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Caribbean Legend News

Patch 1.2 and Vile Little God DLC

[h2]Ahoy![/h2]



Now that we grabbed your attention, on to the good news! ːbombingː
  • The game is selling well, and we only have three positions left to fill on the team: a tester, a character artist, and a Storm Engine programmer.
  • Patch 1.2 is available. This is the biggest one so far — bigger than 1.1 and 1.1.1 combined.
  • We've launched a 33% discount in honor of the Steam Summer Sale, so seize the moment — we probably won't offer a bigger discount this year.
  • The first DLC “Vile Little God” has been released.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2628610/Caribbean_Legend__Vile_Little_God/

[h2]What's New:[/h2]

[h3]Story[/h3]
  • “Long Shadows of Old Sins” - Charlie Knippel's companion quest featuring a new unique ship.
  • “The Last Knight” - Claude Duran's companion quest.
  • “Three's a Crowd” - a special hidden event with its own Steam achievement.
  • “Vile Little God” DLC - rebalanced and refined compared to the Early Access version.


[h3]Ships[/h3]


We continue towards our goal of completely uplifting the entire fleet in the game. In 1.2, we added a new one and redid five original ships; about forty more to go. The new models will fit well in Unreal Engine too, significantly easing the future pre-production stage.

  • Barque.
  • Tartane.
  • Sloop.
  • Brigantine.
  • Privateer Ketch - also known as the Mirage.
  • War Ketch - The Chimera, a new quest ship.
  • Multiple paintjobs for each.




[h3]Animations[/h3]


We consider new animations one of the most important assets. They are a great way to enhance immersion and add variety to cutscenes, battles, and city life. We will continue experimenting with them until 1.3 — by then, we will determine which to focus on: combat, immersion, or story.

  • Romantic scenes with girlfriends and brothel employees.
  • Musicians in taverns.
  • Blacksmiths in cities.
  • Behavior of brothel employees.
  • Civilians on benches in colonies.
  • New idle animations for Charles - with and without a musket.
  • New gunshot death animation.




We've actually done much more than what was included in the patch. For example, new character movement animations for modern gamepad control are ready, but testing and integration will take time. It took about a month, but we are now one step closer to dealing with 'tank controls.' Additionally, as you surely have noted already, the romantic aspect of the game is strongly emphasized in this patch. The main question is: should we take it even further? ːrofl_pirateː Personally, I very much hope so.

[h3]Locations[/h3]

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to create a new boarding scene, but they will be our priority in the next patches. Nonetheless, we achieved a lot. We improved all the jungles in the game by adding details, better textures, vegetation, good shadows, and atmospheric haze. This is a major visual leap, so we can pause on global graphical improvements for now.

  • Over 20 jungle locations have been significantly improved.
  • Added a new location, Le Francois - huge thanks to the mega-talented Nikk.
  • Enhanced even more textures.
  • Improved lighting and weather.




[h3]General[/h3]

  • 11 new achievements.
  • Reinforced Brigandine - new armor and an ultimate reward for the “Dead Man” quest.
  • Tutorial video hints - the first test of a global tutorial system, designed to explain complex mechanics to the new audience.
  • Crafting recipes are more accessible from the start, and the “Alchemy” perk is no longer required to actually be able to craft things — it only substitutes for special tools, like the alchemist's chest.
  • Athlete background has been buffed. It deals more damage with slashing and heavy attacks.
  • Added cutscenes to the “Rumba” and “Dead Man” quests.
  • First iteration of trading rebalance - the choice of available equipment is more streamlined and tuned for better character progression.
  • Treasure hunting rebalanced - tier-3 weapons no longer drop until a certain character level.
  • The critical shot system has been refined - quality and precise weapons can crit now. Crit chance can be enhanced by amulets and PIRATES points.
  • Added more quest markers on the global map and characters.
  • Soldiers in hostile cities now stop the player much less frequently.
  • Unloading the “Topaz” in the “Resin Dog” quest no longer causes a player to quit the game in rage.
  • Heavy attacks now require three times more energy.
  • Rebalanced the early stages of the “Slave Trader” quest to make it more accessible for early free play.
  • Having a trade license unlocks the fast travel function in hostile cities.
  • Upgrades for 4th and 5th class ships are cheaper to encourage the early use of this feature.
  • Sandbox achievements now work without any restrictions.
  • Proofread the English version - this time we focused on the quest log and Discord user reports.
  • Fixed dozens of bugs found over the past two months.
  • I really enjoyed working on this patch and am super proud of the team, and yet patch 1.2.1 is on its way. We're fixing bugs, finishing what we couldn't complete, and then jumping to 1.3 according to our grand strategy — improving the game in all areas: from graphics to content.


[h3]Priorities for version 1.3:[/h3]

  • Modern controls and camera behavior.
  • The new and most non-linear story quest in the game.
  • More animations.
  • More ships.
  • Boarding scenes.


It's too early to say for sure, but I believe we are going to make it. Now, if you like what we're doing, if you want this game to reach its full potential, please leave reviews ːsteamthumbsupː as blue as the Caribbean Sea. I cannot overstate how important it is for us.

As for us...

...getting back to work.

ːjollyrː

Patch 1.2 - Coming Soon

[h2]Ahoy![/h2]

Just a quick update. A monumental 1.2 Is upon us and set to release tomorrow. Remember when we said that 1.1 was the biggest patch we've ever released? Well, guess what—1.2 is bigger than 1.1 and 1.1.1 combined. This really says a lot about my inner insecurities. ːcharles_happyː



The Vile Little God DLC is also releasing tomorrow. The owners of Pre-Order and Early Access Editions voted for it to happen. They paid over $30 for it half a year ago as a pre-order bonus, so we can't sell it super cheap.

$6.99 sounds just right.



Stay tuned for the grand changelog tomorrow!
ːjollyrː

First DLC and Patch 1.2 - release date!

[h2]Ahoy![/h2]

A quick update to let you know that production of Patch 1.2 is on schedule and will be released on June 27th. The final scope of changes and new content is yet to be determined, but this patch will definitely be as big as 1.1 and 1.1.1 combined.

Here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming changes.

Ships' hulls are real in-game quality. The sea, sails and rigging are rendered separately.

You can find more in the recent Dev Diary.

In addition, the first DLC will be released on the same date, featuring a new freeplay quest with the most powerful loot in the game so far.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2628610/Caribbean_Legend__Vile_Little_God/

Make sure to wishlist it so you don't miss the big day!

Good hunting and see y'all soon.
ːrespect_soldierː

Dev Diary III

[h2]Ahoy![/h2]

We're about a month away from releasing patch 1.2. Ideally, we'd keep the suspense going until the release date, but such gaps in communication are bad for relationships. ːcharles_happyː If you remember our March update, each large patch aims to bring Caribbean Legend closer to a perfect Sea Dogs game, offering the best from freeplay and story playstyles, and uplifted to meet the modern day game standarts.

Like patch 1.1, this update will focus on ships, animations, quests, and locations, but with a special unplanned addition we'll reveal at the end of this diary.

[h3]Ships[/h3]

So it begins! We're updating the whole damn game fleet to meet our new quality standards. By 2.0, we aim to have all ships redesigned and new ones added. Here's the plan:

  • Remake both versions of the Kaleuche.
  • Remake the Casador, and change the way she can be obtained.
  • Remake popular rank 5 and 4 ships (already in progress).
  • Add a new quest ship #1 (already in progress).
  • Remake popular rank 3 and 2 ships.
  • Remake national flagships of rank 1.
  • Add new quest ships #2 and #3.
  • Remake all remaining ships.

This is a massive task which will take around a year and half to implement, but even our minimum goal for 1.2 will add more ships than any update we had done in the last 12 years.



[h3]Locations[/h3]
Originally we planned adding three new locations in patch 1.2, but one was cut, another was donated to us by the super talented Nikk, and the fate of the third one is still uncertain. Such content cut may be forgiven though, as we've also improved the quality of all jungles in the game, which took a month and a half but yielded great results.

See for yourself.

[h3]Animations[/h3]
Currently, we have two main areas of focus for animations: combat and immersion. Combat wise, we've already redone musketeer animations in 1.1 and will also add one combat addition in 1.2. However, this time, the main focus of 1.2 will be for immersion animations to enhance colony life and cut-scenes.
This a competition really, as it is still unclear which area of focus will be more beneficial for the game.

Just a tease of some stuff planned for 1.2:
https://youtu.be/U0ncJIPACV8
https://youtu.be/rCL6jvidlTg
https://youtu.be/3bGJI_MNzy4
https://youtu.be/IQixPqZsD-U
https://youtu.be/36ImgkCqnbM
https://youtu.be/DD1reQ4YI6g

[h3]Quests[/h3]
Originally, I planned to finalize side quests that didn't make it to February release, ship an epilogue, and move to a big story DLC. However, after extensively playing the game myself and consulting with our narrative dept. we've shifted priorities:

  • Companions' quests. (in progress)
  • Vile Little God DLC upgrade and public release. As per our Discord poll. (in progress)
  • Precise upgrades of the original story questlines.
  • Free new side quests.
  • Another side quest pack - this time as a DLC.
  • Story epilogue.

This wraps up Charles' story and enhances the freeplay experience. I mean, there is very little point on pouring much effort into the story. What we need is more side content, more freeplay opportunities for all three heroes.



[h3]UX[/h3]
In other words, any measures that make it easier to get into the game and improve the experience primarily for those people who were previously unfamiliar with the series. Initially, this body of work was planned as a large addition to 2.0 with the goal of finally bringing the game up to 2024 standards with one singe, massive update:

  • Gamepad support.
  • Revised translation (again!).
  • In-game encyclopedia.
  • Proper Steam manual.
  • Interactive tutorials.
  • Improved camera.
  • Modern controls.


No time for that apparently. I assumed that we'd already brought the game from another era to a minimal-enough level where it was ready for a wide audience. But patch 1.1 and the first big sale shattered that foolish illusion.

Valve generously poured traffic, the sale was a success, but we got a lot of negative reviews. Most of them were quite true.

No, the game is not ready. No, it's impossible to complete it without knowing about time slowdown/acceleration, the abuse of "Sail to" mechanic, how the point of sail works, as well as the fact that you have to disable the combat mode to freely move around NPCs in a fight.

Priorites were shifted and, instead of one big QoL improvement at the end of the road, each patch will address these issues gradually. 1.2 will focus on improving in-game notification visibilty and adding tutorial pop-up windows, each supported with a video demonstration, explaining core gameplay mechanics. We have also started working on finding ways to quickly upgrade so called "tank controls". A painful lesson, but a lesson nonetheless. ːbartaxː

In the end, every constructive negative review is super useful, it's just a pity that it takes three blue ones for every red one to at least make up for the drop in rating. Honestly, I hate this, but I have to ask that if you really like the game and want to secure its further advancement, please consider leaving a positive review ːsteamthumbsupː. We need around 30-40 to be spared from dancing on the sharp blade of 70% User Rating.

...and I'll say goodbye for now. They are still waiting for a design document for the new armor.
ːjollyrː

Update 25/04/2024

[h2]Ahoy![/h2]

What's new:
  1. Finalized adjustments for the new ships.
  2. Rectified the absence of a portrait for the 4th painting variant of the Courier Lugger.
  3. Implemented a dynamic compass on the deck of the Courier Lugger.
  4. Separate checkboxes for both autosave options are now available in the settings.
  5. Addressed the issue of a missing ship upgrade option in Capsterville.
  6. The Cheat Menu (Workshop mod) now includes a free camera mode.

ːjollyrː