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  • Desolation Dev Blog

    Hey there! I'm Caz and every now and then, the others and I post updates here regarding the progress of Pokemon Desolation!
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    Posty
    Hey everyone, Posty here, so this is a bit of a different post compared to ones we normally tend to do, but we always like to be transparent with you all about the state of development and how things have been progressing. Now with that said, today’s announcement is not the news we would be hoping to share with you, but here we are.
     
    After having a discussion with Caz recently, he has decided to step down and will not be returning to Desolation Development. This is something that we had felt would happen for a while now, but we are glad that he was able to be transparent and let us know. The reasons behind his departure are in large part due to personal and heavy hitting events that happened in his life that coincided with the years of Desolation's development prior to and post release of EP6, and he informed me that these dark times have been too close with Desolation for him to find a way to separate for himself. Even if he were to come back now, he feels that the progress he has made will be undone, and the last thing we would want is to see our friend fall back deeper into the abyss he is slowly climbing out of. We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavours and want to thank him for essentially bringing us all together. Desolation was built off his foundation and the team we have built since myself and Ruby joining during EP5 development is one I wouldn’t change for the world. He is always welcome to come back if he ever wishes to do so and feels like he is able to, and that door will never be shut on him.
     
    Now after that bit of a bombshell, what’s next moving forward for Desolation? Well firstly, we will not be going anywhere, we have been manning the ship throughout his absence and will continue to do so. As I said previously, as long as the passion is there, Desolation will continue, but there will be a few changes.
     
    Effective immediately, I will now be removing the “temp” in my title and step up as the official lead dev for Desolation. Caz originally passed the reins to me when he was stepping back, and I’ve been leading the charge since then, so it only makes sense. On top of this, Ruby will now be stepping up as my co-lead. We both joined EP5 development around the same time, and she has really stepped up her game throughout this development cycle, expanding her skillset to doing more mapping to give me a hand, we’re basically like Jessie and James and Shelly is Meowth (Shelly is her cat). 
     
    Moving on, I have been planning on how the team operates currently and what we would need to improve upon in order to ramp up development. I have begun to delegate some of my current tasks to others, one thing in particular is the gameplay, this is something I initially focused on when I came on the team back in EP5 and since then I got myself involved in every other aspect, yes, this includes art, recolouring some tilesets counts! Anyways, Dred and Omens have a lot of knowledge when it comes down to team building, encounters, and even balancing forms (in this case I mean Megas), I have been working alongside them to start mapping out how the gameplay will go for EP7, however this will be something I will look to fully pass down to them. Shoutout to Omens and all the lovely documents they have prepared for me to sit down and read…
     
    Yes that last paragraph was a ramble, but that is just a little bit of an insider scoop of some of the things I’ve been planning about how we can progress. So to end this post, let’s do a quick Q&A! My favourite.
     
    Despite the few things you mentioned, what does this change for Desolation?
     
    Development wise, nothing really, it will continue the same way it has done when Caz originally stepped back. However the biggest change to note will be the story, as Caz never provided us with key points for the “inbetweens”, we will now be continuing the story in our own vision. EP7’s story was already mapped out as this was explained to us at the start of this cycle, but EP8 onwards… We have little tidbits of information, but nothing concrete of “this is how the player will progress”. I know a lot of you played Desolation for the story, and we can never replace Caz’ way of telling a story, however as a team I feel like what we have been putting together through regular meetings and writing the script, is something I’m extremely proud of. Though I would completely understand if people decided to drop the game following this news, it’s one thing to start your own story and decide how it goes, but taking over someone else's story to then continue it in your vision is a different beast, these path will all lead to the same point, but the way we arrive at that destination will differ.
     
    Will you be expanding the team again?
     
    After breaking the news to the team, I came to the realisation that we will potentially need a few more team members to keep the ball rolling. These may be internal hires from connections (like how Rust joined us) or I will make another public development blog announcing that we are hiring. I’m going to see how the team fairs with the new changes I am putting in place, and then make that decision in the near future. So keep an eye out, you might be the missing piece to the puzzle.
     
    How is development going as a whole?
     
    Considering our circumstances, I would say it has been going a lot more smoothly than it once was a year ago. The new additions to the team have really stepped up and elevated the product, and we are now getting into a rhythm for development. That being said, I completely understand that this cycle has been… slow, a lot slower than myself and the rest of the team would have liked. Dev updates following this will start to expand upon more EP7 teasers and showcasing some more of the mapping work, gameplay updates, and other little events we have been working on. I do not want to set expectations, and the game is always on my mind daily about how things are going and what needs to be done. I hope now that with this shackle that has been lifted, that we can really go head first without sitting on the worry of “is this what Caz would have wanted”. 
     
    I know that I have said this a LOT throughout this cycle but from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for the love and support you’ve given us throughout development. We will continue to develop and produce a game we can be proud of, and hopefully deliver you a final product that was worth the wait. This is essentially a new chapter for us, and we would love for you to join us for the ride.
     
    If you have any questions or inquiries then please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can find me on multiple platforms, I’ll just leave a few links below::
     
    https://x.com/posty_hd
    https://www.instagram.com/postycollects/
     
    I’m most active on Discord and we’re still based on the RebornEvo server, so feel free to drop me a DM there as well if you would like, just please refrain from asking anything… weird lol. 
     
    One final thing, there will not be a development blog for May. However look forward to our post in June where I will start to showcase some of the gameplay updates we have been working on :)
     
    Posty
     
    Posty

    Drinkin Buddies

    By Posty, in Records,

    ~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ 
     
    Yeehaw partners! It’s your local cowboy Posty here with your monthly installment of Desolation development update 🤠. Okay you can see the theme of this post, but I will get into that momentarily, first a little life update on my side.
     
     Firstly, I have started a new job recently (we don’t talk about what happened to the last one)! If you don’t know, I’ve been really diving into content creation and digital marketing, and that is basically my job lol. It’s been going really well so far and I find myself in a better environment than I was with my previous position. On top of that with this job set up, I have more time to dedicate to Desolation (mainly since I’m not travelling an hour there and back 5 days a week… I’m working 3 days hybrid, happy days) With that said, I’ve been focusing on my job and had other bits to do outside of development, so the last month has been just taking time to adjust from having all the free time in the world, to working a nice little 9-5. Also, I’ve started to dive into other forms of content creation as well, involving TCGs (yes I like shiny cardboard), I started an Instagram for my content so if you wish to see what I’m getting up to outside of Deso, you can check it out here! 
     
    Anyways, enough about all that side of things, let's get to some Deso content shall we? So today’s post is focused around a little gaff that has spawned outta the blue. We streamed mapping this new place on a recent Patreon Stream, but for more context… Fairbale has gotten a new attraction that the locals can go to spend some time to unwind after a long day of farming, or being run outta town by the Black Foxes.
     

    An interesting sign, what’s this place called?
     

    Ah, there we go
     
    Welcome to Drifblim’s Drinkery! A nice saloon that the locals can swing by, grab a drink and take the time to relax, it’s a hard life being a farmer… or a cowboy… yeehaw. So for a little bit of backstory as to why all of a sudden Fairbale has gained a saloon, uh, yeah. Darius felt like making a track that utilised Drifblim’s cry, I told him to do it, we initially thought about this for another area, but then I said “fudge it we ball, I’m adding a saloon to Fairbale”, so yeah. These things tend to happen on the Desolation team. I have many silly ideas (or others give me silly ideas) and I make them happen… I was given too much power when I was handed over the reins for leading the project. Moving on! The saloon has been closed due to the recent Black Fox attack that took place in Fairbale, but after the cleanup crew got to work, it has now reopened and will be available from the beginning of EP7, but that begs the question, what is so special about this place?
     

     
    There will be a sidequest, wow more sidequests! But more importantly, you will be able to buy a few drinks here. These drinks may come with some special effects, but we will reveal that in a later update. But these effects are unique to the Drinkery, so make sure to check it out!
     


    And that’s all I have for you for this monthly instalment of yeehawsolation, I mean Desolation. Things are progressing smoothly and I’ve been getting myself into a new rhythm balancing my new job, content creation and Desolation, and I’m really excited for how things are looking! I hope that you continue to join us on this ride of the EP7 train, coming to you… at some point eventually!
     
    But since I only really showed off the Drinkery, I guess I should give you all one more little teaser as a treat, and yes this one is an EP7 story spoiler…
     

    More to come in the upcoming months, so stay tuned! Anyways, thanks for reading and I will see you next month. 
     
    Take care folks!
     
    Posty 
    Posty

    Electrifying Momentum

    By Posty, in Records,

    ~ Excerpts from Patreon ~
     
    Happy Year of the Snake folks! Posty here with your monthly installment of “what has the development team been cooking?” And we have been, well, cooking in certain departments to say the least. As I have now taken over as lead for the project, I am the one who is now focusing on tackling the majority of the EP7 eventing. What this means is that some of the areas and questlines that I would have been looking to work on this Episode, are now being delegated to other members on the Deso team to work on. With that said, the main part of this blog will be showcasing some of their work with you all, so let's jump into it shall we?
     
    I will not be going fully into details about what this area is and where you can find it (you will have to play EP7 to find out…), but it will be unlockable at some point as you continue your adventures through Ayrith. You are more than welcome to take a guess in the comments down below, but we will not be revealing any information at all (or well, at least for the time being), anyways take a look!
     

    Where have we seen crystals like that before
     

    A giant rock of crystals?
     

    Maybe there’s a puzzle instore for you here?
     
    So a quick note, this area has not been finalised and things will be updated as we continue to progress with development (the boulders may be placeholders… or are they? Yes they are placeholders), but this is just a sneak peek of a new area that is coming with EP7, so it’s best to get exploring when it releases!
     
    Before I close out this month’s post, our music men have been at it again and have provided you all with a little teaser for another new original track coming with the next update, check it out below!
     

    Axel's Theme Patreon Snippit.wav  
    Yes, this is quite a shorter post than normal, the main reason for that is a lot of the content we have been working on lately is quite spoiler heavy, you can probably guess why. We aren’t ready to begin showing off some of the content we have been working on, but down the line you can expect that to be revealed, so stay tuned on that front. Next month’s blog post will be a little bit of fun that I’ve been working on as a little break from EP7 content (and from a recent Patreon Stream), all I will say as a hint is… yeehaw.
     
    And with that, I bid you adieu, hope you all have a wonderful year and… don’t get bitten by any snakes, hiss.
     
    Posty
     
    Posty

    Festive Reflections and Shrooms

    By Posty, in Records,

    Twas’ the weekend before Christmas, when all through the woods, not a soul was chirping, not even a mushroom… wait no that’s not how it goes.
     
    Happy Holidays folks! Posty here with your monthly dose regarding all things Desolation, so what has happened since last time? First things first, thank you to everyone who swung by to watch the Public Development Stream! It was a lot of fun interacting with a bunch of you, and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. For those who missed out, the VOD for the stream is up on my twitch channel which you can find here!
     
    For the stream, I was mapping an area that is found just shy of Astraciel Town, Astraciel Wildwood! So how is it looking? Well, take a look for yourselves.
     

    If you’re a fan of pretty colours, and mushrooms, then this is the place to be. Astraciel Wildwood will not be fully unlocked in EP7, however you can still spend some time here exploring and just, vibe y'know?
     
    I am looking to stream more again in the New Year (shameless twitch plug), which will mainly not be Deso related, but feel free to pop by and say hi if you’re interested! Would be a good space to answer any questions you all have… (unless I’m in the middle of a Dota match, then you may have to wait until after that’s finished).
     
    Secondly, it’s been about a month since we introduced our new team members into the fray, and development as a whole has definitely picked up a good amount! Progress is being made and with some new creative heads at the table, I am happy with how things are going, but what does that mean moving forward? Let’s have a quick little end of Year Q&A shall we. 
     
    Will you do more Public Development Streams in the future?
     
    I would absolutely love to! A lot of the stuff we are currently working on is extreme spoiler territory, so I will need to have a think and look into what we could do, but this will be quite a bit down the line.
     
    How is development going for Desolation?
     
    Considering how the first half of the year went, the second half has been far more productive as we sat down and discussed how we wanted to progress with the story. When you’re creating your own story, it’s very easy to decide how you want to go about specific elements that lead into a final outcome, but when you’re taking someone else’s story in which you don’t have every single detail to go off, it can be a lot more challenging. This is a hurdle that we as a team have been actively discussing and getting over, and we are hopeful that the end product will showcase that hard work to its fullest. 
     
    When will EP7 release?
     
    As it is coming up to nearly 2 years (how) since we released EP6, if our circumstances were not as they are right now then we would have hoped EP7 to already be in your hands. But as we went on a hiatus due to Caz’ absence and then spending a good amount of time getting back into the groove of development, EP7 release is still a good bit into the future. As of right now, I do not wish to get people’s hopes up and give an estimated time when it will drop. I would love to get it out sometime near the end of next year, but for the time being, we are working hard and it will come when it’s ready! 
     
    What is a fun fact you can share with us?
     
    Omens loves birds.
     
    …
     
    I wanted to end off this development blog with just an overall thank you to the community for the massive amount of support this year. Our current situation has not been ideal in the slightest, and there have been points throughout the year that I have been frustrated at how things were and feeling unable to do much about it. But the amount of love and support people have given us towards Desolation is a consistent reminder about why myself and the rest of the team are developing the game to begin with. So again, thank you for sticking with us and being patient, we have big things in the pipeline and I can’t wait to showcase more next year.
     
    I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and are able to spend time with those important to you during the holiday season. And a Happy New Year, from us here on the Desolation Team!
     
    And with that, I will see you all next time, have a good one.
     
    Posty
    Posty

    Riding Waves and Announcements

    By Posty, in Records,

    God, how is it November already… Hey everyone! Hope you all are keeping warm during these colder months. Today’s blog post will go over some Sidequest content I have been working on during some Development Streams we have been doing over on our Patreon Discord! But before I go over that, I have a couple of announcements to make.
     
    Firstly, If you saw our previous dev blog, then you would know that we have been looking to recruit some new members to the team. We had a lot of interest, so thank you to everyone who showed interest, shared the post around and applied! Myself and the rest of the team truly appreciate it. On that note…
     
    Please give a warm welcome to our new Team Members!
     
    @Dred
    Twitter
     
    @IronicOmens
    They don't have social media...

    @Rust_
    Twitter
     
    Dred and Omens you may recognise from their work on the Overseers Mod for Rejuvenation (which you can find here!), they also have been working on Project Vanguard (you may have already seen some of Omens’ Spritework for Vanguard on Twitter!). They will be joining us in the Mapping and Artwork department, and what they have been cooking up so far has been really exciting to see, and I can’t wait to showcase some of their work to you all soon.
     
    Rust on the other hand will be joining us in the Music department. He has expertise in compositions working on projects such as Azure and Garticmon. Working already on tracks alongside Darius in Azure, we are really excited to see what this duo will be able to cook up for our soundtrack for EP7 and future versions, so look forward to some new banger tracks! If I get their permission, I may be able to give you all another little teaser for a track in a future development blog, but we will have to wait and see.
     
    Once again, thank you to all that applied, we were impressed with the quality of work people within the community had to offer and ultimately, we were really overjoyed with the interest people have for the project!

    Moving on, for the second announcement! So if you remember from the previous development blog, I mentioned potentially about hosting a dev stream if there was interest. So with that said, I am happy to announce that we will be looking to host a Public Development Stream on Saturday 7th December at 8:30pm GMT! I will be looking to go live on my Twitch channel, which you can find here below!
     
    https://www.twitch.tv/postyhd
     
    For a little bit of insight, during this Stream, I will be doing some mapping on a new area coming to EP7, Astraciel Wildwood! So come along and hang out, myself and a bunch of the other developers will be there to chat and have a good time! Also we can do a little Q&A if people have some questions. We are looking forward to it! 
     
    That’s about it for the announcements, time to move onto the main topic of the dev blog, Keneph Resort!
     
    ~ Excerpts from Patreon ~
     
    Ah... Keneph Resort, it’s been a while… You may remember this area being mentioned previously, since we’ve made a few dev blogs about it now, but for a quick rundown if you have forgotten, Keneph Resort was going to be my main focus for EP7 when we begun this development cycle, however due to unforeseen circumstances and becoming temp lead of the project, I decided to put this on the backburner to focus on other aspects of development. This is why there hasn’t been many updates regarding this area from me… until now! 
     

     
    I’ve already gone over Keneph Resort in previous dev blogs and hinted at some things which will be coming to the area, but it’s been a good while since then so I think I can mention a couple things I have planned. One thing that Desolation has lacked has been… Move Tutors, guess where they will be going? Might be worth going back to invest into the Resort now during EP7. The resort will also act as a hub for trainers across Ayrith to come down and spend some time to unwind, maybe you will see familiar faces turn up? Maybe even itching for a fight, but there’s a rule about keeping shut about fights. And maybe even some new faces. 
     
    So with construction beginning in EP7, how do you play a role in the development of the Resort? The construction team is a little bit behind due to the delay of some shipments, you can see where I'm going with this. 
     


    One part of the quest requires you to head down to Cellia North to try and come to a deal on the materials needed for Keneph Resort, trying to potentially haggle the additional funds needed for one of the shipments. And when I say I was having fun writing this quest…
     

    I was having fun
     


    Another part of the quest will see you heading down to Sunshell to check up on another shipment of Sandstone. Which you may need to help out the Miners down near Fairbale to gather the remaining materials needed. It’s safe to say you will be working hard to get this Resort up and running!
     
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Before I close out this blog, I will leave you all with one last thing. Our new member Omens has already been hard at work when it comes to graphics and sprite work, and well, I will just drop this here and not elaborate.
     
     
    That wraps up for this month, hope to see you at the Development Stream on the 7th of December!
     
    Posty
    Posty

    Help Wanted - Join the Team!

    By Posty, in Records,

    We are recruiting!
     
     Hello hello, Posty here with a little bit of a different post, yes if you have read the title (or saw the post on Twitter), we are looking for new members to join the Desolation Development Team! 
     
     After having an internal discussion with the other devs, we came to the conclusion that considering the circumstances and changes with some of our current situations, that we could use an extra pair of hands on the team. With that said, we are looking for a Spriter (Primarily Tileset work) and a Mapper (RPG Maker XP experience is required), or someone who can handle both, to work alongside us in developing Desolation. 
     
     If this is something that you would be interested in, then please look to apply through the application form below! But before you do, like any sort of “application”, please read the following few points.
     
    If you are looking to apply for the Spriter position, then do note that we need someone with experience creating tiles for tilesets (Rebornverse Style Graphics), and examples will need to be provided.  
    If you are looking to apply for the Mapper position, then do note that we need someone with experience in RPG Maker XP, as that is the program we currently use (like other fangames) for development, and examples will need to be provided.  
    Please make sure you have the time to actually contribute to Desolation, we understand and appreciate everyone has personal responsibilities, but we need people who are consistently able to help out with development. Periods before Episode Releases and Alpha/Beta Testing will require everyone’s ongoing assistance.  
    Knowledge of Desolation is required (Bonus Points for playing Reborn/Rejuvenation! We love our fellow developer friends)  
    Discord is required, all forms of communication will be done here!  
    I will not be reaching out to everyone who has applied, I will only be looking to reach out to the few that I wish to have a further chat about before making a decision.  
     The deadline is Tuesday 12th November at 8pm GMT, exactly one week from now! So please make sure you get your applications in before then. I may extend the deadline, and if I do then it will be made in the form of a Twitter post to our page, so keep an eye out (I will edit it here as well).
    Application Form
     
     Thank you everyone for the continued support on the project, for those who are looking to apply, myself and the rest of the team look forward to reading through your applications! There will still be a development blog later on this month, in which I will be making an announcement, so stay tuned!
     
     Also it’s election day in the US and despite me being a Brit and not American, go vote! It is your right to vote and you should most definitely do it, make the time to go out to the polls and do so, especially as this is probably one of the most important elections in current times.
     
    And with that, I bid you adieu.
     
    Posty
    Posty

    A Town of Colour and Mushrooms

    By Posty, in Records,

    ~ Excerpts from Patreon ~
     
     It’s that time of the month again, hey everyone! Posty here once again to deliver you your monthly updates regarding all things Desolation! So let’s get into it shall we?
     
    Before I jump into the main focus of this blog, if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, last month we made a detailed development blog regarding Chryseum Canyon! You can find that here. The amount of engagement and reactions we received on that blog post and recently in general has been amazing to see, so thank you all! It really helps us to weigh up how you, the players, feel about the work we are producing, and keeps us motivated to continue developing Desolation. 
     
    As I mentioned at the end of our previous blog, development as a whole has been improving a lot, given that I have a little bit more free time as of right now, I’ve been able to dedicate a lot more time to the project as a whole, so Episode 7 is progressing at a better pace than it was a couple months back. With that said, we will hopefully be able to share a bit more than just new areas. It might mean that future blogs will be a bit shorter, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. But firstly, how about a new location reveal? (I’m such a joker).
     
    Today’s development blog will be highlighting the town that’s north of Chryseum Canyon; Astraciel!
     

     
    Arcanius is truly an island with many wonders, from the farming town that’s known as Fairbale, to a vibrant remote town, home to mushrooms that grow to the size of trees, Astraciel is a must visit!
     

    If… you don’t mind mushrooms that is.
     

     

     
    It appears that there is a Gym situated in this town as well? During your visit to Astraciel, you will meet a brand new character coming to Episode 7, but who are they? Well you might have heard of them already during your adventures. However, we will save the reveal for another time, but feel free to take your guesses (we will not confirm nor deny…).
     
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Like I mentioned at the start, the upcoming blog posts will be highlighting other aspects of development that are not just new locations coming to Episode 7. Recently over on our Patreon, we hosted our first development stream in a good while, which gave our Patrons an exclusive first look into a questline that I was working on before I took over as temporary lead of the project. Spoiler alert! This will be the focus of next month’s development blog. In light of this, I have been thinking about hosting a public development stream sometime near the end of the year. If this is something people would be interested in then let us know, and we can then look to decide on a time and date!
     
    And with that, I bid you adieu.
     
    Posty
     

    Posty
    Chryseum Canyon, one of the many attractions Arcanius and the whole of Ayrith has to offer. A famous landmark that serves as the main trade route for farmers and locals between Fairbale and Astraciel, it is a place that contains a lot of history and mysteries…
     
    Hey everyone! Postyman Pat here, once again to deliver the latest development news from the team here at Desolation Corp™. This one has been a long time coming, and we are excited to finally share one of the main areas you will be venturing through in Episode 7; Chryseum Canyon!
     
    As one of the areas we have been the most excited about working on since coming back to active development with Episode 5, a lot of time went into concepts and coming to a finalised design. From the layout to the choice of colours, the Canyon presents a sense of tranquillity. Once a river flowing all the way through that eroded the cliffs, now a bright and colourful forest path has grown in its place, with the remnants of the river still present in a stream that passes through the cliff sides instead.
     

     
    Those who look to export goods between the two towns make their way through a path littered with cherry blossoms, taking in the landscape surrounding them. With the locals from both Fairbale and Astraciel working together to maintain the trade route to ensure there is always a safe path to travel along, numerous repairs have been made to the main bridge over the years.
     

    On a long, tiring journey, it’s good to take a step back and take in the scenery you find yourself in.
     
    When the forest path is undergoing repairs, travellers will have to venture through one of the two mountain paths if they wish to make their way to Astraciel. With one path a little more dangerous and longer than the other, it’s important to take extra caution when proceeding through the mountain caves.
     

     

    The water currents from the stream are especially dangerous.
     
    Despite the dangers that may lurk taking one of these paths, the caves within the canyons are spectacles to behold! Filled to the brim with crystals and unique rocks, anyone looking for a hike will not be disappointed venturing through the cliff sides.
     

     

     
    As you progress through these mountain paths, you’ll notice a change in the landscape, the colours of the caves will reflect how far you have travelled, helping to be a clear indicator for those who begin to find themselves lost. One of these paths connects directly to Kanzen Cliffs, an area in which you will look to explore if you want to find and check out the famous Kanzen Temple! A well-known place of worship amongst the locals who make the trek to go and pay their respects. This is something we revealed in a previous development blog, if you haven’t checked it out yet then you can find out more here!
     

     

    Make sure to watch your step!
     
    Chryseum Canyon is a place of a lot of wonders and also hidden secrets, maybe there is more than meets the eye? You’ll have to explore and find out in Episode 7!
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     Well, how does it look? We’re incredibly happy to finally be able to showcase this to you all and we look forward to seeing you all eventually explore the vast terrain that Chryseum Canyon has to offer!
     
    Before I close out this blog, I just wanted to be transparent regarding development as a whole. We know that this development cycle as a whole has been… a lot slower than we would have ever imagined and hoped, a good amount of mapping has now been completed for Episode 7 but we are still a long way from being even remotely done. Which is why there hasn’t been any form of those “Percentage of Completion” updates from us this cycle thus far, because we do not want to get hopes up with the current state of things. But just know that we are still chugging along and have been making adjustments that have helped improve development for Desolation as a whole. We have a lot of exciting things in the works right now, and we can’t wait to slowly showcase that to you all.
     
    Until next time folks!
     
    Posty
     

     
    Posty

    Announcements and Progress

    By Posty, in Records,

    Hello there! Posty here. Today’s post will be on the shorter side of things but still quite important as we have an announcement and some progress to share. So let’s just get straight to the main point.
     
    The Patreon is Back!
     
    That’s right, after some internal discussions with the development team, we have decided to officially bring back the Patreon. We are extremely grateful for all the support you all have given us, and if you wish to support us on Patreon, then now you can! again. Some of you would have already known this as it's been back for about 3 weeks now, but nothing was mentioned completely publicly outside of the Reborn Server. With that said, there are a few things I would like to note.
     
    Firstly, when Caz officially comes back to active development, then the Patreon will most likely look to move back to him to host, that is if he wants to continue it on his end. Currently, Darius is kind enough to host it for us (Thanks Darius!), so this is a bridge we will cross once we get there. We ended up having to make a brand new one since the previous one is currently unpublished on the site. 
     
    Secondly, until Caz does come back, Crown Tier will not be available for purchase. This is just mainly due to the additional work we are taking on while he is away, and we will not be able to properly commit to the main perks of that tier until we are a full team again. We hope to bring this back in the future though so keep an eye out for that announcement!
     
     And finally, even though Darius will be hosting it, unless specified I will be the one mainly writing up the posts, similar to these development blogs, so if you want to see the sort of shenanigans we get up to, then check out our Patreon below! There will be exclusive content that is only shared there, in which will be cut from our development blogs, including this one! 
     
    🎉 Patreon 🎉
     
    Okay, announcement done! Now let's talk about progress.
     
    ~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ 
    The Canyon
     
     As mentioned in several development blogs, in EP7 you will be heading north of Fairbale towards the Chryseum Canyon. This is an area in which Caz was going to be taking on while I focused on Keneph Resort, but as you can imagine, these plans have changed. This has now become my main focus point for development while working on other things in the background (if you’ve seen the sidebar, then you could tell I’ve been losing it a bit). As something we as a team have been really excited about developing, the overall progress on it has been slower than I would have liked. 
     
    Why is this? A couple of reasons really, one being job hunting! As many of you are aware, I have been trying to secure full-time employment for a long time now, interviews here and there but no major breakthroughs. For those who don’t really know me outside of Deso, I do a lot of creative stuff as a whole, from Photography, Social Media and Digital Marketing, and getting into that industry is… hell. So a lot of my focus most days is on getting a bloody job. Another reason is as a creative, I work on a few other projects as well, so as you can imagine, trying to juggle and balance multiple projects, and my personal life, can be a bit much.
     
    …
     
    So… I wrote this for Patreon two weeks ago, and in those two weeks I finally managed to land a job! Hilarious how life works sometimes. Now I can stress less on that and get organised into a routine to get cracking more with Deso. And with that said, the next blog post will be a big update regarding the Canyon. That is a promise. 
     
     On the brighter side, the rest of the team has really been hard at work discussing and working on other elements of the game, some you have already seen in the previous development blogs. One of those things… is something that we have shared on our Patreon. A new Mega Evolution coming to EP7! We mentioned about a new Mega on a previous development blog, but didn't specify what it is... And that is something that will stay exclusive for Patreon eyes only for the time being. We may look to reveal this later publicly in a future development blog... as a treat. So keep an eye out!
     
    Although we can not publicly share this with you at this current time, we can instead share with you this! 
     
     
    The Music Corner
     
     As we have been doing with a lot of our blogs lately, we have another snippet of a track Darius has been whipping up for EP7, our soundtrack is only getting better and better, check this out!
     
     

    Kanzen_Temple_2.mp3  
    Working with Darius over the last few years has really helped elevate the sound design for Desolation to a whole new level. Like with EP6, EP7 will continue to add to our original soundtrack, we have a lot in the works in the music department, and it's been fun to be able to share little extracts with you all!
     
    Filing the Cabinet: Season 3?
     
     Another post, another official art reveal! Once again, thank you to aGoodCabinet for working on these.
     
     
    As normal, here are his links, so please do go check them out!
     
    Twitter
    Instagram
    Ko-fi
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Cheers for sticking with us during this quite difficult period as a whole, things are starting to be a lot more smooth sailing now moving forward. And with the Patreon now up and running, expect monthly blogs to return! 
     
    I look forward to sharing more with you all next month!
     
    Posty
    Ruby Red

    Mountains and Beaches

    By Ruby Red, in Records,

    Hi all! Surprised to see me here instead of The Postman™, huh? Well he’s slid this devblog over to me to talk about a certain something mentioned before. Besides that, Caz still isn’t around, but that’s alright. At least in the art department there isn’t anything to worry about since he almost always let me do whatever I thought looked nice LMAO
     
    But firstly, how’re you all doing? We’ve mentioned to the moon and back how we’ve been busy with this and that, but I recently graduated and got my Bachelors degree! As of posting this I still have a month left in my internship, but it’s pretty smooth sailing now lol. Besides life, I’ve actually been doing a ton of work for Deso on the side.
     
    And I mean, a ton.
     
    Unfortunately, most of which I can’t really show due to spoilers, but today, we’ll be talking about…
     
    Kanzen Temple
     
    Ya girl has started mapping. Be afraid.
     
    Jokes aside, in EP6 I was just starting to learn how to map properly. It was mostly indoor rooms and just some reskins of older tiles to get the hang of it. Kanzen Temple has been entirely my baby, as are a few other Large areas of EP7.
     
    To give a small progress update on my side of map things, for example, I finished the Kanzen Temple map, as well as Astraciel Town, another area you will be exploring in EP7! and I’m currently working on another bigger area that’s around half done~ That’s not even to mention all the non-map stuff that’s being worked on! There’s so much stuff done now that I’m starting to run out of things to do. help 😭
    So don’t worry, progress is still being made! Dev blogs are kinda inconsistent lately due to the spoilery nature of everything right now, so we’re trying okie 🥺 As long as I’m alive on this planet, Deso will continue until the end >:)
     
    But moving on, let’s actually show you something lmao
     
     

    I hope the trees didn’t spook you! The layout in the Kanzen Temple area is fairly straightforward hehe.
     

    The main entrance of the Temple is what greets you at the top of the mountain. Pretty scenic, huh?
     

    A courtyard! Though it’s looking mad empty right now since we haven’t put NPC’s down yet ^^;
     

    An exit leading to further up. Kanzen Temple is a major tourist destination in Arcanius, so it’s a bit more than just a Temple now.
     

    And here’s one of the indoor areas. This isn’t the Temple, but one of the buildings surrounding the area. Currently devoid of any life besides one of our protagonists 😔
     
    I had a lot of fun working on this area! It’s a place with a Temple (woah shocker), so I tried to keep the vibes serene and breezy. I also kept the palette warm and comfortable with the soft pastels, so I hope you enjoy exploring the area! It was reference image hell while working on this tho, but what’s an artist without references and hell haha.
     
    Even though I’ve been doing a lot of mapping lately, I’m still at baby level lol. There’s still some minor adjustments I’ll make to the maps later on down the line, but you get the jist of it! Whenever EP7 comes out, I hope you enjoy all the new things I and the team have worked on! <3
     
    Since I’m feeling particularly Silly today, I’ll end my segment off with the silhouette of a new character you’ll meet in EP7~
     

     
    Filing the Cabinet: Season 2
     
    If you’ve read the past dev blog, you probably already know what this means.
     
    A while ago we commissioned some art of our custom megas for Desolation (because i’m not a fan of drawing pokémon. what am I doing here. anyway,) aGoodCabinet has nailed the Sugimori style for his pokémon art and we were familiar with him being in the fangame spaces, so it was a no brainer. He was open to it, too!
     
    So here’s more official art of one of our custom megas! 🐸
     
     
    Thanks to aGoodCabinet for taking on these commissions for us! Speaking of his comms, they’re still open, so feel free to check out his socials!
     
    Twitter
    Instagram
    Ko-fi
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Now onto our final segment for today! We take a turn to go from Kanzen Temple alllll the way down to Keneph Beach, where our musician is taking a little break and breaking out the tunes for the area as well! He also has some words about it~
     
    Descend from the Mountain
     
    Hey Guys! Darius here, I had a lot of fun writing this theme! Keneph Beach is a super relaxing location in Deso where every player gets to see its transformation from the wastelands of the opening scenes to the new Resort! This theme took a lot of back and forth with the team before we got it sounding the way we like, and it takes a lot from Jazz harmony especially, surprisingly, gospel choir. 
     
    Hope you enjoy!
     

    Kenneph_Beach_Snippit.mp3  
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    That sure does sound like a lovely stroll down the beach, doesn’t it? Makes me want to go outside and touch some grass………………..…… moving on!
     
    Darius has been going crazy lately with all the themes he’s churning out for us! Looking forward to what you all think of the custom soundtracks he’s made for EP7! Since they’re… haha… music to my ears >:)
     
    Idk what to call this closing segment so it’ll be called this instead of anything good
     
    As said in our previous development blog, we mentioned our Patreon being down. We are looking into bringing it back soon enough, so keep an eye out for an announcement regarding that. It’s been a tricky situation, especially without the man himself… We’ve had occasional contact with him here and there so I hope… I hope!!!!!! he’ll come back to continue working on this with us eventually! I miss him :( But we have to make do with whatever situation we’ve been dealt.
     
    Thanks for sticking around with us so far!
     
    Ruby
     

     
     

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    Yeehaw

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