… and a Happy New Year! It has been a super productive couple of months for us. If we double the same amount of effort for a couple of months more - the release is going to be something to remember.
This dev diary will be focused on the progress we have made recently, and even though we can’t show you the best part just yet, you are in for a treat!
But first, let’s go through the master schedule again:
Jan 15th: Release for the owners of the Early Access Edition.
Jan 15th: The third and the final pre-order push - last chance to purchase Exclusive Edition/Early Access.
Jan 15th: Steam page release for an unannounced title.
Jan 22d: ???
Feb 8th: Release for the owners of the Exclusive Edition.
Feb 12th: ???
Feb 15th: Caribbean Legend Release Day.
Notable Items:
UI fixes
The original game was quite notorious for obscuring important mechanics and stats. Well, that’s not the case anymore. No matter what perks you choose, what attributes you buff or what equipment you wear, you will immediately see the changes in stats of your build.
Two more experience bars added to allow better progress tracking. Skill Points never had their own bars, even though they are more valuable than level ups. One look at the character window and you will see everything you need.
Stealth System
Stealth was never the most fun and well thought feature of the series. We added a few adjustments to make it less reliable on save/load. First, check out the eye indicator on the character’s portrait at the top left. The closer you get to a hostile guard, the more intense it gets.
You still have options if they catch you. Stealth is now heavily dependent on: Stealth skill, character’s notoriety, clothes, amulets and social perks. Early game, when your character’s mug is not very well known, you can get by with amulets. But it will take either an expensive trading license or a much better prep in the late game though. The game will always tell you of your chances to pass a stealth dialogue check.
New Items
Originally we promised 9 new items to you. Welp, we got 29 , armament mostly . Some of which will be available only to the owners of First Wave or Exclusive Editions. We found a place for each in the balance, often introducing new and fun way to play the game.
Basse-Terre Expanded
As an experiment we increased the location size of the capital of Guadeloupe. After the release we will do the same to other cities in the game, thus giving you a better sense of townspace and colony life.
New jungle locations are a different story though. We managed to produce two of them, but they will require a significant improvement before we allow them into the release build. Maybe later?
Achievements
The game will have 98 achievements in total, and I guess we will need to add two more to make it a nice round number. Below are the 25 new ones - try to guess what lies behind each title, but rest assured that you will need at least two full playthroughs to get them all!
Dating Sim
My Soulmate
Very
****** funny!
My temple, my rules!
Vile Lil' God
Clean Hands
Caribbean Legend
Hi, dad
Pension and Benefits
Deadman
Hogar, dulce hogar
All your base are belong to us
El Comercio
Point Blank
First of many
No Regrets
So it begins!
Money do buy happiness
Live By the Sword
The Most Notorious Pirate
Lootbox Hunter
A*!
Honoring the Classics
Caribbean Virgin
Three's Crowd
Main Character’s Visuals
We promised you new skins for the main character, and now it’s time to deliver. Added a second tier of the French Navy Uniform along with a new quest to make it.
Currently we are making a new model for the leather armor. The screenshot below is a WIP, but it represents the idea of having headwear for top-tier armor in the game, like helmets or hats, allowing a better feel of progression.
Old models will get an update as well, for example we plan to add leg armor to a heavy chestplate.
Animations
Thanks to super talented Antix we have more diverse animations now. At this moment, we focus on the combat animations and musket handling. Big one, really, something that was never intended to be included in the game, but the most welcome addition to be sure!
https://youtu.be/y-J7b28U8og WIP. Will probably consider other variants of this one.
https://youtu.be/PUxO5xt8J28 New heavy strike. Musket handling should be more lively now.
https://youtu.be/H_zQL4m6Gto WIP. Something to consider post-release, the game is super stubborn when it comes to real-time musket equipping.
https://youtu.be/bXJ3Y2w2zvo The left one is the new dodging move.The one at the right is the old.
https://youtu.be/--ryIA5S0p8 More dodging. Feels more natural now!
We have all kinds of crazy plans for the animation department. Next ones in our to-do list are street musicians, gamblers and fishermen to spice up the colony life.
Uplifted Textures
Same as with animations, this was not planned, but thanks to our community we have a way to improve the oldest and the ugliest textures that had been with us for almost 20 years! Thank you so much, КА!
It is tedious work, but the effect should be noticeable in the release build.
As bonus, we have also uplifted textures of the sails. Sea scenery is already looking fantastic and now it is even better. New sails complement the new sea, improved weather, updated sky so well!
Ship Gameplay
Now, what is the way to make the old naval combat formula a second life? How to make it more tactical and fun? Right, change some numbers!
The Caleuche (Ghost Ship) now requires 100 Navigation Skill. She is the strongest ship in the game.
You can’t hire Navigators with more than 75 Navigation Skill in taverns.
Helen McArthur and Longway are the best Navigators in the game now.
Ships get x2 to hull HP. Unique ships get x3.
Ships get x0.75 to max crew. Unique ships get x0.85..
Grapeshot loses all efficiency after depleting more than 50% of the target’s crew. Bombs don’t.
Bombs cost much more and you can buy or loot much less of them in game.
The game takes in account the rank of the player’s flagship and adjusts quest naval battles to it.
The heaviest warships in the game now cost a fortune to command.
1 and 2 rank warships can be encountered in the open world only after the player reaches level 30.
Therefore, the game encourages you to command lighter vessels until the mid-game. It makes naval combat more tactical, forgiving and more welcome to experiments. You don’t have to reload a game after a bad volley or grind from the start to get yourself a warship before the midgame. But if you do get a warship early, it wont auto level your enemies accordingly or punish you. You will have a fun time ruining everyones day as long as you can afford to operate such a monster.
OST
The OST is complete - over an hour of new music, making almost two hours in total. Fits the 200 hours of content we have. Check out the new national themes - playing for French, English, Dutch and Spanish towns!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53hIPEf5rL4
And… That’s all for today, folks! See you all soon on January 15th! ːauthorityː Happy New Year
Dev Diary
Ahoy!
With only a few months remaining until the release, it's the perfect time to resurrect our Dev Diary series. After a much-needed one-week vacation following our previous crowdfunding campaign, we're back in full swing, ready to tackle the challenges ahead.
We've sent the build to Valve for their final approval.
I did a complete playthrough of Cyberpunk 2027.
We've conducted interviews with several talented 2D artists to update our key art and in-game portraits.
Questwriting is underway. That’s a lot of text and documentation.
Adding new nextgen visual features to the engine.
Adding more items like weapons and loot.
New music tracks incoming!
Looks like we have one more 3D modeler now. Good opportunity to make new land levels.
While we can't reveal everything we've accomplished over the past couple of weeks, we're excited to share a few enticing sneak peeks.
Music
Our composer has been diligently working on completing the OST. Only six tracks remain to be composed, which will encompass national themes and music for Justice Island, also known as the City of Abandoned Ships.
Here's a work-in-progress French theme, offering a glimpse of what we're aiming for: https://youtu.be/bRyuz-SA5o0 New music track (WIP): French Americas
Originally, we had planned to remix the legendary themes from the first Sea Dogs game, invoking a sense of warm nostalgia. However, we are now considering the possibility of creating entirely new compositions.
We have another track to share with you today, one of the new tavern themes. There's no better place for gambling, drinking, seduction, and shady activities than a tavern!
https://youtu.be/M1pU1y7gWvw New music track: Party Like 1660
Levels
As mentioned previously, we faced challenges in our 3D department. However, the situation has improved, and we're excited to announce the addition of more land locations to the game. We've already added two new ones in the past two weeks. The video below showcases one of these locations, which will serve as an office for a smuggler specializing in heavy ship armaments.
https://youtu.be/dyaaLjUonTI Wait a sec, how did he get those inside?
But that's not all. We really want to expand our jungle locations. The original set felt limited and somewhat repetitive, so we're considering not only adding more locations but also making them distinct and introducing additional gameplay mechanics.
New weapons
This serves as a testament to how crowdfunding enhances game development. Initially, we only had a couple of new items planned for release, but now we've expanded our arsenal to include over ten unique weapons. Our goal is to make each new weapon stand out, providing players with fresh and exciting experiences. Some of these new weapons are downright unconventional but undeniably enjoyable.
Consider the customizable barrel musket: if muskets aren't your preference, simply remove the long barrel and stock to transform it into a stylish pistol.
True high-tech.
The Sclopetta grenade launcher is effective but requires both hands to operate. If you prefer wearing heavy armor and swinging a big axe or broadsword, this compact weapon might come in handy.
You are gonna need a lot of crafting materials for that special ammo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRWqzfbW7pw And please, don’t forget to equip a powder tester!
Lastly, behold the sexiest pirate cutlass in the Caribbean.
That wraps up today's update. The next diary is scheduled in two weeks. Join our Discord community; tonight, we're hosting a stream and a podcast!
JOIN DISCORD
Final Changelog
Ahoy!
This is a huge release changelog that we have announced some time ago. Being the result of three years development, it won't fit here, so please follow the external link below. I broke Steam, when I attempted to upload it as it is.
No walls of text today, there will be plenty of them tomorrow. ːseawolvesː Just enjoy how Caribbean Legend sounds like.
https://youtu.be/rlLM3qG28bY
And pay attention to the Main Menu. Yesterday we had discussion on Discord about the abundance of small and super fun features, that make this game a must-buy. The lantern is a good example of such a feature.
Don't mind these cyrillic words on screen - all they tell is how awesome you are.
This dynamic Main Menu that tracks your in-game path to power is one of such features, and it has surprises of its own.
Discord Server
Must Read
Ahoy!
Caribbean Legend is the unique game you've been longing for.
Now, that must have gotten your attention! But first things first. We'll be summarizing the Steam page release and launching the next big thing this Sunday. After that, it's crunch time until February 15th, 2024.
The theme of today's episode is to tell you why you need Caribbean Legend.
When the trailer launched, it became apparent that everyone had different expectations for the game. Some thought it was merely a significant paid patch for To Each His Own, and we exceeded their expectations. Others expected an entirely new game on a different engine and were left disappointed. It's our fault; we should have explained things better and shown you more.
Our to-do list before the release includes:
Sharing the full changelog this Sunday.
Launching a free demo in February.
Creating another trailer.
Allowing unlimited streaming.
All of this means that you'll have all the information you need to make your own decision about purchasing the game.
But regardless of the decision you make, this release won't go unnoticed by you because we all share the same pain: there are not many games like this on the market.
A long time ago, my mom bought me Sea Dogs. "Oh, it looks cool, give it a try," she said. I wasn't entirely convinced, as Cossacks was the other option, and I was always a fan of the RTS genre. In the end, she bought me both games, but it was Sea Dogs that left a lasting mark on me.
During the first 20 hours, I struggled desperately and remained on the starting ship, a Pinc, I think. But at one point, something miraculous happened: I leveled up when I accidentally won my first boarding and the game allowed me to change my ship to a Lugger. I believe it was not far from Shark Island.
That dose of dopamine changed me, and since then, I've always had this Sea Dogs fever:
I spent days downloading endless mods for PoTC and bragged to other school kids that I was a programmer.
I frequented Seaward, PA! and other Sea Dogs websites that were popping up like mushrooms back then. I got trolled super hard there for asking dumb questions. Nevertheless, I kept coming back for more.
On New Year's Eve, when a girl visited me from another city, I had her play CoAS all night.
And then, I met this guy, made a career in gamedev, released or published dozens of games, and well, here we are.
I'm sharing this because I want you to see why I've longed so much to understand why the *Sea Dogs series* left such a mark on us. I've had long conversations with fans and industry veterans, and I think I've finally figured it out. It wasn't the series that drove us crazy; it was the genre.
Not the brilliant music, not the modding scene or childhood nostalgia. Not even the Caribbean setting.
It was a unique genre that got us. There are almost no games in the world with so many working game systems:
Combat at sea.
Land combat.
Exploration on land.
Global map.
RPG system.
Dialogues.
Companions and love interests.
Linear and generated quests.
A deep narrative with choices and consequences.
Loot, collectibles, and crafting.
Building and management.
Take any modern open-world Action/RPG, and it may excel in some aspects from that list, but it will never have everything. Even if it does, it won't work seamlessly.
And that's what pains us. These are the types of games we want to play, but all we have are the *Sea Dogs series* and global mods for other games. Mount & Blade. Kenshi, maybe? And now, Caribbean Legend is about to join the ranks.
Let me reiterate - there are almost no games like that on the market. Games that we desire. Games that provide the true freedom of choice that game marketers have been promising for the past 25 years.
Sure, there are mods. Not just Sea Dogs mods, but mods in general. Some of the global ones offer more content and mechanics than *Caribbean Legend* and most open-world RPGs out there. However, they can't reach a wide audience for various reasons and thus remain niche. We play them, but we can't simply go to Steam, press the purchase button, and immediately get a polished product.
The original Sea Dogs: TEHO, which forms the core of Caribbean Legend, is exactly the same. Bugs, lack of localizations, unnecessary hardcore elements, a steep difficulty curve, and a lack of promotion prevented it from reaching a wide audience. It's a great game but a poor product.
We want to fix that. Bring TEHO to the peak of its potential. Keep the series' veterans happy and open the game to a new audience. For the former, we have new content and plenty of reasons to replay; for the latter, we have polishing, a proper difficulty curve, translations, tweaked visuals, and marketing.
Regardless of which group you belong to, every release like this is a significant event that should not be ignored. Caribbean Legend's success or failure will be observed by the market, and it's up to you to ensure we have more games like this in the future.
I have 2000 hours in TEHO and another couple of thousand in other Sea Dogs games. And still, the first thing I'll do on February 15th is start a new playthrough as a gamer, not a developer. Because there are very few games like this out there. And that pains me.
Discord Server
First Stream is starting soon!
Ahoy!
Starting in a an hour! Follow this link and hit the notification bell, so you won’t miss it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXV5TA78fdQ
… and a reminder that we released a powerful announcement trailer yesterday. Enjoy and check out the description for the new Steam Page and more!
We're excited to reveal the trailer, release date, and our Steam page – it's a big day for us, and we hope it's just as thrilling for all the genre fans out there.
Use the link below to check out the trailer, make sure to follow and wishlist the game, and add the game to your wishlists. Take a moment to read the official FAQ on the new Steam page. If you have any remaining questions, don't hesitate to visit our Discord server and ask us directly!
We have another development update for you today, and if you are a fan of the series, tomorrow is your day. At 1 PM PST we will reveal:
ːjollyrːAnnouncement Trailer; ːjollyrːRelease Date; ːjollyrːSteam Page of Caribbean Legend - more than a new edition, and a bit less than a remake of POTEHO; ːjollyrːFAQ - to cover all your questions and concerns.
We have arranged a special early premier for our patrons earlier today. The feedback was ːburning_flamesː ːbombingː, everybody is totally hyped now! You can visit our Discord and ask them themselves if you are eager to learn more.
Our Discord Server:
Don't hesitate to drop in and say hello. It's the ideal place to be if you're keen on staying in the loop about the game. Here's a spare link if the banner above doesn't work for you: https://discord.gg/CaribbeanLegend
Announcement Trailer Premiere:
https://youtu.be/DX7L13FN18M. Remember to go directly to Youtube via this link and hit the notification bell to receive updates about the big reveal.
Now back to…
Gorgeous and dangerous Helen
…happily ever after indeed
Has this piece of dialogue ever felt satisfying for you?
H: Ah, there you are, my captain! I am so glad, "+pchar.name+", that you have finally decided to visit me. I have got a lot to discuss you. PC: (Option A) We will delay this conversation a bit. I need to get some more information before I'll be able to answer your questions. And now I'm asking you to not show yourself on the streets. I hope that your waiting will not last long. Trust me and wait.
Right?! The lady is clearly giving you signs and you are like:
Wait.ːseawolvesː
This is Helen’s peak of interactive content. No wonder she feels totally inferior to Mary. Just think of it:
ːjollyrːA unique Vanguard is much more valuable than a unique Companion; ːjollyrːNo personal quest and no proper love story; ːjollyrːDoesn’t take the bedroom initiatives in her hands, so to speak. Although, for some, it is a plus. ːjollyrːZombie Jessica doesn’t approve of her. Must be personal.
Caribbean Legend will change that.Helen will get her own quest and one more ending. The quest will be happening during the Pirate Saga, allowing Charles and Helen to learn more about each other and to spend some time together. The best part is that you will be able to build Helen differently, depending on the choices you make. You can make her a perfect Vanguard, strengthen her naval skills even further or make her stats more balanced. There is also another new major feature, but that would be a spoiler. Don’t want to ruin the moment for you when and if you get to it. ːbombingː
PC: ( Option B) You told me you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't visit you and Gladys. Well, here I am. H: Nice that you remember that. I wanted to say that I am truly grateful. It's not every day you get saved from, you know, that kind of situation. H: Let's just go and get a drink, my treat.
Getting better, right? Behind that simple dialogue option, a couple of hours of additional gameplay is hiding. Looking forward to hearing your feedback once you complete the quest in the game.
…And that’s all for today, folks, see you soon at the big event tomorrow!
Good hunting. ːjollyrː
Notes from Discord: Part 2
Ahoy!
We have another development update for you today, and the trailer reveal is just in two days. This Saturday at 1 p.m. PST.
Today’s item is…
Isla Mona, your very own colony
…and a sneak peek of the new UI
-"By the holy Santiago, that would be swell! Problem is, our women would set it on fire. With us in it. No, Captain, I meant a church."
-"True, we have decent dwelling and pay, sea and leisures, families and friends. But something is still amiss, you know?"
It took a couple of months to write this quest, and another two to code it - a total of three years. I think we have done it right: several hours of solid gameplay, choices and consequences, lots of new content and events. It’s a great side activity for the mid game, don’t rush it and you will have yourself a proper colony built in two in-game years. No timers except for building ones.
Once the colony is built, it will remain useful until the end of the game:
ːjollyrːInfinite goods storage. ːjollyrːAbility to put a few hundreds of sailors in reserve. ːjollyrːShipkeeping, you can keep up to three smaller vessels or one warship. ːjollyrːLots of cheap ironwood; ːjollyrːSpecial events, items, companion interactions and Steam achievements.
But hey, you ask me how several months transformed into 3 years of development?! Simple, we have very little 3D modeling resources to cover all building stages of the colony. I think that is about 6 exterior locations total. But we are getting there and we like the result. The amount of effort put in this quest was colossal, but it was worth it and we hope you will feel the same!
That’s all for today, folks. Tomorrow we will talk about our dear Helen - a companion and a potential romantic interest.
Don’t forget to check out the two links below. This is vital not only because of the trailer, but also for the future updates to come: most of them will be Discord exclusive.
Our Discord Server:
Don't hesitate to drop in and say hello. It's the ideal place to be if you're keen on staying in the loop about the game. Here's a spare link if the banner above doesn't work for you: https://discord.gg/CaribbeanLegend
Announcement Trailer Premiere:
https://youtu.be/DX7L13FN18M. Remember to go directly to Youtube via this link and hit the notification bell to receive updates about the big reveal.
