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Airship: Kingdoms Adrift News

Small ships for everyday folks #1

Hi Guys!

It has been a while since the last update, we have certainly dug in to make tiny bits of micro-level control and graphic work perfectly before we move on with the development.

With all that aside, we have a new set of ships coming into the playtesting branch of Airship: Academy very very soon. The first one I'd like to introduce you to is the "Valle Pony".



The Valle Pony is true, one of the smallest ships in Airship: Academy. Being classified as a freighter; it is one of the most important parts of the Viridian Ringers' daily life.

The origin of this airship's airframe design took place a century ago, during a long decline of the Vinician Republic. The age of exploration, back when large sailing ships would pack as much supply as they could to chart the edges of the unknown was finally over. But with that, dawn the age of new and smaller merchants, who take destiny into their own hands. They'd load a small ship with goods then traverse the length of the sky with the hope to profit from the hefty margin.

With such a demand for smaller ships with large storage space, the origin of the Valle Pony took place. Vinician shipwright, soon started introducing new ideas and innovations, from optimized sail layout, hull design, and even the use of the latest mana drive to cut down the cost of travel and ramp up the size of the storage space.

A century later, the Valle Pony as we know it would then populate the sky of Europa, and became the backbone of the NVR's Navy logistics during the great war and as we know it today.

Tune into our community for more: https://discord.gg/BVcgwY6AM4

Register to the playtesting branch, update once every 2 weeks: https://forms.gle/b6u7F7vgteLeuQJz5

The Community Alpha has begun!



Hi Folk!

After tunneling down for 2 months straight, we're happy to announce that the newly improved graphic is ready. This means the Community Alpha has started for those who registered and joined us on Discord.

We're going to let in more players once we have taken enough feedback from the community and finished with the necessary fixes.

Test availability (ICT):
12th August 2021 - 12th September 2021

You can get in line for the later tests by submitting and confirming your application on OUR WEBSITE.

What's available in this version?
- Embark onto an adventure as an Aecerlian Commander
- Unravel the mystery behind piracy around the Pirnmill and Sunvale area
- 5 ships of various origins (You start with 1 ship in the full game)
- 100+ parts to customize ships, get them by looting and robbing from NPCs
- 20+ unique encounters with different enemies and fighting styles
- 3 officers that aid you in battle and you can level them up for better skills
- Beautiful skyscape around the Sunvale Island to cruise around and explore
- The Silbeblum Headquarters port which is where everything started
- The Pirnmill Town

What're the differences between this version and the full game?
- Fleet system allowing you to command multiple ships and fight against multiple foes
- More national and career background choices
- Tutorials that make it easier to learn about the game
- More content overall and the map that spans the whole Suthseg Kingdom
- Ship parts are available from merchants and manufacturing only
- Defeating enemies give you things from their cargo instead of giving ship parts like it is now
- Trading with merchants are not available yet
- Building your own factories and harvesting resources are not available yet
- We will continue to improve UI and UX design over time as well

More about Battles

Today we explore more into what goes on during the battle in Airship Academy. Whenever there is an encounter as you travel the sky, you would be given options to fight, flee, and various other things. If you choose to fight, or the opponent chooses to fight, the battle starts.

At the beginning of the battle, Jean would hail the enemy's ships as per naval tradition. Then the actual battle would start. Both sides of the encounter would move into the guns' range and start having a go at each other.



Both sides would then continuously exchanging fire and parts of the ship would start getting destroyed. Once essential parts of the ship are gone, it is often time to close in and finish off the fight.



If things didn't go so well, your ship would get sunk and you will be sent to wait for an insurance claim at your home port. Ships can get sunk when they lost abilities to fly or enough of the essential parts were destroyed.



It is better if you are the one on the winning side though, as you get to see our opponent's ship diving headfirst down the depth of the sky. In that case, some of the cargo and the crew of the ship would escape on the mana balloons, waiting for you or some other passer-by to pick them up.



There is more to battles and tactics when it comes to defeating the enemies. What would you like to explore next?

Also, please join the community: https://discord.com/invite/BVcgwY6AM4
We post the development progress daily. And we need your help with feedback :)

Dos Kelbl (The Little Calf) - Airship Academy Main Theme

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since we showed off our story/gameplay teaser. And you might have noticed that its background music seems somewhat familiar. That's because it is something from almost 100 years ago. The song is called "Dana Dana" also known as "Dos Kelbl', written in 1941 for a theatrical play "Esterke". Esterke is a theatrical performance about a Jewish concubine who influenced a Polish King to do great things during his reign.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

But what does the song has to do with Airship Academy? A lot, actually, the core of the gameplay, the story, and the world has to do with it. Dos Kelbel is the song about a calf being led by a farmer to the slaughterhouse. It asks the farmer why it was born as a calf, destined to die while the swallow, flying above, roams free in the sky. Why we were all chained by our destiny since birth? More on this topic, upon the release of the game.

The song is very well arranged by: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVp...
The superb vocal quality is featured by: https://www.instagram.com/jokictamara/
And join the community: https://discord.com/invite/BVcgwY6AM4

This version of the song is slightly modified to fit the narrative of Airship Academy. The lyric and its translation is below:

----------------------------------------------------------
Oyfen foorel ligt dus kehlbel,
Ligt geboonden mit a shtrik.
Hoykh in himel fleet dus oodler
Frayt zikh drayt zikh heen oon tzoorik.
Chorus:
Lakht dir vint in kuren,
Lakht oon lakht oon lakht.
Lakht ehr up a tug a gantzen,
Mit a halbe nakht.
Dona Dona Dona…
Shreit dus kehlbel zugt der poyer,
Ikh kehn deer gurnit farshtein
Vulst gekehnt dukh zein a foygel,
Vulst gekehnt dukh an oodler zein.
Chorus
Blinde kehlber toot men binden,
oon men shlehpt zei oon men shehkht.
Vehr s’hut fleegel fleet aroyf tzoo,
Iz bei kaynem nit kein knehkht.
Chorus
----------------------------------------------------------
On a wagon bound and helpless
Lies a calf, who is doomed to die.
High above him flies an eagle
Soaring gaily through the sky.

Chorus:
The wind laughs in the cornfield
Laughs with all his might
Laughs and laughs the whole day through
And half way through the night
Dona, dona, dona...

Now the calf is softly crying
"Tell me wind, why do you laugh?"
Why can’t I fly like the eagle
Why did I have to be a calf,

Chorus

Calves are born and soon are slaughtered
With no hope of being saved.
Only those with wing like eagles
Will not ever be enslaved.

Chorus

Full Features Podcast by PlayPrime

It has been a month since we put our Steam's page live and we have gathered a good amount of wishlists without much PR going on. We've only been sharing the project with friends, close contacts, and families thus far while introducing Airship Academy to publishers to see if our plan seems realistic and if it needs improvement.

In the meantime, we were invited by PlayPrime to talk about our vision for Airship Academy. And even though we have written about the game's features in such a great length on our game's description, it could never be as detailed as to hear us describe it with passion in this podcast.

Please feel free to go ahead and check it out, and our apology in advance for the Thinglish accent :D

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]