Red 5 Studios just announced that Orson Scott Card is fleshing out Firefall's story! The sci-fi author is best known for his Ender's Game series of novels and short stories. In addition to that big news, the studio also revealed that it's creating a Firefall manga novel in cooperation with Orson Scott Card, his daughter Emily Janice Card, and Udon Entertainment.

For more details and all sorts of gameplay footage, watch the Firefall dev diary video below. Orson Scott Card makes an appearance to explain his role in the writing process, so it's definitely worth a look.

If you're curious how Red 5 Studios came up with the art style for Firefall, you'll definitely want to read the latest dev blog entry from Art Lead Adam McMahon. He explains how the Battleframes, which are the game's classes, became a reality.

For example, the team added jet boots and jet packs to the Battleframes to give the game that sci-fi feel. They wanted the art to have worldwide appeal, so they looked at UDON Entertainment's Street Fighter comics for inspiration using shapes and simplified details.

For more details on how the Assult class (seen above) was born, read McMahon's full dev blog entry!

Red 5 Studios just posted a couple new pieces of concept art on Firefall's Facebook page. You can view them below. We got to try out the game's first playable demo at PAX East, and this free-to-play shooter definitely looks promising.

In the latest Firefall video dev diary, the Red 5 Studios team answers questions from the community that were submitted on YouTube. They discuss servers, PvP, custom emblems, vehicles, battleframes and more. You can hear all of their answers in the video below.

We recently got the chance to play Firefall at PAX East. Check out our impressions of this free-to-play game and get some details on the Assault, Medic and Recon battleframes while we wait for it to launch at the end of the year.

If you missed the first live broadcast of Firefall last week, you can watch part one and part two on Red 5 Studios' Justin.tv page. The broadcast starts about 19 minutes into the first video. They're definitely worth checking out if you'd like to see Firefall in action.

We recently got the chance to play Firefall at PAX East. Check out our impressions of this free-to-play game and get some details on the Assault, Medic and Recon battleframes while we wait for it to launch at the end of the year.

Red 5 Studios has unleashed a new Firefall PvP trailer. The latest video highlights the Sunken Harbor zone. This was the playable zone available to fans who attended PAX East. Check it out below:

Friday, May 6th at 6pm PDT the team will be doing their first ever live broadcast of Firefall to the world on Justin.tv. They've invited a group of e-Sports broadcasters to the studio to not only provide their insights into the game and help to tune the competitive side of Firefall, but they will also be broadcasting an internal dev match live.

Be sure to join the Firefall team at http://justin.tv/r5studios.

Firefall Senior Game Designer Dave Williams has written a lengthy blog entry that tackles the problem of balancing a progression system with the desire for skill-based gameplay. Here's Williams' main answer:

"A lot of the progression that we’ve built into Firefall is what we call 'horizontal progression.' Not an increase in health, damage inflicted, or incoming damage mitigation, but an increase to your options. An enlargement of your toolset."

By focusing progression on rewards such as more abilities, more Battleframe loadouts and more jumpjet energy, Red 5 Studios hopes to keep player skill at the forefront of combat. "At the end of the day, we want your ability to place your crosshairs over your enemies and pull the trigger to matter," Williams said.

We recently got the chance to play Firefall at PAX East. Check out our impressions of this free-to-play game and get some details on the Assault, Medic and Recon battleframes while we wait for it to launch at the end of the year.

The latest Firefall Video Dev Diary follows the team's experience at PAX East. The team officially unveiled Firefall at PAX Prime in September 2010, and they just showed off the first playable demo at PAX East.

This video goes in depth with VP of Development James Macauley and Lead Designer Scott Youngblood as they explain the level of stress that comes with presenting a playable demo to the public, as well as how pleased they were with the crowd's response.

Community Manager Matt DeWald also steps in to send a personal message to all the Firefall fans who attended PAX.

Watch the full video after the jump and don't forget to read our in-depth play-through of the Firefall demo from PAX East.

Firefall is set in a future where humanity must fight to survive. Needless to say, shaving dropped pretty low on the priority list. Well, that's all about to change. Red 5 Studios announced today, April 1, that the next Firefall battleframe is the Groomer. With his scissors and mini-comb equipped, he can style facial hair into a force for good.

On a more serious note, we got the chance to play Firefall at PAX East. Check out our impressions of this free-to-play game and get some details on the Assault, Medic and Recon battleframes while we wait for it to launch at the end of the year.

The Penny Arcade Expo has become an important convention for Red 5 Studios. The team officially unveiled Firefall at PAX Prime in September 2010, and they just showed off the first playable demo at PAX East over the weekend. I stopped by the massive booth to get my hands on the free-to-play multiplayer online shooter, and it's safe to say that fans of the genre should give it a try when it launches later this year.

Just to make it clear, this game is going to be free-to-play. It will be supported by an item shop, but Lead Designer Scott Youngblood emphasized that the team doesn't want players to be able to “buy power.” Once we had the pricing model details out of the way, it was time for me to get an overview of the game and dive into some combat.