Hello everyone, as promised, Seablip's new trailer is out, and an estimate for release is, Autumn 2023.
I started to work on Seablip approximately 3.5 years ago. Probably before, as I had to learn programming and all, but that said, I can now see a release date. I must say, it took me a lot longer than expected.
That said. Autumn next year is actually closer than you think, and I honestly have a huge task ahead of me. Seablip is playable already, but it is missing the essential ingredients. - It has many empty spaces and needs more content and balancing. That is what I am going to work on until next year. Fill in those gaps, and add fun content.
Here is a list of some of the things:
Completing the main story (in the trailer, I focus on playable content, and most of the story related events are hidden, except the Octopus gang at the beginning🐙)
More islands (I mean those important islands tied to the main story)
Expanding Davy Locker's underworld
More farming
Cooking
Crafting
Fish variety
Cannon variety
Adding wizards with spells
Enemy variety (ship, crew)
A couple of "mini-games" (I keep those a secret)
NPC stories, more content, and details to daily cycles and other events
NPC festivals and events (more on that later)
Sea variety
In-game economy balancing
Battle balancing
More sound design
English translation
This is the list of most important priorities, I also have a list of other things I want to do..
But my goal is to reach that release date: feeling rich and fun. Those things I can't manage to add will be added later on if things go well.
It will be a hard year ahead of me, with a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it.
I am very grateful for having you following my journey towards a release, and I hope you can wait a little bit longer.
All the best, Jardar
Happy new year! Seablip's plans for 2022.
Hello everyone, and a happy new year!
2022 will be an important year for Seablip's development. I am so happy to say that I have reached a lot of important milestones lately, and I am going to move my focus from making everything that you don't see work smoothly + preparing for all the different types of content I want to add ("skeleton-work") to "adding content and story".
First a quick look at some big changes.
Sea battle perspective is changed from front-view to side-view. A tiny ship, owned by the Octopus gang.
After looking into all the amazing feedback from the alpha test I have worked a lot to make sea battle easier to control and understand. It was many hard decisions, changing sea battle to side-views was one of them. But I think it will offer a lot more detail, charm, and soul to each ship. I am still practicing drawing ships, but I am happy with the direction it is taking, and hope you feel it too!
I am very excited to show you all the things I have done (and am working on) with sea battle, but I am not comfortable showing you all the progress yet. All I can say is that I have reworked all systems, removed things that felt like too much micro-management, and worked a lot on individuality to each crew and cannons. Again, very excited to tell you more soon!
Redcoat brig
World Map
I have also worked a lot on my internal WorldMap editor to have all the dynamic options I need to expand the world of Seablip. Connecting the islands, story, characters, and sea battles into a great experience. Now it is solid and ready to add final content and sail routes. I still have some future functions I want to implement, for instance: weather effects, and other triggers affecting sail routes availability and a food system for traveling. (And a special fast travel home option) More on all that later this year.
From the World Map in Seablip. Here is a look at an updated version of the main island.
Mark May in your calendar!
I want to have some personal goals for this year, and one important goal is happening in May. Then I want to come with a bigger announcement about Seablip's future. My goal is to give you a better understanding of what to expect from Seablip, and hopefully (but I can't promise) a glimpse into when Seablip might be ready. So mark May in your calendar, I am excited to see where the development is then and is looking forward to showing you more on all the things I have worked on since last. I have a great feeling about this year, and it could never have happened without all the amazing support I have got from you guys!
All the best, Jardar
[previewyoutube="geas1CUt1gk;full"]
Seablip's Release Date Delayed
Hello everyone!
Today I want to share with you something that is not easy to say, but nevertheless important: We are approaching the intended release date of Seablip (February next year as said on Seablip's Steam page), but at the same time, it is now clear to me that this is not a deadline that will be reached. Seablip needs more time. I want to release it when I am proud of it and when it is fun and in a good playable state. I don't want to cut out the heart - to quickly release.
I just want to say that I am so proud of the support you have given me, and this delay will give me enough time to make Seablip the game I have dreamt of (for a long time now). I am very excited about Seablip, and for me, this delay just means that I can focus even more on making the best possible game.
To "compensate" for the delay, I have made this video to show you some of the things I have worked on in the last months - Island Gameplay:
[previewyoutube="z0uZ4zGWbjI;full"]
New Release Date
For now, I can't really say when a new release date will be. My goal is to give you a notice 6 months before a release. I am fully dedicated to the development of Seablip, and sometimes work 11-14 hours a day (when I have the energy and passion to do it). - I wanted to tell you this to make sure you know Seablip is constantly moving forward.
To follow and support my journey toward the release, you are most welcome to follow Seablip on these platforms;
It is still much more to be done, but I am now even more passionate about the development than before (and the glow for Seablip was pretty high in the beginning:) - so I hope you can have faith and patience in me to finish Seablip.
All the best, Jardar
Seablip's Alpha test is now closed - This is happening next
Thank you so much to all who have tested Seablip. I am a bit overwhelmed, so I am trying to take it easy and will come back to those I haven't answered yet tomorrow.
What is happening now?
My motivation has always been to build something inspired by FTL and Stardew Valley. The next goal for Seablip is to work more on islands, NPC's, and cut-scenes. I want to tell a story with Seablip, and this is non-existent in the alpha version. You can see some of the elements I want to use. Like Grim, for instance, Grim will be tightly connected to the main story in Seablip. Before I can start that work, I will need to do some groundwork first:
Player home base and NPC town 1. I will redo my system for NPC's, and add cut-scenes
2. I will implement the player's home base. It is on an island, bigger than the alpha island, where you have a house and the opportunity to upgrade the place. (At least 3x the size of the alpha island)
3. Then I will start the work on the Seablip village (next to the player's home base). This is the place where the NPC's will live. (At least 5x the size of the alpha island)
4. I will do an update on player control and movement. I have some plans based on your feedback and my own (especially doing interaction easier and more understandable)
5. I will make doors :)
Sea battle and World Map
0. Fix the bugs reported
1. The World Map will get a higher variation of events. I want to add more text events with risk/rewards.
2. A way to fast-travel back to the island on the World Map
3. Player will be able to buy a bigger ship
4. I will continue the work on sea battles. Based on your feedback and all the plans I have who not yet is implemented
This is only some of my work ahead. The next time Seablip is playable on Steam will be when it is ready for a release, and it is estimated to be in February 2022. This is probably an optimistic deadline, but I will try my best to keep it that way for now. It motivates me to do the heavy lifting Seablip needs to get done.
I will probably go in "silence mode" after this test, only posting some monthly updates. Working on Seablip in the shadow, but you can always reach out to me on Seablip's Discord, or on email. That is always very meaningful and helpful for me.
