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MARTINEZAI STUDIOS
CONTRABANDEdge of the Fold
THE ORIGINAL REFERENCE COLLECTION

Development archive

A field archive of the Fold: people, allegiances, equipment and the routes between them. Choose a subject, or search the full text of the collection. Story and ending entries contain spoilers.

Development archive

ASCII Portraits

CONTRABAND's character portraits are four-line ASCII art patterns, not illustrations. This was a budget constraint that became an …

4 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Writing 300+ narrative scenes

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Base building as endgame

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

150 state flags: how branching works

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Faction reputation that matters

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Firebase Auth integration

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Designing four endings + 30 variants

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Async GLB ship loader

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Mobile rendering fixes

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Why a pacifist path exists

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Pointer lock pitfalls

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Procedural audio with Web Audio API

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Why revisit has no credit cost

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Save system: localStorage + Firestore

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Six named bosses, six tones

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Three.js ship rendering

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Why vanilla JS, no framework

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Vercel deployment workflow

Archived context (2026): Written during the browser prototype era. CONTRABAND now ships on Steam ; the playable web build was reti…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Writing Vex across 17 branches

Design diary — by Dero Lavigne…

2 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Monetization Philosophy

Current model (2026): CONTRABAND: Edge of the Fold ships as a paid Steam PC release (App ID 4901100). The playable browser build i…

3 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Procedural Audio

2026 update: The Steam PC release ships with a 21-track composed soundtrack ( Across the Silent Stars ). Combat/UI SFX may still u…

5 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Designing the Rift branches

The revisit mechanic is the thesis of CONTRABAND. Getting it right took more iteration than any other system. Here's how it evolve…

5 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Stripe & Firebase Integration

Archived (2026): This page documents the retired browser checkout stack . CONTRABAND now sells through Steam . The marketing site …

3 min · Read article ↗
Development archive

Three.js Lessons

2026 update: Combat still runs on Three.js/WebGL. Delivery moved from the retired browser build to the Steam PC release ; the rend…

5 min · Read article ↗