Hi everyone, I've been working on a pretty large update to the game which includes quite a bit of stuff, and I think it's about time to make it available in the experimental branch for testing. It still has a ways to go so I expect it to remain in the preview branch for a while longer while I bug fix and finish additional content not yet enabled in this release.
The biggest changes so far are combining the world/local map into 1 radial menu item, the addition of the spyglass, and the world entity system. The map now shows a wind field to help plan your sailing routes better, this will shift over the course of in-game days! The spyglass is obtained during the tutorial and is used to spot distant locations and ships. The entity system allows for fully persistent AI boats that travel around the world in the same way you do, and can be encountered out in the Deepblue or within locations. This completely replaces the old system of simply spawning a few NPCs randomly at each location.
This is compatible with old saves, but as usual your save will not be portable back to the old version of the game (see below for instructions on recovering your original save file).
** Joining the beta **
If you have the game on Steam and would like to opt-in to the beta, you can do so by right-clicking the game in your Library, selecting Properties > Betas, and choosing `public_preview` from the dropdown. You'll see `1.6.0` at the bottom right of the in-game options screen if you're on the beta.
** Before you play **
It is very important to note that if you do this your save file will become incompatible with the old version! The game will automatically create a backup of your original save on load, which can be found on Windows at `%appdata%\..\LocalLow\Festive Vector\Sail Forth\boat-game-old.save`
If you want to return to playing the old version before the update is released, replace `boat-game.save` with `boat-game-{previous version}.save` Otherwise you can continue playing your save in the public preview branch until the update is fully released. The previous version should be `1.5.8` if you were playing on an up to date build of the game.
Unlike previous betas I've done, this one is going to be longer, and I expect a lot of changes to be coming into the preview branch as there is still at least one major feature I intend to add. This means things will probably be less stable than usual, so please be ready to experience *bugs*. For instance, the Free Sail mode is likely broken at the moment due to the new entity system, which will of course be fixed but is just a low priority right now in terms of getting the update ready.
** Bug reporting **
If you find a bug you can now report it directly from the game, using the 'Feedback' option found in the pause menu. This is helpful for me as it includes a copy of your save file, the log, and a screenshot which makes it much easier for me to find and fix the bug.
Changelog
Base Game
Area Map and World Map are combined into a single item on the Radial Menu
Map marker can be viewed and placed from the zoomed out world map mode
Map identifies unexplored locations
Unexplored locations cannot be fast traveled to
Map now shows the global wind field in the background
Wind is now a continuous field across the entire world, shifting over time
World Entity system: Enemy and friendly boat NPCs are now persistent entities in the world
NPC boats have their own agenda and travel around the world freely
Players can now encounter these boats out in the Deepblue
Added new Enemy Fleet entity type, lead by a large pirate flagship
Added Croaker Subs as a potential NPC type, which will patrol Autumn Isles and engage pirates/tekk clan
Some NPC boats have custom names, visible in Spyglass view
Added new Spyglass key item
Acquired in tutorial instead of first map fragment
Used from Radial Menu to spot distant locations and ships
Can place map marker directly from Spyglass when looking at a Point of Interest
Will be retroactively added to existing saves that have completed the tutorial
New large class ship: The Swift, a light brigantine rigged ship
Revised final boss battle to hopefully be less tedious and more fun
AI ships will try to tack against the wind to reach their destination faster
Skull ships will use cosmetics to express themselves
(PC Only): Custom sail decals can now be loaded from the game’s save folder
New art assets for birds
Better preview when customizing boat sails and colors
Moontide weapon fx are less blindingly bright
Player reputation is better tracked by civilians and merchant ships, engaging in piracy should have more consequences now
General perf improvements to rendering
Bugfix: Fix some cases where some encounters like the Shell Shop might fail to spawn in the location they are said to be in
Bugfix: Xbox should properly recognize DLC on launch, fixing issue that could result in DLC items being stripped from save file
Bugfix: Final boss should no longer get stuck in first phase
Bugfix: Shell Shop no longer sells first item for free
Bugfix: Potential error in fast travel route planning causing the route to be longer than necessary
Bugfix: Potential error in Moontide rescue animals encounter
Bugfix: The ‘Glubsugnite’ fish now spawns in the biome it is said to spawn in
Bugfix: Moontide intro should occur properly when entering Pine Peaks for the first time
Bugfix: Skull Summoning Circle is properly shown in the map legend
Bugfix: Escorts should not target boats the player is currently boarding
More to come...
Maelstrom
Improvement: New weapon, the Arcane Sun Lance
More to come...
Patch 1.5.8
Hello! I'm back from a trip and getting back into work on Sail Forth. This patch fixes a few bugs and also contains some nice quality of life improvements to crew management.
Some of you are apparently racking up hundreds of sailors below deck, and managing this screen plus finding the sailor you want to crew a boat starts to get a bit difficult. This update adds some filtering options to the below deck screen so you can filter to *just* Skull Clan for example.
This also includes a faster way to fill a boat with sailors via the new 'fill crew' option in the crew management screen, which uses the same filtering options to enable quickly crewing a boat with a particular sailor type.
1.5.8
Improvement: Add a tab to crew inventory screen for filtering sailors by type, helpful when dealing with large numbers of sailors below deck
Improvement: Add “Fill Crew” with type selector option to crew management screen, useful for quickly filling an empty boat with sailors
As a part of this change, “Remove All Crew” was moved to be below the “Crew” section of the screen, to be consistent with it’s behavior in only removing crew members, not the captain
Improvement: Updated visuals when boats are equipped with golden oars
Bugfix: Fix a bug that sometimes resulted in locations having incorrect boundaries after fast travel
Bugfix: Handle fast traveling in the middle of Gregg’s penguin quest
Bugfix: Fixes to ensure achievements are properly unlocked, especially in Epic build
As always thanks to everyone for playing and following along with the game! Barring any important bug fixes, I intend the next update to include some fun new content and mechanics!
Patch 1.5.7
Ahoy! This is another small patch which fixes one *big* thing I came across in my own testing, plus a few smaller tweaks and fixes to things I've seen reported.
This does include one new feature, which is that boats can now turn (slowly) in place! This uses the boats oars (and rowing stats) to turn when your speed is set to 0 and you turn the helm. It shouldn't be fast enough to significantly change any tactics but it is quite helpful if you're in a tight spot and want to maneuver your way out of it.
I've historically been kind of against this as it felt like it might be a little too 'arcadey' but I've been convinced that it does make sense and I think the way it's implemented still feels realistic and maintains the weight of the boats. Let me know what you think!
1.5.7
Fix a major bug that caused locations with DLC content in them to have incorrect boundaries when the DLC is not installed
Boats can now turn (very slowly) in place by using oars
Make torpedo waves a bit smaller
Photo hunt encounters are now properly marked as complete across the map when all giant creatures have been photographed
As always thanks to everyone for playing and following along with the game!
Patch 1.5.6
Greetings! This is a small bug fix patch to smooth out a few issues I've come across and seen reported.
1.5.6
Fixed some cases where the map would sometimes freeze or display islands incorrectly
Fixed a bug where the Angler Emporium liberation battle would sometimes fail to register as complete
Fix an error that could occur when talking to Picklepea again after completing the Frogghammer battle
Fix an edge case where meeting the Moontide for the first time at Barnacle Base would result in a broken game state
Fix Shell Shop requiring the shop to be re-opened for each purchase
Potentially fix an edge case where the final boss would not progress to the next phase after taking damage
Add some checks to re-unlock key achievements when appropriate, if they were somehow missed previously
Fix some cases in late game where a cinematic teleporting the player to a new location might behave strangely
Add a backup save file, updated on each launch of the game called “boat-game-backup.save”
As always thanks to everyone for playing and following along with the game!
Patch 1.5.5
Ahoy! This update features a revision to the Skull Summoning Circle encounter, along with numerous bug fixes. The game has now been downloaded several million times(!) on Epic due to the free week which as you can imagine has resulted in many new issues being found!
1.5.5
Revised the design of the Skull Summoning Circle: Waves are now triggered one at a time, and there are torches surrounding each Skull which are destroyed as each wave is defeated. The state is saved for each location, so you can return whenever you like to continue the challenge.
Fix cases where enemy waves would spawn at the wrong time during Skull Clan summoning encounter
Captains of ships should no longer go down with the ship, despite the popular saying. This should make assigning a crew member as Captain essentially a way to keep them alive forever, as long as you are diligent about picking them back up out of the sea!
Add "Active DLC" list to main menu to make it more clear if you've installed it successfully.
Fix cases where boat physics could become bugged, causing them to ‘drift’ far more than intended
Fix cases where Bonnibel and Kerblapp would not show up to collect your Bibble Bait Penguins
Fix Shell Shop taking all your pearls instead of the advertised amount
Fix Lightkeeper conclusion event triggering again if talked to immediately after
Priscilla and Nausicaa correctly hint at which locations you are missing a Deadrock from
Fix a missing Lightkeeper dialog string
Fix local map not opening to correct screen the first time
Fix a positioning error on a cosmetic slot on the Sakana
Add ‘secret’ fps uncap option in the options file (not exposed to UI yet)
I saw a few people in feedback mentioning wanting uncapped FPS. I haven't had time to add it to the UI yet but if you dig up the options save file (next to the save file), you'll find the entry "EnableFrameLimit" in the XML which you can set to false.
Both save files can be found here on Windows, the options file is called boat-game.options. %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Festive Vector\Sail Forth
As always thanks to everyone for playing and following along with the game!
Patch 1.5.4
Hey everyone! With the influx of new players from Epic in conjunction with the new updates there have been *a bunch* of new feedback and bug reports so I’m doing everything I can to address things as quickly as possible. These early patches are intended to address the issues with the biggest impact and other items will be looked at soon after.
This patch actually contains two new versions, detailed below.
1.5.4
Fix potential soft lock in Croaker recruitment arc when searching for Teknowreckage
Fix intermittent errors when aiming cannons
Fixes to crew boarding logic, fixes some cases where boarding sequence would fail to complete
1.5.3
Fix cases where the achievement for catching all fish was unlocked early on game load
Fix Aurora Lantern cosmetic displaying as a different lantern when equipped
Thanks to everyone for playing and providing positive feedback about the game, it’s incredibly motivating! If you’ve submitted feedback in-game and haven’t seen it addressed here, don’t worry, I’ve definitely seen it and am working on it!
Maelstrom + 1.5.1 is Released!
1.5.1
Hello and welcome to the Maelstrom update! This adds support for the Maelstrom DLC in addition to a host of new features, content and fixes to the base game. The biggest new feature is the addition of the ship cosmetic system, which allows you to equip special cosmetic items to specific slots on your boat to further customize its appearance.
Cosmetic System - Add cosmetic slots to all boats - Boat helms are now cosmetic items - Boat flags are now cosmetic items - Add cosmetic items to Shipshape Shop and loot tables
World Map - Improve the UX of the combined local and world map - Can zoom into local map or out to world map - Can pan freely in local map without restrictions - Better rendering in local map of nearby locations - Can fast travel back to the location you’re currently in
New Encounter - Skull Clan Summoning Circle: For those seeking additional challenge. Look for a big skull atop a rock surrounded by torches!
New Items - Add several new types of flags to equip in boat cosmetic slots - Add several boat helms to equip in boat cosmetic slots - Add many other cosmetic items such as lanterns and figureheads
New Timepiece Key Item - Allows fast forwarding to sunset or sunrise and seeing the current time - Talk to the Lightkeepers after doing some of their quests
Misc Features/Fixes - Toot and Goose can now be retrieved in the end-game from their camping spot - Perf improvements to inventory screen with many items - Ship outfit screen has better camera movement for viewing current slot - Fix boat repairs being getting stuck if fast travel is triggered mid repair - Items acquired from Shell Shop show proper prices at other shops - The Manage Docked Boats screen now shows stats of the selected boat - Fix boats sometimes showing up in the wrong section of the sell boats screen - Fix case where Marga might not spawn after getting the Harpoon until player fast traveled - Fire arbalest variants are now linked to the correct visuals - Fix a case where dialog would fail to progress when rescuing some Moontiders from the Tekk Clan - Fix a case where capturing a Tekk Clan ship could result in some broken crew members on your ship which would then cause all sorts of other issues like getting stuck on the fishing screen - Fix another case where an already sinking sailor could be picked up and then get into a broken state - Increased hit box for Tekk Clan Tower panels - Weather properly returns to normal after destroying Tekk Clan Towers - Fix case where boats could get stuck repairing when fast traveling mid repair - Fix case where boat physics could get broken if the oar shove off sequence was interrupted - Fix potential soft lock in Lightkeeper Recruitment arc where players could end up unable to deliver the Spectral Oil to Bello - Fix missing string when asking Lightkeepers for directions - Fix missing strings for Tekk Speedboat name and description - Fix a rare case where turning in an old photo to Snapps could result in a soft lock - Fix some cases where teleporting the player boat to safety could mistakenly put the boat inside an island
Maelstrom DLC
New Items - Add Maelstrom-themed cosmetic items - Add Maelstrom-themed weapons - Add Maelstrom-themed loot and pearls
New Sailable Boat - Added the Wormkin Warship, a giant hollowed-out worm carcass with lateen sails
New Enemies - Lesser Worms: small 1-shot enemies that try to collide with your ship - Greater Worms: large monsters that circle your ship and attempt to ram it - Wormkin Ships: powerful warships crewed by worm-infested sailors - Wormkin Towers: cannon-equipped towers used by the Wormkin
New Biome - The Underworld: A dangerous new area beneath the Maelstrom and home to the Wormkin. It seems to be in a constant state of change, reshaping itself daily.
New Encounters - The Maelstrom: A large whirlpool that transports the player to and from the Underworld, found in several locations throughout the world - Arcane Lightkeeper: A mysterious NPC who is willing to sell ancient items in exchange for valuable loot found in the Underworld - Wormkin Nest: These glowing nest pods contain valuable items, but disturb them at your own risk - Wormkin Fort: The Wormkin often take lost sailors captive, and hold them in cages here
Open Seas Free Update + DLC Announcement
Open Seas Update
Ahoy! The next big update to the game is called Open Seas and it is available right now! This update dramatically expands the exploration and sailing aspects of the game with a fully open world, there are no longer any boundaries between locations or loading screens. This also includes a big redesign to world map generation to further improve the exploration experience. If you’re returning to an old save, your progress will be retained but expect the map to look significantly different!
Sail Forth: Maelstrom Expansion
Additionally, we’re excited to announce the upcoming release of the expansion Sail Forth: Maelstrom! This is a paid expansion that adds new areas to explore, new enemies, exclusive Maelstrom cosmetics, and a new NPC + associated shop. This will be paired with another free update that adds the ship cosmetic system, a new Skull Clan encounter, and many other changes and fixes. Sail Forth: Maelstrom is targeted for release on January 11.
🌪️ Sail Forth: Maelstrom - Brave the Vortexes! Dive headfirst into the heart of the storm with the Sail Forth Maelstrom expansion! A tempest has swept across the Deepblue, bringing forth colossal vortexes that promise unparalleled challenges and untold treasures. Are you ready to face the Maelstrom?
🌌Meet the Arcane Order The Maelstrom is watched over by mysterious guardians who offer strange new rewards to sailors willing to risk charting the depths of the Underworld. In exchange for much-coveted Maelstrom Pearls, the Arcane Order is willing to offer everything from ancient weaponry to custom cosmetics.
⚔️ Beware the Wormkin The Maelstrom introduces a host of menacing adversaries that will test your sailing prowess and combat skills. The Underworld does not easily tolerate interlopers. Do not linger, or the Wormkin may claim your fleet.
🎨 Expanded Vessel Customization Express yourself with the brand new ship cosmetic system, adding dozens of decorative items that can be fitted to the vessels in your fleet.
⚓ Sail Forth into the Unknown Continue your nautical adventure with Maelstrom, where the call of the vortexes beckons you to uncharted waters. Will you return to the light, or be swallowed by the abyss?
1.4.4 Changelog
Open World Exploration: - Loading screens between areas are removed - Can sail seamlessly between areas - Added ‘Deepblue’ ocean biome between areas with its own soundtrack - Island generation has been reworked a bit to give locations a bit more personality
World Map Rework: - World Map generation has been redesigned with an open world in mind - Can now freely explore the biomes in any order after Sandy Shores - Difficulty is now scaled based on your overall progression in the game, rather than by which location you are in - Depending on where you explore, you may still encounter some high-challenge enemies - Player exact position is now saved instead of just current location
Content Updates: - New boat: Kestrel, a mid sized schooner balancing armament and maneuverability - Clams: New digging/surfacing behavior to make finding them more interesting - Clams: New types of pearls are dropped by clams - Clams: Moontide Shop uses Moon Pearls instead of normal pearls - Ship Shape Shop: Shops now have intermittent sales depending on the calendar day, look for flashing lights! - Ship Shape Shop: Can now sell boats that are stored in your dock without undocking them first
UI Updates: - New combined Area Map + World Map with better visuals for nearby locations - New design for wind indicator in the steering/compass display - World Map shows real player position instead of anchoring to nearest location - Label ‘key’ items in inventory
Misc: - Crates and other small targets now always take 1 shot - Perf improvements when many boats are visible - Time passes during eclipse so you aren’t stuck on the same day forever - Improved sinking physics for destroyed boats - Improved sorting of crew inventory and cargo
Bug Fixes: - Photo hunt encounter now properly progresses through the various ‘giant’ photo subjects, fixing cases where players were unable to complete their photo collection - Boat AI now uses oars properly when necessary - Fix case where player escorts might stop following player for no reason - Fix cases where the wrong fleet boat could be selected after exiting the outfit or crew manage screen - Fix many cases where NPCs could be covered by trees or rocks - Adjust ice target course to be less insanely difficult - Many fixes throughout the game to quest logic and cutscenes
A big thank you to everyone for continuing to play and support the game! This update was a huge endeavor and I'm looking forward to expanding on it further with the upcoming Maelstrom update. I'd also like to give a big thank you to everyone in the Discord who participated in the Open Beta and submitted feedback, it was incredibly helpful in making this update as smooth as possible!
Update 2 Open Beta
Hi everyone, Update 2/the Open Seas update is close to complete, and like with Update 1, this is a pretty big set of changes and I'd like to make a beta available for a couple weeks before the update goes out.
** Joining the beta **
If you have the game on Steam and would like to opt-in to the beta, you can do so by right-clicking the game in your Library, selecting Properties > Betas, and choosing `public_preview` from the dropdown. You'll see `1.4.0` at the bottom right of the options screen if you're on the beta.
** Before you play **
It is very important to note that if you do this your save file will become incompatible with the old version! The game will automatically create a backup of your original save on load, which can be found on Windows at `%appdata%\..\LocalLow\Festive Vector\Sail Forth\boat-game-old.save`
If you want to return to playing the old version before the update is released, replace `boat-game.save` with `boat-game-{previous version}.save` Otherwise you can continue playing your save in the public preview branch until the update is fully released. The previous version should be `1.3.4` if you were playing on an up to date build of the game.
** Bug reporting **
If you find a bug you can now report it directly from the game, using the 'Feedback' option found in the pause menu. This is helpful for me as it includes a copy of your save file, the log, and a screenshot which makes it much easier for me to find and fix the bug.
** Other Notes **
This is a big update that pretty dramatically changes the campaign map. If you play with an existing save your progress will be retained but expect locations to move around significantly!
As a fair warning, with how large of a change this is there will almost certainly be bugs I haven't found yet!
Update 2: Open Seas Beta Changelog
Open World Exploration - Loading screens between areas are removed - Can sail seamlessly between locations - Added ‘Deepblue’ ocean biome between areas with its own soundtrack - Island generation has been reworked a bit to give locations a bit more personality
World Map Rework - World Map generation has been redesigned with an open world in mind - Can now freely explore the biomes in any order after Sandy Shores - Difficulty is now scaled based on your overall progression in the game, rather than by which location you are in - Depending on where you explore, you may still encounter some high-challenge enemies - Player exact position is now saved instead of just current location
Feature Updates - New Boat: Kestrel, a mid sized schooner balancing armament and maneuverability - Clams: New digging/surfacing behavior to make finding them more interesting - Clams: New types of pearls are dropped by clams - Clams: Moontide Shop uses Moon Pearls instead of normal pearls - Ship Shape Shop: Shops now have intermittent sales depending on the calendar day, look for flashing lights! - Ship Shape Shop: Can now sell boats that are stored in your dock without undocking them first
UI updates - Reworked Area Map to better show nearby locations - New design for wind indicator in the steering/compass display - World Map shows real player position instead of anchoring to nearest location - Label ‘key’ items in inventory
Misc Updates - Crates and other small targets now always take 1 shot - Perf improvements when many boats are visible - Time passes during eclipse so you aren’t stuck on the same day forever - Improved sinking physics for destroyed boats
Bug Fixes - Photo hunt encounter now properly progresses through the various ‘giant’ photo subjects, fixing cases where players were unable to complete their photo collection - Boat AI now uses oars properly when necessary - Fix case where player escorts might stop following player for no reason - Fix many cases where NPCs could be covered by trees or rocks - Adjust ice target course to be less insanely difficult - Many fixes throughout the game to quest logic and cutscenes
v1.3.4 + Update 2 Sneak Peak
Hi everyone, I'm still working on Update 2, but in the meantime here are just a couple small fixes to issues brought up by members of the Discord (thanks!)
It turns out the Glubbgill was bugged and had no way of ever spawning, which is now fixed for those of you trying to complete your fish collection.
v1.3.4
- Fish fixes: Fix glubbgill erroneously spawning as a dravenscale, making them uncatchable - HUD fix: Options for hiding the speed/sail trim UIs are working again
Also, here is a little peek at something I've been working on in Update 2 land:
