Black Skylands DevLog — Airships and the Shipyard
Hello, captains!
In Black Skylands airships are incredibly Important — they serve as means of transportation and communication between the many scattered islands. In some cases, they can even become a floating house. Without a doubt, people of Skylands simply wouldn't survive having no airships.
And as a player, you'll be able to choose and customize your ship to better suit a specific task — all courtesy of the Shipyard and its tools! In today's DevLog we're going to talk exactly about that — ships, shipbuilding and components upgrading.
[h3]The Man-O-War[/h3]
Let’s talk about the ships themselves first. Right now we have 3 classes of ships planned for the game.
Each ship will have base stats, which vary between the models.
Your starting ship is a great all-rounder and from there you can decide what is specifically important to you. Are you an aerial ace who values manoeuvrability? Check out The Needle. Are you always short on cargo hold space for the loot you get? Take the helm of The Elephant and become an ultimate trader. Just remember that you'll have to sacrifice something else in exchange!
Of course, components installed on the ship will modify its stats, allowing for even bigger customization. Right now any ship has the next characteristics:
The most important one for upgrading is the ship’s maximum available weight — this is the characteristic which will determine a ship's capacity for upgrades. Each part has a different weight, which depends on its quality — better parts weight more. This way the player won’t be able to take a juggernaut and max out its speed to create an apex predator of the skies.
[h3]Time To Shiver Some Timbers[/h3]
You’ll be able to found the Shipyard on the Fathership — now the main vessel truly stands up to his name! There you’ll have the next options:
Choose or replace the ship to use — pretty self-explanatory. If you have more than one airship available, you can switch between them, or select a newly crafted one
Craft a new ship or a ship component — Here you can build new vessels from acquired blueprints. You can also create new parts to customize your ship — an engine, thrusters, hull and etc.
Replace components — this one is for upgrading your airship with new modules. Harder. Better. Faster. We have a feeling this section of the Shipyard will be the one players are going to spend the most time with.
A quick side note: if you switch the ship all installed components will be retained. Less menu navigation — more sky sailing!
![](https://i.imgur.com/mPPMBIT.png<url https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png="https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png"><img>https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png<img>https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png<url https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png="https://i.imgur.com/CwSkDes.png"><img></img></url></img></img></url>)
[h3]Shipshape[/h3]
The ship’s components are crafted from blueprints, which can be acquired as rewards from quests or bought with Oil Capsules from merchants. Building a ship part is the same as crafting weapon mods — it requires a blueprint and resources specified in it.
Right now we design the system around these components:
![](https://i.imgur.com/RxdnVlg.png<url https://i.imgur.com/YudYTee.png="https://i.imgur.com/YudYTee.png"><img>https://i.imgur.com/YudYTee.png</img></url>)
As we mentioned, the ships are going to have a weight restriction for the components. The weight of a ship’s part is determined by its quality — the better it is, the heavier it will be. As a player, you’ll have to choose which parts you really need to upgrade, but you can also balance things out and possibly create a “Jack of all trades” type of aircraft.
Every upgrade can be used on any ship and even can be installed on multiple vessels at once.
That way you don’t need to worry about crafting a specific upgrade for each ship.
[h3]Final Thoughts[/h3]
The player's ship has a huge role not only in the lore of Black Skylands but also as a gameplay element. Exploration, transportation of resources, aerial combat — these aspects make a big part of the game. And even though some things may change during development — our team is adamant on making airship crafting and upgrading as good as possible.
Thanks for reading and being interested in Black Skylands! See you in the next issue of Developer's Diary.
By the way, our official Discord server has launched a role-playing game in which you can join one of Aspya's unions. Very soon we will announce a themed contest for each faction and three winners o each union will receive a Steam key for Black Skylands!
Join us today!
Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for development progress, media and important announcements.
Twitter Facebook Discord
In Black Skylands airships are incredibly Important — they serve as means of transportation and communication between the many scattered islands. In some cases, they can even become a floating house. Without a doubt, people of Skylands simply wouldn't survive having no airships.
And as a player, you'll be able to choose and customize your ship to better suit a specific task — all courtesy of the Shipyard and its tools! In today's DevLog we're going to talk exactly about that — ships, shipbuilding and components upgrading.
[h3]The Man-O-War[/h3]
Let’s talk about the ships themselves first. Right now we have 3 classes of ships planned for the game.
Each ship will have base stats, which vary between the models.
Your starting ship is a great all-rounder and from there you can decide what is specifically important to you. Are you an aerial ace who values manoeuvrability? Check out The Needle. Are you always short on cargo hold space for the loot you get? Take the helm of The Elephant and become an ultimate trader. Just remember that you'll have to sacrifice something else in exchange!
Current ship classes. Work in Progress
Of course, components installed on the ship will modify its stats, allowing for even bigger customization. Right now any ship has the next characteristics:
- Maximum speed
- Acceleration
- Maximum health points
- Maximum weight
- Turn speed
- Hold capacity
The most important one for upgrading is the ship’s maximum available weight — this is the characteristic which will determine a ship's capacity for upgrades. Each part has a different weight, which depends on its quality — better parts weight more. This way the player won’t be able to take a juggernaut and max out its speed to create an apex predator of the skies.
[h3]Time To Shiver Some Timbers[/h3]
You’ll be able to found the Shipyard on the Fathership — now the main vessel truly stands up to his name! There you’ll have the next options:
Choose or replace the ship to use — pretty self-explanatory. If you have more than one airship available, you can switch between them, or select a newly crafted one
Craft a new ship or a ship component — Here you can build new vessels from acquired blueprints. You can also create new parts to customize your ship — an engine, thrusters, hull and etc.
Replace components — this one is for upgrading your airship with new modules. Harder. Better. Faster. We have a feeling this section of the Shipyard will be the one players are going to spend the most time with.
A quick side note: if you switch the ship all installed components will be retained. Less menu navigation — more sky sailing!
One of the versions for the Shipyard interface. Subject to change
[h3]Shipshape[/h3]
The ship’s components are crafted from blueprints, which can be acquired as rewards from quests or bought with Oil Capsules from merchants. Building a ship part is the same as crafting weapon mods — it requires a blueprint and resources specified in it.
Right now we design the system around these components:
- Engine — the heart of your aircraft. It determines the maximum speed, fuel consumption and partially for manoeuvrability. If the ship receives too much damage its maximum speed will decrease and the engine has a chance to stop.
- Gas tank — determines the maximum amount of fuel you can store. Totally unexpected!
- Manoeuvrability components — affect the turn speed and how fast it can slow down.
- Hull material — determines the maximum amount of health points of the aircraft.
- Propeller — is responsible for the acceleration. When the ship gets heavily damaged, the propeller can halt for a bit.
- Cannons — these upgrades will not only affect the damage but can also have different fire modes
- Cargo hold — determines the maximum amount of storage cells.
Components upgrading tab in the Shipyard. Work in progress.
As we mentioned, the ships are going to have a weight restriction for the components. The weight of a ship’s part is determined by its quality — the better it is, the heavier it will be. As a player, you’ll have to choose which parts you really need to upgrade, but you can also balance things out and possibly create a “Jack of all trades” type of aircraft.
Every upgrade can be used on any ship and even can be installed on multiple vessels at once.
That way you don’t need to worry about crafting a specific upgrade for each ship.
[h3]Final Thoughts[/h3]
The player's ship has a huge role not only in the lore of Black Skylands but also as a gameplay element. Exploration, transportation of resources, aerial combat — these aspects make a big part of the game. And even though some things may change during development — our team is adamant on making airship crafting and upgrading as good as possible.
Thanks for reading and being interested in Black Skylands! See you in the next issue of Developer's Diary.
By the way, our official Discord server has launched a role-playing game in which you can join one of Aspya's unions. Very soon we will announce a themed contest for each faction and three winners o each union will receive a Steam key for Black Skylands!
Join us today!
Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for development progress, media and important announcements.
Twitter Facebook Discord