Pixel Privateers
December Dev Update!
Hope everyone’s holiday season is off to a safe and wonderful start! Over here at QD, the elves are busy indeed, stuffing the game with even more awesome content for your privateering enjoyment. Quality of life improvements and polish are still coming in, and the bugs are becoming fewer and further between. This has allowed us to turn our attention in the direction of adding content.
One of the areas we have felt very strongly about in developing Privateers has been making sure that the game offers our players a solid experience, offering plenty of replay value. To that end, we’ve recently been working on expanding with new quest types, which add variety to the experience on planet. We are very happy with the feel of the game in terms of cutting back on repetition, and giving players new and interesting things to run into while running amok through the universe.
To further round out the experience, we’re also touching up the random events. Some of these improvements are designed to flesh out the lore, and provide the player with more insight into the goings-on within the world of Privateers. Others offer fun and interesting diversions to encounter while taking on the bad guys. You never know what or who you may run into along the way, and it has made the universe feel quite a bit more active.
Overall, we are very pleased with the game’s progress, and continue to work on the finishing touches that will take us across the finish line to 1.0. Privateers has come a very long way over the last year of development, and we look forward to shipping a game that we and our players will love for a long time to come!
Community Chill N Chat Moves to New Day and Time!
Now that we're into the fall, and many people are in school, we're adjusting the day and time for Chill N Chat to allow for more people to be able to make it. We're going to be holding this week's chat on Saturday, October 15th, at 1PM Central. If you're new to our community hangouts, we encourage everyone to stop by! We discuss a different topic each week, and are always open to answering any questions you have about the game.
Our Discord server is permanent, and even outside of event times, we're always hanging out and getting to know our awesome community. You can find the server here:
Discord
Hope to see you all there!
Update on Launch
We realize it’s been awhile since we made an official statement on the game’s launch date. In order not to leave so much room for speculation, we want to let everyone know that we are moving our internal estimate to early 2017. While we know this will cause some people to be upset, we have always stood firm in our resolution to only release this game when it felt ready and worthy of being called a 1.0 launch title. This includes balance, polish, and a thoroughly enjoyable range of content.
Over the past 6 months the game has dramatically improved in all 3 areas, but we are not yet fully satisfied with where things stand. We want to avoid the game feeling repetitive, and to make certain that the experience feels fun and exciting throughout the entire game. This has led to a decision on our part to add even more content, especially in terms of lore and story-related events within the game. What we have added most recently has made a big difference in terms of being able to land on a planet, and encounter unexpected things. The more we flesh out the game, the better the value we present in our finished product.
On top of that, we are taking a close and hard look at making combat feel more immersive/engaging as well as a ton of polish/balance/bug fixing. The newest version feels far better than the original system, and truly gives the power to the player on a new level. We value our community, and we won’t settle for less than the best!
We definitely want to thank our amazing community for all the support and love over the last year, and we look forward to crossing the finish line. You guys are the reason we’re pouring everything we’ve got into making Privateers truly great!
New Dev Interview!
Hungry for some news on the game? Not to worry! Alex and I sat down to chat with Michael from Fextralife.com and talk about all things Privateers. You can check out our interview here:
Pixel Privateers Interview
We had a great time, and we hope you enjoy! :)
QD News - Bringing the Universe to Life!
It’s been awhile! Fear not though, for today we bring you a look at what we’ve been working on recently with the game. This stage of development, as we work up to launch, is focused on polishing the game, fixing issues, and fleshing out the experience overall.
For us, it isn’t enough to focus only on planet type, or the faction that controls each world. We want to create an experience that always surprises you, and doesn’t feel bland or boring. The enemies that inhabit each world are one aspect of that, but another is variety in the layouts themselves. Even within each faction’s bunkers, we want to ensure that there is plenty to see, and that it feels vibrant and alive.
http://imgur.com/vtTomfw
For today’s example, we’ll look at our friends, the cyborgs. Cyborgs are one of the more dominant forces in the game’s universe, and are encountered pretty commonly during the game. To really bring these guys to life, we have been further increasing the number of layouts for their strongholds, and bringing their personality to the forefront.
http://i.imgur.com/0Od4AWT.jpg
Cyborg bunkers are alight with technology, and a broad array of animations and props. In a single bunker, you’ll see them up to all kinds of things, even producing new cyborgs in the background.
http://imgur.com/fOo45lH
We feel these backdrops not only make the experience interesting, but also help tell their own story. Players are given a glimpse into what the cyborgs are all about, and what their world looks like.
On the community side, I am very proud to formally introduce Jason “Spartix” Rideout, my Assistant Community Manager. He’s been on board with us for awhile now, and is already making a big difference to the team. You’ll find Jason on Discord every day, and will definitely be seeing him around the community as a whole. Be sure to give him a warm welcome!
While the wait for the game may feel long, we’re very excited to finish the game and roll it out to you all. We’ve set the bar very high for Privateers, and look forward to bringing you an experience you can enjoy for a long time to come. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time for QD News!
We're Looking For a Few Good Privateers!
As we move ever closer to launch, we're preparing for our community to grow significantly. In order to ensure that we have enough people to assist our expanding user base, we are recruiting volunteer moderators to help us deliver top-notch customer service and tech support. The following are the qualifications we're asking for:
<*>Must be at least 18 years of age
<*>Must be able to commit time to being present in the community
<*>Must be willing to assist other users in a variety of ways, including moderating content in violation of our community rules, troubleshooting bugs and technical issues post-launch, and addressing customer service concerns
<*>Must be passionate about building our community
If this sounds like you, and you'd like to join our team of awesome minions, please contact me, LadyAijou here on Steam, on the official forums or you can contact me or Spartix on our Discord Channel. I look forward to hearing from new recruits!
June 6th, 2016 Live Q&A Transcript
As many of you know, last week we held our second live Q&A session on our Discord Channel. Today we have the transcript of the session for you. It's been edited down to remove chit chat between questions, and we've put the answers right along with the questions for your convenience. We had around 50 wonderful people firing questions at us for over 2 hours, non-stop, so it's quite a read (24 pages long)! If you're hungry for information on the game, this should definitely tide you over! You can find the full length transcript here: Full Length Transcript
For those that don't wish to read the entire session, here are some of the questions we took:
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:04 PM
Let's get this show on the road!
[Q] How many hours long will the game be?
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:06 PM
Well, I'm estimating 20 hours if you know what you are doing and go with a solid team
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:06 PM
but that is only on the base game, we have NG+
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:06 PM
does depend on if you clear all worlds, or if you go right for the bosses/main story
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:07 PM
if you JUST go for bosses etc that's 20 hours ish
[Q] whats the price?
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:07 PM
not 100 set in stone yet, but we can tell you $14.99 would be maximum
we don't intend to gouge people
[Q] is this content unique and not repetitive?
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:08 PM
well, I mean there's a general pattern of game mechanics, but worlds are varied, there are other events, taking on the bosses etc. avoiding repetition has been a big focus
[Q] will there be stuff like tables and chairs that you can place in your ship?
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:08 PM
you can add things to your ship, new rooms etc
[Q] Are there new bosses, items, and such in NG+?
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:08 PM
there's a lot to the game you can't see in one playthrough, we want to add more post launch also
Terodiac - Last Monday at 1:10 PM
I can say there is an enormous pile of items, bosses and events in this game, they amaze me every time we get another test patch pushed, prepare to be amazed
[Q] When will the game come out, I’ve been waiting for 5 months already..
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:10 PM
all we can say is, "when it's done"
we won't compromise quality for speed
[Q] Without a release date at this time, What are some of the hurdles you are trying to get past to finish the product? Other than just bugs?
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:10 PM
we're heavily focused on bug fixes, polish, and content
[Q] Will there be ship encounters during space travel?
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:10 PM
yes, there are
[Q]any plans for a 2 or 4pack sale when it comes out?
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:11 PM
yes, definitely
[Q] For playing with friends do we need to use hamachi or is the multiplayer all within steam
Terodiac - Last Monday at 1:11 PM
it’s all within steam, super easy and the best layout and connection to your friends in any steam game i ever saw not blowing things up, just my experience
mathman200 - Last Monday at 1:11 PM
All in steam, no need for hamachi
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:11 PM
MP is all done via Steam, drop-in, drop-out
no port forwarding!
[Q] you must have an idea of when it will be about done? will it still be in Q2 of 2016?
LadyAijou -
We won't be confirming a date here today, guys
just have to watch our social for the announcement
we WILL be announcing it once it's locked in
AlexPoysky - Last Monday at 1:13 PM
The game is going to be finished when it's done, that's all we can say for a release date. But it's sooner than later.
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:13 PM
Believe me, we're anxious to launch it, but you're not waiting on an alpha or beta here, you're waiting on a complete project
that's why it feels longer to people
LadyAijou - Last Monday at 1:14 PM
the bar is set much higher for a 1.0, and people would be incredibly, and justifiably, angry if we launched a bad game because people were impatient
Terodiac - Last Monday at 1:15 PM
to add a word to this: i've not been able to test the game for around 2 months, but the progress and quality of the game have so much improved since Q1, can understand you guys want this game to launch but if it would've launched any sooner, you wouldn't be satisfied with it they are striving for a good game with high quality, and it's coming very near
QD News - Doing Science and We're Still Alive!
Been awhile since we last wrote a formal newsletter, but fear not, we have been very hard at work! Why has it been quiet, you might ask? The short answer is that we’re keeping some secrets -don’t worry, they’re awesome ones! At this late stage of development, we’ve already revealed a great many of the features of the game, and we feel it’s very important to leave some things secret. After all, what fun would it be if you guys knew it all on launch day? So let’s talk a bit about what happens this close to the end of development.
Since launch is getting closer, the game has reached the finalized core feature set for release. This means we’re now satisfied with how the game plays, and what represents the “core gameplay experience” for Pixel Privateers. That leaves two major facets for development between here and the day we release the game: polish and content. We’re focused on eliminating bugs to the greatest extent possible in a limited test environment, and on fleshing out the experience with greater variation. This means adding aspects that don’t fundamentally change the core features, but make the game world much more vibrant and interesting.
There are several examples of this, but one would be events while on your ship. Without going into too much spoiler-filled detail as to what this will entail, we’ve been thinking more about what the player is doing when not on the planet, and how to make this time more engaging and meaningful. The end result is that the player will be in for various surprises while traveling from planet to planet, so one should always be prepared for anything! We’ve also been expanding on the types of structures one might encounter, including new types for different factions within the game. This is an area that we can continue to build on, even after the game is in your hands.
On the community side, keep an eye out on social and your Steam Group alerts for an announcement regarding our next live Q&A! The first one was a huge success, and we want to offer another chance for everyone to come hang out, talk about the game, and have your questions answered. If you’re not the patient sort, you can stop by our Discord chat and ask away, we’re always around to talk to our community. You can find the channel here: Discord Chat
As always, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time for more QD News!
Update on Pixel Privateers Launch Date
First off I want to sincerely thank the entire team at Quadro Delta and Re-Logic for having been so patient with my health issues, it's been a long road to recovery but I'm finally doing my physical therapy.
Second, I wanted to thank Lisa, our amazing community manager, and invite anyone who appreciates her work to write her at lisa@quadrodelta.com to let her know she's great! Or feel free to join our Discord channel and tell her in real time right here! https://discordapp.com/channels/81026265460506624/81026265460506624
Now, on to business shall we!
PIXEL PRIVATEERS Q1 Pushback
Let's adress the elephant in the room. Yes, we passed our Q1 launch window. Want to know why? Because we won't be offering anything short of something that Re-Logic would publish. It's that simple. Most publishing houses push developers towards quick release dates in order to hit proper times, but Re-Logic is different, VERY different. They are concerned with the game, the core concept, the ideals we stand for, and how we work. What this translates into is that they are more than happy to guide us into making a game that they themselves would have made, which will assure the quality of the product over anything that could ever resemble a launch window in the name of profit. We'll be done soon, we are getting there, but we will be taking the Gandalf approach. "A good game never launches before or after, it launches right when it should".
We didn't follow this rule of thumb for Pixel Piracy and while the game was rated well, and while we were a successful title on early access, we have always felt that there were a number of errors that we made. I myself pushed release on that title in order to hit the Summer Sale back in the day. It wasn't done out of avarice, but out of a lack of guidance. Now we HAVE that guidance and are fine with waiting, the game comes before all else. We owe it to you as players. We will not make the same mistakes with Privateers, and we have experience, a solid and wonderful publisher, and our past mistakes that we have learned from to show for it.
Trust me, it doesn't come without it's fair share of stress and problems, heck I just got myself into a big mortage due to the fact that I calculated a Febuary release so I'm the first one to wish the game is out in the wild. But we need to make this sacrifice in order to provide you all with the title we've envisioned.
POST LAUNCH:
I want to adress our POST launch plan here, and while the logistics of it will be handled internally by myself and the team, I feel that you should know what the general game plan is.
The first 6 months post-launch will see the team continously working on the game. We will be adding a wealth of new content to the title, and NO WE WILL NOT BE CHARGING FOR IT. We plan on doing things the way Re-Logic do things with Terraria, and have a long lasting product with permanent free updates at regular intervals.
TLDR:
We are still alive, Priv will come out soon, when it's done, and post launch we will be adding loads of content for free.
P.S As always, any complaints regarding the way I handled Piracy's launch can be taken up directly with me at alexpoysky@gmail.com and I PROMISE to respond each and every criticism with dedication as I always have. I think each and every one of you who have dedicated time to ask about my health, donate games for me while I was recovering in bed, and chat with me to help me pass the time during these difficult months. While I'm not 100% well yet, I'm back and have the same desire to speak with each and every one of you as always!
QD News - Talking Tech!
This week, we’re taking a look into the tech trees for Pixel Privateers, and the path from scrub to kicking some alien butt! At the start of your journey, your future may not feel too bright. You’ve gotta take lessons from a wise-cracking space rabbit, that can’t be a good sign, right? Luckily, there’s hope for your brand new space-faring life. When you start exploring the tech tree, you find that you’ve got a good shot at successful privateering after all.
The tech tree breaks down into Tiers, clusters, and sub-level techs which you unlock via research points. Each tier requires progressively more techs to be unlocked from the tier before it, and each sub-level tech requires you to take the primary tech for that cluster. They are designed to help each class advance, but also to augment your overall progress in the game. Some techs apply to your ship, or abilities such as being able to see planets at a greater distance. Others, such as permanent consumables, offer you the chance to take your combat to a whole new level. Requirements for each tech are displayed so that you can plan ahead before spending points. If you select a tech you didn’t want, you can click the reset button before confirming to undo that selection.
As you explore the tech trees, you’ll be able to plan your advancement in a way that suits your play style. For example, if you’re more inclined to a tank-heavy, mow-down-the-enemy style of combat, you’d be less inclined to take techs suited to engineers or scouts. Instead, you would tend toward vanguard and marine techs, before accessing generalized abilities like the teleporter consumable or advanced radar. If you’re a jack-of-all-trades player, you’ll want to be sure to spend points in techs that keep each class progressing steadily and making them more effective.
The tech tree, alongside the leveling system, allows you to stat and advance your squad for the way you play the game. We put you in the captain’s chair, and the future of your squad is in your hands! Thanks as always for reading, and we’ll see you next time for QD News!