Developer Diaries — II

[p] Sooner or later, this had to happen. It's time to openly address the elephant in the room — "Island of Justice". The game's main adventure suffered on all fronts. Plot holes, visual flaws, narrative logic issues and technical implementation problems, and most importantly — a strange reward system. The ReCon Team has thoroughly studied all the issues with this questline and reached one conclusion - retcon.[/p][p] Quick menu: [/p]

• [p]new content and characters;[/p]
• [p]skill checks and playthrough variability;[/p]
• [p]connection to the original Caribbean Legend lore;[/p]
• [p]improved visuals, lore and narrative;[/p]
• [p]elimination of bugs and "stuffiness" from the original;[/p]
• [p]updated musical accompaniment.[/p]

[p] But before we dive into the depths of the Island of Justice — don't forget to add Age of Pirates to your wishlist![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Chapter 1 - Approach[/h2][p]Initially, our goal was to patch old holes and add some content, but... At some point, we accumulated over 100+ tasks in this direction, and everything grew into a full-scale, comprehensive reimagining of the entire Island of Justice macro-quest.
[/p][h3]Why?[/h3][p]This would likely be the most popular question from series veterans. And the answer is simple: while the questline offers an unforgettable atmosphere, unique experience and rich rewards, the City of Abandoned Ships quest causes the player terrible suffocation and, in places, combustion. You simply don't want to return to it... Yet a good sandbox should have high replayability.[/p][p]The abundant bottlenecks in the code leading to soft locks and bugs didn't add any charm either. And some technical decisions only prevented full immersion in the atmosphere. One such example is docking at the Island of Justice. Now we're greeted by the forces of nature in all their beauty and power. For this, we specifically improved weather effects. See for yourself![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Besides this, the original suffered in narrative and story aspects, not revealing the character and motivation of certain key characters, the reason for clan conflict, the Dutch West India Company's desire to exterminate the poor on the archipelago, and much more.[/p][p]Therefore, in addition to cosmetic and technical fixes, we're tackling the root of the problems while preserving the spirit of the original.[/p][p][/p][h3]How?[/h3][p] We understand that you can't just take and remake a quest, ignoring its original concept. Carefully weaving the new into existing lore and plot while preserving atmosphere and style has become a real challenge for us.[/p][p]So we took the harder path - the path of evolution:[/p]

1. [p]For conservatives, the ability to complete the questline the old way, ignoring new content, is partially preserved.[/p]
2. [p]Graphical and technical improvements will remain mandatory for all variants. This mainly concerns bug fixes and improvements to textures, characters and weather.[/p]

[p]You could say that just for this unique location (and one more quest) we reworked the fog system.[/p][p][/p][h3]What?[/h3][p]To attract players' attention to the Island of Justice and create desire to complete the quest more than once, you need something more than gold, a ship and a unique officer.[/p][p]What awaits you:[/p]

• [p]Content. The opportunity to experience new adventures and meet new characters, while looking at old acquaintances from a different angle.[/p]
• [p]P.I.R.A.T.E.S. Skill Checks. The playthrough incorporates checks of the protagonist's characteristics. High stats will let you cut corners, save time, or unlock unique problem-solving paths. By the way, you can read more about the updated role-playing system in our first development diaries.[/p]
• [p]Variability. A greater number of branching storylines with different endings will be available.[/p]
• [p]Valuable Rewards. You'll want to complete new chapters not for gold, but for opportunities. Trust us, they'll please you.
  For example: Master Alexus will be able to restore the former glory of the corvette "Dog of War", making it truly legendary.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]Chapter 2 - Reimagining[/h2][p]Let's skip unnecessary preambles and tell you what awaits in the updated version, but without excessive spoilers.[/p][p][/p][h3]Kill All the Poor[/h3][p]We won't focus on the large number of bug fixes and will move on to the tastiest part. The quest at the end had a strange aftertaste of incompleteness and a sense of wasted potential.[/p][p]Now after killing Oliver Trust, two new chapters will be available to the player: "Unraveling the Thread" and "Preparing for Departure". Conceptually and narratively, they're better crafted than the original quests and demonstrate our vision of quality.[/p][p]As you've probably already guessed, the chapters will try to answer hanging questions, restore narrative logic and fix old pain points, like when you had to hide property in ovens and ships with officers in port authorities.[/p][p][/p][h3]City of Abandoned Ships[/h3][p]But what about the adventures on the Island of Justice itself? One thing's certain — it's a unique and very expensive piece of development with its own rules and nuances. The number of man-hours invested in reworking the questline is frighteningly large... And not just in terms of programming, testing and writing the plot with dialogues.[/p][p][/p][p]Key fixes:[/p]

• [p]Clan Logic: It will be shown why the clans are divided and what specific beliefs they're fighting for. Their appearance will be unique, reflecting their ideology.[/p]
• [p]Workman: John's value in the plot will be significantly increased. His actions will no longer look absurd, and the character himself will stop being a dummy and gain depth.[/p]
• [p]New Character: Another important figure will appear in the city — a reference that series veterans will definitely recognize.[/p]

• [p]Reduced Routine: A huge amount of annoying moments have been removed. The cursed salt bags and lutes, tedious gathering of citizens and solo fight with Caspers are now significantly easier. However, these are just options — if the player doesn't want to, they can do everything the old-fashioned way.[/p]
• [p]Restored Content: During development, we noticed some unused elements and returned them to the game.[/p]

[p]It was harder to analyze all available, albeit scarce, lore from the original. Therefore, during the rework, we also studied the events of the Caribbean Legend universe (remake of "To Each His Own"). After all, the connections between games are too close: Layton Dexter, the Narwhal and Casper clans, Chad, and the now gray-haired Mechanic.[/p][p][/p][h3]Island of Justice Backstory[/h3][p]In a way, all events occurring on the Island of Justice in Age of Pirates are in a different universe, caused by Charles de Maure's actions at the end of the Kukulkan arc. It's in this theory that lies the key to understanding the backstory, before the protagonist ends up in the City of Abandoned Ships.[/p][p]Initially, the Island of Justice looked quite different. Three main forces existed there:[/p]

1. [p]Narwhals: Essentially, these were the keepers of order. Just, standing guard over the law and protecting the interests of ordinary citizens.[/p]
2. [p]Rivados: former African slaves who were portrayed as godless, constantly trying to cross the line of "law". At the same time, they were the keepers of various rituals and mystical knowledge.[/p]
3. [p]Dodson's Shark Pirates, who established their own order, monopolized food supplies, but continued trading with the outside world.[/p]

[p]Chad Capper's Coup[/p][p]The turning point came when Chad wanted to seize power. He split from the Narwhals, and having secured Mary Casper's support (hence the new clan's name), began his path.[/p][p]As a result of this coup, Dodson's Shark died under strange circumstances, as did the Narwhal leader, and the rebellious Rivados clan was completely liquidated.[/p][p][/p][h3]Main Forces[/h3][p]Fate of the Narwhals[/p][p]Most were recruited into the new militia and the emerging Casper clan. The remaining formed a kind of cult or order and began spreading the ideology of the Deep among citizens. This belief that the City is alive (an idea taken from the original game) and inviolable. Junior novices are zealous in their desire to prove their faith to the clan and protect the City and its values from foreign eyes and hands in every way. Elder Brothers wear the sacred emblem with an inverted pentagram, symbolizing departure from worldly concerns to serve the Deep.[/p][carousel][/carousel][p]Rise of the Caspers[/p][p]The Casper clan is like the complete opposite of the Narwhals: lack of internal discipline and charter, frivolity in thinking, adherence to pragmatism. They were the ones causing a lot of disorder searching for valuables among peaceful citizens, until stopped by the freshly organized militia. The hierarchy is quite simple and straightforward - youngsters and elders. Often it's the young who do all the dirty work, while senior clan members lead idle lives.[/p][carousel][/carousel][p]However, don't forget about the militia and the City's citizens. And only you will determine what fate awaits the Island of Justice characters. But that's not all yet!
[/p][hr][/hr][h2]Chapter 3 - Sound Design[/h2][p]The level of sound design can say more about a project than it seems at first glance. It can radically change the perception of the game: if you don't want to turn off the music after dozens of hours of gameplay — that's success, and if tracks end up in personal playlists — that's a sign of true recognition.
[/p][p]Sound History [/p][p]Of course, every fan's memory instantly conjures the legendary works of Yuri Poteenko when mentioning the soundtrack, who set the highest bar for the entire original game series! But...[/p][p]Few people know, but the maestro didn't write all compositions for the series. At the time, developers looked for composers in the "folk" environment for musical design of new locations. This is how "Wodan's Road - Dana's Song" became the original game's main theme, and their composition "Tavern" settled forever in inns. The musical themes of the City of Abandoned Ships itself and Tenochtitlan were composed by Nikolai Makarov. Starting to guess where we're going with this?..
[/p][p]Musical Soul of the City[/p][p]This brief historical excursion leads to an important announcement. As part of the reimagining, collaboration began with composer Nazar Balutin — who created many compositions on pirate themes. One day he approached us with a proposal: "I had an idea to make a remake of the City of Abandoned Ships soundtrack". And off we went...[/p][p]And as usually happens with us, the idea grew into large-scale and meticulous work. Through countless demo recordings and brainstorming, we arrived at a unified concept based on two innovations:[/p]

1. [p]Dynamic Sound: Music changes along with story progress. From mystery and melancholy at the beginning, to gloom closer to the finale.[/p]
2. [p]Adaptive Arrangement: On the City streets, all instruments merge into one powerful composition. And in certain interior locations (residence, church, living quarters), their own instruments come to the forefront, changing accents in the already familiar melody.[/p]

[p]We prepared a special video demonstration for you. Listen to the updated sound! [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][hr][/hr][h3]📢 What's Next?[/h3][p] The updated Island of Justice awaits your arrival! And we continue working on the game tirelessly. Follow the news and tell us in comments what you'd most like to see in Age of Pirates.[/p][p]And finally... They say that after years at sea, your vision gets blurred... The truth lies not only in words, but in what surrounds us. You just need to look closely at familiar walls and decks.[/p][p][/p][p]Fair winds, corsairs. See you very soon![/p]