Genre: Platform, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, IndiePixel Piracy
Pixel Piracy January Patchwork + Our New Game launches in January!
Pixel Piracy;
In preparation for the Enhanced Edition, we want to put Mikko back on board for this month to work on some major under the hood stuff in preparation for the huge announcement we have later on. Basically I envision this as 4 major patches, each adressing a specific issue with the game.
Patch 1: Translations. As many of you are aware, the game is poorly translated or not at all. This is due to a series of hardcoded ID strings that we didn't think to soft-code prior to launch. Now it's time to go back and address these, which will allow us to change all text strings. It's not complicated, just time consuming, and Mikko will be able to plow through it in about a week to ten days. Once up, we'll be able to translate the game to all Latin Alphabet languages, with the prospect of Cyrillic and Arabic coming perhaps at a later date.
Patch 2: BALANCE. Many of the game's ID's and item bases are unbalanced, making early game too hard and late game too easy, with many of the prices being "wonky" and some of the stats not working as well as they should. Having taken MUCH of the community feedback into account, we will be balancing wherever we can wherever it doesn't change CORE gameplay too much. In a nutshell, we want to fix the wall, not tear it down and build a new one, so don't expect a revamped stat system or new ways to play, just a more tweaked and polished way of playing.
Patch 3: Map and Event content. The map is boring, so is sailing. We want to address this and make sailing have throwbacks to older versions where "stuff" happened. Like a pirate threatening to mutiny if you don't give him X gold. A random sailor drifting in the sea you can pick up, or a seastorm. Once again, nothing game changing or feature changing, but more of an AUGMENT than anything.
Patch 4: POSSIBLE AI workarounds. WE WILL NOT rework the AI, it's fiddly and prone to misbehaving, but Mikko and I have thought of a workaround. A simple On/Off switch for some of the features, like COOKING, CLEANING; etc. That way you can select a crew mate and say THIS guy will COOK but NOT clean, NO fighting, etc. It's the best we can do with the current system, I DO NOT want to touch the core gameplay because it might break.
FUTURE:
In the near future there will be a completely revamped UI, a new tutorial, and a host of new content to keep you guys more than happy. But this all has to do with that big announcement we can't reveal yet.
Pixel Game Number 2:
We will launch Early Access (softlaunch) at the end of the month, offering a deep discount to people who have already purchased pixel piracy. Using those funds and your feedback, we will add on to the game for as long as we feel neccesary until launch is feasable. No rushed launches here, we need this game to be a showstopper and it will be.
The info I will currently give about the game is that it is a Sci-Fi Squad Based Action/Rpg. If you want a clearer definition, think World Of Warcraft Raid simulator (without being online). More info dropping SOON
Alex Poysky
Holiday Giveaway over and a HUGE thanks!
I wanted to take a moment to hope you had Happy Holidays and a great time during New Years.
Quick stats. The giveaway ended with over 25 thousand keys being given out, we have been featured on dozens of media sites and news outlets worldwide, and this whole thing has been an absolute blast. I want to thank you all for your support, for the thousands of fan e-mails we have recieved, and for the overwhelmingly kind words you send our way every day. Rest assured we read them all, and even though we can't answer each and every one, we try our hardest!
I'll be inaugurating the new year's announcement page in a bit with a rather large announcement of what we will be up to this month, but as always, I want to give our Quadro Delta forum a bit of a head start so you can go here to read up on it now if you are impatient!
http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?/forum-0/announcement-1-january-2015-new-game-and-huge-patch/
Thank you all and may 2015 be much brighter than 2014 ever was!
PIXEL PIRACY HAPPY NEW YEARS MASSIVE GIVEAWAY STARTS NOW!
We'll be celebrating our New Year's Day in a VERY special way: That's giving away the following games to the players who get the "Happy Christmas 2014" achievement!
To refresh your memory, this achievement consists of finding and wearing these 3 Christmas items: Candy cane, Christmas tart and Ugly sweater.
Once you get it, the only thing you have to do is share a link to your achievements page (something like: http://bit.ly/1zRp9kj) in our forums thread and we'll give you a random game from the list, if you also share a pic of you wishing Merry Christmas to the community, then you'll get an additional copy of Pixel Piracy (along with the game you choose from the ones not asked before).
Quadro Delta Forums post:
http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F43-pixel-piracy-happy-new-year-massive-giveaway%2F
LIST:
Pixel Piracy x 2
The Journey Down: Chapter One x 2
Summoner
Jakpok
Etherlords I & II
Chaos Domain x 2
Platypus
Alpha Kimori™: Episode One
Afterfall Insanity x 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising (Origin key)
Ballpoint Universe
Gun Monkey
The Dream Machine: Chapters 1-3
The Dream Machine: Chapter 4
Borealis
Arrmatey - legend of grimrock
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (Origin key) x 2
Landmark (1 week beta test key)
Gun Monkeys
Space hack
Speedball 2
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition Origin Key
XCOM ENEMY UNKNOWN
Hearthstone (pack of cards)
Fieldrunner
King's Bounty : The Legend
The Showdown Effect
The Culling of the Cows
Gun Monkeys
Dead Space (Origin)
Numba deluxe
Giana Sisters
BeatBlasters III
Cave Story +
The Basement collection
Ballpoint universe
The Island (alpha key)
Urban Trial Freestyle
Nosgoth
(Surprise Game)
Total War: Rome II - Nomadic Tribes (DLC)
Total War: ROME II - Caesar in Gaul (DLC) x 3
PIXEL PIRACY HAPPY NEW YEARS MASSIVE GIVEAWAY STARTS NOW!
We'll be celebrating our New Year's Day in a VERY special way: we'll be giving away the following games to the players that get Happy Christmas 2014 achievement!
The achievement consists of finding and wearing these 3 Christmas items: Candy cane, Christmas tart and Ugly sweater.
Once you get it, the only thing you have to do is share a link to your achievements page in our forums (something like: http://bit.ly/1zRp9kj) and we will give you a random game from the list, if you also share a pic of you wishing Merry Christmas to the community, then you'll get .
Quadro Delta Forums post:
http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F43-pixel-piracy-happy-new-year-massive-giveaway%2F
LIST:
Pixel Piracy x 2
The Journey Down: Chapter One x 2
Summoner
Jakpok
Etherlords I & II
Chaos Domain x 2
Platypus
Alpha Kimori™: Episode One
Afterfall Insanity x 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising (Origin key)
Ballpoint Universe
Gun Monkey
The Dream Machine: Chapters 1-3
The Dream Machine: Chapter 4
Borealis
Arrmatey - legend of grimrock
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (Origin key) x 2
Landmark (1 week beta test key)
Gun Monkeys
Space hack
Speedball 2
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition Origin Key
XCOM ENEMY UNKNOWN
Hearthstone (pack of cards)
Fieldrunner
King's Bounty : The Legend
The Showdown Effect
The Culling of the Cows
Gun Monkeys
Dead Space (Origin)
Numba deluxe
Giana Sisters
BeatBlasters III
Cave Story +
The Basement collection
Ballpoint universe
The Island (alpha key)
Urban Trial Freestyle
Nosgoth
(Surprise Game)
Total War: Rome II - Nomadic Tribes (DLC)
Total War: ROME II - Caesar in Gaul (DLC) x 3
PIXEL PIRACY HAPPY NEW YEARS MASSIVE GIVEAWAY STARTS NOW!
We'll be celebrating our New Year's Day in a VERY special way: we'll be giving away more than 50 games to the players that get "Happy Christmas 2014 achievement"(*) and one of these two others:
GOTTA CATCH EM ALL! (Capture 50 animals)
OR
GOLDEN (Loot a total of 10000 gold)
*We remember you that this particular achievement consists of finding and wearing these 3 Christmas items: Candy cane, Christmas tart and Ugly sweater.
Once you get it, the only thing you have to do is share a link to your achievements page in our forums (something like: http://steamcommunity.com/id/jesusfabre/stats/appid/264140/achievements) and we will give you the game you want from the list, if you also share a pic of you wishing Merry Christmas to the community, then you'll get an additional copy of Pixel Piracy (along with the game you choose from the ones not asked before).
Quadro Delta Forums post:
http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?/topic/43-pixel-piracy-happy-new-year-massive-giveaway/
LIST OF GAMES (Most of them have been donated by members of our community, so thank you guys!):
Pixel Piracy x 2
The Journey Down: Chapter One x 2
Summoner
Jakpok
Etherlords I & II
Chaos Domain x 2
Platypus
Alpha Kimori™: Episode One
Afterfall Insanity x 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising (Origin key)
Ballpoint Universe
Gun Monkey
The Dream Machine: Chapters 1-3
The Dream Machine: Chapter 4
Borealis
Arrmatey - legend of grimrock
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (Origin key) x 2
Landmark (1 week beta test key)
Gun Monkeys
Space hack
Speedball 2
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition Origin Key
XCOM ENEMY UNKNOWN
Hearthstone (pack of cards)
Fieldrunner
King's Bounty : The Legend
The Showdown Effect
The Culling of the Cows
Gun Monkeys
Dead Space (Origin)
Numba deluxe
Giana Sisters
BeatBlasters III
Cave Story +
The Basement collection
Ballpoint universe
The Island (alpha key)
Urban Trial Freestyle
Nosgoth
(Surprise Game)
Total War: Rome II - Nomadic Tribes (DLC)
Total War: ROME II - Caesar in Gaul (DLC) x 3
A Christmas Grinch knocked our Giveaway server down!
Alex Poysky here with an update on the key giveaway.
I appear to have shown up on Spain's national news page (20 minutos . es), which is what I believe is causing this incredible influx in people, which is both a great thing and a difficult one, due to a particularly nasty individual.
This morning someone knocked our server out, ruining the fun giveaway we have been having and trying to take the christmas gifts I'm giving you away.
So far, a whopping 22,024, that is the equivilant of around 50 thousand euros worth of keys have been given out to people in need.
I don't want to stop now, so I'm going to ask the public to help me out.
I will use reddit as a medium to keep on giving out keys, to be more precise,
THIS post http://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/2q0p9b/pixel_piracys_producer_me_will_buy_you_the_game/
But it would be awesome if you all spread the word to other Reddit channels!
As a personal favor, I'd be extremely happy if you guys helped me contact the press, social media, YOUTUBERS in particular, and let them know that I WILL give them each a hundred keys to hand out to you, with further hundred key increments being handed out if they ask me for more.
I'm not going to let a small group of unmentionables ruin this charity drive for everyone else.
If we work together we'll be able to spread the word and get this game to people who don't have the means this holiday season.
I know there's people abusing it but I honestly DO NOT care so long as I reach those who really do need the cheering up. If you have abused the system, and gotten a key you don't really need, feel free to help out by spreading the word to social media, the press, and reddit.
EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS, I promise, and I'd love for you all to be a part of something charitable and kind during this holiday season.
As a PERSONAL favor, to those who have recieved a key and like the game, I'd like to cordially INVITE (no obligation at all what-so-ever) to write a steam review. I personally read them all and would love to hear feedback from each and every one of you.
I WILL NOT hand out keys in the response section below, my personal twitter, my personal skype, or my personal e-mail. Not to be inconsiderate, but I simply can no longer read the thousands upon thousands of e-mails A DAY that I get. PLEASE stick to the reddit and if I can get to the press we'll be that much better off!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!
Pixel Piracy Christmas Patch LIVE! + Achievements!
- Added 31 new Steam achievements
- Added some holiday cheer in the form of gift packages (go find some!)
- Merry Christmas from Quadro Delta!
It's been a long time coming, and we've had to put some extra manpower into it, but we FINALLY have achievments!
We hope you enjoy them! There's 31 of them to start, but we'll be adding more now that we can!
Also, As a special christmas bonus we have added a little extra content!
Happy Holidays everyone!
We've given the entire team until January 5th or so to celebrate, so expect work to be non existant until then!
See you all soon ;)
-Alex Poysky
I will personally pay for your Pixel Piracy copy if you cannot afford it (Alex Poysky)
I've mapped out the next update we'll be pushing tomorrow, but don't want to give too many details away as it's a surprise Christmas update!
One thing I CAN say is that we have FINALLY overcome the internal slump that's been keeping us from putting achievments in, expect more than 20 initially, with more to come in future patches!
It's been a long time coming and once again it's due to how we internally coded the game. Who knew making games could be HARD right?
In any case, exactly this day last year I made myself a promise that if we were even moderately successful I'd pay out of my own pocket if someone couldn't afford the game for christmas.
I'm making good on the promise. This is a serious, no strings attached proposition.
If you WANT Pixel Piracy, and do not have the economic means by which to procure it, I will personally chip in for your copy. That's it, it's that simple.
I know there will be abuse, but I hope that the christmas spirit in all of you keeps it to a minimum. I genuinely wish to help those that may not be in a position to enjoy a game very often, and while I would gladly invite each and every one of you to a coffee, beer, or sandwich, I'll never get the chance to physically meet you all and feel this is a good way to help out.
I'll be available on our chatroom here http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?/chat/
every so often over the holidays, and I always make good on my promises. Open up a PM to me and let me know you can't afford the title and I WILL get it to you post-haste.
The offer is still going on, but I only give keys to those who contact me in private on the chat room in the link. I am not on 24 hours a day as i need rest, but will be stopping by off and on!
The only thing I could ask of you all is to pay it forward and help someone in need someday. I've been in dire straits before, I've HAD to eat white rice with my dog because I couldn't afford anything else. I know what that's like.
It might not be much, but it's what I can do.
Happy Holidays everybody!
Pixel Piracy ENHANCED (completely free major content pack) and the direction of our studio.
It's been a long time, admittedly TOO long.
I've seen MANY of you complain lately about whether or not we've abandoned Pixel Piracy, and I wanted to de-bunk that and adress the issue head-on.
First off, Pixel Piracy was a one-man gig. Vitali Kirpu programmed it for 11 months ON HIS OWN in what little spare time he had. He had a day job making games for a larger studio and we took this on as a labor of love, not as some money squeezing corporation. So, to those who think we've taken the money and split, let me reassure you that that's not the case, we're still just as active as before, just on a new project we haven't announced yet.
Here's where A LOT of the the issues come from. You think we are STILL a one man team! There are currently 10 people at quadro delta, plus myself and vitali. Some are programmers, some are artists. ALL are talented.
We have transitioned from a very, very minor, humble studio, to a mid-range studio who's focus is on QUALITY above all else.
We hacked Pixel Piracy together in a way that caused a few problems, but I will never hold Vitali to blame for that. He did a magnificent job with the scant resources we had, with the little spare time he had, and Mikko and Jesus have been doing a fine job on the title.
WHY are there fewer updates lately? Here's where I'm having a bit of trouble stright up answering due to LOADS of red tape. Let's just say that Pixel Piracy is about to undergo a pretty masive change, one that will adress all standing issues, and augment the game a lot. Let's publically call it Pixel Piracy REDUX, Enhanced Edition, HUGE free DLC or what have you.
MIKKO up until now has been working on major bug patching and minor content, but we feel the game, and YOU deserve much more. An entire re-working of the game which will serve as a base from which to launch a much more polished edition. One we WILL NOT charge again for, one we WILL NOT add as a paid DLC, and one we WILL NOT increase our price for.
Why? Because we built this studio on a simple foundation. Making games we love playing for others. The execution, let's admit it, was flawed. Piracy had bugs, we were rushed to release, and we made some novice errors.
I'm not going to bellyache about how it was anyone else's fault other than my own. So if you have any grief, take it with me.
Why can't I go further in detail about Pixel Piracy Enhanced? Because there is something MUCH, much larger at hand. Let me try and explain without crossing any Non Disclosure agreements (plural, as in multiple fronts are being tackled at once.). Mikko is one person, a single programmer. What if instead of ONE person there were groups of people prepping it, polishing it, BETTERING it. What if we couldn't publically DISCLOSE that information and had to find a way to avoid community backlash without being able to TELL you.
It's a rough spot but it's an honest one. Something very large is coming, in january we WILL be able to talk more about it. For now, I'll go into STUDIO details with you.
We are working on new gameS. Plural. We are NOT hacking away this time. We are a studio that has made enough money to take things calmly and have been VERY critical with our past work (if you can't criticise yourself in life you are bound to get burned.). Let me come out and say it, Pixel Piracy is a hacky, buggy mess under the hood, and it's being fixed.
The advent of this overhauled Pixel Piracy DLC has left us withthe capability of working on new games in the meantime. Vitali, Mikko and I are working on the game we are TEASING currently. One that is being done with time, money, focus, NO restraints, NO hacky bullshit, and with a full multiplayer online server based suite from the ground up.
PRIOR to that coming out, there will be a SECOND title launching in JANUARY of 2015 which has been made exclusively by our other three employees, Tuomo, Jaakko, and Nino, and produced by myself. We are structured in such a way as to not hinder projects by giving each team a single producer (me) and having the teams work autonomously from each other, WITHIN the same studio.
Up until now, Mikko has been working alone on Pixel Piracy and it got to the point where without an entire restructure the game simply was a WALL to get over any time you wanted to add a single piece of content. Think of it in the following manner. When you have a thick mass of cables and you just need ONE pulled out, unjumbling the entire mess to get to that ONE cable takes time. Easiest solution? Buy a new set of cables, place them side by side with plastic coveralls and individually adress them. It's a pain in the ass, but has to be done, and that's what's up for the PP: Enhanced edition.
Mikko is now working with Vitali on the new game that we'll deem "Omega", with the other team working on "Alpha". BOTH will be pushed to early access. WE DO NOT do this for money, but as a way to get more in touch with the fan base. Part of what made Pixel Piracy such a rich experience was YOUR direct input, and I wouldn't dream of going down any other route.
To sumarize
NO we didn't abandon Pixel Piracy, but we can't publically talk about what's going on.
An ENHANCED EDITION of Pixel Piracy is coming, but won't cost you a dime, as we are extremely against that kind of practice.
THE ENHANCED EDITION will NOT cost more.
Mikko and Vitali are hard at work with me on a sprawling, server based multiplayer game set in the Pixel Universe, code named OMEGA
Jaakko, Tuomo and Nino are working with me on project ALPHA, a SINGLE player game which will be announced in January.
ANY AND ALL HATE towards the studio shall be directed towards me. If this ship sinks, it's on my shoulders. It will be my fault, exclusively. I take full responsibility for the actions of everyone here, and I'll be damned if we let any one think we've abandoned what to me was a second lease on life.
I was a poor, sad soul who had nothing to live for before this. I'm not about to cut and run when Pixel Piracy has put my mother through heart surgery, my father through a new prosthetic knee after 15 years of misery, or my brother and sister in college.
I simply don't have the time I used to to micromanage forums and go in here, that's what our community manager is for, but I'll be available more often from now on.
My personal skype is alexpoysky
my email is alexpoysky@gmail.com
my twitter is @alexpoysky
and our personal irc chat line is http://forum.quadrodelta.com/index.php?/chat/
PLEASE direct your concerns to me, I am incredibly sorry if my lack of communication has misconstrued the facts of what is actually going on behind the scenes.
Alexander Poysky
Vitali and Alex are back... WITH A NEW GAME!
We'll reveal more as time goes on!
http://piracysim.com/teaser/
Spread the word!