[Steam] Luckless Seven | Indie Card Game RPG | Over 4 years in Development

[JesseK]

Explore beautiful isometric environments!

The beautiful seaside city of Neropolis!

There is an extensive amount of choices that impact the story and how characters feel about you!

Ekosi is our fast-paced card game inspired by Pazaak and Blackjack!

Luckless Seven Steam Trailer (2016)

Game History
Hello, my name is Jesse and I’ve been working on Luckless Seven since December 2013. This is our journey to creating our first game. Please let me know if you have any questions. We first started out with pixel art and then transitioned to 3D later. The game is built in Unity3D engine and we started in version 4.2 but now we are well into Unity 5.

Luckless Seven is a card game and an RPG. We are giving the game a real story and fleshed out characters. You play as Mark and he will make many dialogue decisions and can complete optional quests that will change how the story progresses and how his party members view him. We drew a lot of inspiration from Kotor’s Pazaak and Mass Effect’s dialogue system/party system.

Game Description
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.

More Game Description
Luckless Seven is the story of Mark Vesco’s coming of age. Once an inspired youngster, Mark finds himself living a listless, dutiful existence just two years out of high school. When a group of old friends contacts Mark about reuniting with them, the stars align to allow him to join his old friends in a nationwide competitive tournament.

Take control of Mark as he and six friends set out to compete in Arithia’s most popular game, Ekosi. This fast and fun card game is inspired by KOTOR’s Pazaak, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. With a little experience, money, and luck, take Mark from a modest amateur to an Ekosi champion!

Which card to play won’t be the only difficult choice for Mark, though. Along his journey, Mark will have to make several decisions that will challenge him morally, ethically, and socially. More than just a card game, Luckless Seven invites you to take control of the whole person. Who will Mark be on his quest for glory?

Websites
@LucklessSeven
STEAM PAGE and STEAM DEMO
Developer Website - DeckpointStudio
Indie DB Page and Demo

Devlogs:
2014 - Website Only (Links)
March 8, 2014 - New Cards!
March 16, 2014 - New Animations
March 16, 2014 - Pazaak and Luckless Seven
March 18, 2014 - Physical Cards Are In!
March 19, 2014 - Demo Up On Indiedb
March 19, 2014 - Demo Up On Indiedb
March 29, 2014 - UI Updated
April 1, 2014 - Foil Cards
April 9, - 2014 Foil Cards
April 30, 2014 - Kickstarter Delay
May 31, 2014 - Luckless Seven Alpha 0.149 Now Up!
June 10, 2014 - New Visuals in Alpha 0.150
July 11, 2014 - Tutorials and Sound Design
September 14, 2014 - A Big Transition
October 26, 2014 - Shave and a Haircut!
November 8, 2014 - Step In, Ryan and Maria
November 15, 2014 - I Can Empathize
November 29, 2014 - We Got An App For That

2015 - Website Only (Links)
January 17, 2015 - For Posterity
March 2, 2015 - Massive Demo Update!
April 20, 2015 - A Third Paint Job
April 25, 2015 - Menus Galore
May 3, 2015 - The Dialogue System
May 23, 2015 - Dialogue Icons
June 6, 2015 - Library Update
June 15, 2015 - Kickstarter Launch
June 22, 2015 - Kickstarter Update and Card Giveaway
July 6, 2015 - Luckless Seven Greenlit!
July 20, 2015 - Kickstarter Successful!
October 17, 2015 - Casino Royale
November 4, 2015 - OGDE This Week!
November 19, 2015 - Thank you for a great OGDE!

2016 - Website Only (Links)
January 10, 2016 - The Next Evolution of Our Dialogue System
January 21, 2016 - Day 2 Released
February 28, 2016 - New Release Date Announced
March 6, 2016 - Day 3 Released
April 18, 2016 - New Menu and More
May 30, 2016 - Game Opening and Tutorial Changes
June 14, 2016 - Day 1 is Done (Again)!
July 17, 2016 - The Path Ahead
September 19, 2016 - It’s Happening - STEAM PAGE UP
November 7, 2016 - GDEX 2016 Postmortem

2017 - Website Only (Links)
January 2, 2017 - Composer Profile: Brandon Ledbetter

2017 - Unity Forum
February 13, 2017 - Day 4 Released!
April 3, 2017 - Campfire
April 30, 2017 - Making Arithia
June 13, 2017 - Saving The Day!
August 3, 2017 - City 2 Preview

[JesseK]

Hello everyone!

Tyler here from the Luckless Seven crew. I’m writing today to announce that today is the day we’ve been awaiting for a long time. It’s Day 4.

We’ve had our eyes set on Day 4 of the Luckless Seven journey since finishing Day 3 last year. We took some detours to improve various other areas of the game, including an overhaul of the game’s opening and significant enhancements to the Ekosi experience. Finally, in the last few months, we’ve returned our attention to creating the next little step of the way on Mark and the gang’s journey for competitive glory. And it’s anything but little.

Day 4 is, without doubt, big. The trail that takes the Luckless Seven crew from their hometown of Patrida to the next tournament city, Neropolis, is by far the largest level that we’ve designed for the game to date. Our first foray into the great outdoors offers a whole new environment: tall grasses and taller trees, man-made bridges over beautiful waterways, and sandy shores that give way to ocean vistas. On a narrative level, Day 4 will offer players a chance to declare their goals for the tournament, spend a lot of one-on-one time with Krista, and meet the diverse passersby on the trail. Not all, but many of the characters on the trail have a background with Ekosi, and there’s no shortage of matches to be played.

In addition to the all-new environment, story, and gameplay offerings, this update includes several enhancements to existing game systems. Here are some of the changes:

• Fixed problems with the Journal (quest log), adjusted the Inventory to no longer punish card reselling, and improved pathfinding to help Krista and other characters along their way.
• Tweaked Ekosi interface colors, added “Tiebreaker” icon, and made visual enhancements to the start menu.
• Added trophy and question mark icons above character heads to more clearly identify interesting opportunities and added a system for altering lighting over time to create gradual time shifts in levels.
• We could say plenty more about all the new experiences packed into Day 4, but we’d rather let you find out for yourself. After all, we’ve had it for long enough; it’s yours now!

We wouldn’t have gotten this far without your help, so please feel encouraged to give the new demo a spin and give us your thoughts! Have really bad luck in Ekosi? Fall in the river? Collapse from a heap of driftwood on your back? We want to know! The new demo is available live on Steam and IndieDB, and you can give us your feedback on the Steam forums, the comments here, or via email at deckpointstudio (at) gmail.com.

Thanks for reading, and have fun!

[steelersfan252]

This actually looks really cool, I will certainly look into this

[JesseK]

@steelersfan252 Thank you! If you get a chance to play the demo, please let me know what you think!

[JesseK]

Campfire

Hello everyone!

Tyler here from the Luckless Seven crew. I’m writing today to announce another playable release: a campfire conversation on the trail between Mark’s hometown of Patrida and his tournament destination of Neropolis.

Not every day in Luckless Seven has a night, but Day 4 long has; since outlining the game’s narrative, we have planned to include this reflective conversation between Mark and his companions. Our team has internally referred to it as Day 4.5, and it’s the first of two campfire conversations that the Luckless Seven cast will partake in on their competitive journey across Arithia.

A lot has happened at this point in the game. Mark has been surprised with the opportunity to forego his obligations at home and reclaim his repressed passion for Ekosi. He’s connected with friends old and new. Importantly, he’s already made a number of choices along the way. For our team, the campfire dialogues present an important opportunity to reap what the player has sown. Dialogue with the cast of Luckless Seven will provide alternate perspectives on Mark’s choices both within and outside the group.

After Day 4, a relatively grand and Ekosi-filled segment of the game, we think the campfire dialogue will present players with an opportunity to pause and reflect. Although we’re emphasizing reflection and calm, don’t think that this dialogue will be without new choices or variety. Having written it, I can assure you: it’s a complex beast.

As always, the new gameplay experience is not alone. Jesse has reliably improved and updated many of the technical aspects of the game since the initial release of Day 4. Here are some of the changes:

• Improved animations for most characters.
• Improved pathfinding and increased Krista run speed along Day 4’s trail.
• Removed a game fail state that could occur if the player exited the game mid-dialogue after an Ekosi battle.
• Major fixes to the mini-map. Removed false quest arrows that wouldn’t disappear.
• Made loading screens smoother and added a fade-in effect to Day 4.
• Added environmental, ambient sound effects to Day 4.

This update provides our most ambitious dialogue scene to date, so we’re excited to hear your thoughts. Day 4.5 marks the end of the open/public alpha. We’ll still update the public demo, but Day 5 and future gameplay segments will be released via Steam only to our Kickstarter backers. Thanks for reading, and let us know your thoughts!

Download the demo on IndieDB or Steam

Read article on the Deckpoint Studio website

[JesseK]

Originally posted: 4/30/2017 on our website

Making Arithia

Hi everyone,

Tyler here from the Deckpoint Studio team! I’m writing this week to give a nod to what’s ahead for Mark and the rest of the Luckless Seven. As the writer, I’m usually focused on the next narrative frontier for our band of misfits, but this time I’m looking forward to what’s next physically: the levels players will traverse in the next segment of the game!

As a teaser, here’s what to expect for the next tournament venue:

Design document for the next casino along the way in Arithia’s Ekosi tournament.

When I came aboard the project during our Summer ‘15 Kickstarter, a few, important spaces were already designed: Mark’s apartment, Krista’s house, the hospital, and library. Jesse invited me to partake in the level design process, and I eagerly did so with the least impressive Photoshop work in history.

An early design document for the first casino in Mark’s hometown of Patrida. Note my uncertainty regarding the

Look familiar?

Obviously, a lot of work takes place between my brainstorming and your playing. When reviewing my plans for the story, Jesse and I discuss the levels required to accommodate every event. I prepare a list of desired areas & design documents. Jesse makes suggestions from his perspective as developer before undergoing the Herculean work of bringing our ideas to fruition. In anywhere between a few days and two weeks, Jesse has a functional model for us to improve as we go.

Our design priorities are efficiency, story fit, and style fit.

• Efficiency: There are no superfluous levels.
• Story fit: All levels are made to fit their definitions and roles in the story. Our spaces are built with realism and important thematic/story information in mind.
• Style fit: All levels should complement the isometric art style. We avoid placing surfaces perpendicular with the camera, and we always avoid obstructing the camera’s view of traversable terrain.

Take Day 4 for example. We’ve long known we needed just two levels: one large, mostly-open trail level between the cities, and one level dedicated to the reflective campfire dialogue. I knew I wanted Mark and Krista to encounter diverse personalities along a sprawling route that really made Mark feel his size. Here’s the first design document I presented and the finished level below:

Big, just like I’d hoped. We eagerly wanted to communicate that Mark and company were traveling a huge distance across Arithia, and I think were successful in delivering that message.

For Mark’s next steps, we have functionally similar spaces in mind: a casino interior and exterior, a living area, card shops, etc. However, they’ll all come with Neropolis’s new visual theme. Neropolis, host to the next stage in the Ekosi tournament, is a quaint coastal city set upon by new development. To build it, we’re drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean peninsulas and islands. Here’s a peek at what’s to come:

We’re working to bring you a fully-realized coastal paradise that will meet all of your Ekosi and vacation needs. In our next update, we also look forward to bringing you the long-awaited and much-requested save/load system.

We couldn’t have gotten this far without your support. Thank you as always, and we look forward to your thoughts!

Download the demo on IndieDB.
Download the demo on Steam.

[JesseK]

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

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!

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.

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

Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB.

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

[JesseK]

Read on our website for the best formatting experience!

Hi everyone,

Tyler here from the Deckpoint Studio team. I’m writing today to provide our regular update on the development of Luckless Seven.

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!

Thanks as always,

Tyler

Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB.

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

[JesseK]

Hi everyone,

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’ve had a busier expo season for Luckless Seven over the past several months. Late in August, we attended our first Matsuricon, a local anime convention that recently added an indie game showcase.Then in October, we attended GDEX, a regional game development expo, for the third consecutive year. Finally, we recently attended Ohayocon, our biggest con yet.

Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!

Demo Download

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.

Download the demo on IndieDB

Download the demo on Steam

Thanks as always,

Tyler

Read on our website for the best formatting experience. Our website will have a gif-ified version of this update!

[JesseK]

Multiple new areas! We have large screenshots further down.

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

Hi everyone,

Tyler again from the Deckpoint Studio team. As we roll ahead well into the new year, we took some time during the winter 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!

[](http:// www.indiedb.com/games/luckless-seven/downloads)
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.

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!

Thanks as always!

Tyler

Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB.

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

[Budowalski]

You have very strange design here. I don’t see any connection between people who want an RPG and people who like card games. Actually it seems to counter each other, since very few people dig both RPGs and card games. You are excluding all gamers who like RPGs but not card games and vice versa.

[JesseK]

Hello again everyone!

Today, we are posing the 2nd part of our massive new update to Luckless Seven. As we’ve said before, we’ve spent the better part of the last few months doing significant revamps to our existing areas. Expect the next demo update to have some of the biggest graphical updates the game has seen in its entire development.

For some of our biggest changes, 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: Hallway.

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!

Next week, we will post the last part to our graphical updates preview. Please let us know what you think about our new environments!

[JesseK]

Hello everyone!

We’re here with the third and final part of our graphics update announcement. You can also read this update on our website for the best formatting experience.

The newest version of the demo will 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.

We recently attended a local developer event, and after working on all the feedback we’ve gotten, we should have a big update to our demo relatively soon.

As always, you can download our demo on Steam or Indiedb.

If you want some more information about the game, our entire dev log can be found on our website

Thanks for reading!

[JesseK]

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!

Read on our website for the best formatting experience.

Hi everyone,

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 [www.lucklessseven.com] 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!

This wraps of part 1 of our Patrida casino area update. Next week, we’ll have more gifs/pictures of some of our best-looking environments yet.

Thanks as always! If you haven’t done so already, follow and wishlist Luckless Seven on Steam!

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!

Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB

Read on our website www.deckpointstudio.com for the best formatting experience.

[JesseK]

Hello everyone!

We’re back with the 2nd part of our 2 part update regarding our latest area in the game, the Patrida Casino. The casino with offer some of the toughest battles yet, and showcases some of the best environments we’ve created so far.

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 [www.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 at www.lucklessseven.com as we develop Luckless Seven! Help shape the game and get access to exclusive content! If you haven’t done so already, follow and wishlist Luckless Seven on Steam!

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!

Thanks as always,

Tyler

Download the demo on Steam or IndieDB

Freeborn on Steam http://www.indiedb.com/games/luckless-seven/downloads

Read on our website www.deckpointstudio.com for the best formatting experience.