Pirate Sagas: The Golden Age News

[p]Ahoy,[/p][p][/p][p]The first week of Pirate Sagas being live is coming to a close, it's time to start the tradition of a weekly recap of the of the work that's been done and the work being done next:[/p][p][/p][p]The work this week has focused on some bug fixes and polish:[/p]

• [p]fixed an issue cycling to previous unit with \[-key or L1 button[/p]

• [p]Improved battle map panning, when you cycle between units or click the minimap it now transitions towards the location rather than abruptly jumping[/p]
• [p]added keyboard shortcut notes for hiding objectives and combats, and transition to/from hidden state rather than simply being visible or not, there is no controller option for these yet they are only accessible from keyboard with O and C [/p]
• [p]battle now indicates when a unit is being followed with a small "(F)" after the ship's name, and unsets following mode when you pan the map or click the minimap rather than locking the panning to that unit[/p]
• [p]combats now position crews properly when there is an abrupt change like cannon fire killing multiple combatants, this fixes a transitional movement they'd make to the wrong position before settling into place[/p]
• [p]smaller text labels on the map[/p]
• [p]mission variation now shows in the map's mission dialog, you'll see that as a (1) through (10) after the title, after "Aftermath of the Storm (3)". Each of the variations builds on the difficulty and rewards[/p]
• [p]the game now shows recent changes in the loading screen, along with ways you can get in touch for support or sharing ideas and feedback[/p]
• [p]some new art has been added so each port of each campaign now has a distinct doctor, engineer and carpenter[/p]
• [p]the shoreline around islands in battle has been improved [/p]
• [p]main menu scene now shows the Caribbean map, ports and local merchants doing their back-and-forth[/p]

[p]The focus for next week's updates is to make it clearer in the game what the different effects are between the crew roles you can hire, and to expand combat to include their special attacks. There may be an update on the state of Mac builds next week too, they are being produced but need some testing before publishing them.[/p]

[p]After several missed deadlines the game is live! To celebrate the launch there is a 30% discount for the next week![/p][p][/p][p]This is very exciting for me as my first launch on Steam, I hope you will enjoy the game and/or bare with me as any launch issues are resolved! I will try to get bugs fixed as quickly as possible so please report them on the Steam discussion board, or r/piratesagas on Reddit, or write me an email at [email protected]. [/p][p][/p][p]Please also share any feedback or suggestions to help improve the game and prioritizing and shape the future work to get it out of Early Access![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]No pirate game could be complete without fierce battles between ships and rivals. Those battles occur in two distinct forms - attacking or sinking enemy ships with your cannons, and boarding them to fight their crew and if victorious, looting and pillaging what they carry.[/p][p][/p][p]Attacking your enemies with cannons is quite simple, just sail broadside them and if they are in range and your cannons are ready to fire they will do so. If you hit a ship it will be damaged and its crew may be hurt or killed too, this allows you to weaken an enemy before boarding them but if you hit them too many times their ship will burn and sink and you will get nothing at all.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Boarding your enemies is done by sailing into them which triggers crew-vs-crew turn based combat. As this fighting plays out the other ships in the battle are still sailing around and may attack with their cannons - which can be extremely effective when you are outnumbered, or deadly for your own ships. Other ships can also join a crew-vs-crew fight, or engage in an entirely separate crew-vs-crew fight.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The crew-vs-crew combat is turn-based and each crew member has a melee attack, while some crew roles also have a ranged and special attack capable of inflicting more damage or hitting multiple opponents in one turn. If you win this combat you can search the ship for plunder or loot its hold which each take a turn and may need to be done multiple times to retrieve all of the treasures or goods.[/p][p][/p][p]As the campaigns progress and you command multiple ships you must balance winning these fights and taking the time to loot and plunder your enemies, with the presence of any other ships that may attack you or flee or enter the battle map while you are locked in crew-vs-crew combat.[/p]

[p]The campaigns available at launch cover three pirates, George Somers, James Riskinner and Joseph Bannister, each historical English privateers of some renown. Each of these campaigns has 10 - 12 chapter stories, and 50 - 60 missions. Each chapter's story becomes available after progressing through 4 or 5 missions, with the option to complete up to 10 to maximize your crew and ship upgrades, gold and fame. Each campaign has a pool of similar missions plus unique missions to draw from.[/p][p][/p][p]Note: some time after launching I would like to make tools to create and edit these missions and import/export them from the game so they can be shared.[/p][p][/p][p]Missions can contain enemy, allied and neutral ships, islands, islands you may be able to mount defenses on, a port that may be allied or enemy and may have defenses attacking you or your enemies, and ships that join the battle later.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each mission has a difficulty and reward rating ranked against other missions in the campaign so you have a sense of the risk-to-reward ratio. Their difficulty is symbolized by the color of the marker: green being easiest and red hardest. Chapter stories are designated on the map by a golden ring and crown[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Something I hope to implement later is events that can occur during the travel time on your way to and from a mission at each of the day markers signified by the larger dots. These may include being intercepted by enemy forces, opportunities to help or attack ships, and even full diversions (or wild goose chases) to an alternative mission.[/p]

[p]The game is now entering it's final testing, after which it will be released tentatively aiming for the end of November![/p][p][/p][p]A whole new set of trailer and screenshots have been uploaded to the Steam page to showcase what's been worked on these last six months![/p][p][/p][p]In addition to overhauling some of the artwork a lot of functionality has been added including raiding and defending ports, hosting cannons on islands, and capturing ships to fulfill campaign objectives. [/p][p][/p][p]The dual battles between ships alongside combat between crews has been completed, allowing deadly cannon barrages even while the crews square off, and there are now more than 100 distinct missions between the three campaigns![/p][p][/p][p]If everything goes to plan the next two weeks will be spent intensively testing the campaigns and resolution scaling to eradicate any blocking issues, and then the game will launch at last![/p]