Codename: Airbags

  Server!? I barely know her! Ahoy!      It's been bumpy lately for the Sky Pirates team. Russ has been fighting server issues for so long that we don't recall when it began. We had always planned on moving to a hosted server, though we'd hoped it would be because we had so many people playing that the old PC-turned-server was turning into a pile of molten silicon.      Last week, despite several hours on hold, replacing all hardware involved, and excessive swearing, begging, and praying, we finally bit the bullet and found a server provider.      This, of course, wasn't the end of it. We were able to get our service migrated and back up on Friday, watch it crash Saturday, and cause a mind-numbing set of headaches on Sunday. Now, while we will not be able to physically punish our server… ...hit me harder... …this should be a much more sustainable long-term solution.      During this time, we've also been reviewing our puzz...

  Ahoy all! It’s time to put on that peg leg and find your eye patch! It’s time for piracy! The FREE Sky Pirates demo is out for everyone to play! Demo Link: Sky Pirates: Puzzles & Plunder It’s been quite the grind to get here. We began with a long list of things to do, and then kept adding as we went along. That being said, we also pushed a few things out that we`ll be re-visiting once we get the time. One of our big goals with this demo is to collect feedback and game-play data so we can further refine the scoring and enjoyment! So invite your friends and play as much as you can so we can make the game better for everyone.      In the tavern, you’ll find a job board which will display ships that are currently active. You can hop on to an active ship OR start your own! Note that all ships are currently ‘public’ to encourage group play and reduce server load while we make sure things are stable. A few updates to the puzzles have happened. We’ve tweaked the ...

  Ahoy Sky-Pirates!     We (Russ mostly) have been working whenever we have a few minutes to spare, and are happy to announce that the demo is just waiting for Steam to allow its launch!       The demo will cover going out and hunting NPC ships, which you will need to hit with cannons, then complete the boarding as a crew before winning the battle. Destroy as many as you can before returning to port! There are bots available, but they are not very good, and we strongly advise bringing a friend or two, and not just for our engagement numbers 😉       In addition, if you haven't seen it already, the mobile app has had an upgrade with the Boarding and Navigation puzzles! All the prior puzzles have also gotten a bit of polish, something we will keep doing as we go. Give them a try and let us know what you think of them.      The demo should become available in about two weeks. We will announce when we have a specific...

  Ahoy everyone!      We have been pushing hard for the demo and are very nearly there. Our only goal is a complete play loop that feels good and is of the quality we want to show. We both agreed that we’d rather take our time and make this a quality attempt rather than rushing it before we felt it was ready. This is just a short message to give you all a heads up as to what to expect and what we’ve been working towards! The demo will have players start on the island and find or start a voyage from the job board in the tavern. From there, you`ll jump aboard a ship. You can play stations, affecting the ship's speed, water level, health status, and cannons loaded. The other ship will wait until someone takes the helm through the Navigation puzzle game. At that point, the battle begins, and you want to have all your stations manned.  We have very simple bots aboard, helping at unmanned stations, but I wouldn’t rely on them for a lot. Seriously, they're terrible. ...

  Post Alpha High What a ride!       Buckle up- this is a long post.      We just got to host the first, limited Alpha test of Sky Pirates!  There was laughter, there were tears, and at least 22 pirates plummeted into the endless expanse of sky. In a nutshell, everything we could have hoped for.      My name is Russ, the other ‘R’ in RxR, who quietly lurks in the Discord server. But as the guy who’s written 85% of the code, I’ve taken some time to create a retrospective and share my thoughts about what worked, what didn’t, and where we’re planning to go from here. This feels especially fitting as we come to the end of the year and stare down the prospect of re-entering the workforce.  But more on that later. For now… *Bill Murray did not agree to endorse this project We literally couldn’t test some of these things without your help- and you guys showed up! Over the two sessions we held we had 16 people join up- and more th...