Blazing Sails News

Ahoy ye scurvy Seadogs! In preparation of our upcoming BIG LUNAR UPDATE (coming soon™) we'd like to share a little preview of the sail damage we'll be adding soon. No longer will you look like a fool for shooting a tad too high and missing the hull, because sails will soon become a juicy target.

And we'll make the joke for you. Yes, Blazing Sails will soon have actual blazing sails.

Without further ado, check out the video below for the full sail damage preview!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Sail Damage for dummies[/h3]
It's very simple: damaged sails will cause your ship to sail slower the more damaged they are. Luckily sail damage can easily be repaired by hammering the mast and doesn't require any resource!

[h3]How will sail damage impact gameplay?[/h3]
Speaking from experience (we've had sail damage during the pre-alpha) we know this feature adds a lot of extra depth to the gameplay and rewards teamwork even more. While the hull will stay the most important thing to repair during a match, sail damage and thus sailing speed can heavily impact the outcome of a game. Especially now with the recently added, agile Junk Ship we felt like this was the perfect time to re-introduce this feature to the game. Also during chase-situations damaging the sails can come in quite handy.

[h3]Will certain cannonball-types do more damage?[/h3]
Yes! And not only that. We've added a new special cannonball type to the game: "The Anti-Sail Cannonball". This is a commonly found type of ball that does a lot of sail damage. All other cannonballs can also damage sails but do far less damage than the Anti-Sail. Thus, they are less effective at damaging sails.



[h3]Why don't I need cloth or another resource to repair sails?[/h3]
While we think having even more resources is not preferable at this point we know from testing (we also had cloth in the prototype) that the need for a resource for type of damage is highly unpractical. Imagine being out in the ocean, your sails completely shredded, you look in your inventory and what do you NOT see? Cloth. You're stranded. (in the deadzone maybe) Have fun sailing at 1 meter per hour to any island or crates. Hence, this would greatly reduce the fast-paced flow of the game.



That about wraps it up pirates! Hope you're excited for the upcoming update!

Like this sneak peek thingy? Let us know on Discord!

Ahoy! We're rolling out some small changes / fixes following-up yesterday's bigger update.

[h3]Gameplay changes:[/h3]

• Weapons now always drop from defeated players even when they are respawning or using a vehicle
  
• Trapshot rarity changed to tier 4 (from tier 3)
  

[h3]Exploit fix:[/h3]

• Can no longer enter vehicles from the air while not on a ship
  

[h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• Kraken roar should work again now (it's also more optimized now)
  
• Sprays should work again
  
• Blunderbuss now has the proper weapon name in the inventory (no longer called "Butcher's Knife")
  
• Smoothing group issue fixed on small woodplank in the front on the Brigantine
  

Like this hotfix? Let us know on Discord!

Ahoy mateys!

We hope you’ve been enjoying the Kraken Keep and Icy Caverns, because the next island is already on the horizon. Let’s take a look at the upcoming Lunar New Year update.

[h3]Sail damage[/h3]
Ladies and gentle-pirates, soon Blazing Sails will finally have ACTUAL BLAZING SAILS:

Here's a WIP sneak peek:



You probably know the feeling of aiming too high and seeing your cannonball magically whizz through an enemy sail. Well, no more! With the Lunar New Year update, we will be adding sail damage. Damaged sails will cause your ship to sail slower. Of course, these can be repaired easily by simply hammering your masts. This added feature will add an extra twist to the current gameplay and can be very handy during a chase situation.

[h3]Lunar Lands[/h3]
The Lunar Lands are a collection of steep rocks connected by wooden bridges. Though it has been long since abandoned, there’s still plenty of loot to be found, and the tall buildings make for excellent sniping spots!

Here's a little foretaste




[h3]Lunar New Year Cosmetics[/h3]
Of course, no celebration is complete without some new cosmetics! We’ve got some oxcellent ideas cooked up for the year of the ox. Stay tuned for more.


Without further ado, here's the updated roadmap:



Find a full resolution version here.


[h3]Re: Optimisation[/h3]
To those asking for better optimisation -- we hear you! Our new team members are eager to jump on this issue. We've recently recruited a new programmer at Get Up Games to help further polish and improve Blazing Sails. We've also found an external partner that will focus on nativising our project. If all goes well this should definitely improve the overall performance. Later this year we've got a few interns joining our team. We believe they'll be able to learn a lot during their stay but also contribute in the further development of our game.

Long story short: some nice updates and optimisations are on the way. The future is looking bright and we simply can't wait to continue further development!

[h3]Sale![/h3]
On top of all that we've got a Daily Deal Sale going on right now! (Praise our lord and saviour Gaben) Get Blazing Sails at 25% off right now! The sale will end on the 27th of this month at 7pm CET. So what arrrr ye' waiting for scallywag? Grab it while it's hot!!



Let us know what you think about our updated Roadmap on Discord!

Ahoy ye scallywags!

If a cannon fires in the distance, but no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? The answer to that is yes, and with today's update, it'll make a much cooler sound than before! And it's not just regular cannons -- swivels and fast snipers also got a bit of an auditory upgrade.

There's some other changes that you've been requesting, like smoother transitions when jumping from ship to ship, and player weapons dropping when their team is defeated!

[h3]Sound overhauls:[/h3]

• New cannon sounds
  
• New swivel cannon sounds
  
• New fast sniper firing sound
  
• Some water and ship sounds slightly reduced in volume
  
• Cannon sounds optimized (consumes less audio channels)
  
• Distant sounds added to all weapons
  
• New cannonball air travel sound
  

[h3]Gameplay improvements:[/h3]

• Characters jumping from ship to ship should no longer teleport away for a split second (transition should be smoother)
  
• When dropping weapons in the water they will now go up and down with the waves
  
• Junk ship frontal damage points moved a bit so they no longer appear inside the hangmats
  
• Player weapon drops:
  
• All weapons now drop from a player if his team is defeated or when he disconnects
  

[h3]Damage:[/h3]

• Sprint is now blocked for 1 second by any type of damage, not only melee anymore
  

[h3]Ship gameplay:[/h3]

• Turning speed now increases and decreases depending on ship speed and no longer depending on sail deployment (sharper turns when anchored)
  
• Turning speed is now slightly faster when stationary (60% when going full speed and 100% when stationary, half speed would be 80%)
  

[h3]Optimisations:[/h3]

• Removed some leftover components from the character (cleanup)
  
• Improved collision performance on character
  

[h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that caused turning speed to be slowest instead of fastest when stationary until you used the sails
  
• Fixed a bug that caused more than 16 players to be able to join pre-game servers
  
• Bow mounted barrels should now work again
  
• Fixed "Not enough room" warning when trying to steal ship items with a full inventory
  
• Fixed incorrect metal rope attachment points LOD material
  

Like this update? Let us know on Discord!

Yarr! This update contains some reported bug fixes and requested improvements. Mainly the reward drop system has improved quite a lot with this hotfix.

Here are the patch notes:


Ship visuals:

• Metal grates, mast reinforcements and other metal details made a bit darker and more rough
  

Gameplay changes:

• Entering the crows nest now requires you to hold interact for 1 second
  
• Entering enemy ship's crows nests has been enabled again
  
• You can no longer drop items on or around the cork
  
• You can no longer drop items in the air or in the water
  

Cosmetic item reward system:

• Duplicate item drops should be less frequent
  
• Rewards are no longer granted based on luck
  
• First place now gets 4 items
  
• Second place now gets 2 items
  
• Third place or lower now gets 1 item
  

Bug fixes:

• Open crew slots no longer count slots of closed crews
  
• Open crew slots are now capped by the free slots on a server
  

Like this hotfix? Let us know on Discord!