We're participating in Gamescom 2021! It's a digital event this year, so you can enjoy everything from the comfort of your own home. We've prepared a demo to introduce new landlubbers to Blazing Sails, and turn them into true scourges of the seven seas!
Now fair disclaimer: dedicated servers are not available in the demo version. You'll have to recruit yer own crew and make a private server! Still, the demo offers the same swashbuckling, cannon-firing, trident-teleporting goodness as the full game.
So what arrrre ye waiting for? Get a crew together and dip your toes in the pirate life!
MAJOR UPDATE! Pirate Progression, Ghost Ship, Hammer Skins, and Much More!
Ahoy mateys!
It's been a bit since our last update, and that is because we've been saving up for something BIG!
We've prepared this little trailer that shows our progress during Early Access + The latest additions:
[previewyoutube="I3VvZDyAH7I;full"]
Pirate Progression
While we think our game has improved a lot during the last few months of Early Access we always felt like our game was missing some of that special sauce that just keeps you interested even after playing many, many matches. Gone are those days! From now on, every completed match will reward you with experience to increase your Pirate Level! At the same time level based unlocks like: Special Chests, Hammer Skins and epic Pirate Titles will contribute in giving you something to work towards while leveling up!
In the meantime we've revamped the loot drop system. Instead of getting some random items after a match you'll now get either a normal or winner chest (or both!) when winning matches and leveling up. This way we want to make winning matches more rewarding while also giving those less experienced players the chance to get cool cosmetics via the player progression.
And that's not all! We've also revamped the end-game scoreboard so that it displays your experience earned that match, even when losing! We've also added some other extras to give it a more polished vibe.
We do however, want to be clear about this: the amount of experience, point distribution, drop-chance, loot amount, etc... is all bound to change while we gather more feedback. Many factors are involved with player progression. Especially because we've completely overhauled our previous system. In the end we want the progression system to be enjoyable and rewarding for both experienced and new players while also encouraging you to win and perform certain tasks on the ship.
There are still a few bugs and one crash. We are working very hard to fix them asap with a hotfix!
We're also working on the exchanging post, where you'll be able to trade your tradable duplicates or unwanted items for new item drops! We expect to release this feature shortly after this update!
Ghost Ship
In the final zone a Ghost Ship will now also rise from the depths to make the final zone a bit more interesting and challenging. The ghost ship is littered with loot and equipped with cannons that can be used by both you or your enemies! Each time it rises all 3 rocks will have a random height above the water. It also is a perfect vantage point for those experienced sharpshooters. By adding this we want to encourage players to use different tactics to win the game instead of just endlessly circling each other.
Hope you're all excited scallywags! We certainly are!
Patch notes version 1.6
Level and progression system:
Added levels (unlimited max cap)
Added progression timeline that shows all level based unlocks (click upper right icon or click mini level bar)
Added mini level bar in top right corner of main menu
New loot system:
Cosmetic loot chests added (replaces direct cosmetic drops)
Loot chests always give one random item from tier range of the chest (winner: uncommon to legendary / regular: common to rare)
Winning matches now grants a winner chest and some regular chests
Main menu now shows a notification popup on the left to indicate unopened loot chests
Seperate loot chest opening menu added (click main menu pop mentioned above)
Level based hammer skins:
You can now unlock and equip special hammer skins that can be unlocked by leveling up
Higher tier hammer skins produce a special repair particle effect and sound effect
Level based titles:
You can now set special titles that can be unlocked by leveling up
New winning screen:
Renamed "Most eliminations" to "The Marksman"
Renamed "Best Repairs" to "The Handyman"
More best roles will be added soon
Winning screen now shows match rewards
Winning screen now shows level based unlocks and rewards
Winning screen now shows gained level experience and unlocked levels
In-game username additions:
In-game username above player's head now also shows title and level
Steam achievements:
Steam achievements are now unlockable (16 achievements)
Controller support:
Experimental* controller support added
Option improvements:
Added a brightness slider
Rising ghost ship:
Final zone now spawns 3 rocks with each a part of a ghost ship that contain cannons, loot and a treasure chest. (Sometimes the ghost ship can spawn through islands, we'll resolve this with future patches)
Gameplay improvements:
Swimming speed increased with 50%
Added loud swimming sounds to fast swimming
Added quiet swimming sounds to slow swimming
You can now climb twice as fast on ship ladders by holding shift but it makes a loud climbing sound (there is a tooltip as well)
Slow ship ladder climbing is now silent
Steering wheel now has twice as many angles and thus allows for more precise turning
Healing speed increased by 20%
Removed swivel cannon in ship wreck on Bird's Reef (performance cost and very rarely used)
Enemies can no longer recork
Conquest tweaks:
Flag capture progress bar now stays on screen even if the flag is behind you (screen edge widget)
Weapon rebalancing:
Musket body shot damage reduced from 65 to 59 and headshot damage increased from 97 to 99
Nockgun projectile damage increased from 10 to 11
Nockgun reload time increased from 2.3s to 2.5s
Double Barrel reload time increased from 1.8s to 2.5s
Half barrel reload time increased from 1.8s to 2.5s
Blunderbuss no longer fires all 11 pellets when not fully loaded
Score tweaks:
Score is now given based on damage done instead of bullet damage amount (multipliers are now taken into account)
Kills now reward 50 score instead of 100
UI improvements:
Scoreboard redesigned visually
Scoreboard now shows player levels
Right clicking in scoreboard now makes your mouse cursor always appear in the center of the screen
Added a small popup when joining a server
Mouse interface tooltip visual tweaks
Credits button moved to options (main menu only)
New circular loading widget for server browser, party system and some other UI
New party UI:
Party UI now shows icons for ready / unready / party leader state
Party UI no longer requires hovering to leave or kick or see username
Style revamped
Ship tweaks:
All ship collisions improved which should make it harder to get stuck on sandbanks or rocks
Sinking fire effect flames now more nicely placed on all ships (no more floating flames)
All ship damage point locations tweaked so they align nicely with the interior hull planks (visual improvement)
Roadmap Update 6: PROGRESSION SYSTEM, Ghost Ship and more!
Ahoy! It's time for another Early Access Roadmap Update!
Alright, stop. Hammer time.
Everybody likes winning, but there's one thing sweeter than the taste of victory: plunder. We've been working on a lot of different things to make playing, and winning, feel even more rewarding!
In one of the following weeks we will be adding a much requested addition: A progression system including:
Leveling system
EPIC level based hammer unlocks
Title system
Different loot drop types
Loot Exchanging post
More...
Preview of some hammer skins
The idea is to give you all a clear goal to work towards and just make playing the game more rewarding in general. We'll likely add even more features and tweaks after the base progression system is actually implemented containing the features summed up above.
And that's not all! Some old-timers might remember a cursed ghost ship rising from the depths in the pre-alpha days! That ship has come back from the dead (pun intended) and is ready to spice up that epic final battle even more!
Update 1.5.5: Quickplay, water shader tweaks, extra sail settings & more!
Yarrr me hearties!
It's been a short while but here we are again with another juicy update. We got quite a bit of new things to cover, so let's get into it!
Quickplay
First of all we would like to (re)introduce QUICKPLAY! No more tediously searching for that perfect match. Just press quickplay, select a gamemode and let our new system do the rest. You can choose between Battle Royale, Conquest or just any gamemode if you just want to get into the action ASAP!
Water shader tweaks
Next up we have tweaked the water shader.
The specular has been remade from scratch which now produces a nicer specular highlight.
Secondly, we've also revamped the subsurface system so it now uses your view angle and shows a nicer gradient of light scattering through the wave tops.
We've also tweaked how wave foam looks in the distance, it now no longer shows obvious tiling but instead fades out into soft foam banks.
The waves are now also a slight bit higher and more wild in the open ocean which will also affect gameplay a little bit. Broadside battles and pursuits should be a bit more fun and challenging now.
Last but not least we've also tweaked the colors and made some changes to the shader so we can have deeper colors. All of this should come at the same cost as the old water shader version.
Conquest flag radius indicators
We've added some handy radius indicators to the conquest flags.
New pirate cosmetics
Additionally we've also added some new pirate cosmetics such as underpants, shorts and some salty new tattoos.
Interactive tutorial
Aside from all that we've also added a fully playable interactive tutorial and removed the super old video.
*note: We are aware of a small oversight of battle drinks (old healing system) still being part of the tutorial. We will fix this in the next hotfix. For now just ignore this hint.
Extra sail settings
And you can now add micro tears, dirt and paint wear to your sails to get that wooden tub looking just the way you like it.
There's even more, but we'll leave that to the patch notes below:
Quickplay:
Quickplay has been added again
New sub menu added for quickplay to choose gamemode
Water shader tweaks:
New specular system which should produce a much more realistic / better looking specular
New subsurface system that scatters light through high waves depending on view angle
Distant foam no longer shows obvious tiling, now fades out into softer foam banks
Colors have been tweaked to look more natural (shader changes also make it possible to have deeper colors now)
Slightly optimized (performance wise)
Wave height tweaked to be a slight bit more wild in the open ocean
Extra sail settings:
Micro tear slider added to ship options
Sail dirt slider added to ship options
Sail top paint layer wear slider added to ship options
Tutorial:
Added a fully interactive / playable tutorial to teach all the game's basic mechanics (video removed)
Waterpump tweaks:
Waterpump sound now matches the animation
Waterpump now also visually pump longer when upgraded
New waterpump sounds
Conquest tweaks:
Conquest flags now show a capture radius on the ground
Ship model tweaks:
Added Jacob's ladder planks to the side of the ships
Split up some long wooden railing bars on the hulls of the ships into smaller sections
Bomb vessel hull wooden planks texture stretching and tiling improved so it's more similar to the other ships
Gameplay changes:
Nockgun no longer fires single shots but instead can be aimed down sight again
Nockgun - Right click (full volley) now became left click
Nockgun spread greatly decreased so it fires more precisely in medium range
Double barrel rifle fire rate increased in none aim down sight mode (in ADS mode fire rate is as before)
Double barrel rifle recoil increased with the same percentage
Sail turning speed has been slightly increased
Bug fixes:
Fixed a bug that caused the nockgun to fire 1 extra pellet (8 instead of 7)
Removed an unnecessary delay for disconnection popups
Version 1.5.4: New healing system, Bird's Reef rework & more!
Arrr ye landlubbers! It be once again time for another update.
What is a pirate game without the ability to drink (excessive) amounts of beverage?
...
A landlubber game!
So, from now on you'll have to drink that delicious BattleDrink™. With the new healing system you'll have to take out your bottle and drink up me hearty! Of course while enjoying your refreshing BattleDrink™ you'll want to make sure you are in a safe spot, as other pirates are always looking for opportune moments to end you.
While drinking you can move around at walking speed, but can't jump or do anything else. You can stop drinking whenever you want. And when you are full health the bottle will automatically recharge with a speed that is based on how much was left in the bottle. Each bottle charge can refill 50% your HP and when fully consumed takes about 10 seconds to refill.
Furthermore we have also improved Conquest some more. We've increased the k/d based discounts, reworked Bird's Reef and fixed some bugs!
Full patch notes:
New healing system:
BattleDrink is now an endless resource with a cooldown
BattleDrink pickup removed
BattleDrink racks in ships have been removed (will later be replaced with something else, TBA)
Conquest improvements:
k/d based discount increased
Added a max gold cap of 7000
You now always get up to 500 gold in the loadout / respawn screen if your gold amount is below 500g
Bomb launcher price increased to 2250 gold
Double barrel price increased to 1800 gold
You now start with a paddle instead of a bottle
Respawn screen now selects half barrel, flintlock and shovel as default loadout
Bird's Reef island rework:
Foliage reworked
Added some more sand roads and pathways
Added some cannons
Added 2 stone tower platforms
Server browser tweaks:
Servers now show which map is currently being played
Font size decreased
Bug fixes:
Fixed a bug that caused ally ship containers not to work
Fixed some bugs with the server browser and conquest matches
Fixed a bug that sometimes blocked primary fire
Fixed a bug that caused players not being able to repair ally ship masts
Some more improvements and bug fixes for the new experimental conquest mode!
Conquest improvements:
Crew lock ignored in conquest mode
Musket price increased from 1800 to 2000
Bomb Launcher price increased from 1200 to 1500
Double barrel price increased from 500 to 1000
Battle drink bottles no longer appear in player death chests
A player's weapons now also drop when dying, staying for 30 seconds like the death chest reverted due to bug
Battle drink ship amount reduced from 100 to 50
Destroyed ships now deplete 300 tickets instead of 350
New conquest additions:
Kill/death ratio based weapon discount system added (this allows players with a bad k/d to buy weapons at a cheaper price, the lower your k/d the cheaper the prices
Bug fixes:
Fixed a bug that caused team selection screen to block new ship creation when only 1 ship exists
Fixed an exploit that allowed players to fire their weapon before it is equiped. Now you can only fire when your weapon is actually in your hand
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused flag icons not to appear on the world map
Fixed a bug that caused "can't mount (Mounted recently)" popup to appear on all players instead of only player that tries to mount a barrel to the front of the ship
Fixed a bug that caused conquest pre-game servers to show 16 players max when it is actually 20
Kraken keep, the Lunar Lands and a group of Robinson islands have now become new theatres of war. Grab your cutlass, there are new islands to conquer!
Full patch notes:
New conquest maps:
Kraken Keep conquest map added
Lunar Lands conquest map added
Robinson Rumble conquest map added
Conquest improvements:
Conquest pre-game player limit raised to 20
Bomb launcher price increased from 1k to 1.2k
Leave game button added to team select screen
You can now repair masts of other friendly fleet ships
You now see mast health widget of other friendly fleet ships
Health bar now also appears in fleet color when you are in vehicle
Bug fixes:
Dedicated BR mode now again allows 4 players per crew
Mortar trajectory VFX brightness fixed
Conquest flags no longer appear as metal flags (sorry metal heads! :( )
You can no longer farm gold by repairing masts when they are already at max HP
Fixed a bug that caused steering wheels on ships in conquest to appear as max level but work as basic level. Now they add increased rotation speed as intended
