The new trade system we're introducing in December to Sunless Skies will be an extensive overhaul that ties into storytelling, economy, UI and character progression. There's a lot to talk about, so we've divided this update into three sections:

• The TL;DR Version: a summary of what to expect
  
• Why We've Changed Trade: a look into our design process and goals
  
• The Nitty-Gritty: exhaust yourself with the details of trade

We’ll also be showcasing the new trade system on our next FBG Podcast, which will be at 16:00 GMT on Wednesday 29th November (so our Narrative Director Chris can show everyone the ropes).



The new trade system aims to create the sense of being an independant trader. You're trying to carve out a living in the gaps left by big companies. That means you'll need a sharp eye for opportunities, and wits, boldness, and knowledge of the skies to capitalise on them. If the risk pays off, you could land that big score and make yourself rich – for a while.

At ports, you'll now be able to find Bargains and Prospects:

• Bargains are opportunities to buy a good cheaply.
  
• Prospects are news of someone who's prepared to pay well over the odds for a certain good.

You can invest in a Bargain for a quick sale, or pursue a Prospect for a bigger reward. But don't delay! As time passes, old opportunities will vanish and new ones appear. Different ports offer different opportunities, and as your captain levels up you'll unlock new, more profitable ones!

To support this new system, we're streamlining markets. Each region's main port will now buy any good, and each minor port will sell a single export. So if you want to sell, you'll visit the main port. If you want to buy, you'll need to find the right minor port.



Using your map, you'll be able to see each port's export and when new trade opportunities are available there. You can also check the Prospects you're currently pursuing on your locomotive screen.



Trade in Sunless Skies is intended to feel unpredictable and rewarding; to play like a story. It's meant to reward character progression and player knowledge. The initial implementation includes a slice of the Bargains and Prospects that will be in the final game, and we'll be following player feedback closely, and making changes (especially to costs and rewards). We hope you enjoy it!



Before we started working on the trade system for Sunless Skies, we went back and looked at trade in Sunless Sea, focusing on what worked and what we wanted to improve on. We felt trade in Sunless Sea was:

Flavourful: The trade goods were evocative and playful. They revealed things about the world: Casks of Mushroom Wine, Firkins of Prisoner's Honey, Bolts of Spider-Silk.

Complex: Sunless Sea had about 22 trade goods. It also had more than 30 ports, each of which sold different goods at different prices. That's a lot of permutations, and as there was no UI dedicated to trade, players had to consult a wiki or keep extensive notes to engage with it.

Familiar: This was a huge benefit – the trade in Sunless Sea worked more or less like trade in a various other games (notably Elite, one of its inspirations). Players who had experienced similar systems felt on firm ground.

Reliable/Predictable: With a couple of effective exceptions, trade was reliable and predictable. A single port sold the same goods at the same prices, and once you'd worked out a trade route you could pump it indefinitely.

Stingy, then bountiful: Profit on each unit of goods was low, but the hold space in larger ships was generous. This meant that trade began with fiercely tight margins, but as your resources increased it became trivial. Combined with its reliability, trade tended to provide a steady flow of cash as you travelled.

Secondary: Trade was never the focus of Sunless Sea – it was a supplementary activity to add a sense of authenticity to the life of a captain.


AIMS FOR SUNLESS SKIES

After this, we identified three priorities to govern trade in Sunless Skies.

Simplicity: This is a risky word, because it sounds like we're dumbing trade down. But that's not the case: we're not reducing the design space (quite the opposite!), we just want it to be governed by clear rules and supported by helpful UI.

Harder choices; better rewards: Rather than being a routine, we want trade to be unpredictable. It should pose challenging choices, which can pay off handsomely. There's always risk, but after a good deal you should feel like Scrooge McDuck for a while. Profit won't be a curve or a line, it'll be spikes.

Tighter constraints on hold space are a key part in this (we know hold space feels very tight at the moment – it'll become somewhat less so as new locomotives and equipment become available).

Make trade a story: We want to convey the fantasy of trade – identifying an opportunity and committing your knowledge and resources to capitalise on it. We want to tie it to your captain and the choices you make about them. We want to use it to tell the story of the world.


UNGOALS

To keep ourselves focused, we also identified a number of things we aren't interested in doing.

Market simulation: We aren't making a complex economic simulation where prices fluctuate based on supply and demand.

Realism: We aren't trying to create anything realistic. As in Sunless Sea, the emphasis is on exploration and story.

Familiarity: This is a risk, but we're prepared to try something unusual here. This mean's we'll have to put more effort into explaining the system within the game.



The new system combines a number of different elements: trade goods, markets, Bargains, Prospects, and character progression.


TRADE GOODS

As in Sunless Sea we've kept the trade goods evocative. Trading Barrels of Unseasoned Hours tells us something about the nature of the High Wilderness, and it's an item we can use in fun ways in stories.

There are slightly fewer goods in than in Sunless Sea, (currently 14) so there's less to remember. Each region in the game focuses on a subset of goods which help tell its story. The Reach, for example, mostly deals in bronzewood, seeds, hours, souls, and Chorister nectar. A clear story like this aids player memory. Once you know the Reach is verdant and untamed, it makes sense you'd go there to get bronzewood.


MARKETS

'Markets', here, means 'what can I buy at each port, and for how much?' Our goal here was to make them a clear, simple underpinning for the trade system, freeing up 'complexity budget' elsewhere. They're now governed by three rules:

• Each main port buys any trade good for its base price
  
• Each minor port sells a single trade good (its export), again for the base price
  
• Main ports only buy; minor ports only sell

This means if you find a bundle of bronzewood in a wreck, you know you can reliably sell it at the nearest main port. But if you're looking for a particular good, you need to find a port that sells it. You can now click on a port on your map to see a pop-up with a short description of it and a reminder of its export.

Buying a good at a minor port and selling it at a main one won't net you any profit. It's like buying something from one supermarket and selling it at the next one. Instead, to profit from trading you'll need to seek out Bargains and Prospects.


BARGAINS

Each port will have a new 'bazaar' area. Part captains' club, part trading-house, anyone needing to buy or sell quickly knows this is the place to come. At minor ports, the bazaar offers Bargains:

A bargain is a good offered for sale at a low price, but with limited supply.

Let's use our earlier example:



You can see how each bargain delivers a snippet of story, giving us another way to communicate the world of Sunless Skies. This Bargain allows you to buy up to three Jumbles of Undistinguished Souls, at the significantly reduced price of 45 sovereigns each (down from the usual price of 70 sovereigns).

You can buy all three, or buy some now and come back later. Don't wait too long though! Bargains change over time. They're randomised, and a system of tags filter which Bargains appear. We can tag a Bargain to only appear in the Reach, for example, or only at metropolitan ports, or only at places with Bohemian leanings.

When the Bargains at a port change, you'll get a notification on its map pop-up, so you can tell if it's time to visit again and see what's available.

Bargains can also have requirements, only appearing after specific story events or for certain captains.

You can always deliver Bargains back to the region's main port and sell them for a reliable profit. They're the meat and potatoes of trade. But you might want to store some in your bank and look out for a big return by combining them with a Prospect.


PROSPECTS

At major ports, the bazaar doesn't offer Bargains, but Prospects instead.

A Prospect is a contract with someone at another port, who will pay an excellent price for a certain good.

You'll need to source the good yourself, probably from a minor port. Here, your expertise comes into play – can you find the best trade route, and navigate the dangers on the way?

The client will only want a certain amount of the good in question. You can just provide part of their demand if you like, but if you fulfil all of it you may see an additional effect. For example, if you complete a Prospect to bring a Tackety sympathiser a supply of munitions you might affect the course of the conflict in the Reach!

The unwritten captains' code means once you've accepted a Prospect, no other captain will take it. It's recorded on your locomotive screen. You can accept up to four Prospects at once, and abandon them at any time.

Here's an example Prospect you might find at New Winchester:



This prospect will pay out 80 sovereigns per unit of seeds: double the normal base price of 40; Prospects are even more rewarding than Bargains, because they're more demanding. And if you can complete a Prospect by buying goods as a Bargain – well, that's how you make the big space-bucks.


AFFILIATIONS

The final piece of the trade puzzle is your captain, and their affiliations. As you level up, you choose new facets for your captain (like Scarred or Mentor), some of which increase an affiliation. Affiliations represent the circles you move in: Academe, Bohemia, Establishment and Villainy.

As they rise, each unlocks new Prospects and Bargains. The higher the affiliation, the more profitable the opportunities. Captains with high Villainy will have more chances to buy cheap stolen goods, while those with high Academe will be approached by researchers prepared to pay for materials to further their research.

So that’s it, our very very short post about the new trade system! We hope the Prospects and Bargains update will go out in mid-December. We can’t wait to see what you think!

The new trade system we're introducing in December to Sunless Skies will be an extensive overhaul that ties into storytelling, economy, UI and character progression. There's a lot to talk about, so we've divided this update into three sections:

• The TL;DR Version: a summary of what to expect
  
• Why We've Changed Trade: a look into our design process and goals
  
• The Nitty-Gritty: exhaust yourself with the details of trade

We’ll also be showcasing the new trade system on our next FBG Podcast, which will be at 16:00 GMT on Wednesday 29th November (so our Narrative Director Chris can show everyone the ropes).



The new trade system aims to create the sense of being an independant trader. You're trying to carve out a living in the gaps left by big companies. That means you'll need a sharp eye for opportunities, and wits, boldness, and knowledge of the skies to capitalise on them. If the risk pays off, you could land that big score and make yourself rich – for a while.

At ports, you'll now be able to find Bargains and Prospects:

• Bargains are opportunities to buy a good cheaply.
  
• Prospects are news of someone who's prepared to pay well over the odds for a certain good.

You can invest in a Bargain for a quick sale, or pursue a Prospect for a bigger reward. But don't delay! As time passes, old opportunities will vanish and new ones appear. Different ports offer different opportunities, and as your captain levels up you'll unlock new, more profitable ones!

To support this new system, we're streamlining markets. Each region's main port will now buy any good, and each minor port will sell a single export. So if you want to sell, you'll visit the main port. If you want to buy, you'll need to find the right minor port.



Using your map, you'll be able to see each port's export and when new trade opportunities are available there. You can also check the Prospects you're currently pursuing on your locomotive screen.



Trade in Sunless Skies is intended to feel unpredictable and rewarding; to play like a story. It's meant to reward character progression and player knowledge. The initial implementation includes a slice of the Bargains and Prospects that will be in the final game, and we'll be following player feedback closely, and making changes (especially to costs and rewards). We hope you enjoy it!



Before we started working on the trade system for Sunless Skies, we went back and looked at trade in Sunless Sea, focusing on what worked and what we wanted to improve on. We felt trade in Sunless Sea was:

Flavourful: The trade goods were evocative and playful. They revealed things about the world: Casks of Mushroom Wine, Firkins of Prisoner's Honey, Bolts of Spider-Silk.

Complex: Sunless Sea had about 22 trade goods. It also had more than 30 ports, each of which sold different goods at different prices. That's a lot of permutations, and as there was no UI dedicated to trade, players had to consult a wiki or keep extensive notes to engage with it.

Familiar: This was a huge benefit – the trade in Sunless Sea worked more or less like trade in a various other games (notably Elite, one of its inspirations). Players who had experienced similar systems felt on firm ground.

Reliable/Predictable: With a couple of effective exceptions, trade was reliable and predictable. A single port sold the same goods at the same prices, and once you'd worked out a trade route you could pump it indefinitely.

Stingy, then bountiful: Profit on each unit of goods was low, but the hold space in larger ships was generous. This meant that trade began with fiercely tight margins, but as your resources increased it became trivial. Combined with its reliability, trade tended to provide a steady flow of cash as you travelled.

Secondary: Trade was never the focus of Sunless Sea – it was a supplementary activity to add a sense of authenticity to the life of a captain.


AIMS FOR SUNLESS SKIES

After this, we identified three priorities to govern trade in Sunless Skies.

Simplicity: This is a risky word, because it sounds like we're dumbing trade down. But that's not the case: we're not reducing the design space (quite the opposite!), we just want it to be governed by clear rules and supported by helpful UI.

Harder choices; better rewards: Rather than being a routine, we want trade to be unpredictable. It should pose challenging choices, which can pay off handsomely. There's always risk, but after a good deal you should feel like Scrooge McDuck for a while. Profit won't be a curve or a line, it'll be spikes.

Tighter constraints on hold space are a key part in this (we know hold space feels very tight at the moment – it'll become somewhat less so as new locomotives and equipment become available).

Make trade a story: We want to convey the fantasy of trade – identifying an opportunity and committing your knowledge and resources to capitalise on it. We want to tie it to your captain and the choices you make about them. We want to use it to tell the story of the world.


UNGOALS

To keep ourselves focused, we also identified a number of things we aren't interested in doing.

Market simulation: We aren't making a complex economic simulation where prices fluctuate based on supply and demand.

Realism: We aren't trying to create anything realistic. As in Sunless Sea, the emphasis is on exploration and story.

Familiarity: This is a risk, but we're prepared to try something unusual here. This mean's we'll have to put more effort into explaining the system within the game.



The new system combines a number of different elements: trade goods, markets, Bargains, Prospects, and character progression.


TRADE GOODS

As in Sunless Sea we've kept the trade goods evocative. Trading Barrels of Unseasoned Hours tells us something about the nature of the High Wilderness, and it's an item we can use in fun ways in stories.

There are slightly fewer goods in than in Sunless Sea, (currently 14) so there's less to remember. Each region in the game focuses on a subset of goods which help tell its story. The Reach, for example, mostly deals in bronzewood, seeds, hours, souls, and Chorister nectar. A clear story like this aids player memory. Once you know the Reach is verdant and untamed, it makes sense you'd go there to get bronzewood.


MARKETS

'Markets', here, means 'what can I buy at each port, and for how much?' Our goal here was to make them a clear, simple underpinning for the trade system, freeing up 'complexity budget' elsewhere. They're now governed by three rules:

• Each main port buys any trade good for its base price
  
• Each minor port sells a single trade good (its export), again for the base price
  
• Main ports only buy; minor ports only sell

This means if you find a bundle of bronzewood in a wreck, you know you can reliably sell it at the nearest main port. But if you're looking for a particular good, you need to find a port that sells it. You can now click on a port on your map to see a pop-up with a short description of it and a reminder of its export.

Buying a good at a minor port and selling it at a main one won't net you any profit. It's like buying something from one supermarket and selling it at the next one. Instead, to profit from trading you'll need to seek out Bargains and Prospects.


BARGAINS

Each port will have a new 'bazaar' area. Part captains' club, part trading-house, anyone needing to buy or sell quickly knows this is the place to come. At minor ports, the bazaar offers Bargains:

A bargain is a good offered for sale at a low price, but with limited supply.

Let's use our earlier example:



You can see how each bargain delivers a snippet of story, giving us another way to communicate the world of Sunless Skies. This Bargain allows you to buy up to three Jumbles of Undistinguished Souls, at the significantly reduced price of 45 sovereigns each (down from the usual price of 70 sovereigns).

You can buy all three, or buy some now and come back later. Don't wait too long though! Bargains change over time. They're randomised, and a system of tags filter which Bargains appear. We can tag a Bargain to only appear in the Reach, for example, or only at metropolitan ports, or only at places with Bohemian leanings.

When the Bargains at a port change, you'll get a notification on its map pop-up, so you can tell if it's time to visit again and see what's available.

Bargains can also have requirements, only appearing after specific story events or for certain captains.

You can always deliver Bargains back to the region's main port and sell them for a reliable profit. They're the meat and potatoes of trade. But you might want to store some in your bank and look out for a big return by combining them with a Prospect.


PROSPECTS

At major ports, the bazaar doesn't offer Bargains, but Prospects instead.

A Prospect is a contract with someone at another port, who will pay an excellent price for a certain good.

You'll need to source the good yourself, probably from a minor port. Here, your expertise comes into play – can you find the best trade route, and navigate the dangers on the way?

The client will only want a certain amount of the good in question. You can just provide part of their demand if you like, but if you fulfil all of it you may see an additional effect. For example, if you complete a Prospect to bring a Tackety sympathiser a supply of munitions you might affect the course of the conflict in the Reach!

The unwritten captains' code means once you've accepted a Prospect, no other captain will take it. It's recorded on your locomotive screen. You can accept up to four Prospects at once, and abandon them at any time.

Here's an example Prospect you might find at New Winchester:



This prospect will pay out 80 sovereigns per unit of seeds: double the normal base price of 40; Prospects are even more rewarding than Bargains, because they're more demanding. And if you can complete a Prospect by buying goods as a Bargain – well, that's how you make the big space-bucks.


AFFILIATIONS

The final piece of the trade puzzle is your captain, and their affiliations. As you level up, you choose new facets for your captain (like Scarred or Mentor), some of which increase an affiliation. Affiliations represent the circles you move in: Academe, Bohemia, Establishment and Villainy.

As they rise, each unlocks new Prospects and Bargains. The higher the affiliation, the more profitable the opportunities. Captains with high Villainy will have more chances to buy cheap stolen goods, while those with high Academe will be approached by researchers prepared to pay for materials to further their research.

So that’s it, our very very short post about the new trade system! We hope the Prospects and Bargains update will go out in mid-December. We can’t wait to see what you think!

Build Version: 1.0.3.2.1dcb4f0
Release Date: 15/11/2017

Greetings Sky-Captains, just a quick update to resolve a number of bugs introduced in the last patch, plus a couple of minor quick-fixes and content updates to boot.

• The Diffident Bat can now be jettisoned.
  
• The Diffident Bat is now available to buy at Abraham’s Engineering at New Winchester should you be cruel enough to jettison the one you currently own.
  
• We’ve reduced the cost of Hull repairs from 5 to 1.
  
• Branches to repair your locomotive’s hull have been moved from within the New Winchester storylet to their own storylet (Repairing your Locomotive) at Wolvesey Station.

Scouts

• The Diffident Bat once again finds all ports in the Reach.

Labels

• All labels now appear on the chart when discovered in-game.

Engine Yards/Locomotives

• Small weapons now remain equipped when purchasing locomotives with large armament slots (i.e. Parsival and Moloch class locomotives).

UI

• Sovereigns now update when you have the Possessions interface open when buying items.
  
• You can no longer travel with interfaces open after opening and closing the character progression screen.
  
• You no longer have to click Wolvesey Engine Yard twice to reopen it after closing it down with the X.
  
• The cargo Hold now auto-updates if it is open when receiving and losing items via storylets.
  
• The Jettison interface now updates correctly when equipping a duplicate weapon.
  
• Opening a shop interface when you already have another shop interface open no longer closes the interface down.

Audio

• All locomotive sounds are now muted when SFX Volume is set to 0% within game.
  
• Locomotive SFX have been balanced to make the engine start/stop SFX less jarring.

Graphics

• In-game graphical distortions and z-fighting should no longer occur on MacOS machines with NVIDIA graphics card (we are aware of the minor z-fighting on the chart and will resolve this in the future).

Content

• We have removed the spaces before the full stop on various journal entries.

Build Version: 1.0.3.2.1dcb4f0
Release Date: 15/11/2017

Greetings Sky-Captains, just a quick update to resolve a number of bugs introduced in the last patch, plus a couple of minor quick-fixes and content updates to boot.

• The Diffident Bat can now be jettisoned.
  
• The Diffident Bat is now available to buy at Abraham’s Engineering at New Winchester should you be cruel enough to jettison the one you currently own.
  
• We’ve reduced the cost of Hull repairs from 5 to 1.
  
• Branches to repair your locomotive’s hull have been moved from within the New Winchester storylet to their own storylet (Repairing your Locomotive) at Wolvesey Station.

Scouts

• The Diffident Bat once again finds all ports in the Reach.

Labels

• All labels now appear on the chart when discovered in-game.

Engine Yards/Locomotives

• Small weapons now remain equipped when purchasing locomotives with large armament slots (i.e. Parsival and Moloch class locomotives).

UI

• Sovereigns now update when you have the Possessions interface open when buying items.
  
• You can no longer travel with interfaces open after opening and closing the character progression screen.
  
• You no longer have to click Wolvesey Engine Yard twice to reopen it after closing it down with the X.
  
• The cargo Hold now auto-updates if it is open when receiving and losing items via storylets.
  
• The Jettison interface now updates correctly when equipping a duplicate weapon.
  
• Opening a shop interface when you already have another shop interface open no longer closes the interface down.

Audio

• All locomotive sounds are now muted when SFX Volume is set to 0% within game.
  
• Locomotive SFX have been balanced to make the engine start/stop SFX less jarring.

Graphics

• In-game graphical distortions and z-fighting should no longer occur on MacOS machines with NVIDIA graphics card (we are aware of the minor z-fighting on the chart and will resolve this in the future).

Content

• We have removed the spaces before the full stop on various journal entries.

For this development update, we’re taking a dive into one of the most important systems in Sunless Skies: procedural generation. Your feedback in Early Access has been instrumental in some major changes coming later this month, that will transform the way Sunless Skies feels to play.

AN ENDLESS VOID

World building is hugely important to our games, especially because Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies focus so heavily on player exploration. We’ve been using procedural generation to create a populated world of interesting things to find in Sunless Skies.

As Early Access opened, we heard fans say that Sunless Skies felt empty. While actual space can certainly feel like an unending void, we didn’t want players to experience the world we’ve spent months building and designing to feel uninhabited.

Another concern we picked up was sudden environmental changes—one minute you’re flying past an asteroid, then a giant tree, then a clump of fungus and so on. Players were struggling to understand how these elements fitted together.



Currently in Sunless Skies, a region like The Reach is essentially a circle, divided into three rings (a core, an inner ring, and an outer ring). The game procedurally places the ports, agents and terrain inside each ring based on a system of tags that match sympathetic environments and decoration: this way we make sure palm trees don't appear next to the snowy port of Lustrum, for example.



(Original proc-gen example, where each labelled item can spawn anywhere in the core)

This design was an iteration on the original proc-gen system we used in Sunless Sea. While it was faster and easier to use than the Sunless Sea system, which relied on a lot of data input, we soon realised that it wasn’t ideally suited to creating the rich, coherent world we wanted to build.



It also created its own technical and design issues for our team:

• It’s difficult and time consuming to create individual art assets that have the possibility of fitting anywhere within the region
  
• The unit of design (a singular port, rock, or homestead etc.) is incredibly small, and thus restricts the team’s ability to build the atmosphere of a region so that the geography echoes the narrative content
  
• It takes a lot of iteration to get the numbers right so that travelling through a region doesn’t feel empty

SEGMENT DESIGN

All this lead us to design a new system. Now, instead of allowing small units of terrain to generate anywhere in a particular ring, we are now dividing our regions' rings into curated segments.

These segments can spawn in any rotation as long as they stay within their designated ring, which gives us more control to shape the environment, while still leaving some proc-gen to allow for varied player experiences.



Each segment is designed by a collaborative team of an artist, a writer and a designer. They spend their time deciding:

• the general atmosphere of that segment
  
• which ports will be included
  
• what the weather will be like
  
• the general art direction and colour palette
  
• which agents will be present (NPCs, beasties, etc.)
  
• the Spectacles and Discoveries within the segment
  
• which pieces of equipment will be most useful
  
• trade opportunities
  
• the audio required for the segment
  
• the log messages that will appear on screen
  
• and the geographical layout of the segment

(Above is half of a segment design example from one of the segment meetings)

This segment design approach effectively allows us to do level design, so that we can deliver a world that feels detailed and lush. A world full of Victorians exploring and conquering space. A world that you will hopefully get to know with your captains.

Here’s a bird’s eye view of part of an inner segment. You can see Port Avon on the right and some abandoned ruins on the left.



Of course, moving to segment design means we had to redesign the in-game chart as well. Here’s what it looks like currently:



And here’s what you can expect when the new proc-gen system goes live:






When will these changes be implemented in-game?

Most likely before the end of the month, but as it’s a huge change to the game, we’re going to add it on initially as a separate branch.This means that the original proc-gen system of the game will still be the main playable build of the game if players login to Steam/GOG, but that anyone wanting to try out the new proc-gen can follow some simple steps to open up and play on the new branch. We’ll be sure to post the instructions for everyone when it becomes available.

We’re also hoping to add Spectacles and Discoveries into the game soon too, which will also help to make the world feel less empty. Once both Spectacles/Discoveries and the new proc-gen are in, space should feel more lush and exciting!


If you have any questions about procedural generation or the new system, we’d welcome you to come join our FBG Podcast on 10th November at 16:00 GMT! We’ll have stolen Paul away from his artistic duties to talk about all the changes.

REMINDER: Any backers who have not received their game keys yet please email skies@failbettergames.com, as it appears that quite a few people’s keys got eaten by spam filters.

For this development update, we’re taking a dive into one of the most important systems in Sunless Skies: procedural generation. Your feedback in Early Access has been instrumental in some major changes coming later this month, that will transform the way Sunless Skies feels to play.

AN ENDLESS VOID

World building is hugely important to our games, especially because Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies focus so heavily on player exploration. We’ve been using procedural generation to create a populated world of interesting things to find in Sunless Skies.

As Early Access opened, we heard fans say that Sunless Skies felt empty. While actual space can certainly feel like an unending void, we didn’t want players to experience the world we’ve spent months building and designing to feel uninhabited.

Another concern we picked up was sudden environmental changes—one minute you’re flying past an asteroid, then a giant tree, then a clump of fungus and so on. Players were struggling to understand how these elements fitted together.



Currently in Sunless Skies, a region like The Reach is essentially a circle, divided into three rings (a core, an inner ring, and an outer ring). The game procedurally places the ports, agents and terrain inside each ring based on a system of tags that match sympathetic environments and decoration: this way we make sure palm trees don't appear next to the snowy port of Lustrum, for example.



(Original proc-gen example, where each labelled item can spawn anywhere in the core)

This design was an iteration on the original proc-gen system we used in Sunless Sea. While it was faster and easier to use than the Sunless Sea system, which relied on a lot of data input, we soon realised that it wasn’t ideally suited to creating the rich, coherent world we wanted to build.



It also created its own technical and design issues for our team:

• It’s difficult and time consuming to create individual art assets that have the possibility of fitting anywhere within the region
  
• The unit of design (a singular port, rock, or homestead etc.) is incredibly small, and thus restricts the team’s ability to build the atmosphere of a region so that the geography echoes the narrative content
  
• It takes a lot of iteration to get the numbers right so that travelling through a region doesn’t feel empty

SEGMENT DESIGN

All this lead us to design a new system. Now, instead of allowing small units of terrain to generate anywhere in a particular ring, we are now dividing our regions' rings into curated segments.

These segments can spawn in any rotation as long as they stay within their designated ring, which gives us more control to shape the environment, while still leaving some proc-gen to allow for varied player experiences.



Each segment is designed by a collaborative team of an artist, a writer and a designer. They spend their time deciding:

• the general atmosphere of that segment
  
• which ports will be included
  
• what the weather will be like
  
• the general art direction and colour palette
  
• which agents will be present (NPCs, beasties, etc.)
  
• the Spectacles and Discoveries within the segment
  
• which pieces of equipment will be most useful
  
• trade opportunities
  
• the audio required for the segment
  
• the log messages that will appear on screen
  
• and the geographical layout of the segment

(Above is half of a segment design example from one of the segment meetings)

This segment design approach effectively allows us to do level design, so that we can deliver a world that feels detailed and lush. A world full of Victorians exploring and conquering space. A world that you will hopefully get to know with your captains.

Here’s a bird’s eye view of part of an inner segment. You can see Port Avon on the right and some abandoned ruins on the left.



Of course, moving to segment design means we had to redesign the in-game chart as well. Here’s what it looks like currently:



And here’s what you can expect when the new proc-gen system goes live:






When will these changes be implemented in-game?

Most likely before the end of the month, but as it’s a huge change to the game, we’re going to add it on initially as a separate branch.This means that the original proc-gen system of the game will still be the main playable build of the game if players login to Steam/GOG, but that anyone wanting to try out the new proc-gen can follow some simple steps to open up and play on the new branch. We’ll be sure to post the instructions for everyone when it becomes available.

We’re also hoping to add Spectacles and Discoveries into the game soon too, which will also help to make the world feel less empty. Once both Spectacles/Discoveries and the new proc-gen are in, space should feel more lush and exciting!


If you have any questions about procedural generation or the new system, we’d welcome you to come join our FBG Podcast on 10th November at 16:00 GMT! We’ll have stolen Paul away from his artistic duties to talk about all the changes.

REMINDER: Any backers who have not received their game keys yet please email skies@failbettergames.com, as it appears that quite a few people’s keys got eaten by spam filters.

Greetings Sky-Captains,

There’s a number of new features in this build for you to get your claws into.


Engine Yards:
These are shops in port (currently just New Winchester) where you can purchase new locomotives. Instead of a straight purchase situation, players will be able to trade their current locomotive in towards the price of a new beauty. Be forewarned—locomotives are not cheap, and prices may change as we continue to balance the economy. Start saving those Sovereigns!

Banks:
You can now store items that are taking up valuable space in your hold. Banks are available at major ports (which means just New Winchester at the moment until new Regions are released). Items stored in banks can also be retrieved by a new captain if your previous one meets their demise. To access the bank speak to the Scrubbed Clerk at New Winchester once you reach level 2.

Legacies:
When starting a new game you can now choose to play the Legacy or Merciful campaign.

In Legacy mode, players can start from the last major port visited by their previous captain, with their locomotive, half their sovereigns, any items stored in their bank, a percentage of their experience, and all but one piece of equipment assigned to their locomotive.

In Merciful mode, players can choose to either start with a new captain as in Legacy mode, or continue with their previous captain from their last auto-save point.

Character Creation:
This update allows players to select a character portrait, character name, what they’ll be addressed as, an origin story, their base statistics, and their chosen ambition.

As a note: Character Creation is not yet fully complete. There will be more origin stories, ambitions, and facial features will be added later on. We’d very much appreciate your feedback about which type of features you’d like to see more of/which are lacking.



There’s not as many bug fixes for existing issues with this update but that is because our focus has mostly been on developing and testing the new features in this build.

As always, if you spot a bug, please check to see if it’s a Known Issue (any workarounds are in red text) before emailing us at skies@failbettergames.com with details of the bug (specific info on what to include in bug reports can be found on our Bug Reporting page).

As for feedback, please let us know what you think of the new features and existing ones too at skies@failbettergames.com. Feel free to post on the forums too, particularly on our Focused Feedback threads. Our current ones are on Terror and Economy, Progress & World Shape


UI
* The chart zoom now functions when the chart is accessed with a storylet open.
* The Hull tooltip now auto-updates as soon as Bronzewood shielding is equipped. You no longer need to repair your hull or exit and re-enter the game to see the update.
* Cruise Control can no longer be activated when you have an interface open.
* If you gain more items than your Locomotive can carry whilst in a dock, you are now able to close the Jettison interface temporarily in order to sell items at shops, or bank them if at a hub (major) port.
* The Hold UI now expands correctly when purchasing additional items.
* The Main Menu can no longer be brought up on the Title Screen.

Combat
* Agents no longer damage themselves with ranged weapons.

Content
* We've updated Titania so the Mayor won't explain the construction options after you've already started building.
* The Magician at Polmear and Plenty’s no longer sets your Sovereigns to 100 when handing in items to him.
* You can once again attend a performance at the circus (determined by the date).
* All options can now be seen in the Parsimonious Chairman’s offices even if you don’t meet the requirements.
* You are now correctly awarded Favour at Victory Hall in Exile when handing in port reports.
* Pane of Stained Glass is available to buy no matter the state of the Winchester War.
* Rewards from the Parsimonious Chairman and Sweet Jane have been tweaked so they are in-line with each other.
* Fuel and Supplies are now available for sale at all ports.
* The Brendan at Hybras now disappears at the correct moment in the Hybras storyline.
* Titanian Petals and Mandrakes can no longer be farmed for Sovereigns.
* The Formidable Lacquerer is no longer referred to as the Formidable Onnagata.
* Likewise the Pharonic Enthusiast is no longer referred to as the Pharonic Aficionado.
* Several typos and grammatical errors have been fixed.

Legacies
* Dying in dock during Merciful mode will no longer cause perpetual death when loading from the last autosave.

Misc
* We have removed some blocking at the Bronzewood trees decoration.
* Hull is now reduced correctly when unequipping Bronzewood Shielding.
* Crew is now reduced correctly when unequipping Cosy Cabins.
* Crew can no longer be exceeded at The Labour Exchange.

Greetings Sky-Captains,

There’s a number of new features in this build for you to get your claws into.


Engine Yards:
These are shops in port (currently just New Winchester) where you can purchase new locomotives. Instead of a straight purchase situation, players will be able to trade their current locomotive in towards the price of a new beauty. Be forewarned—locomotives are not cheap, and prices may change as we continue to balance the economy. Start saving those Sovereigns!

Banks:
You can now store items that are taking up valuable space in your hold. Banks are available at major ports (which means just New Winchester at the moment until new Regions are released). Items stored in banks can also be retrieved by a new captain if your previous one meets their demise. To access the bank speak to the Scrubbed Clerk at New Winchester once you reach level 2.

Legacies:
When starting a new game you can now choose to play the Legacy or Merciful campaign.

In Legacy mode, players can start from the last major port visited by their previous captain, with their locomotive, half their sovereigns, any items stored in their bank, a percentage of their experience, and all but one piece of equipment assigned to their locomotive.

In Merciful mode, players can choose to either start with a new captain as in Legacy mode, or continue with their previous captain from their last auto-save point.

Character Creation:
This update allows players to select a character portrait, character name, what they’ll be addressed as, an origin story, their base statistics, and their chosen ambition.

As a note: Character Creation is not yet fully complete. There will be more origin stories, ambitions, and facial features will be added later on. We’d very much appreciate your feedback about which type of features you’d like to see more of/which are lacking.



There’s not as many bug fixes for existing issues with this update but that is because our focus has mostly been on developing and testing the new features in this build.

As always, if you spot a bug, please check to see if it’s a Known Issue (any workarounds are in red text) before emailing us at skies@failbettergames.com with details of the bug (specific info on what to include in bug reports can be found on our Bug Reporting page).

As for feedback, please let us know what you think of the new features and existing ones too at skies@failbettergames.com. Feel free to post on the forums too, particularly on our Focused Feedback threads. Our current ones are on Terror and Economy, Progress & World Shape


UI
* The chart zoom now functions when the chart is accessed with a storylet open.
* The Hull tooltip now auto-updates as soon as Bronzewood shielding is equipped. You no longer need to repair your hull or exit and re-enter the game to see the update.
* Cruise Control can no longer be activated when you have an interface open.
* If you gain more items than your Locomotive can carry whilst in a dock, you are now able to close the Jettison interface temporarily in order to sell items at shops, or bank them if at a hub (major) port.
* The Hold UI now expands correctly when purchasing additional items.
* The Main Menu can no longer be brought up on the Title Screen.

Combat
* Agents no longer damage themselves with ranged weapons.

Content
* We've updated Titania so the Mayor won't explain the construction options after you've already started building.
* The Magician at Polmear and Plenty’s no longer sets your Sovereigns to 100 when handing in items to him.
* You can once again attend a performance at the circus (determined by the date).
* All options can now be seen in the Parsimonious Chairman’s offices even if you don’t meet the requirements.
* You are now correctly awarded Favour at Victory Hall in Exile when handing in port reports.
* Pane of Stained Glass is available to buy no matter the state of the Winchester War.
* Rewards from the Parsimonious Chairman and Sweet Jane have been tweaked so they are in-line with each other.
* Fuel and Supplies are now available for sale at all ports.
* The Brendan at Hybras now disappears at the correct moment in the Hybras storyline.
* Titanian Petals and Mandrakes can no longer be farmed for Sovereigns.
* The Formidable Lacquerer is no longer referred to as the Formidable Onnagata.
* Likewise the Pharonic Enthusiast is no longer referred to as the Pharonic Aficionado.
* Several typos and grammatical errors have been fixed.

Legacies
* Dying in dock during Merciful mode will no longer cause perpetual death when loading from the last autosave.

Misc
* We have removed some blocking at the Bronzewood trees decoration.
* Hull is now reduced correctly when unequipping Bronzewood Shielding.
* Crew is now reduced correctly when unequipping Cosy Cabins.
* Crew can no longer be exceeded at The Labour Exchange.

Today is a very exciting update for us (and you!) as today is our first feature update to the game! Once your game updates in Steam/GOG, you’ll be able to explore: Engine Yards, Banks, Legacies and—perhaps most excitingly—Character Creation. These features make up quite large systems within the game, and so we’ve spent this sprint and a few others tidying them up and bug testing them. Alongside that, we’ve also been working on Albion content, other large systems like Prospects and Bargains, and of course addressing feedback from players.

NEW FEATURES ADDED

Engine Yards:
These are shops in port where players can purchase new locomotives. Instead of a straight purchase situation, players will be able to trade their current locomotive in towards the price of a new beauty. Be forewarned—locomotives are not cheap, and prices may change as we continue to balance the economy.

Banks:
Where players can store items that are taking up valuable space in their holds. Items stored in banks can also be retrieved by a new captain if your previous one had met their demise. To access the bank speak to the Scrubbed Clerk at New Winchester once you reach level 2.

Legacies:
Death is hard to avoid, but thankfully where one captain fails, another may continue on in their place and hope to further their great work.

In Legacy mode, players can start from the last major port visited by their previous captain, with their locomotive, half their sovereigns, any items stored in their bank, a percentage of their experience, and all but one piece of equipment assigned to their locomotive.

In Merciful mode, players can choose to either start with a new captain as in Legacy mode, or continue with their previous captain from their last auto-save point.

Character Creation:
Those who had fun with our Kickstarter prototype will find this familiar. This update allows players to select a character portrait, character name, what they’ll be addressed as, an origin story, their base statistics, and their chosen ambition.

As a note: Character Creation is not yet fully complete. There will be more origin stories, ambitions, and facial features will be added later on. We’d very much appreciate your feedback about which type of features you’d like to see more of/which are lacking. Thanks!






ART

Meet the Enduring Dreadnought, a fast and powerful locomotive available only to the agents of Her Enduring Majesty's Government. These locomotives are generally manned bv ambassadors, Constables, Ministers, and other enforcers of London's will - they are a sign of London's power wherever they travel.



Besides creating the above three-cylinder locomotive, Tobias was also tasked with the Aeginae, leviathans that dwell in the belly of the heavens. Usually, they are only glimpsed as sliding shapes–grand as mountain-ranges–in the fogs below. It is said that the suns have an ancient pact with them.

We are keeping these under cloud-cover for now, but will be very glad to share them when we’re ready…


CONTENT

In preparation of adding Engine Yards, James dove into spreadsheeting work again to write content for within the Engine Yards, as well as cover where they exist in game, what their names are, and which locomotives they're going to sell.

Alongside that, Chris designed and specified locomotive details necessary for players to be able to use the Engine Yards, for example: price, where locomotives can be bought, their qualities, quarters, hold and hull.

This sprint also sees Albion and Eleutheria port work continue with pitches, writing and quality assurance.

GAMEPLAY & DESIGN

Besides a whole host of tweaks to Engine Yards and Banks, Mac has been working on the implementation of Prospects and Bargains, our system for trade in Sunless Skies.

Chris and Barry have been working in tandem to this to implement the design-focused bits Chris has been working on. This allows our team to link the trade system to logical places within the game world.

Our design team has also been busy discovering a solution to one of the main pieces of feedback we’ve received so far—that currently Sunless Skies feels quite empty.

While actual space can feel vast and empty, we of course do not want our game to feel as such. Therefore, Liam, Chris and Paul have been discussing and rejigging how to lay out the world of Sunless Skies so it feels more full and lush.

This has involved intense planning sessions and a redesign of how the world is procedurally generated within the game. We’ll share their solution here soon in fuller detail!


If you have any questions regarding the new features, please join us for the FBG Podcast Friday 27th October at 16:00 BST!

REMINDER: Any backers who have not received their game keys yet please email skies@failbettergames.com, as it appears that quite a few people’s keys got eaten by spam filters.

Today is a very exciting update for us (and you!) as today is our first feature update to the game! Once your game updates in Steam/GOG, you’ll be able to explore: Engine Yards, Banks, Legacies and—perhaps most excitingly—Character Creation. These features make up quite large systems within the game, and so we’ve spent this sprint and a few others tidying them up and bug testing them. Alongside that, we’ve also been working on Albion content, other large systems like Prospects and Bargains, and of course addressing feedback from players.

NEW FEATURES ADDED

Engine Yards:
These are shops in port where players can purchase new locomotives. Instead of a straight purchase situation, players will be able to trade their current locomotive in towards the price of a new beauty. Be forewarned—locomotives are not cheap, and prices may change as we continue to balance the economy.

Banks:
Where players can store items that are taking up valuable space in their holds. Items stored in banks can also be retrieved by a new captain if your previous one had met their demise. To access the bank speak to the Scrubbed Clerk at New Winchester once you reach level 2.

Legacies:
Death is hard to avoid, but thankfully where one captain fails, another may continue on in their place and hope to further their great work.

In Legacy mode, players can start from the last major port visited by their previous captain, with their locomotive, half their sovereigns, any items stored in their bank, a percentage of their experience, and all but one piece of equipment assigned to their locomotive.

In Merciful mode, players can choose to either start with a new captain as in Legacy mode, or continue with their previous captain from their last auto-save point.

Character Creation:
Those who had fun with our Kickstarter prototype will find this familiar. This update allows players to select a character portrait, character name, what they’ll be addressed as, an origin story, their base statistics, and their chosen ambition.

As a note: Character Creation is not yet fully complete. There will be more origin stories, ambitions, and facial features will be added later on. We’d very much appreciate your feedback about which type of features you’d like to see more of/which are lacking. Thanks!






ART

Meet the Enduring Dreadnought, a fast and powerful locomotive available only to the agents of Her Enduring Majesty's Government. These locomotives are generally manned bv ambassadors, Constables, Ministers, and other enforcers of London's will - they are a sign of London's power wherever they travel.



Besides creating the above three-cylinder locomotive, Tobias was also tasked with the Aeginae, leviathans that dwell in the belly of the heavens. Usually, they are only glimpsed as sliding shapes–grand as mountain-ranges–in the fogs below. It is said that the suns have an ancient pact with them.

We are keeping these under cloud-cover for now, but will be very glad to share them when we’re ready…


CONTENT

In preparation of adding Engine Yards, James dove into spreadsheeting work again to write content for within the Engine Yards, as well as cover where they exist in game, what their names are, and which locomotives they're going to sell.

Alongside that, Chris designed and specified locomotive details necessary for players to be able to use the Engine Yards, for example: price, where locomotives can be bought, their qualities, quarters, hold and hull.

This sprint also sees Albion and Eleutheria port work continue with pitches, writing and quality assurance.

GAMEPLAY & DESIGN

Besides a whole host of tweaks to Engine Yards and Banks, Mac has been working on the implementation of Prospects and Bargains, our system for trade in Sunless Skies.

Chris and Barry have been working in tandem to this to implement the design-focused bits Chris has been working on. This allows our team to link the trade system to logical places within the game world.

Our design team has also been busy discovering a solution to one of the main pieces of feedback we’ve received so far—that currently Sunless Skies feels quite empty.

While actual space can feel vast and empty, we of course do not want our game to feel as such. Therefore, Liam, Chris and Paul have been discussing and rejigging how to lay out the world of Sunless Skies so it feels more full and lush.

This has involved intense planning sessions and a redesign of how the world is procedurally generated within the game. We’ll share their solution here soon in fuller detail!


If you have any questions regarding the new features, please join us for the FBG Podcast Friday 27th October at 16:00 BST!

REMINDER: Any backers who have not received their game keys yet please email skies@failbettergames.com, as it appears that quite a few people’s keys got eaten by spam filters.