Windward News

Edit: Play test ended on the 26th of December. Thank you everyone for the awesome feedback! Until then, please vote for the project on Greenlight to help!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920

As promised (and a bit delayed due to a curious buuuug), the Project 5: Sightseer pre-alpha play test for you Windward players is now live and will end some time on Monday morning, at least 48 hours from now.

To opt in, right click Windward in your Steam library and choose Properties, then Betas. You can activate a beta branch by using code "tooEarly2Share" (without quotes) which will open the "w2prealpha" branch for you. Select it via the drop-down if it isn't already, and let Steam update Windward turning it into the Sightseer alpha. You can then launch Windward, which will actually be the new game!

Obvious disclaimer though -- this is a pre-alpha event, and as such there are bound to be buuugs. Hopefully nothing serious, but just be warned!

Also note that as a pre-alpha, vast majority of the game's planned content is still missing. This play test is mainly for those that enjoy the peaceful side of gaming -- exploration, sight-seeing, building bases, trading, etc. While you can craft weapons and use them in mock duels, they are just that -- mock duels. They are just for fun.

Aside from that though, have fun, and thank you again for supporting me as a game dev (or technically now it's "us" as I'm currently working with a friend -- Neil).

P.S. Also quick pro-tip ahead of the coming "getting started" post. Make your faction using /createFaction , then invite your friends using /inviteFaction . Work together to lay claim to the world!

Cheers and happy holidays!

-Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

Yup. It's true! W2 is now known as Project 5: Sightseer, and is now one of the games on Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920



All existing Windward players that are interested will be able to play Sightseer this weekend right after FatPlanetEntertainment's stream of the game, countdown for which will begin on Friday the 23rd, at 8:50 PM EST (7:50 CST, 5:50 PST) on his Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fatplanetentertainment



If you're interested in the current state of the game, come by the Twitch stream and watch FP try to figure out how to play it. I may or may not even give him hints... we'll see! After the stream ends, I will put up a new weekend-only Windows build under a separate Windward beta branch and anyone will be able to hop in and check out what's there so far.



Word of warning though: there won't be any combat in this early play test. This test is going to be all about exploration, building, trading, crafting and other peaceful activities. If that still sounds interesting to you, I will make a more detailed post about how to get started and what you can expect to be able to do in the game in its current state.



Oh, and if you think the game looks promising, please help it get through Greenlight faster by voting for it!

See you guys on Friday!
Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

Yup. It's true! W2 is now known as Project 5: Sightseer, and is now one of the games on Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920



All existing Windward players that are interested will be able to play Sightseer this weekend right after FatPlanetEntertainment's stream of the game, countdown for which will begin on Friday the 23rd, at 8:50 PM EST (7:50 CST, 5:50 PST) on his Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fatplanetentertainment



If you're interested in the current state of the game, come by the Twitch stream and watch FP try to figure out how to play it. I may or may not even give him hints... we'll see! After the stream ends, I will put up a new weekend-only Windows build under a separate Windward beta branch and anyone will be able to hop in and check out what's there so far.



Word of warning though: there won't be any combat in this early play test. This test is going to be all about exploration, building, trading, crafting and other peaceful activities. If that still sounds interesting to you, I will make a more detailed post about how to get started and what you can expect to be able to do in the game in its current state.



Oh, and if you think the game looks promising, please help it get through Greenlight faster by voting for it!

See you guys on Friday!
Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

It's no secret at this point that I've been busy working on the followup game to Windward for the past several months. Windward was an excellent project to work on, but I feel like it has achieved what I had in mind for it: a multiplayer action game set in the Age of Sail meant to be played with your friends. Now... I feel like it's time to move forward a few years into the future.



When I say "time to move forward", I am not only talking about the age that the game is set in, but also about the tech used to make the game in the first place. Windward was created using Unity 4 and an older version of my custom networking solution, which together forced me to abandon my original "one huge open world" idea and instead split the world into separate regions. Fortunately this is 2016, and not 2014 -- and there are newer versions of both that make it possible to create the huge open worlds I envisioned in the first place.

But... I digress. Let's get back to the game itself. Let me just take a moment to explain what I have in mind for it.



First, I want the world to be really *huge* and varied enough to have the scenic sights be their own reward for exploration. I think that part is well on its way already.

Next, I want every action to have a reason. I don't want the cliche "deliver X to Y for a Z gold reward" approach. I want the "establish a mining rig to extract raw uranium ore that should then be delivered to the processing plant so that it can be enriched then shipped to a nearby reactor so that it can start generating electricity which will then power a nearby manufacturing facility which will then require aluminium, iron, and various other elements to create an automated defense turret which can then be placed nearby, protectiong the player's outpost". Does that sound long? It should! I think every meaningful action should have an extended set of consequences.



Not only that, I want there to be clear reasons for establishing outposts in the first place. In Windward you could place towns everywhere without a care in mind. What if every outposts, placed structure by structure, took resources to construct, which there were only so many of in the world? Suddenly players would have to be more mindful of what they spend their hard-earned resources on and would always have to be on the lookout for new sources of minerals and other crafting components.



Even better, the limited resources combined with the lack of fast travel and a huge world will all but ensure that players will have to band together into groups in order to defend their territory from others that don't shy away from using force to take what they want. This approach also means that no one group of players will be able to control the entire world as it would simply take too long to travel from one end of it to another. Instead, establishing trade routes between outposts owned by friendly player guilds would facilitate alliances and promote teamwork and allow players to feel like they actually *own* a part of it -- and that's another something that I felt was always missing from Windward.



With the new game set in the near future era, modern and futuristic technology will grant me a great leeway in creativity and what's possible. Giant tech tree that features research technologies like radar absorbing materials for stealth composites, energy shields that can reduce incoming damage, even rockets that make it possible to establish outposts on the entirely new untapped territories of the outer planets... the possibilities for expansion are truly endless here. As a developer who wants to work on this for a couple of years, this part is arguably the most important of them all.



And so we're brought to today and the still-unnamed project I'm currently referring to as simply "W2". I hesitate to call it "Windward 2" because it's not a followup, but an entirely new game meant to improve on its predecessor in every way. At this point you may wonder, "so what is actually being kept from Windward?", and the answer is simple -- you.

While most companies these days start off with their new projects using Kickstarter to raise money, followed by selling it via Early Access, followed by the full on-release, I'm going to use a separate opt-in Windward branch right here to let you -- the existing Windward players -- to play the new game while it's in alpha and/or beta, for free.

You can expect more details on this in the coming months.



Think of it as my way of saying "thank you". Thank you for being awesome and for supporting me -- an indie developer, and allowing me to get to this point in the first place.

Love you guys!

- Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

It's no secret at this point that I've been busy working on the followup game to Windward for the past several months. Windward was an excellent project to work on, but I feel like it has achieved what I had in mind for it: a multiplayer action game set in the Age of Sail meant to be played with your friends. Now... I feel like it's time to move forward a few years into the future.



When I say "time to move forward", I am not only talking about the age that the game is set in, but also about the tech used to make the game in the first place. Windward was created using Unity 4 and an older version of my custom networking solution, which together forced me to abandon my original "one huge open world" idea and instead split the world into separate regions. Fortunately this is 2016, and not 2014 -- and there are newer versions of both that make it possible to create the huge open worlds I envisioned in the first place.

But... I digress. Let's get back to the game itself. Let me just take a moment to explain what I have in mind for it.



First, I want the world to be really *huge* and varied enough to have the scenic sights be their own reward for exploration. I think that part is well on its way already.

Next, I want every action to have a reason. I don't want the cliche "deliver X to Y for a Z gold reward" approach. I want the "establish a mining rig to extract raw uranium ore that should then be delivered to the processing plant so that it can be enriched then shipped to a nearby reactor so that it can start generating electricity which will then power a nearby manufacturing facility which will then require aluminium, iron, and various other elements to create an automated defense turret which can then be placed nearby, protectiong the player's outpost". Does that sound long? It should! I think every meaningful action should have an extended set of consequences.



Not only that, I want there to be clear reasons for establishing outposts in the first place. In Windward you could place towns everywhere without a care in mind. What if every outposts, placed structure by structure, took resources to construct, which there were only so many of in the world? Suddenly players would have to be more mindful of what they spend their hard-earned resources on and would always have to be on the lookout for new sources of minerals and other crafting components.



Even better, the limited resources combined with the lack of fast travel and a huge world will all but ensure that players will have to band together into groups in order to defend their territory from others that don't shy away from using force to take what they want. This approach also means that no one group of players will be able to control the entire world as it would simply take too long to travel from one end of it to another. Instead, establishing trade routes between outposts owned by friendly player guilds would facilitate alliances and promote teamwork and allow players to feel like they actually *own* a part of it -- and that's another something that I felt was always missing from Windward.



With the new game set in the near future era, modern and futuristic technology will grant me a great leeway in creativity and what's possible. Giant tech tree that features research technologies like radar absorbing materials for stealth composites, energy shields that can reduce incoming damage, even rockets that make it possible to establish outposts on the entirely new untapped territories of the outer planets... the possibilities for expansion are truly endless here. As a developer who wants to work on this for a couple of years, this part is arguably the most important of them all.



And so we're brought to today and the still-unnamed project I'm currently referring to as simply "W2". I hesitate to call it "Windward 2" because it's not a followup, but an entirely new game meant to improve on its predecessor in every way. At this point you may wonder, "so what is actually being kept from Windward?", and the answer is simple -- you.

While most companies these days start off with their new projects using Kickstarter to raise money, followed by selling it via Early Access, followed by the full on-release, I'm going to use a separate opt-in Windward branch right here to let you -- the existing Windward players -- to play the new game while it's in alpha and/or beta, for free.

You can expect more details on this in the coming months.



Think of it as my way of saying "thank you". Thank you for being awesome and for supporting me -- an indie developer, and allowing me to get to this point in the first place.

Love you guys!

- Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko