It has been several months since we posted any progress articles, but in that time we have been silent, we haven't been sitting still. New content has been worked on, old content has been updated, work in progress mods have been fixed and made compatible with the release code and, most importantly, many bugs have been fixed.
We have spent a lot of effort on fixing many of the worst bugs still left in the game. Ship berthing is operational again, the storms look like storms once more and can be encountered in DirectSail mod as well and the Character interface error with the Auto Skill System disabled has been sorted. In addition to that, all storylines and quests have been playtested, fixed and are now playable.
From its original form, the out of the box the game of "Pirates of the Caribbean" as modified by the PiratesAhoy! community, has now progressed to levels that were thought impossible to achieve. Several features have been added that even the original game developers did not think could be done. But managed it, we did.
Gameplay Updates:
Amongst the most frequently requested features ever since the release of the stock game are DirectSail, Capture Colonies and Save At Sea. Both the first and third were thought to be impossible to achieve, given the game engine limitations. But with the release of Build 14 Alpha 10, now all those three features are available. Capture Colonies requires some more work, but the concept has been proven. The other two mods have proven to work very well together and will add a great deal of gameplay value as well as convenience to both regular players and the more realistically inclined.
Another oft-requested feature, especially since I posted that tantalizing picture on the Images page, is the Ship Upgrades modification. We have been able to include this mod in Build 14 Alpha 10 after finishing and fixing it. It allows you to buy upgrades for your ship if you can find enough money to pay for it. Also a part of the Shipyard interface improvements are the ability to remove and install cannons on your ship as you see fit and the ability to choose a different paint job for your ship. The interface for this last feature is not entirely clear yet, since so far we haven't included screenshots of all the various ships, but the concept has been proven.
One thing that has always bothered some members of our community was the confusing officer system that was present in the original game. We have now made work of the New Officer System that allows all officers to contribute their skills and not only those that are in your active land/boarding party. Each officer contributes only those skills that make sense for their assigned position aboard the ship. However, it possible to freely change officers' roles in the Passengers interface.
Gameplay Realism Updates:
Some people like realism in their games and some do not. Naturally, we try to cater both audiences.
The Realistic Sailing mode has been redubbed into a general Realistic Game mode that involves not only the sailing system, but also limits Fast Travel and Sail To to places you have personally discovered. Additionally, spyglasses only enlarge the view and do not give any further information. This is to encourage players to actually sail around and observe other ships the way real life seamen would have done. Also the player is no longer informed beforehand if there is danger in a location.
All the above are optional and can be turned on if the player wishes, but are off by default.
Another addition is the concept of wounded crewmembers. Depending on your ship company's defence skill, casualities in ship battles may not immediately die and will have a chance of healing and rejoining your crew. Depending on the presence of medicine aboard the ship and the defence skill of the ship's doctor, if available, less crewmembers will die after the battle and more will be healed.
Historical Realism Updates:
One way of adding more variety to a game in a historical setting is to provide more historical background. This has been done with the inclusion of the Periods Mod. The game now spans the history in the Caribbean from 1500 to 1820. Island and town names are correct for each period, as well as the relations between the nations. The nationality of towns will differ per period and there will be a historically correct governor installed in each colony as far as our sources have enabled.
In addition to the above, the look of the soldiers will change, which immediately gives a different atmosphere in the different time settings of the game.
A large part of the Periods mod is the Different Flags mod, which is another thing that we have wanted to do but believed to be impossible. It has been in the works for over three years and time and again it looked like we would never manage it. But it has been functioning very well since the release of Build 14 Alpha 9.5 Patch 3. Amongst other things, this mod places period-correct flags AND pennants on all ships in the game. It is possible to distinguish between navy and merchant ships based on their flag. And different pirate ships will use different pirate flags, just like real pirates did.
Graphical Updates:
The Different Flags mod brings us to the next aspect where we have been working on. After all, as much as gameplay is important, the eye must not go wanting. While we are modding a 2003 game and we do not have access to most of the source code controlling the actual look of the game, we have done what we can. A seemingly minor part of this is the Lagoon Color mod, which will turn the water colour near shores to the distinct Caribbean hinge that is so famous from postcards and movies. Along with the update to the Weather Mod that makes the chance of rain dependent on the actual Caribbean wet season, this does contribute greatly to the Caribbean feel of the game.
Since the release of the stock game, we have added 177 new ships and 564 new character models. Most are reskins of originals, but many also are either modified models or fully new ones and all are works of art. A project has been started on to add detail to all original game ships, including placing ship wheels, anchors and figureheads on the various ships. This may seem like a lot of effort with not much gained, but considering you spend a lot of time in the game looking at your ships, we might as well make that a pleasant business.
We have also finally learned how to add new location models into the game, which can be seen in the ship in cave picture above. We have not yet done much location modeling due to lack of modelers, but at least we are capable of doing it now. This has also resulted in new weapons added to the game, as well as the field guns that can be seen later in this article.
We have spent a lot of effort on fixing many of the worst bugs still left in the game. Ship berthing is operational again, the storms look like storms once more and can be encountered in DirectSail mod as well and the Character interface error with the Auto Skill System disabled has been sorted. In addition to that, all storylines and quests have been playtested, fixed and are now playable.
From its original form, the out of the box the game of "Pirates of the Caribbean" as modified by the PiratesAhoy! community, has now progressed to levels that were thought impossible to achieve. Several features have been added that even the original game developers did not think could be done. But managed it, we did.
Gameplay Updates:
Amongst the most frequently requested features ever since the release of the stock game are DirectSail, Capture Colonies and Save At Sea. Both the first and third were thought to be impossible to achieve, given the game engine limitations. But with the release of Build 14 Alpha 10, now all those three features are available. Capture Colonies requires some more work, but the concept has been proven. The other two mods have proven to work very well together and will add a great deal of gameplay value as well as convenience to both regular players and the more realistically inclined.
Another oft-requested feature, especially since I posted that tantalizing picture on the Images page, is the Ship Upgrades modification. We have been able to include this mod in Build 14 Alpha 10 after finishing and fixing it. It allows you to buy upgrades for your ship if you can find enough money to pay for it. Also a part of the Shipyard interface improvements are the ability to remove and install cannons on your ship as you see fit and the ability to choose a different paint job for your ship. The interface for this last feature is not entirely clear yet, since so far we haven't included screenshots of all the various ships, but the concept has been proven.
One thing that has always bothered some members of our community was the confusing officer system that was present in the original game. We have now made work of the New Officer System that allows all officers to contribute their skills and not only those that are in your active land/boarding party. Each officer contributes only those skills that make sense for their assigned position aboard the ship. However, it possible to freely change officers' roles in the Passengers interface.
Gameplay Realism Updates:
Some people like realism in their games and some do not. Naturally, we try to cater both audiences.
The Realistic Sailing mode has been redubbed into a general Realistic Game mode that involves not only the sailing system, but also limits Fast Travel and Sail To to places you have personally discovered. Additionally, spyglasses only enlarge the view and do not give any further information. This is to encourage players to actually sail around and observe other ships the way real life seamen would have done. Also the player is no longer informed beforehand if there is danger in a location.
All the above are optional and can be turned on if the player wishes, but are off by default.
Another addition is the concept of wounded crewmembers. Depending on your ship company's defence skill, casualities in ship battles may not immediately die and will have a chance of healing and rejoining your crew. Depending on the presence of medicine aboard the ship and the defence skill of the ship's doctor, if available, less crewmembers will die after the battle and more will be healed.
Historical Realism Updates:
One way of adding more variety to a game in a historical setting is to provide more historical background. This has been done with the inclusion of the Periods Mod. The game now spans the history in the Caribbean from 1500 to 1820. Island and town names are correct for each period, as well as the relations between the nations. The nationality of towns will differ per period and there will be a historically correct governor installed in each colony as far as our sources have enabled.
In addition to the above, the look of the soldiers will change, which immediately gives a different atmosphere in the different time settings of the game.
A large part of the Periods mod is the Different Flags mod, which is another thing that we have wanted to do but believed to be impossible. It has been in the works for over three years and time and again it looked like we would never manage it. But it has been functioning very well since the release of Build 14 Alpha 9.5 Patch 3. Amongst other things, this mod places period-correct flags AND pennants on all ships in the game. It is possible to distinguish between navy and merchant ships based on their flag. And different pirate ships will use different pirate flags, just like real pirates did.
Graphical Updates:
The Different Flags mod brings us to the next aspect where we have been working on. After all, as much as gameplay is important, the eye must not go wanting. While we are modding a 2003 game and we do not have access to most of the source code controlling the actual look of the game, we have done what we can. A seemingly minor part of this is the Lagoon Color mod, which will turn the water colour near shores to the distinct Caribbean hinge that is so famous from postcards and movies. Along with the update to the Weather Mod that makes the chance of rain dependent on the actual Caribbean wet season, this does contribute greatly to the Caribbean feel of the game.
Since the release of the stock game, we have added 177 new ships and 564 new character models. Most are reskins of originals, but many also are either modified models or fully new ones and all are works of art. A project has been started on to add detail to all original game ships, including placing ship wheels, anchors and figureheads on the various ships. This may seem like a lot of effort with not much gained, but considering you spend a lot of time in the game looking at your ships, we might as well make that a pleasant business.
We have also finally learned how to add new location models into the game, which can be seen in the ship in cave picture above. We have not yet done much location modeling due to lack of modelers, but at least we are capable of doing it now. This has also resulted in new weapons added to the game, as well as the field guns that can be seen later in this article.
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