The Caribbean Sail News

It's been over a year since development began on the Fantasy Toggle expansion and it's finally time to start testing.



This megalodon can't wait to sink his teeth into your ship.


As of today, the final preparations to release Fantasy Toggle are underway!
The game has become so internally complex that I've already got a list of known bugs to start fixing. Rather than making the beta public and wasting time responding to forum threads and bug reports, the beta will be done in stages.

I'm having my friends take the first trick at the helm so I can watch how they play in person and see what does and doesn't make sense to them. After the bugs they found are flogged to death and the necessary improvements have been made, I'll have a few specifically chosen lads help improve the grammar and playtest on multiple platforms.

After every problem we could find has been addressed, I'll be porting TCS from GameMaker: Studio to GameMaker 2 and The Caribbean Sailors crew of beta testers will be brought aboard to make suggestions, hunt for bugs, give feedback and give me my much needed ego petting.

If Fantasy Toggle can survive all of that then I'll know she's ready for the sea.

That's probably not what you expected but it's better than watching her sink after the bottle christens her.



Remember when this big boi sneaked into the game on launch day? His time to shine will come soon.


All of the content for Fantasy mode is nearly complete, but there's some polishing left to do.
New feature tutorials, gameplay balancing, achievements, fringe case scenarios that can leave you stuck or aimless, and other assorted little tasks to complete. Like adding more particle effects.

If you want to follow the progress, I'd recommend the official Victorian Clambake Discord Server or Twitter.


By the end of the month hopefully.
There's a lot to take into consideration that I can't estimate.
How many bugs will be found?
How hard will it be to port TCS through Game Maker 2?
How long will it take for Apple to approve the 64-bit Mac version?
What does Jenkins do with all the empty turtle shells we catch?

What I can say for sure is that I'm working hard to make the best game I can, which means taking the time to get it right. That's what the giant mollusk running Victorian Clambake mandated.



Captain! A fire breathing ship is trying to ram us!


These ones, and the next ones; Over the weekend you'll be able to plunder yourself a copy of The Caribbean Sail for $2.99 which you won't see again for a long time. After the sale I'm raising the price to $14.99 to reflect the new value. It will literally be two games in one.

After Fantasy Toggle, I'll have to "Gold Master" The Caribbean Sail and end development. Then I can release the soundtrack, make some merch, and see what else can be done with what I've created! It's been a long voyage but port is finally in sight.

Now it's time to head into the beta development storm.
- Your Captain, Evan.

The Mac users all got the same crash,
and since I don't want to sell trash,
I fixed up the game,
It's mostly the same,
but the bottle messages all turned to ash.

*Bottle messages were entirely removed from the Mac version for now to prevent a recent crash.

[h2]Another year, another particle effect filled update![/h2]
This progress update marks the third year since development first began.
It's been a long journey and the end is finally in sight.

If the words "Fantasy Toggle" mean nothing to you, then click here!



Particles... Ah...

I've been hard at work throughout the holiday season while hiding beneath a pile of oilskins to ward off influenza. Now it's time for a mid voyage progress report!

[h3]What's done?[/h3]
- All the new locations
- All the new unlockable ships and professions
- Nearly all of the new mechanics and systems
- Some of the new particle effects

[h3]What's left?[/h3]
- The new events
- The new opportunities
- The new items
- The new storyline
- The rest of the new particle effects

That's the short version.



Much like the furnace above, this development cycle has burned up time quickly.

I said this in the last progress report and I'll say it again. Creating Fantasy Toggle has been comparable to creating a new game inside of an old game. Implementing new systems while maintaining old mechanics is like trying to sail a clipper ship against the wind- it's slow progress and things keep breaking.

Throw in the new Mac update demanding 64-bit binaries when GM:S 1.4 can only handle 32 and I've got a shark sized problem on my hands to bring the entirety of The Caribbean Sail into GameMaker 2 at some point. The engine upgrade shouldn't take too long but becoming a verified app developer? New waters for this young rogue.



Like the lasers fired from the Cybership above, sometimes we miss our target.

[h3]What does this all mean?[/h3]
The opening of beta has been moved to April 30th.

The participants have all been hand-picked which means if you'd like to test out Fantasy Toggle when the time comes? You should climb aboard the official Discord!

After Fantasy Toggle is complete, The Caribbean Sail will be twice the game it is now!
This also means that I'll be increasing the price once again to reflect the new value.

There are more plans after Fantasy though! A soundtrack, merch, potentially a physical edition?! Time will tell but until then, I'll be at the helm of development!

- Your Captain, Evan.

If you're clueless about the Fantasy Toggle expansion, read this!

If you've been paying attention to development, you'll know this expansion is taking longer than I first estimated. That's because Fantasy Toggle isn't as big as Route Planning was... it's twice as big.

Feast your eyes on a few of the completed features!









January 31st - 2020 ...is when I want to open testing.

After two years of development, I have a high standard of quality for this final content update. The sheer amount of interconnected systems has made development particularly tricky. Making the entirety of Fantasy mode optional (hence the "Toggle") has been comparable to building a new game inside of a pre-existing game.

While a lot of progress has been made, my original estimate was simply unrealistic.
We learn, we move on.

Unfortunately the Jolly Riot demo won't be ready until at least mid 2020 because I'll be focused on finishing development of The Caribbean Sail. Progress is still being made and you should follow then wishlist Jolly Riot if you'd like to learn more about my next project!

If you'd like to yap at me, be sure to climb aboard our verified Discord server!

Thank you for joining me on this long voyage.
- Your Captain, Evan :TCS_Tophat:

We rant and ramble, share shanties, discuss new ideas, and have a parrot named Polly!

Climb aboard!