Paper Pirates News

We’ve got a few little extra updates, features, and bug fixes ready for release a little earlier than usual - so we’re bringing them to you in the 2.5.1 Paper Pirates Bonus Update!

[h2]Twitch Integration[/h2]
At the request of the lovely streamers who have been playing Paper Pirates, we’ve added Twitch Integration to Paper Pirates. If you’d like to ensure that your players are using their Twitch usernames to join your games, enable ‘Require Twitch Login’ from the main menu options before starting your game! Players who aren’t logged in to Twitch will automatically join your audience instead (unless you have Audience Mode turned off, which case they won’t be able to join at all!).

To play with a connected Twitch account, click the Twitch logo in the top-left when connected via your device. Once you’re connected via Twitch, you won’t be able to change your name - so press the Twitch icon again to disconnect your account, and you’ll be able to change your pirate name again.

[h2]Kick Pirates from the Lobby/In-Game[/h2]
Another requested streamer feature is the ability to remove pirates from the lobby and from the game. Where previously you could click on a pirate to mute them, doing so now opens a menu, where you can choose whether to mute a pirate (preventing them from sending messages to the chat) or kick them from your game!



If you kick a pirate after your game has started, that pirate will be replaced by a bot, and they won’t be able to reconnect. Please be very careful and be absolutely certain that you want to remove that pirate before kicking them!

[h2]Keyboard Menu Navigation, Accessibility Mode and Spoken Room Codes[/h2]
In our efforts to improve Paper Pirates accessibility, we’ve added a first pass at keyboard navigation to in-game menus, which you can try using the arrow keys.

Additionally, we’ve introduced an Accessibility Mode, which can be turned on either through the main menu options or by pressing left shift three times. When Accessibility Mode is turned on, spoken prompts will announce which menu option is currently selected. This functionality initially covers the main menus and options screen, and there are some additional spoken prompts during the game to indicate key gameplay elements (e.g. how much treasure is remaining).

Finally, we have added a button to the lobby screen which allows for the room code to be read aloud. This button can also be accessed and selected via the aforementioned keyboard navigation.

The accessibility features are currently very much in testing, and we would greatly appreciate feedback on these via the Paper Pirates Discord, or through the Steam forums.

[h2]A Few Other Things[/h2]

• You can now hover over each pirate’s objective in the round history to see a full description of their secret objective at the end of the game.
  
• If a pirate ends a Scored Game on the ghost team, the ghost haunting them will now join them on the party podiums to share in the celebrations.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Hats in the ‘new hat unlock' toast were appearing behind the model’s head! Now they aren’t.
  
• If someone voted for you during a Shroud of Fog event, the little black spots appearing all over your device gave the game away as to who voted for you - oops! They’re now properly obscured by the fog. Spooky!
  
• When playing a game with event selection set to “Crew’s Choice”, some events were appearing a little too often.
  
• The ‘Lost at Sea’ Daily Voyage wasn’t correctly activating the Shroud of Fog event when it should’ve been.
  
• When playing with Crew’s Choice, rarely on days with no audience vote, an audience vote from a previous day could have accidentally been chosen.
  

In the first week of November, we’re honouring the spirits of the dead with our second seasonal event, Día de Muertos! Running from 1st November - 7th November, celebrating for a whole week to give everyone the chance to play!



[h2]Limited Time Costumes[/h2]
During Día de Muertos, Sam Sherbot has some new outfit options available to unlock in the Outfit Shop! If you buy an outfit option during Día de Muertos, you can wear it all year round - but the items will be disappearing from sale when the event is over, so don’t delay and buy today! The full list of outfit items available during Día de Muertos is:

• Face - Calaveras (Cobwebs)
  
• Face - Calaveras (Flowers)
  
• Face - Calaveras (Horns)
  
• Face - Calaveras (Toreador)
  

Additionally, during Día de Muertos pirates will be able to wear a unique hat - La Calavera Catrina is available to everyone in voyages started during the event. Once the event’s over, the hat will disappear from your collection until next year!

[h2]Honour the Spirits![/h2]
Go on a sailing adventure during Día de Muertos, and your crew will have the chance to honour the spirits of the departed. During the Event phase of the game, the Honour the Spirits event may activate for the duration of Día de Muertos, offering a randomly chosen pirate hidden information relating to how many ghosts have been successfully cleansed from your game so far…

[h2]A Special Spiritual Bot[/h2]
Invite bots into your game during the Día de Muertos, and you may find one of the regular crew replaced with a special La Catrina-themed bot! She’ll only join your games during the Día de Muertos event, but she has her very own personality and appearance for you to enjoy.

As we prepare to say goodbye to the Haunted Seas event, we’re setting sail for destination 2.5! The focus of this patch is improving the Paper Pirates user experience, and hopefully making it so that everyone who plays can get a better understanding of the rules. Don’t be too sad about the end of Haunted Seas - keep an eye on the Steam updates for more seasonal events as they happen!

[h2]Celebrate the Winners with an All-New Game End Experience[/h2]
The game’s not over when you reach the shore or all your treasure’s gone overboard, and we’re recognising that with an all-new, freshly revamped game end experience! New screens and animations add tension as each crew member is revealed to be a human or ghost, and if you made it home safe? Watch out as the captain’s role is dramatically revealed, revealing the winning team to all!



If you’re playing a scored game, there’s a second game end screen featuring our party podiums, that show each pirate’s coin total. Watch out for a last-second reversal of fortune as the secret objectives are revealed - especially if you have a Demotivated Stowaway!



[h2]Pirate Leaderboard[/h2]
Every time you play a game of Paper Pirates from 2.5 onwards, your player statistics will be saved to your pirate template. Keep using the same pirate name to build up a score over time, and then see how you fare amongst your friends with the new Leaderboard! On the Leaderboard, you can sort by a number of stats (including human wins and ghost wins!) to see who’s truly the most victorious pirate of all.



[h2]Player Chat Improvements[/h2]
We’ve given the in-game chat a little bit of a facelift, to make it more user friendly! The chat history has been separated from the Game Log (which you can still find in the menu), and shows up when you’re sending a message. Additionally, each player is assigned a colour which shows up throughout the game - in their nameplate, in the chat, and during the game end screens! There are ten colours in total, but don’t be fighting amongst yourselves for your favourite colour - they’re randomly chosen each game!

[h2]Connected Player Guidance and Graphical Improvements[/h2]
The connected player client has received a visual overhaul with 2.5, which adds improved guidance throughout the game indicating what you need to do and when. Additionally, there are a host of fun new animations that play at certain points in the game - look out for all the different event animations as you play! If you’d like to reduce your bandwidth usage while playing, or improve client performance, you can turn animations off in the menu after you’ve connected to a game!



[h2]The Captain Returns![/h2]
For this patch, we’ve coordinated some socially distanced voice recording, and we’re delighted to welcome back Captain Wilson who has topped up the voice acting in Paper Pirates. Once again you can look forward to announcements throughout the game, including the rules introduction, during events, and in the new improved game end screen!

[h2]Voting History[/h2]
During voting, your connected device will now display an indicator of who is currently voting (remember, pirates vote one by one from stowaway to captain!), and a record of who each pirate voted for - or a note to say they passed their vote if they did!

[h2]Scurvy[/h2]
Patch 2.5 sees the introduction of one new event, but it’s sure to really mix up your games! When treasure goes overboard, there’s a chance the Scurvy event might activate, offering a pirate a bowl of fruit. Share the fruit amongst the crew, saving pirates in turn - the question is, is there enough fruit to save everyone…?



Don’t forget that you can join us every Saturday at 8pm GMT (adjusted time for the UK’s daylight savings time!) on Twitch for our weekly dev stream, or pop by our YouTube channel to see Let’s Plays of Paper Pirates, How To videos and more! Or if you’re looking for a crew to set sail with make sure to join our Discord!

Throughout October, celebrate Paper Pirates’ first seasonal event by taking part in the Halloween-themed Haunted Seas event! Running from 1st October - 31st October, a whole host of spooky goings on are waiting for you.

[h2]Limited Time Costumes[/h2]
While the Haunted Seas event is on, Sam Sherbot has some new outfit options available to unlock in the Outfit Shop! If you buy an outfit option during Haunted Seas, you can wear it all year round - but the items will be disappearing from sale when the event is over, so don’t delay and buy today!



The full list of outfit items available during Haunted Seas is:

• Face - Pumpkin
  
• Top Hair - Bride of Frankenstein
  
• Top Hair - Widow’s Peak
  
• Accessories - Fangs
  
• Shirt - Skeletal
  
• Shirt - Tee (Webs)
  
• Coat - Bat Wings
  
• Coat - Vampire Cloak
  
• Legs - Skeletal
  
• Hands - Skeletal
  
• Feet - Skeletal
  

[h2]Trick or Treat?[/h2]
Go on a sailing adventure during the Haunted Seas event, and the Halloween Spirits may appear to one of the crew. During the Event phase of the game, the Trick or Treat? event may activate for the duration of Haunted Seas, offering a randomly chosen pirate a choice. Will they take the easy option and choose a treat, or are they feeling brave and willing to risk a trick?



[h2]Halloween Bots[/h2]
Invite some bots into your game during the Haunted Seas event, and you may find some of the regular crew replaced with new, super spooky Halloween-themed bots! They’ll only join your games during the Haunted Seas event, but each has their own dastardly personality and appearance for you to enjoy.

We’re stoked to be launching the great ship 2.4, bringing general improvements to Paper Pirates, plus a whole new way to play! Play a Daily Voyage each day to boost your coin collection, celebrate the seasons with limited-time content (including the Halloween event running from 1st-31st October!), and check out the new way to pick an objective on a Scored Game. Read on for the notes in full!


[h2]Go on a Daily Voyage![/h2]
We’ve added a new game mode to Paper Pirates, the Daily Voyage! Set sail each day with a Daily Voyage, featuring a set of game customisation options that we think makes for a really interesting Paper Pirates experience. Find whole new ways to play, and earn yourself a huge coin bonus once a day! There are over 15 daily voyages for you to discover - can you collect them all?

[h2]Celebrate the Season with Paper Pirates![/h2]
Support has been added for seasonal events, which will run at key holidays throughout the year! Seasonal events add all-new content for a limited time only - including new options in the Outfit Shop and special Events.


Our first event is the Halloween Haunted Seas Event, running from 1st October to 31st October, with a whole raft of limited-time content. Haunted Seas content will only be available during the month of October, so be sure to get spooky on the seven seas to try out some all-new Paper Pirates goodness!

[h2]Choose an Objective & New Objectives![/h2]
It’s always rough when you get the same secret objective in a Scored Game over and over again. Starting a Scored Game will now offer all pirates a choice between two of the secret objectives, which you can confirm through the black spot! You only have until the end of the first day to choose an objective, otherwise we’ll pick for you - and nobody wants that!



To keep it fresh, we’ve also added five new secret objectives, bringing the total to 20, ensuring that everyone will be offered unique objectives even in ten player games. Check out the Captain’s Log to learn more about the new objectives.

[h2]More Help for the Crew while Playing![/h2]
We’ve added a new menu you can access while playing Paper Pirates on your connected device, which houses a whole host of new options intended to make playing Paper Pirates easier and more accessible! The Game Log has moved to live inside the new menu, and joins new friends, including a summary of the Paper Pirates rules, an Event Guide, an Objectives Guide, and a Game Info screen, which lets players know what settings were used to start the game!

[h2]Revamped ‘Playing In’ Screen[/h2]
Choosing whether to obey or disobey has never been so exciting, as the ‘playing in’ screen has had a radical overhaul to improve readability and make it more visually appealing! Additionally, we’ve streamlined the process to make the rules simpler to understand: No longer does the captain tell a Truth or Lie, but chooses to Obey or Disobey - the same as the rest of the crew!



[h2]Reveal Role on Vote Overboard[/h2]
We’ve added a new option to Custom Games, which allows you to set games to ‘Reveal Role on Vote Overboard’. With this setting on, the crew will get confirmation when voting a pirate overboard as to whether the pirate thrown overboard was a human, or a ghost. This can really change the way you have to play, and works great if you have a random number of ghosts at the start of the game! Roles are only confirmed when players are thrown overboard in votes, so watch out for events that throw pirates overboard - they’re still to cause mystery and chaos!

[h2]A Few Other Things[/h2]

• We added four new achievements - which also means four awesome new hats! Check Steam to see how you can get each of these new achievements:
  
  • A Voyage a Day
    
  • Seven Seas
    
  • Big Spender
    
  • The Compass of Fate
    
• We fired the end game kraken, and hired a much more modern, sleeker, more awesome-looking one. This also means the Squid Hat has an amazing new look.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
Custom Games with a customised event loadout would sometimes miss one of your events out. Oops! They’re all included now, which means games with only one event should again be functional!

As always, don’t forget that you can join us every Saturday at 8pm BST on Twitch for our weekly dev stream, or pop by our YouTube channel to see Let’s Plays of Paper Pirates, How To videos and more! Or if you’re looking for a crew to set sail with make sure to join our Discord!