First a bit of bad news: we have yet to secure a publisher. The last one, the one we made the video for, we only ended up in 170th place. In all honesty, there were some excellent videos out there, even with my own personal bias. Still, it’s a mark of progression, and it helped push us to make a better island, update the characters, and confront some items that make the project seem less ‘polished’ from the outside.
If you still haven`t seen it, check it on the Steam page:
Sky Pirates: Plunder & Puzzles
What this means for Sky Pirates: Puzzles & Plunder is that we'll have to find other sources of funding, aka regular jobs. This will impact our ability to work on the game. We still have funding through December, but we’ve also been trying to get jobs since the beginning of the month, and it is ROUGH out there.
So to keep our sanity through rejections and ghostings (and so much spam), we’ve set another target: Steam Next Fest! We’re aiming for the February event, which showcases upcoming games. We are really excited to have a playable version of our game ready for the masses by then! What this really means is we have to push hard through the holidays to get ourselves there.
This also means that we’ll be shooting for a closed beta! Better to fail privately in front of a few strangers! Russ really wants it by December, giving us enough time to process feedback and make all the changes. In any case, when we approach this milestone, there will be a closed beta signup for everyone to jump in on, so keep an eye out for that notice soon. I will be putting it everywhere I can, in a very obnoxious way.
This isn’t just a pie-in-the-sky goal, it will force us to get a playable build together. That’s a huge milestone for us, and gives us an opportunity to better our pitch to companies. See, it’s all interconnected!
In the meantime, this also means updating the art and design. Trying to move away from the stock look of 18th-century sailing ships, but in the air, and adding more unique and game-specific designs. While I don’t have enough time to build a full fleet, I’ve been working on some parts and pieces that will let us stand out.
I already have piles of lore to work with, and use that to guide my designs, plus my massive collections of ideas and images I’ve pulled over the years.
We're also looking to create progression for players to earn through play. We’ve been calling them ‘modifiers’, but the in-game name may be different. These will make every voyage feel different as well as let players customize their playstyles.
Modifiers can come in a lot of different flavors and styles, but you'll also have a limited amount to equip yourself with. There will also be the ability to equip certain modifiers on ships, which will boost all on the crew. Some will be permanent, others will be single-use.
Collecting these items will create a steady progression. Players can spend their plunder to buy various clothing and equipment, but to get a chance for the truly best items, they'll need to take on challenging opponents. We are debating if these should be tied to cosmetic items, but if so you will have the option to move modifiers to un-modified items in order to dress how you like.
Modifiers can do a lot of different things and add some crunch, but they are not intended to replace a player's skill at the puzzles. Some basic ones can decrease time penalties, increase scoring a small amount, or reduce penalties for failed boards. More specific ones can change gameplay for puzzles greatly!
For instance, in Hydronautics, you may have a modifier that changes the bomb power-ups so they automatically detonate when they reach an edge. Or one that recharges your power-up whenever you score a big combo. Another could randomly select and destroy pieces after a certain number of moves, or give a bigger score for the smallest matches.
Combining these modifiers can add up for a boost to your rating, but everyone’s play style will be different, and the number of modifiers able to be equipped for each player will be limited. It'll be important to prepare yourself accordingly. Will you spread your modifiers to be slightly better all around? Or will you focus on a single puzzle and go for your best rating?
Battle-deck, a gunnery game, is nearing completion. We did a full re-skin and changed how the game is played to be distinctive enough to feel new, but kept many processes to keep it familiar. One of the big changes is that you will not just be placing tiles, but moving boxes, to control how the pieces move on the board. This shifts a lot of how the pieces move about the deck, and creates new moves and challenges.
Secondly, boards will have two to four cannons. Part of this is for space saving, as the mobile version became semi-uncontrollable on a four or more-cannon board. We had originally thought of having up to eight on a board! Including some facing forwards or rear. But it really crowded the board and even increasing the space of the board made it unwieldy.
Once you complete a board you`ll get your rating and be able to jump to the next board without having to run from cannon to cannon. You keep loading and jumping boards until everything is loaded. We hope this speeds up the processes of loading, which helps us towards speeding up encounters as a whole.
Till next time Sky-Pirates! Join us on the Discord and Wishlist us on Steam!
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