Sky Trader
January 2019 Update
Here is the latest news from the trenches of airship development!
Sky Trader has been through a fair number of changes over the last month, but the biggest one was setting up the camera to "follow" the mouse cursor. This allowed me to bring the camera in much closer while still maintaining the same visible area. It also makes the parallax effect of the 3d terrain really obvious (TL;DR - it looks cool). I haven't resolved how to make this work with the controller yet, but I have some ideas.
Most of the other improvements are less dramatic... just steady progress towards the launch. As the feature set is getting firmed up, I am focusing more and more on adding content. There will be lots of areas to explore, even in Early Access. Check out the videos below for more deets!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdXkC4IvYX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaZPFvxiH4Q
Let me know what you think!
JJ
We're back!
Hey Sky Trader Fans,
Well, what can I say... it's hard to excuse disappearing for over a year. A lot has happened for me both professionally and personally, and I finally seem to have ended up where I started. It has been a great regret of mine that I was never able to deliver the game I promised you so long ago... so without further ado I present...
Sky Trader 2019
My vision for Sky Trader has been forced to evolve with the dissolving of our original team. I have taken over all art responsibilities, and as such I have moved to a new art style for the game. I loved Nick's work on the original game, but it wasn't something I was able to reproduce on my own very effectively... that said, I am really happy with the way the new game looks and I hope you will enjoy it too.
I've also made several significant changes to the gameplay... most notably the switch to a top-down view. There were several factors that went into this, and I'll write an update detailing them in the next few weeks, but it has actually turned out to be a lot more fun to play than the original!
As far as timelines go, I won't make you any promises... development is progressing quite quickly right now, and I'll be sure to post regular updates as things unfold.
To those of you reading this, thank you so much for sticking it out! I'll post more updates about this new direction over the next few weeks, but feel free to fire off any questions in the meantime!
Best Wishes,
JJ
Status Update
December has been a rough month... we recently submitted Sky Trader to Valve for pre-release review, and it unfortunately didn't pass.
The fine folks at Valve discovered a critical bug in our final build. We hadn't found it because it wasn't present in our editor, but it happens every time in the executable. The bug was related to our inventory system and it actually causes a hard crash where the application abruptly terminates.
We worked on it for about a few days, but because of the nature of the bug we weren't able to effectively determine the exact cause. Pulling out a large portion of the inventory code fixed the issue, but unfortunately a trading game without an inventory system isn't very fun!
We had to choose between continuing to diagnose a very tricky issue and stepping back and rebuilding the inventory system from the ground up to make it more robust. After some deliberation, we chose the latter. The system we are building out is much better than the old one in a lot of ways, but there is quite a bit of work remaining before it has feature parity with the old system.
As such, our planned December release is at risk. I am pretty sure the Steam Store crew takes some time off at Christmas (this was the case in the past, not sure if it still is), so even if we did finish next week it might not get reviewed.
I wish I had better news for you... the development of Sky Trader has been full of ups and downs, and I really appreciate all of you who have stuck it out with us! We will do our best to keep you updated as we work through this.
Happy Holidays,
JJ
So, November is almost over...
Blame the pirates!
November is drawing to a close... where is this glorious game we have promised?
Unfortunately, we are running a bit long in getting everything wrapped up. We thought that our November estimate was a good one, but there are still some serious issues that make the game pretty unplayable.
I personally apologize for missing this release date. We have a plan for post-release that should keep us on track for regular (every 2 weeks) releases moving forward, but getting a release candidate ready to go has been harder than I anticipated.
You guys have been with us from the start, and we appreciate you all a great deal! Thank you so much for your patience and good will, it's what keeps us going. We intend to have Sky Trader ready to go in early December, hopefully in the first two weeks, but we will keep you updated.
As a condolence, we would like to offer free Steam keys to the first 25 people to email us (skytrader-promo@feudant.com). If the demand is huge, I may extend that to more keys... we will see how it goes.
Best Wishes,
JJ
New Cinematic Trailer
It has been 6 months in the making, but we have finally uploaded a new cinematic trailer for Sky Trader! (It hasn't actually been 6 months... it only took a few days. We just announced it 6 months ago.) Head over to our store page to check it out!
We know the new trailer is more of a teaser as far as gameplay goes. We have been working so hard to get the game ready we just haven't had much time to prepare a proper gameplay trailer. We will be sure to have one before we launch, so you will know what you are getting!
As far as our release goes, we are still tracking for a release this month. If you smell something, it is our keyboards burning up as we work feverishly to get Sky Trader out the door!
Cheers,
JJ
Welcome to Braeleen
Enjoy the refreshing smell of fish oil!
Welcome to Braeleen! Walk the tree-lined streets, and enjoy the fresh smell of fish markets in the morning.
Prail may be the official capital of Elanis, but Braeleen is the undisputed "Fish Capital"! While fishing and fish products form the backbone of Braeleen economy, there are many craftsman and traders as well. Surprisingly, one of the best bakeries on the island can be found in this quaint seaside town. It has been said that the humid ocean air helps keep the bread soft!
Come visit Braeleen and all the other towns and villages of Elanis when Sky Trader is released on Early Access later this month!
Best Wishes,
JJ
A really quick update.
AI Controlled Airship
Hey Sky Trader fans!
Just wanted to let you know we are still working hard to get Sky Trader ready for launch! I took a couple of minutes to record this neat little animated gif of an AI airship cruising around.
Okay, back to work...
JJ
A citizen of Elanis, and some news
Sir Edwin Doyle
Just a quick update for you today, as we are all working madly to get Sky Trader ready for release!
Meet Sir Edwin Doyle of Prail... this is the legendary airship captain of the Glory Star, renowned for his role in the Bleakerlings Uprising of 1482. Sir Doyle has fallen on rough times as of late, and has recently lost his beloved ship in a particularly high-stakes poker match. Perhaps you can help poor Edwin out... maybe even re-unite him with his long-lost ship?
In other, more somber news, I have to announce a delay in Sky Trader's release date. While we plan to finish core development by the end of October, there are quite a few things that aren't quite finished and we want to be sure the game is ready for you! As such, we are moving our early access release date back to the end of November.
Thanks for your understanding! We will be sure to keep you updated as things come together.
Best Wishes,
JJ
Presenting the new Sky Trader!
A beautiful Sky Trader dawn
Hello Sky Trader fans,
As promised, here is the first screenshot of the visually re-imagined Sky Trader! Nick has been working around the clock to put this together, and I am really excited by how it turned out!!
In this scene, you are looking west from the swampy region on the east side of the island. There are some mysterious, ancient ruins overlooking the waterfalls. In the distance, the grand city of Prail glows in the early morning light. Also, don't miss the caves... you can actually fly through them if your airship fits!
As awesome as the screenshot looks, flying through the valleys and past the ruins is even more exciting! Stay tuned for more screenshots and a new video!
Let us know what you think,
JJ
The City of Prail
Be sure to pack your jacket!
Prail, City of The Elders, sits precariously upon the highest mountain in Elanis. One may wonder what possessed the Elanii to build such a magnificent city here among the clouds. The answer can be found in the rocks themselves.
The highest peaks of Elanis hold impressive concentrations of the valuable ore "Lapis Levai", commonly known as "Lofting Stone". This mineral is unique in that it contains large quantities of a lighter-than-air gas. Once the gas is extracted and refined, it is used to fill the giant envelopes that hold airships aloft.
First, the mines were tunneled into the east side of the peak. Over the years, towers were required to defend the valuable mines. Eventually the growing city became a hub of trade and commerce, attracting merchant ships from all over the realms.
Prail also hosts the illustrious Hall of the Elders. The Elders rule over all of Elanis, and all "civilized" peoples of the island recognize their inspired leadership. There are, of course, certain "uncivilized" groups that don't respect the sovereignty of the Elders... more on them later.
We will have screenshots of actual, real-life gameplay coming "very soon", so stay tuned!
JJ