandon Ledbetter (Deckpoint Studio's composer) explaining the game to other attendees. (He is located in the center with the black suit and black hair.)
Attendees playing Luckless Seven.
Many great cosplayers at Ohayocon 2018! (This picture was taken in the hallway.)
If you met us at Ohayocon and are sticking around, thanks! It’s always a pleasure for us to talk about the game with enthusiastic local players, which is why we teamed up with our friends at Multivarious Games to do it again last week! We took part in another showcase, this time in conjunction with the release of Ready Player One at the Gateway near OSU’s campus. Good times!
But enough about that! You’re probably on the edge of your seat wondering about the title!
Before: Orthographic - pure isometric. Distance can be difficult to convey because the orthographic camera flattens the image.
After: Perspective - perspective isometric. Distance is much easier to convey. Items that are far away will now look more distant.
Before: Orthographic - pure isometric. This camera has no field of view.
After: Perspective - perspective isometric. This camera uses a very slight field of view.
Surely by now, you’ve noticed that our graphic style is overhead isometric. That’s accomplished using an “orthographic” camera in Unity, But guess what? Those days are gone. We’re switching from what you might call a “pure isometric” style to a “perspective isometric” style. Here’s what that means:
Pure isometric - No matter where Mark is located, the scene will look the same. Essentially, there is no field of view.
Perspective isometric - The scene will look different based on where Mark is located. You can see additional walls or sides of objects by moving around them.
BEFORE: Pure Isometric: A more subtle example. Look at the brown cabinet in the bottom left of the image. Notice that it will look the same no matter where the camera is located.
BEFORE: Pure Isometric: A more subtle example. Look at the brown cabinet in the bottom right of the image. Notice that it will look the same no matter where the camera is located.
AFTER: Perspective Isometric: A more subtle example. Look at the dark brown wooden cabinet towards the bottom left of the image.
AFTER: Perspective Isometric: Look at the dark brown wooden cabinet towards the bottom right of the image. Now you can see around objects. Before the object held the same viewing angle the entire time.
We’re taking this action because it looks pretty darn good -- better, we think! The perspective camera adds a new energy that makes the world of Arithia feel much more alive. It’s hard to communicate in still images, but it’s an obvious benefit when you’re at the wheel. It’s a pretty big change that has required some UI maintenance (e.g., nudging observation icons) and level design attention over the last several weeks. But totally worth. Also, the new camera has allowed us to introduce some new and impressive water and cloud shadows. All in all, the change has given Luckless Seven a big step forward visually.
Before: The water before was less colorful and could only be opaque.
After: New water and cloud shadows! The new water is more colorful and semi-transparent. Cloud shadows add a nice ambient movement in the background.
But that’s not all! Since our last update, we’ve also updated the writing on Day 1. “Again?!” you might ask! It’s true. We’re pretty obsessed with improving the earliest portions of the game, so we took some time recently to review and revamp the Day 1 subquests that players encounter while performing Mark’s day job at the hospital. Our main goal was to bring this legacy dialogue in line with the quality and tone of the rest of the game, which meant eliminating any errors and trimming excess dialogues while maintaining the same humor and informational value from before. We think we’ve done a good job, and we hope you will too!
Remade Martha's quest. Rewrote almost all of the dialog.
Remade the storage room quest. Rewrote almost all of the dialog.
New dialog options.
Remade prank call quest. Rewrote almost all of the dialog.
Raymond and Carlie are always up to no good.
Aside from those two main visual/story updates, there are of course a bevy of smaller additions/fixes:
Dialogue UI improved -- The dialogue interface is a pretty important element to our visual experience, so we’ve made some tweaks to color, transparency, and more to pretty it up.
Pathing improvements -- In a few key areas (the Amethyst Casino Ext, Krista’s house, Day 4 bridges), we’ve broadened clickable/pathfinding areas to make navigating those tight spaces a little easier.
Filippelli House Exterior additions -- In addition to those pathfinding tweaks, we’ve also thrown some pool floaties in your way by the pool. This should prevent players from getting lost behind the mansion, plus you get to meet some of Krista’s charming siblings!
Amethyst Casino Interior additions -- We’ve added strobe lights and pulsing lights to the Amethyst Casino in Patrida to make it feel more alive. We sure do like moving things!
Amethyst Casino Exterior additions -- You’ll now find that signs for the Amethyst Casino and nearby Ekosi shop feature glowing signs. Again, if it moves, we will add it to our game.
Day 4 Beach Area improvements -- The switch to perspective camera allowed us to play with new water, and we’ve made a ton of additions to the aquatic Day 4 terrain. You’ll find the beach populated with a lot more rocks and palm trees, plus a few sandbars. We think it looks even better than before!
Also, there are curtains now. They move. We like that.
Before: The dialog system before had arrows that were too small and the dialog choice buttons could be difficult to see in very bright or very dark backgrounds.
Before: Dark areas made the dialog system difficult to see and distinguish from the background.
After: Graphics update to the dialog system! The center box is colored purple and the edges have a fading white border. The arrows are also significantly larger to make it easier to see the character who is talking.
After: Graphics update to the dialog system!
Before: Pool area.
After: Added more furniture, some rocks, new water, and cloud shadows. Removed the left staircase.
The evolution of the Amethyst Casino. The latest update brings many ambient moving effects added like the fading casino lights, the restaurant moving walls, and the slot machine siren lights. Also, the walls are darkened and there are new shaders.
Amethyst Casino Interior. Many new ambient effects and darker walls.
Amethyst Casino restaurant walls now move.
The slot machine area now has siren lights that go off every so often.
The VIP lounge feels so much more VIP with darker walls.
Before: The statues were giant transparent orbs.
After: No longer just giant transparent orbs! Now they move! And are opaque!
Shiny.
The Amethyst Casino sign has movement inside the letters.
The Pure Ekosi sign has movement inside the letters.
Day 4: The beach received a huge graphics update! New water + Added many new trees, rocks, sandbars, and more! NEW: Water moves up and down. The water is now transparent and has foam towards the shore.
Crossing the bridge looks very different now.
Before: The campfire site during the day. It was too empty. Also in this picture is the old water.
After: The campsite area has received some love and looks much more tropical.
A new trail to the beach has been added.
Before: The fisherman on a lonely coast. Also in this picture is the old water and old dialog graphics.
After: The Fisherman on a tropical lonely coast.
A group of friends hanging out on the beach.
The Filipelli home interior walls are more transparent. And added curtains!
Look at those curtains!
Mark's home interior walls are more transparent. And added curtains!
Curtains!
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
There’s plenty more to come, as always. Next time, my partner Jonny will be bringing you a history of the changes to the Ekosi board over time. And you know we’ll be working on half-a-dozen different improvements to the existing game plus new content. ;)
If you have an opportunity, take a few minutes and download this update. It’s a big one! We’re excited to hear what you think of the perspective camera, so give it a spin and tell us your thoughts!
NEW: Several remade areas! The Patrida Casino now called Amethyst Casino with a whole new exterior. The card shop and interior of Amethyst Casino have been remade!
Tyler here from the Deckpoint Studio team. In our last update, a flood of new levels and features wiped out December’s natural opportunity for reflection on Luckless Seven’s development in 2017. But a promise is a promise, and we’re here to look back.
BRAND NEW DEMO! Available on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux! Play on Steam!
I know in my heart that 2017 was a big year for Luckless Seven, probably the biggest so far. As it happened, it felt like more was happening faster than the year prior. We’re getting better at this as we go, I know it. But when I looked back at last year’s eight blog posts, I found that our last new story content was released in late March 2017. Has it been so long? The thought was discouraging.
Any artistic venture can feel discouraging, and goodness knows that indie game development is no exception. If anything, it can be exceptionally difficult! Indie game development, and Jesse probably knows this a heck of a lot better than I do, often reminds me of a Carl Sagan quote: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
Looking back, it felt like we hadn’t served up any pie in some time. So, I looked a bit closer at those blog posts we’ve released, and I found that we’ve instead been inventing the universe.
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
Last year kicked off with the release of our most time-intensive content releases to date. In terms of level design Day 4 was a massive, massive undertaking. Day 4’s conclusion, the reflective campfire dialogue (released separately) was a similarly enormous challenge. Getting those portions of the game and story done were big accomplishments that prompted some reflection of their own!
Day 4 release in early 2017. The largest level containing over 2 dozen battlable NPCs and the largest area to explore in the game!
Campfire scene following Day 4's excitement. Relax with your friends and let dancing shadows turn into conversation.
At the time, we’d spent a lot of resources on developing that new content, that delicious, made-with-love-and-Unity apple pie. We took a moment to look at the game, and we found that there were a lot of areas where we wanted to make improvements. Big, fundamental areas that affect the whole gameplay experience rather than just one “day.” So, at the risk of being too verbose in yet another blog post, here are some of our universe-inventing accomplishments in the last year:
Save/Load feature: Jesse made this, and we think it’s pretty handy.
Card rewards: Money’s cool, but aren’t things just a little bit cooler? What’s that? You want both? Fine. Now, Ekosi victories will reward players with an influx of currency and a nice new addition to their deck.
Card pickups: Ekosi is a pretty big deal in Arithia, but, until this last year, players couldn’t pick up a card off the table. Now you can! Whatever trouble you choose to get into with those sticky fingers is your business, but we think this feature makes the overworld and Ekosi feel a lot more connected.
Expanded overworld dialogues: Along with the card pickups, we wanted to leave some character behind. (Maybe if Dory has some character, you won’t be so likely to swipe her belongings, ya thief.) In that spirit, you’ll find more in the way of perusable bookcases, notebooks, and chat histories. More character is good, so we plan to continue this trend across all of Arithia in 2018.
Various UI improvements: There’s a lot here including the dialogue system, the inventory system, the phone, and on-screen quest/currency updates. We feel better than ever about the game’s UI.
Save/Load feature. This made testing so much easier!
Earn cards and monies from Ekosi matches!
Environment interaction! Steal cards, read someone's personal messages, and learn more about the country of Arithia!
Significant UI improvements on the quest notifier, mini-map, phone menu, inventory system, dialog system, and more!
Outside of those changes/additions to our core game systems, there was plenty of work, particularly in the level design area. In 2017, we revamped several levels, including the start menu, Day 1’s Hospital and Day 2/3's Casino exterior, interior, and nearby card shop. (Oh, you haven’t seen those yet? Well, we did those too.)
Amethyst Casino exterior was completely remade to be more interesting and compact!
Before: Patrida Casino. It had too much open space.
After: Amethyst Casino. More beautiful and still quite large. 12 more NPCs have been added for a total of 30ish NPCs in this area.
The center of the area is filled with Ekosi players having fun and battling.
This is the starting position for the Amethyst Casino.
Explore the area and admire the beautiful amethyst rocks!
The front entrance to glory! Amethyst Casino!
Card shop near the Amethyst Casino has been renamed to Pure Ekosi!
Before Before: Patrida Card shop in 2016.
Before: Patrida Cardshop with better lighting.
After: Pure Ekosi card shop right outside Amethyst Casino! New models, textures, environment icons, and more!
Added some new environment interactions to the Pure Ekosi card shop. Such as the Ekosi Monthly magazine, where you can learn about the latest happenings in the pro scene and for the card game overall.
Before Before: Patrida Casino in 2016.
Before: Patrida Casino with better lighting and new textures.
After: Amethyst Casino with a whole new look! New models, textures, lighting, and more!
The lighting is much more exciting!
The VIP section where pro players are waiting to be battled.
The restaurant area. Grab a bite and chat with Krista and the gang!
Front Entrance.
Before: Tournament area.
After: Tournament area.
Hospital remake.
Mark home remake.
Significantly easier to see and navigate.
Krista's interior home received new lighting and small adjustments to floor and wall thickness.
On the “new level” front, Jesse has cooked up darn near everything we need for the next chapter of the journey in Neropolis: a gorgeous seaside landing area, an accompanying card shop and restaurant, and a hotel lobby/suite for the gang. Those finished areas have us well poised to dive into 2018 and start cranking out the pie.
The tropical city of Neropolis!
Neropolis Card Shop.
Mint Hotel Lobby.
Mint Hotel Room.
Neropolis Restaurant.
So, yeah. A pretty good year after all!
I’ll leave you with a few quick notes on recent developments and what to expect in the next year.
As I hinted above, we’ve revamped the Casino area in Patrida. We think it’s a bit more compact and fun, and we hope you will too!
We recently released LucklessSeven.com as a landing page to inform newcomers to the game about what we’re doing. If you think your friend would be interested, send them there! And tell them to sign up for updates. And follow them on that path.
We recently updated our pictures on Steam. We think Luckless Seven looks better than ever, so we wanted to reflect a more up-to-date image of the game.
Join us on our journey as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content!
The Luckless Seven website and Steam updates are part of a concerted effort to let people know about the game, and you’ll see more of that this year. We want people to know about Luckless Seven, because it’s coming!
On the subject of letting people know about the game, we spent last weekend expo’ing at Ohayocon, a Columbus, OH anime and culture convention! This was our first Ohayocon, and we had an absolute blast showing off the game and engaging in some IRL Ekosi! We’ll share pics and our takeaways in our next dev update. For those who stopped by, thanks! It was great to meet you! For those who couldn’t make it out, please feel free to say hello below!
Tyler again from the Deckpoint Studio team. As we roll ahead into the winter and new year, the holiday season offers an opportunity for reflection. Where have we been? Where are we going? These questions help us measure our success against stated goals and revisit lessons learned along the way. At Deckpoint Studio, we value reflection.
But that will have to wait for next time, because have way too much new stuff to show you!
New: The battle icon in the dialog menu is now animated!
Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB. There is Windows and Mac OSX available! We will have Linux in the next update!
Where to begin? Well, I’m the story guy, so we’ll start there. In the newest demo version, you’ll find familiar areas filled with additional dialogues. They’re in Mark’s apartment, in the Filippelli home, in the library, and more. We created these dialogues as a means of fleshing out the land of Arithia and the history of Mark’s companions, but also to just have a bit of fun. Give them a read and let us know what you think!
New Environment Interaction: Pickup Icon. Located on the window sill. These new icons will allow Mark to scavenge items or money from the environment!
New Environment Interaction: Investigation Icon. These new icons will allow the player to discover more about Arithia and its inhabitants.
This investigation icon opens allows the player to read excerpts from different books that the Fillipelli family owns. Giving insight into the characters and their backgrounds.
The Ox in the Box! A fun storybook excerpt. Thanks, investigation icon!
Giving the start of Mark’s journey a bit more character hasn’t been a strictly literary effort, however. We’ve also done some remodeling. In the newest version of the demo, and going forward, you’ll notice some modest stylistic shifts to the way we handle walls. Walls facing the camera have gone from semi-transparent to invisible, and our walls are now a little thicker. We think this looks a bit nicer, and it will hopefully cut down on the neighbors complaining about the noise. Take a look at the before-and-after shots below!
Before: Mark's apartment daytime.
After: Mark's apartment daytime. The walls in front of the camera were removed. The walls were made thinner. Added floor thickness. New furniture and textures!
Before: Mark's apartment night time.
After: Mark's apartment night time. The level is significantly easier to see and navigate.
Before: Card shop in Patrida.
After: Card shop in Patrida. Added windows and improved the lighting.
Before: Casino in Patrida.
Patrida's Casino. The outside has massive windows and we added the light from these windows in the updated casino interior.
After: Casino in Patrida. New light from windows. VIP area was redone and new lighting from the slot machines. This area will undergo more changes in the next update.
Before: Fillipelli home interior.
After: Fillipelli home interior. Wall thickness reduced. Floor thickness added. More realistic lighting.
Before: Patrida library.
After: Patrida Library. Wall thickness added.
For a less modest change, look no further than the hospital in Patrida. For a long time, we have been content with but not thrilled by the hospital’s appearance. While it made an appropriately bleak setting for Mark’s listless position at the beginning of our story, we thought it was a little too barren for the patients. And so, last week, Jesse surprised us with a complete overhaul: artwork, several recolorings, and more. It’s better shown than told, so see below.
Before: Patrida Children's Hospital - Lobby.
After: Patrida Children's Hospital - Lobby. Added new furniture, signs, textures, characters and more! Removed the old fountain.
Before: Office Area.
After: Office area. Added new cubicles, furniture, signs, textures, and more!
Before: Cafeteria.
After: Cafeteria. Added signs "Sweetspot" meat and "Blackbelt fruit"
Before: Hallyway.
After: Hallway. Added over 40 new paintings in the hospital!
Before: Lobby.
After: Lobby. The new TVs have observation icons when the player gets close enough.
Before: Office area.
After: Office area. Close up of the new cubicles! Reduced how far away the cubicles were from each other.
Before: Breakroom. This picture is zoomed out very far.
After: Breakroom. New paintings and recoloring of the area.
Before: Clinic
After: Clinic. Added new characters and wall siding!
But that hasn’t been all the level design we’ve been working on. No, Jesse’s also done a lot of work preparing for the continuation of the Luckless Seven journey in Neropolis. There are a few more key areas left to create, but many have already been completed or nearly completed: an outdoor hub area, card shop, local restaurant, hotel lobby, and hotel room. You can see the images below! We’ll be turning our attention to designing Neropolis’ casino exterior/interior next!
New: Neropolis Card shop!
New: Neropolis Mint Hotel Lobby!
New: Neropolis Mint Hotel Room!
New: Neropolis Restaurant!
The newest version of the demo will also reveal some significant UI updates. You’ll notice improvements to the quest notification boxes and currency update boxes at the top and bottom of the screen respectively. You’ll also notice changes to the phone/menu icon. The phone now shows a screen rather than the back of a phone, and it has a cool dimming/illuminating effect. You’ll find some helpful new icons as you explore the world as Mark. Blue question marks now denote sidequests, and circular “i” icons indicate particularly knowledgeable or talkative NPCs. You’ll also notice “investigate” (magnifying glass) and “scavenger” (grabbing hand) icons indicating potential card, currency, or other item pickups. We think these improvements will help you navigate the world even more effectively!
New: Blue question mark designates side quests. These are extra quests that help expand the game's world and provide the player with more opportunities to win money and cards!
New: Circular “i” icons indicate particularly knowledgeable or talkative NPCs.
New: UI improvements. The quest and money notifier are now much easier to read. The new menu button (phone button).
Before: Quest notifier. This updates whenever the player unlocks the next part of a quest.
After: Quest notifier. More noticeable and easier to read.
Before: Money notifier. Money is gained from battles, dialogs, or from the environment.
After: Money notifier.
Before: The old menu button. This opens the phone menu where the player can check their quest log, inventory, map, change options, save / load, and more!
After: The new phone menu button. The screen illuminates when hovered over!
And lastly, we wanted to call out some important updates that went live with the previous demo release. You may have noticed that won Ekosi matches will now result in Ekosi card rewards. And to manage your new abundance of cards, we’ve made some significant improvements to the deck/inventory system. The visual interface has been simplified, and you’ll find the tooltips to be a lot more concise and clear. (Color-coded text has been a big help here.) Happy deck-building!
Before: Inventory system and side deck builder.
After: Inventory system and deck builder. The new tooltips are smaller, colored, and point to the card the player is hovering over.
Win cards from nearly every Ekosi match! Money is also displayed on the reward screen. A new button was added to flip between the score breakdown and reward screen.
So, we’ve been busy. We’ll have to wait until next time to reflect. ;)
If you haven’t done so in a while, visit us on Steam and give the game a spin. We’re excited about our progress; it’s the best it’s ever been! If you have any thoughts or feedback on the new additions, let us know!
Tyler again from the Deckpoint Studio team. I’m writing today to provide an update on a couple of action-packed months for Luckless Seven.
We’re well into what has unofficially become expo season for Luckless Seven. Late in August, we attended our first Matsuricon, a Columbus, OH anime convention. Then, last weekend, we attended GDEX, a regional game development expo, for the third consecutive year.
Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!
The approaching expos made a good occasion to review feedback from last year’s GDEX and measure today’s game against the Luckless Seven of a year ago. We’re thrilled about our progress over the last year, but we still wanted to make sure we’d adequately responded to the player feedback. A common theme amongst players was a desire for context and clarity in the game’s introduction. Who’s this werewolf? Who are these characters? And, even more generally, what kind of game is this?
These concerns melded with our team’s recent desire to make the start menu more representative of the in-game world. So, we’ve taken the first-person, moving/rotating camera, and replaced it with a perspective just like that of the overworld. Throw in a few particle effects, and we think it looks pretty nice! With the start menu adjusted to look just like a scene from gameplay, we got the idea to make it act like a scene from gameplay. Now, when you click to start the story, a short dialogue scene between Krista and Mark plays. We showcase some of the characters and foreshadow some of the story as a way of lending context to new players. And then, after this scene, the werewolf Ekosi battle ensues as normal.
Between Matsuricon and GDEX, we had plenty of player help to identify areas for improvement. A number of players experienced difficulty navigating Krista’s house on Day 1. The Mystery Girl at the Library presented a number of Ekosi AI issues. Then, a number of players expressed confusion or disinterest in the post-battle report. Additionally, many players reported a lack of connection between Ekosi matches and the overworld.
From this feedback, we’ve worked (and are currently working!) on some changes:
Added collectible items to the overworld.
Clarifying route to the back of Krista’s house
Closed garage door (a common player misstep).
Added signage and observation icon to guide the player.
Made a wall transparent to better reveal the walkway.
Retooling Mystery Girl with a better-behaving deck
Changing post-battle report to de-emphasize Ekosi scoring and focus on player rewards.
Report now shows currency reward.
Players can now receive Ekosi cards upon victory.
Adding additional story details to the overworld. [Ongoing]
We were even able to get some feedback on the new opening dialogue. Accordingly, we have plans to make the dialogue more robust to provide additional narrative context. This time of year is a pleasant reminder of the value of playtesting.
If you haven’t played the game in a while, now is a great time to revisit Luckless Seven. We’d love to hear what you think! We’re continuing to work on enhancements to the game, and we’re eager to show it off at other opportunities in the coming months.
Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!
City 2 Preview
Hi everyone,
Tyler here from the Deckpoint Studio team. I’m writing today to provide our regular update on the development of Luckless Seven.
Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!
The last time I wrote was to announce the work on and release of the game’s manual save/load system. In June, the framework was established, and Jesse has spent the last month refining the feature. We’ve resolved an issue with player currency not saving, so now all data is being recorded and displaying successfully. Some upcoming cosmetic changes will also improve the interface so you can quickly distinguish one file from another.
In addition to the save/load system changes, we’ve also fixed some bugs with the Ekosi inventory system and the arcade mode. Card sales are now crediting the player appropriately, and the arcade mode is playable again, so all is right in Ekosi land!
Perhaps the most exciting news is the development of a new city to explore. In the previous “Making Arithia” update, I discussed the working relationships on the Deckpoint Studio team and our upcoming goals. I alluded to the Mediterranean inspirations behind our plans for the second city in the Luckless Seven journey. And after a lot of hard work, we’re happy to share a preview of what Neropolis will look like.
Finally, I would be remiss to neglect my end of development: the story! Without saying too much, Day 5 has quickly become one of my favorite segments of the story to write. It’s a narratively important moment as the gang checks in for the next stage in the tournament and receives their opponent assignments. Further, I’ve found that the backdrop of the new city is perfect for the unveiling of age-old conflicts. In Neropolis, the battles won’t involve just cards.
As I always say, we never would’ve gotten this far without your support. Our most recent demo is always available via Steam. Play a few matches, engage in the dialogue, and let us know what you’re looking forward to!
Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!
Saving The Day
Hi everyone,
Tyler here again from the Deckpoint Studio team. This week, I’m writing to give the good news about the release of a very important game feature: manual saves!
Read on our website for the best formatting experience.
Now, I don’t have to sell anyone on the virtues of a medium standard. But if I did, it would go something like this:
Uncertain about the next story decision and want to secure a place you can jump back to if things go awry? Now you can!
Want to go wild with a deck with only negative-7 cards while also being able to jump back to your more traditional strategy? Now you can!
But again, you already know the benefits of manual saving and loading! Of course, autosaving will carry on in the background when you load a new area. But now you can set your own anchors in the past. Players will be able to interact with all their manual saves and, by default, the three most recent autosaves. For players that want to reach further back, all autosaves are available with the check of a box.
Here’s how it works. Click on the phone icon in the bottom right of the screen to bring up Mark’s phone (the menu). In the bottom-left corner, select the “Save & Load” option. This brings up a screen with two tabs, predictably “Save” and “Load.” From the Save tab, you can create new save files and overwrite others. From the Load tab, you can load from your previous saves.
Saves are labelled with the current “Day,” a timestamp from the last save, Mark’s location, and Mark’s current currency. Of course, all Ekosi deck and story data is included in your save file too. Who says you can’t repeat the past?
In addition to preparing this important feature, we’ve made some fixes to Day 4’s Campfire dialogue, eliminated some bugs along the Day 4 trail, and upgraded and added more dialogue to Day 1.
Going forward, the release of the manual save feature allows us to transfer focus to developing the new areas and storylines for Neropolis, the second of three main hubs in Luckless Seven. For more details on what we’ll be building, you can review our last update on Making Arithia.
I always say it, and this time’s no different: we couldn’t have gotten this far without your support. The updated demo with our new manual save feature is now available via Steam. Give it a spin, and let us know how you’ve used it -- and especially if you encounter any bugs!
Thanks as always,
Tyler
Read on our website for the best formatting experience.
