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studioblackflag.bsky.social
Studio Black Flag
@studioblackflag.bsky.social
88 followers 5 following 24 posts
Black Flag is an indie game developer cooperative. We love pet rats, craft beer, and uncompromising games.

Developing: Orphan Age, the nihilistic sim game.
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studioblackflag.bsky.social
On this, the last day of February, we present a chat with @thejenya.bsky.social about how we're building Orphan Age to showcase kids as heroes.

Read it here: buff.ly/3uTRJGw
A ruined city street from Orphan Age is viewable, showing broken down crates, pallets, wood, etc with an orange/purple skyline masking a cybertrash city. The Orphan Age logo is written out in spray paint with "Building a Game that showcases kids as heroes with Jen Vaughn" written below. On the street is the Orphan Age mascot, Karl, a purple dinosaur. In the faded background is Jen Vaughn, a white, dark haired femme person brandishing a small knife or dagger and wearing a "Powerline" shirt.
February 29, 2024 at 3:44 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Been a bit quiet here and it's a funny story. Well, not funny haha, or actually funny... let's not get into it

Hey, would you like to know what our next planned news posts leading into Early Access launch are planned to be? Sure you do!

buff.ly/49Va6tB

#IndieGameDev
A ruined city street from Orphan Age is viewable, showing broken down crates, pallets, wood, etc with an orange/purple skyline masking a cybertrash city. The Orphan Age logo is written out in spray paint with "A News update About News Updates" written below. On the street is a lime 3D printed dinosaur based on the Orphan Age mascot, Karl.
February 16, 2024 at 3:35 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Meet the Crew continues with Orphan Age's Lead Programmer, Lucien 🦜

#IndieGameDev
An image of a cartoon styled pirates map sits on a red table. On the map is a faded image of a Karl, the purple stuffed dinosaur mascot for Orphan Age, but now featuring thick-framed black glasses on their face with an "x marks the spot" pirate map overlayed on their head. The text on the image reads "Meet the Crew; Captain Lucien Baldacchino; Lead Programmer; What do you do at Studio Black Flag?; Program Features, Mostly Focusing on Engine, Dataflow, & Architecture. Ensure codebase consistency & robustness. Manage dev team, including distributing tasks & assisting wherever I can.; How long have you worked for Studio Black Flag?; 3 years; Why did you want to work for Studio Black Flag?; Project was interesting in the lore, ambiance & gameplay mechanics. Also the vision of a cooperative for the studio was appealing to me.
January 18, 2024 at 3:33 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Meet the Crew continues into 2024! Introducing Lylia, Captain and UX Designer at Studio Black Flag on Orphan Age 🦜
An image of a cartoon styled pirates map sits on a red table. On the map is a faded image of a white, dark haired femme person wearing a knit cap, scarf, and winter jacket with an "x marks the spot" pirate map overlayed on their head. The text on the image reads "Meet the Crew; Captain Lylia Fauvel; UX Designer; What do you do at studio black flag?; I make sure the gaming experience is on point. It can be as simple as where buttons are or tougher questions about how to show things. My goal is to make sure players understand what they have to do & that they have challenges through their gaming session, but not frustrations due to the game not working.; Why did you want to work for Studio Black Flag?; I first loved the game, with its original plot and the fact that everything was yet to be done. It was a great challenge incoming! then I also fell in love with the Studio’s values & team.
January 11, 2024 at 3:58 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
From Karl and the entire Studio Black Flag crew, we hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. Our studio will be closed starting today, but we'll be back in full the second week of January.
A green 3D printed dinosaur made to look like Karl from Orphan Age is sitting in a green Christmas tree with lights and ornaments helping to illuminate them.
December 22, 2023 at 3:45 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
The end of the year is coming up fast, so how about one last news update on Orphan Age's development?

Oh, our team also shared some of our favorite things about our #IndieDev experience with our upcoming nihilistic sim:

buff.ly/3Ru9LX3
December 21, 2023 at 4:05 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
It's @thejenya.bsky.social!

Time for another Meet the Crew, one day earlier this time for reasons... 👀

#IndieGame #IndieDev #GameDev
An image of a cartoon styled pirates map sits on a red table. On the map is a faded image of a white, dark haired femme person brandishing a small knife or dagger and wearing a "Powerline" shirt with an "x marks the spot" pirate map overlayed on their head. The text on the image reads "Meet the Crew; Captain Jen Vaughn; Senior Game Designer; What do you do at studio black flag?; Writing game design proposals & documentation for features; narrative design & quest design; world-building; cinematic storyboards; dialog-writing. AKA making people fall in love with or hate characters.; Why did you want to work for Studio Black Flag?; I enjoyed Adrien’s interview on wanting to answer Will Wright’s challenge of making a Sims-like game. Plus, the heart of the game is about compassion and kindness, themes that are very important to me.
December 20, 2023 at 3:03 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Meet Adrien Forestier, game director for Orphan Age and founder of Studio Black Flag!

Most every week we'll be introducing a new member of our #indiedev team, or dropping some new facts on someone you've met 🏴‍☠️

#gamedev
An image showing a cartoon looking pirate map unfurled on a table. On the map it says: "Meet the Crew; Captain Adrien Forestier; Game Director; What do you do at Studio Black Flag? Over the Project I've done a bit of everything, but now I focus on game systems & game flow, when I'm not in meetings. As game director, I check everyone's work in order to keep things consistent for our shared vision of Orphan Age. Why did you start Studio Black Flag? I was in burnout from working on projects with publishers & clients, & I wanted to be freed from any form of pressure from a hierarchy. This is why the studio is named Black Flag. I didn't want to sail under any flag other than my own.
November 9, 2023 at 5:16 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Hi #PitchYaGame!

Re-introducing Orphan Age, our nihilistic life sim set in a cybertrash world. Players will gather orphans who will build, trade, and crawl their way to a (hopefully) better future.

💖 Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/767660/O...

Please repost & like to support.
Screenshot of the work in progress Orphan Age team selection screen. Screenshot of Orphan Age showing an orphan picking a lock and another cleaning up trash. Screenshot of the work in progress Orphan Age expedition screen. Screenshot of the work in progress Orphan Age skills screen.
November 3, 2023 at 1:12 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
New Orphan Age map just dropped. All map, no door... also no windows

#indiedev #indiegames
Screenshot of Orphan Age showing a map that's just a small box barely big enough for the 3 characters to fit in. It's four walls, blue tile floors, and a desk against one wall.
October 11, 2023 at 2:08 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
L'équipe s'est bien amusée à Hypermondes. C'est toujours un plaisir de passer un moment avec nos amis de la sphère vidéoludique bordelaise et avec la communauté de joueurs bordelais.

More details on Hypermondes: buff.ly/3PkUtml
Someone in a red hoodie sits and plays Click of Chthulhu on a desktop PC Someone sits and plays Click of Chthulhu on a desktop PC. A trio of kids color in coloring pages of the orphans in Orphan Age. Two people pose outside of Hypermondes.
September 26, 2023 at 10:08 AM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Si vous êtes à Bordeaux, venez rencontrer l'équipe à Hypermondes ! Nous y serons les 23 et 24 septembre.

If you're in Bordeaux, come to Hypermondes and meet the team! We'll be there September 23 and 24.

hypermondes.fr
The Hypermondes Festival logo showing it taking place 23 & 24 of September 2023
September 14, 2023 at 10:14 AM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
I know I'm tired when I start making GIFs of bed building and the sleeping spots start looking cozier and cozier. 😴

(Imagine this is a GIF that's moving)
A screenshot of Orphan Age showing the build menu opened with two sleeping spot blueprints placed side by side.
September 12, 2023 at 8:51 AM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
How about some good news not-quite-bad news?

Bad news: We're removing our Steam demo because it's super out of date and a bad representation of the game. (It'll come back closer to launch.)
Good news: We've hit another milestone!

More details: store.steampowered.com/news/app/767...
A screenshot of Orphan Age showing a pop-up in-game. The pop-up states "Welcome" at the top, followed by "We're hiding in this building because the militias and gangs are patrolling the streets. Let's hope they'll be gone soon... Your goal: move closer to the Haven" A screenshot of Orphan Age showing the character of Maureen laying on a sleeping spot. By her name is an affliction detailing that she's barely conscious and that if she doesn't receive medicine that she'll die within 15 hours and 16 minutes.
September 11, 2023 at 1:11 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
A hearty congratulations to Lucas who finished his 3-year apprenticeship with Studio Black Flag this last week! Lucas joins us now as a full-time pirate & developer on Orphan Age.
A close-up of Lucas' monitors. The left shows a recent build of Orphan Age while the right shows his background image, which appears to be a desolate road overlayed with "LUCAS" in bold all caps lettering.
September 7, 2023 at 1:09 PM
studioblackflag.bsky.social
Been a bit since the crew has shared news on Orphan Age. It's in development, and we have more details including an FAQ on Steam: steamcommunity.com/games/orphan...

The short version is we're still in active development, hit a big milestone, and we have a publisher.
This is an image of our current start screen from our latest build. It shows a broken down city in the background and in the foreground is a purple dinosaur plushie laying on its side.
August 24, 2023 at 1:37 PM