The tale thus far

Dev Blog - 

     Hello everyone, its been a spell since I last updated the community on the progress. A lot has been happening, in regards to myself, it's been rough. The wife passed and sapped most my energy and motivation, been going through some things. Still that hasn`t stopped the project we at Potential Games studio have given the codename: Airbags. (Its a working title).

Progress so far:

    Steampunk Airship Pirates - in 3D! We have converted to a 3D model. The isometric was proving difficult and time consuming, both Russ and myself have more experience in 3D and we`re working on low poly and simple textures so any phone or computer should be able to handle them. This will also allow us to do a 2.5D experience with several of the puzzles, where much of it is in 2D with some 3D elements added in. Some samples of our 3D work:

    The steampunk elements will be present, though not nearly as heavy handed as traditional Victorian steampunk style. It will be added to a golden age of sail feel of the ships.

    We have in development several of the puzzles the one with the most progress is gunnery. Right now our focus is upon getting the ships flying, and the interactions to load players onto them. Still we have moved ahead on the puzzles:

Gunnery

Gunnery basics will be much the same. Load the cannons in the correct order, then clean them after they fire. Some simple GIF of the new look:

    Even more interesting as there will be TWO game modes for gunner. One is loading the cannons and the other is swabbing the decks! After the usual loading pieces will arrive to allow the pirate to swab the decks until they need to clean and load the cannons again. Swabbing the deck will allow them player to keep their streak going without having to ditch the cannons, it will also allow them to repair and clear the deck of debris, even lay down wax to speed up the pieces movement.

The entire gunning deck will be much more dynamic; the ship taking damage will be reflected on the board, ship turns and crashes may also move some of the pieces, for better or worse. 

Alpha Roadmap

(Change and conditions do apply!)

Right now we are still tracking to get an early limited beta by early '22. A single ship, a lane to find targets in, and a short battle for poe (we might for legal reasons have to change that name). I`m still hoping to get ramped up to make this something to publish before '23. 

Of the four main ship puzzles; gunnery, sailing, bilging, and carpentry. Gunnery has the most changes with the addition of the secondary mode. Sailing, bilging and carpentry will have less changes made to them. The biggest change with bilging will of course be that instead of pumping water out, you`ll be keeping the bilge full! Not a lot of water coming into an airship, as for why you need more water, that's a storyline thing. Feel free to ask me about that, I am far better content creator than developer.

We are also planning to do one of the two fighting mini-games. I will discuss with the community and Russ which of the two would be the easiest to start with, brawling or swords. I suspect brawling, but I like swords more. Eventually (likely post publish) I would like to have a small scene above the board where players can see themselves and their opponents duke it out street-fighter style!

Lastly we are changing the pursuit/escape scenarios. Instead of having a single shipping lane, ships will be able to travel off the beaten path when trying to evade a pursuer. They can make a break for some flying debris, clouds, maybe an allied ship, or even sometime more sinister...(pending development). 

    Ships will travel much slower when trying to escape, but ships may escape if they make it outside of the pursuing ships range or into a cloud bank, or other hiding area. Once the battle is over they will automatically return to the shipping lane where they can resume their customary speed. Other players and NPCs may also be able to join a battle in progress, should you be attacking a well defended route you may find yourself with more than one opponent!

Some additional things on the board

Somethings that will happen, but are not on the map for beta.

New Puzzles - A scouting spotting puzzle is on the board. This will let a captain and crew spot from further, temporarily see though some clouds, and even do more damage to a target. A steam engine puzzle is also moving along, with players balancing fuel, heat and water to create the pressure for an steam engine.

Special pieces! Every puzzle will have special pieces, some good, some ill, all to be utilized one way or another. 

Powerups - Items that build up over time or can be collected from the board to enhance gameplay. These can do anything from clear junk pieces, repair damage, or modify pieces to create bigger combos and setups for Ult puzzling.

Dynamic board interactions - If you booch your attempt, or waste some parts you will generate pieces that impede other players boards. Booch on the sails? A new piece of junk falls on the gunners deck! Booch the carpentry? Wood chunks in the bilge.

You can also help generate powerups and special pieces for other players. Pulling off spectacular results in carpentry may generate a powerup for bilge, sails or gunner to repair their broken boards. Clearing special bilge pieces can generate bonus pieces for the gunner or carpentry etc.

Terrain, ship condition and special attacks will affect players boards - Going through clouds, smoke, storms and night/day will affect how boards look and visibility. A good captain helps keep the boards free and clear! As a ship takes damage the boards will take damage. Gunners will see debris to be cleared, tar/oil spilled and holes the the deck that pieces drop through. Bilgers will have trouble keeping the water pumping of course. Sails can have platforms break or tilt, carpenters may see stranger shapes to try to fill. Crashing the ship or turning hard will cause boards to shift and move pieces around!

Creatures! I hope to have creatures of the cloud-seas interfering with players. The Flycrabs scuttling across boards make for difficult plays, but are delicious with butter! The Skykracken and its young hunt from the clouds able to camouflage themselves to attack. That tentacled cloud might not be a cloud after all! I hope to have battles both small mini-boss style and big fleet sized battles with creatures. Hives of Flycrabs where you need to approach, crack open with your cannons, then defeat the queen and her guards for their nectar. Smaller hives on the battle map that attack ships that get too close covering players boards with scuttling little crabs that block moves until cleared. 

Battles of these creatures would be in various rounds, for example, fighting a Skykracken might involve the battle map as it moves in and out of cloud cover, engaging its tentacles at range as they smack the ship. Get too close and one can grab the ship! Requiring the crew to engage it in melee to get it to release. Fire at the head to deal it damage, it can even ink-jet the ship, creating a colorblind experience and slick spots until cleared and collected as loot!

Anti-botting tactics - While nothing will ever fully stop bots, these dynamic changes above as well as hopefully a slew of special attacks available to players will create an environment that bots will not be able to flourish as they have in YPP. 

Independent ratings - Gone will be the rating systems of old, your skill will not be weighted upon a bell curve of players. Instead standards will be set, goals achieved and ratings averaged over the course of your gameplay independent of other players. We may need to adjust these ratings earlier on, but they will not be at the whim of some unknown calculating system. You will still have a separate rating amongst your fellow pirates, but that`s mostly bragging rights. 

Vote via Respect - Your pirate will collect Respect tokens by achieving various accolades, from increasing your standing in your crew, to your reputation and experience level with all puzzles. These are spendable tokens that you may reward other players with, raising their repute, vote in elections, or influence NPC politics with! Though every pirate will get a vote, cashing in a Grand-Master respect token will tip the scales far greater than a handful of Distinguished. This will also allow the most experienced and skilled players to have more of a say in the macro events of the game.

Real music - As a pirate/shanty fan, I have a load of lesser known bands I would love to make a part of the game. I have a vision in my head of their participation, but that's after we have some success. The taverns and towns may ring with the songs of piracy again! Secondly to this some musical instruments for players to put together tunes on could be fun!

Kings Queens and Admirals - Another long term project would be to make a world players can take control of. Eventually becoming real leaders, with power from respect and admiration of their followers! Can anyone say endgame goals!?

Crafting! I never understood the whole stall mentality and the player only driven economy has obviously failed in the long term. This game will have a core of NPCs (controlled by whomever controls the islands/nation) that will help be a counter balance to player economies. As the player economy grows the NPC section will become a smaller influence but will still be a markets foundation. Islands will also have production, with some islands rich in some resources and poor in others, thus creating a natural need to trade. 

The big Bad NPC - If things get a bit too complacent don`t doubt that I have plans to drop an invading force to make your pirate life more dangerous!

So much more! 

    Had I a magic wand (or unlimited money) I would create a massive game, something to dwarf YPP in both quantity and quality. Right now we are starting small, and hoping to snowball into a greater and greater game. 

    However any game is pointless without the players, your love of YPP is as always apparent and I hope to pay homage to that by continuing its legacy and building upon it. This won`t work without all you salty lads and lasses, and I hope to earn the same loyalty you`ve all shown through the years.

Fair winds till we speak again!