Salt 2 News

Ahoy fellow sea adventurers!

In today's update I want to focus on some of the major new systems we've been implementing and what's still left to do before the early access launch. Also, if you are a Kickstarter backer and are expecting a physical reward, those will be shipped out soon! We sent messages to Kickstarter backers a couple weeks ago asking you to update your mailing address. So if you pledged in a tier to receive a physical reward, please let us know if your mailing address is the same or has changed and we will get those sent out soon.

Let's dive in!


[h2]Skill System
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With Salt 2 being a procedurally generated world, we want to make sure there is a good bit of depth to content and a "grind" in the good sense. We want you to have different areas you can focus on, invest your time in, and be rewarded for doing so. All the while continuing to explore onward and forward.

One way we are achieving this is through a skill system. As you do various things in the world you will receive experience towards that skill. For example, if you mine some iron ore you'll receive some skills in mining. If you defeat a pirate with a cutlass you'll receive experience towards the slashing skill. Each skill will have its own talent tree. As you level up in the skill, you'll unlock points you can spend on the talent tree until you hit the level cap. Currently each skill cap is being set to level 50 but we may increase this in future updates.

There will be a good variety of skills at early access launch and we may add more later. Getting to max level in every skill will take a while and so this is a good way for you to not only be rewarded for focusing on certain skills, but to give you a constant reward to chase even in an infinite world.

[h2]Quest System
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Another system we've implemented recently is our quest system. There will be a variety of quests in Salt 2 including a main story, side quests, and tasks you can pick up in towns. The main story quest will likely come after early access launch but we want there to be a good variety of side quests and commissions you can do to make money and earn loot. We've built a quest journal system so you can track your quests and a quest indicator on the main screen to let you know what your current objective is and how far along you are in the quest line. We'll have more information later on what types of quests you can get but you can expect things like hunting quests, bounty hunts, fishing commissions, and more.

[h2]Loot Variations
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Salt 2 isn't just focused on crafting, exploration, and survival. It's also about the loot. As big fans of looter games we wanted to make sure that loot has a ton of variation. This is also very important in an infinite game like Salt. We don't want you to feel like you've found and looted all the weapons in the first 10 hours of play.



Here's the way loot variation will work. Each weapon or piece of armor will have one of five rarities: common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary. There will also be different stats for each piece of gear. So for example a cutlass might have a bonus to strength, agility, constitution, dexterity, or a combination. In addition to that variety, the rarity of the item will determine how many tiers of talents it can roll on. A common weapon only has one tier of talents but a legendary will have five tiers. Each tier will have two talent choices. These talents are chosen randomly from a pool of talents. This means there can be hundreds of combinations of each piece of gear when you factor in the stats and talent variations.



This allows for a Diablo-like system where you are looking for a specific roll. For example you might be looking for an Epic Cutlass with a bonus to dexterity/strength, and with the life steal talent or other specific talents. As you explore the world, defeat enemies, and loot gear from chests, these items will randomly drop and you might just get that god roll you were looking for.

In addition to looting items, you'll also be able to find crafting recipes for gear and that will give you a little bit more control over what type of gear you want. So for example, if you have a crafting recipe for a rare cutlass and you have enough components, you can craft multiple of those, each one with a random roll thereby increasing your chance to find that perfect roll.

We still want unique weapons in the game as well though. So sometimes a boss might drop a weapon specific to him that has a specific set of unique talents and stats. But overall we want you to have a large variety of weapons and armor to hunt for while you explore the world.

[h2]New Points of Interests
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We are also constantly adding new points of interests as well. Recently we've started adding in sea ports, shipwrecks, and loot caves. Sea ports will be the main hub for merchants and quests in the game. When you find a port you'll be able to pick up quests from the local town board, buy and sell items from merchants, and talk to the local villagers. We are so excited for you to get to explore all the various places in the game. We're working hard to continue to add a good variation of caves, ancient ruins, pirate camps, and more to the game so you'll have a good variety of content even in an infinite world.


[h2]What's Next?
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In case you missed it, we have pushed our original release schedule back to early next year. It's really important to us that the game is in a polished state and has a good bit of content at early access launch, and so we're taking the extra time needed to do that. We've still got some major systems to implement such as a dialogue system, fast travel mechanic, quests, and a few other things. If you have pledged on Kickstarter and are wondering when the alpha/beta tests are going to start, I'd say our best estimate right now is January or February 2022. We will likely run 1-2 weeks of an alpha test, spend a couple weeks fixing bugs and making changes from that test, and then we'll run a beta test and do the same for it. Then we'll be releasing shortly after that once we get everything balanced and polished.


Thank you so much everyone for your patience and we can't wait to release Salt 2 and see you out on the sea!

Ahoy Mateys!

We've got another dev update for you and wanted to let you know what we've been working on over the past month. In case you missed it in the last update, we have moved the Early Access release date for Salt 2 from October of this year to February of 2022. We realize delays are never fun but we really want the game to be in a polished state, even at early access release. This delay is only a few months but gives us time to finish adding in the systems we want and to run the alpha/beta tests. As of right now, the plan is to do an alpha test probably in December and a beta test in January. If you pledged on Kickstarter, we will also be sending out physical rewards in the next few months.

Thank you all so much for your patience. Let's dive into what we've been working on recently!


[h2]New Wildlife
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We recently implemented a new dangerous form of wildlife, the bear. These bears can often be found hiding out in animal dens awaiting any would-be treasure hunters. Bears are quick and dangerous, and you'll have to be on your toes to take one out. However, they often guard nice loot and can be worth the battle.

[h2]The Raft
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Salt just wouldn't be Salt without the raft. If you've played Salt 1, this raft will feel like a pretty good upgrade. We wanted the raft to not only be a good starter boat, but also a nice way to ferry from a large ship to an island if you want. Along with this we've started implementing new ship and ocean sounds to really create an immersive and satisfying experience sailing the sea. We'll have more ships coming soon.

[h2]New Loot System
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Loot is a huge part of Salt. Treasure can be found all over the world whether it's deep in a pirate cave or nestled in some ancient ruins. We recently start adding more loot to item containers in the world and systems to handle containers that might be empty. In Salt 2, there will be a weight system so you'll have to be particular about what you want to loot. Sometimes it might be worth looting some junk items just to dismantle them into crafting components or to sell them, but sometimes you may want to save some space for that new epic pirate sword you found. We've also added a save system that remembers what you've looted in what container. So if you open a container and don't loot it or only partially loot it, those items will still be in there should you return later.

[h2]Enemy AI and Weapon Damage
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We've also been adding new systems to improve enemy AI and how they behave to make it more polished and fun. In addition to that we've added systems for varying weapon damage based on the items rarity. We want weapons to be powerful but not too predictable. This means not every hit will always be the exact same damage. It will take into account not only the item's stats, but also the enemies armor. The more powerful a weapon is though, the greater its chance of dealing more damage and its damage range increases.

[h2]Lore and Secrets
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Not only are we making hundreds of points of interest for you to explore, but we are hiding all kinds of secrets throughout them. We've recently added a new breakable rock that will reveal secret areas in caves. You'll have to learn what these look like and be on the lookout for them while exploring. We've also been adding lots of new lore books that give more information to the world history and background lore of Salt.


Overall things are moving along great with Salt 2's development and we are getting very close to an early access release. Our main focus right is to finish adding in a few systems that still need to be implemented, expand the general content of the game a bit, and then polish/test before launch.

As always thanks for reading!

Hello everyone!

We've got another dev update for you and just wanted to let you know what we've been working on over the past month, as well as new information regarding release times for alpha/beta tests, and when the game will potentially launch. Let's dive in.


[h2]Item Talents
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One feature we are really excited about in Salt 2 is weapon and armor talents. When you craft or loot a piece of gear it will have a certain number of talents that can be unlocked based on the item's rarity. The talents are randomly picked from a pool of talents and so items can come in a lot of different combinations. We took some inspiration from games like Diablo 3 and Destiny to design this system and we think it will work really well within the gameplay loop. While exploring you'll constantly be delving into a massive caves in search of loot or leveling up your crafting skill to make high level gear. We want this process to have a lot of replayability and this will allow you to hunt for certain talents. For example you may be on the lookout for an epic scimitar with a unique high level talent on it. This system also still allows us to make unique weapons with unique talents that can drop from bosses or as quest rewards.

[h2]Crafting System
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A major gameplay feature in Salt 2 will be crafting. We've been working a lot on the crafting UI, item weight system, item rarities, talents, and all that goes into crafting items. Although you'll find a lot of loot and gold while exploring, we want crafting to be very rewarding in and of itself. If you choose spend time crafting items and leveling up your crafting skills, you'll be able to make some high level unique items and a lot of gold doing so.

[h2]Lore Books
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We recently implemented a lot of new lore and journals into the game, as well as a book you hold in your hand to read them. We wanted the journals to feel authentic and having it in the main UI just didn't feel as good as holding a book in your hand. In Salt you'll be able to find a lot of different journals that add some life and background to the world. You may discover a fisherman's journal at a fishing hut, or a pirate's log deep in a pirate cave. We've written hundreds of books and are excited for you to explore the lore of the world and uncover funny and interesting stories.




[h2]New Points of Interests and Visuals
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As always we're constantly working on adding new areas to explore. We recently started working on fishing huts that can spawn on the outskirts of island. We're also adding some fun challenges to caves like locked cellars, hidden passages behind breakable boulders, secret levers that open gates to pirate treasure, and more. In addition to that we've been adding some new foliage like flowers, sand grass, and other models to make the islands more varied in the way they look.

[h2]Release Time Update
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Our original Early Access release goal for Salt 2 was October 2021 (this year.) We're making great progress on development and are getting close to where we want to be for release, but we want to make sure we don't rush it and take time to run alpha/beta tests, fix bugs, and polish up the game before launch. We are only two developers and are working as hard as we can but we really want to make sure the first impressions for Salt 2 are as good as possible.

As of right now we plan on delaying the Early Access launch of the game till January or February of 2022. This is only a delay of a few months but will allow us to get the game in a great state, test it, and really spend some time ironing out the kinks before launch. We know delays are never fun news but we want to make sure Salt 2 is a great experience and not riddled with bugs and issues on launch. This means we will likely run an alpha test around October or November, and a beta test in December if all goes according to plan.

Thanks so much for everyone's support and understanding. We've seen so many cases where games come out too early and the first impressions really suffer as a result. We want to make sure that doesn't happen.

As always thank you all for reading and feel free to reach out to us on Discord anytime if you have any questions.

Hey everyone!

We've got a lot of new content to talk about that we've been working on over the past month. Progress on Salt 2 development is moving along well and we're excited about a lot of the upcoming changes to the game. We know you can't wait to get your hands on a ship and start exploring the seas, and we're working as hard as we can to make that happen as soon as possible.

Our goal right now to release in Early Access sometime late in the Fall of this year, though that could change as is the nature of game development. We want to make sure that not only is the game full of fun content to experience at launch, but also that it is polished and as bug free as possible. Even though we plan on launching in Early Access, we don't want to have a buggy or half baked experience. Our goal is for the game to be very polished at launch and we're going to work hard to make that happen. We're getting close to our content goal for the game in terms of all the systems and how much there is to do in the game, but we really want to spend some time making performance improvements, improving visuals, fixing bugs, and just overall polishing the game before you dive in.

Here's a look at just a few things we've been working over the last month.

[h2]Intro Cinematics
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Recently we started work on some intro cinematics for the game, including some voice over work and just setting the stage for the adventure you're about to take. Although it's short and sweet, we want you to really feel the isolation and novelty of awakening on an island in the middle of a massive ocean and uncovering the story and lore of the world. While our game is heavily focused on crafting and just general exploration, there is a story to the world and we want that feeling of mystery to be all throughout your experience in Salt. Creating a little cinematic intro helps immerse you into that world.

[h2]Crafting System
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One of the major features in the Salt 2 gameplay loop is crafting. While you are on your ship or at a workbench, you'll be able to craft all kinds of items. Crafting will also be a skill that you can level up. This means as you get better at crafting, you'll have a greater chance of crafting high quality weapons, armor, and other items. Weapons and armor in the game also have randomized talents, and high rarity items have a bigger talent pool to pick from.

You'll have a handful of basic crafting recipes to start with, but many of them you will discover while exploring and looting the world. We've recently begun implementing the crafting UI and the ability to stack items, sort by rarity, and things like that. This system is moving along well and we should have it fully implemented soon.

[h2]Dungeon Scenes
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Exploring caves, ruins, and other strange places is a massive part of Salt 2. This is a major change from Salt 1. In the original game, we didn't have any way for you to transition into a dungeon, cave, etc., from the islands. This meant if you couldn't find a point of interest on an island, it didn't exist. In Salt 2, we've added the ability to transition into new scenes from an island. We recently implemented a saving/loading system and it remembers where you are in the dungeon, and also what island what location you were at on the island. This is important especially for a procedurally generated world where you could be on any number of infinite islands.

As always we're still adding lots of new caves, shrines, ruins, and other interesting places to explore. We want you to have a lot of fun areas to delve into in search of treasure and loot.

Performance and Graphic Tweaks
We've also spent a good deal of time recently improving the visuals of the game. We've added new foliage that can spawn, improving the fidelity of some assets, and even made changes to the wind and particle systems to make the world feel a bit more atmospheric. We're also still working on tweaking performance and making sure the game runs smoothly. This is an ongoing process and something we will continually be working on even through release.


Thanks for reading and don't forget to hop on over to our Discord and chat with us some time! We'll have more updates coming soon.

Ahoy Mateys!

We wanted to give you a quick look at what we've been working on for Salt 2 recently and give you an update on Kickstarter rewards.

[h2]Kickstarter Rewards
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First off, we again want to say thank you to everyone who supported our campaign in any way. We're thrilled to have a successful Kickstarter and it will really help us get the game in a more complete and polished state for launch.

We're currently working on designing and getting the Kickstarter physical and digital rewards in order. We sent out a survey a couple weeks ago on Kickstarter requesting info for your rewards. Most everyone has responded but if you backed the campaign and haven't responded yet, please hop on Kickstarter and fill out that survey so we know where to send your rewards and other relevant info.

We expect physical Kickstarter rewards to start being mailed out within the next couple months but we'll have more concrete info on that soon.

[h2]Combat Improvements
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One area of focus for us recently has been combat. We still have more tweaking and work to do, but we're making some good improvements and combat is feeling better than ever. We recently started tweaking camera animations and weapon swing animations to make swordplay feel more quick, responsive, and weighty. The camera movements are subtle but they really help add a sense of weight to your swing. We've also added in a parry and block mechanic, new enemy tactics such as ranged attacks, and death animations.


In addition to combat tweaks, we've added a new loot window that will make looting enemies and containers much more fluid. Instead of having to click on an item and it opening up a whole screen or stopping your game, simply hovering over a lootable item/enemy will pop up a small window where you can quickly see what items are available to loot. This is particularly important in a game like Salt where you are constantly looting and don't want to be taken out of the game flow.

[h2]Main Menu
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Over the past couple weeks we also set up a new main menu scene and the code/logic needed to create a game, save a game, and have that game associated with a world seed. Like in Salt 1, locations will be shared across world seeds. This means if you find a merchant at 10 East 4 North, your friends can also find that merchant as long they are using the same world seed as you.

[h2]New Points of Interest
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I feel like this gets added to every blog post but it's something we are constantly working on so I like to mention it! We are constantly adding new and exciting points of interest for you to explore from caves and ancient ruins to fishing holes and shrines. We really want Salt to be a fun exploration experience and so we're working as hard as we can to add a ton of unique areas for you to explore. The world is infinite, which means we obviously can't fill up the whole thing without repeats, but our goal is to have hundreds of places with unique visuals so that you are always on the lookout for something new.

We are also adding random elements to some points of interest so even if you come across them again, they can have different enemies, resources, and even some randomized puzzles.


As always thank you all for reading! Development is going smoothly and our current plan is to launch on Steam Early Access in October of this year, with a closed alpha/beta shortly before release. Keep in the mind this can change depending on development but we're working as fast as we can and will keep you up to date.

See you on the high seas!