This is the island of Elanis. It will be the main area for the Early Access version of the game, and should give you plenty of room to explore!
To put the island's size into perspective, our artist Nick recently took a trip around the island in an airship with no upgrades, and it took him nearly an hour! The map should provide our early access players with plenty to do and lots of corners to explore.
There are several towns and villages on Elanis, but none compare to the splendor of the capital city Alaria. It towers over the island on the highest peaks, it's towers and bridges visible from great distance.
There are ruins and ancient temples scattered across Elanis, hinting at a lost civilization of great power and prestige. Many of these ruins are truly massive, towering over and around your airship. Explore these ruins and learn the secrets of the ancients!
Elanis also hosts more than a few unsavory characters. Pirate bases lay hidden in the deep valleys and canyons that are cut into the landscape. The pirate bases are well defended, and will require a fully provisioned and well equipped airship to challenge successfully.
Northern Elanis is home to a great forest, with an impregnable canopy of leaves and branches. Many mysteries lay hidden within it's tangled depths. We won't get all of this area completed for the initial release, but it will be added in an update later on.
More updates coming soon!
JJ
Sky Trader Update!
Sky Trader AI test... what exactly am I seeing here, Jarrod?
Hello Sky Trader fans!
We have had a busy week here at Skybase One! We have been working overtime to get Sky Trader out the door and into your hands.
Our illustrious artist Nick has been plugging away on the environment for the main island. He has completed the base map and we are in the process of creating all the rocks, trees, shrubs, and other bits that bring the map to life. We even have a majestic waterfall! Keep watch for screenshots over the coming weeks.
Our mad-genius programmer Jarrod has built a working AI system for airships. It will navigate itself from trading post to trading post without any human input. If it is attacked (or if we press the "bully" button), it will pursue it's enemy with vengeance. The screenshot above is from a stress test, where we had over 100 ships on screen with little performance impact (= epic sky battles)! We fixed the crazy nose-dives, but the gif was too funny not to post!
Fly strong, Fly proud!
JJ
New week, new office!
Nothing feels more official than having a sign on your window!
Things are really cooking over here at Feudant Interactive. Our brave team of three is working at full capacity to get Sky Trader launched! We even have a (tiny) office!!
We have a really nice map planned out, with an amazing cliff-side city, ancient ruins, and a pirate fortress! I'll be sure to share some images once we have things a bit more polished...
Work on the development front is going well, with our new recruit Jarrod making some great progress on ship AI. We will be sure to get some videos of our progress up for you soon.
Until next time,
JJ
BIG Sky trader news!
Hey everybody,
We have some really exciting Sky Trader news coming down the pipe! In order to make this game the best it can be and get it into your hands sooner, we have hired a few awesome new team members here at Feudant Interactive.
The first one is Nicholas, our brand new Lead Artist. Nick brings years of art experience to the table with a really exciting new look for Sky Trader. He shares the same epic vision for the world as I do, and has considerably more artistic skill. His early work is looking very inspired to say the least. Stay tuned for some brand new screenshots in the coming weeks!
The second hire is a game programming guru, who's name shall remain shrouded in mystery... at least until he accepts the contract ;) Having an extra set of hands working on the coding side of things will really help to speed development along.
I am personally really excited about the new enthusiasm these team members are bringing to the game. I cant wait to share more as things come together for Sky Trader!
Thanks for sticking it out with us!
Jeremy
Sky Trader has been delayed...
Hi Everybody,
If it isn't already obvious, Sky Trader didn't come out in May as expected. Due to some unavoidable complications (not game related, more life related), we were forced to put Sky Trader on the back-burner for a few months. The good news is that we have resumed full-time development and things are moving along nicely now. We are in the process of hiring a few key positions which should really help to speed things along.
I would like to apologize to all of you for not updating sooner. I could make excuses, but instead I will promise you that we will do a better job of keeping you up to date in the future! If you are reading this, thank you for sticking it out and continuing to support us through it all!
Stay tuned for some new screenshots and hopefully a new video. We have made some pretty dramatic changes (specifically, we changed our game engine to Unreal) which have improved the look of the game considerably. I can't wait to see what you guys think!
