Worlds Adrift Weekly Round-up - 3rd - 7th October 2016
Hey there everyone.
How are you doing? It's Friday, so for at least SOME of you, it's chill time, or almost chill time. If that doesn't include you, worry not. Yours will come soon. Believe it.
First up, Jack has been finishing up the MALE CHARACTERS - he's written about that in this week's blog post. Check it out, and make sure you let us know what you think.
Next up...there is this YouTube playlist, showing you some of the amazing things you've made in the Island Creator so far.
Speaking of that....here are some of the amazing creations that RitchieJ has made.
You can check them all out in the Island Creator Steam Workshop, right here. By check them out, we mean run, swing, play....
...and just for fun (we won't put this one in the game, we promise, no matter how much we like breakfast)!
We didn't want to leave you without sharing a little something that made us laugh this week - a little out-of-control hair, from the QA team. Don't you just HATE it when that happens?
Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next week.
Love and kisses,
The Worlds Adrift Team
x o x o
NEW WORLDS ADRIFT GAME FEATURES in our livestream today at 5pm BST/9am PDT!
Hey!
Just letting you all know that we're going to be showing off NEW GAME FEATURES with the QA team in our livestream at 5pm BST today.
The following is our latest blog, originally posted on September 23rd, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
It’s been a busy month for us here at Bossa Studios. We ran our Alpha 4.0 playtest just over a month ago, and then Alpha 4.1 a couple of weeks ago. In our last blog post, we shared the experiences of some of our testers, in particular one crew’s journey through a storm wall. Those are the kinds of stories we want you to tell through Worlds Adrift – they’re at the heart of why we’re making this game.
We also got a ton of feedback from players – some we expected, and some we didn’t! What definitely took us by surprise was the incredible turnout, and we couldn’t have done it without our longtime alpha testers that have been with us since the very beginning, as well as the new players we brought in this cycle, and everybody in between. So again, big thanks to all of you, from us – especially those of you who faithfully tested the queue under load (and helped us find a nasty bug in the loading screen!).
Alpha 4.1 only ran for a brief 48 hours, but soon we’ll want to run one that lasts for a lot longer; that’ll give us valuable information about how the world behaves after multiple server maintenance events, as well as find out how players play when they’re not incredibly time constrained. A lot of longterm gameplay features are coming soon, and won’t really receive any decent testing if we don’t give you time to experience them properly.
Speaking of which, we’re now working hard to finish adding some key features to the game, in preparation for the fifth round of alpha testing. You’ll be happy to hear sails are coming in, which should considerably change the early game experience. Another feature that just missed the cutoff for Alpha 4 is the revamped multitool – now renamed the gauntlet. We’re generally much happier with how it feels to harvest, salvage, and repair with the gauntlet now, and hopefully you’ll agree.
Next, perhaps the most anticipated feature for months now will make its debut in Alpha 5: the new and revamped shipyard, which allows players to shape their own ship hulls. We’re all really looking forward to all the awesome designs players will come up with to crash the server fill the skies.
And finally, a ton of changes in response to your Alpha 4 feedback have been planned, some of which will be a quick enough turnaround to make it into Alpha 5.
That’s all from us this week! Next week Jack will be blogging a bit about male characters – oh yeah, that’s another thing coming in Alpha 5…
Tales from Alpha 4.1... - Blog, September 9th, 2016
The following is our latest blog, originally posted on September 9th, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
As you’re probably aware, we held a 48 hour Alpha test this week, and even more players got to experience our recent progress on the game (and tested the load on our servers – thanks for your patience, everyone who helped to test). It’s worth noting that we weren’t able to let everyone in that was eligible for this test – we had an overwhelming response (which was amazing, thank you!) and we hope to let everyone in that meets the requirements in future tests, so if you didn’t get in, don’t fret.
Some players shared the adventures that they had during the two days of the playtest, and there were some wonderful tales of cunning, daring and adventure.
First of all we bring you…some screenshots and a video from the epic journey of Boaty McBoatface and her brave and daring crew of ten, described by Infernomortis. This tale is one of woe and of happiness, of discovery and of loss.
Their journey began with the great and mighty ship ‘Boaty McBoatface’, not yet fully fitted, but ready to fly! It wasn’t long before they spotted an abandoned vessel in the skies, so the crew decided to whip out their grappling hooks, and reeled her in for investigation.
After salvaging what they could, they began to run out of fuel, so some of the crew scouted ahead for a place to land. Luckily the clouds parted, and a huge ice island loomed out of the mist.
A few repairs, more engines and a lot of fuel later, they were ready to take to the skies once more! After a few more adventures, the crew decided to land the ship once more, for a refit. Boaty McBoatface would be even more formidable with more engines and guns.
Refitted, refuelled and rearmed, they were ready to roll once more!
With everything (and everyone) tied down, they headed towards their biggest trial yet, the huge, towering storm wall. As soon as the weather turned, the ship started swaying, and everyone tied themselves to the nearest post as the rain lashed down and thunder boomed above their heads.
Below deck they seemed to have lost a few cannons and an engine or two, but that was fine. They didn’t need those anyway (or did they?). With an almighty crash, a bolt of lightning hit the bow, leaving one of the crew hanging on for dear life!
Somehow, against all odds, they made it, passing through the storm relatively intact with all the crew still on board. Sailing out of the clouds, they found a wrecked ship that did not fare so well in the storm, and the crew used it for target practice.
After many more adventures, and a storm or two later, some of the crew marvelled at a sunrise they discovered, glowing through the overcast skies.
Adventures complete, the crew posed on the top deck for one last parting shot as the playtest drew to a close.
Crew member Crumbleduck made a little video of part of the adventure. There are a few little swear words in this, so if you’re offended by those, perhaps switch off the sound. Well worth a watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV8MozYhohI
Want to see what it’s currently like trying to take on a stormwall and lose?
Strite, Fenix, Padre and R1ckster show you what that’s like – with added manta rays!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTGZUuihgfM
Adventures aside, Backsh00ter discovered some of the bug-related joys of an Alpha test. Here’s what he had to say…
“During the playtest, I had several interesting experiences.
The best “bug”, if that’s what you want to call it, was one that my friend Dreemlan experienced. His character spawned with his knees broken in and his legs inverted .With his “condition”, when he sat down one of his legs was propped up nicely for him to rest his head on (I hope his feet didn’t stink). As he ran around, instead of his legs kicking back, they would kick forward up into the air.
Unfortunately, after his game crashing and respawning he no longer had his derpy legs.
On a completely different note, another interesting experience I had involved three of my crew members and myself sailing along. It all began normally, we were cruising along peacefully to the next island, my crew mates all had their grapples down on the deck to hold themselves on from turbulence. All of the sudden, one of my crew members slipped off the deck, his rope was still attached and unfortunately he slipped off right into the propeller of one of the engines. His rope began to wrap itself around and fling him all over. Before we knew it, we had lost complete control of the ship, the other two were now being flung around and all three of them began to wrap the ship with their rope.
Another player, Zerithax, suggested attaching enough lifters to an object to have it float around without gravity, and made a little video of this phenomenon.
https://youtu.be/7XmlgDHH-u8
There were many more tales from this playtest – hopefully we can meet more of you in the next one!
Have a great weekend.
The Worlds Adrift Team
Gather Your Crew! - Blog, September 2nd, 2016
The following is our latest blog, originally posted on September 2nd, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
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What good is exploring a huge world of endless possibilities if you can’t do so with your friends? This is precisely what we were thinking! The Crew System allows you and four friends to easily group up and start adventuring together.
So how does it work?
The Crew System is very much like a group system from traditional MMOs, except it’s persistent; so sort of like a mini-guild. This is separate from Alliances, as Crews allow you to easily band together, whereas Alliances are big communities that don’t use this kind of grouping functionality. This particular iteration is our first pass on Crews that Alpha testers will be playing, so certain things may be subject to change or have a bit of polish before actual release – the feedback that our testers provide us will be vital in this process.
So…let’s see how it’s all done!
Pressing TAB will bring up your character menu – there you will find a button labelled “Crew”. Pressing that will take you to the Crew menu where you can click “Create” to form your Crew.
As a Crew Leader you simply type the name of a player and hit invite. You will see the pending request take up one of your slots and are free to cancel it at any time.
Once a player has accepted the invitation you will have your first Crew! This allows you to have global chat to all members using /crew before any messages.
Note: The ‘add slot’ options are potentially a way for players to increase crew size that we haven’t come to a decision on yet, as we want to keep the ability to easily meet up quite limited.
Finding your crew leader
If you have been invited to a crew you will get a chat notification and can head over to the crew menu to either accept or reject the invitation.
Once you’ve accepted you will get a couple of options at the top of the screen, one of which is the crew beacon. This is a limited one-a-day teleport that will transport you to the nearest revival chamber of your crew leader. They can either meet you there or you can simply explore the local area to find them!
Once you’re all set and everyone has met up you are free to chat over any distance and organise your ship building, exploring or pirating ways, it’s up to you to decide what kind of crew you want to be.
That was a brief look at the crew system as it currently stands, we hope it makes adventuring with your friends as quick and as easy as possible. 🙂
We're happy to announce that we'll be spending some more time creating YouTube videos and we wanted to hear your thoughts on the channel and work with you to create something awesome.
If you've got a few minutes to fill in the quick survey we wrote, we'd love to hear your ideas and feedback to help us create more of the content that you want to watch!
Much love,
Oliver Age 24 and Colm Ahern
Bossa Studios
Captain's Log: Learn From The Worst (A Player Created Blog About Alpha 4.0) - Blog, August 26th, 2016
The following is our latest blog, originally posted on August 26th, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
This week, we announced that the next Alpha Playtest is coming, very soon. You can check out all the details you need to know about in our last blog.
If you haven’t already registered for the next playtest, make sure you do so before the closing date of August 29th.
We wanted to share something with you from our last Alpha playtest, specifically, one story from forum user, Templar3lf. The skies can be a place full of whimsy and wonder, but they also pose a lot of problems for would-be travellers. As Templar3lf puts it, learn from their experiences…
Day One. Stranded. Where am I? On an impressive lump of rock, surrounded by some strange formations.
I don’t have much. Not enough to survive anyway, I better get moving. I can see hints of more “islands” in the distance, through the dense cloud cover. These interest me. How many are there? Are there other people? These questions shall have to wait until I find a method of transport. Until then, survive.
I start with some clothes. You’ve got to stay warm, or you’ll perish. These islands get cold at night, and I hear unusual noises from close by. I have yet to find the origin of them, but I know I won’t like it when I do.
If I’m going to travel, it looks like an air-ship is the perfect candidate. I’ll have to start with a ship yard of some sort. Clumsy me managed to build one on top of myself. That’s a mistake I will not be repeating.
Soon I find out that’s not the only mistake I made. I’ll have to move the site, too much in the way. I’ve found a new spot, but if my ship is too large it might not be much better. Let’s hope I do not get carried away…
Long story short, I did. How in sky am I going to reverse this behemoth out of this gap. I didn’t even leave room for a mast.
Stupid, stupid. This has been one mistake after another. If I don’t pull myself together I will not live to see another day.
It’s still not going anywhere. It seems it’s well and truly stuck. I also hear more of the strange noises. They sound angry, am I intruding on their space? I’m going to have to abandon the ship and create a smaller one, if only just to escape this lonely island.
I have a plan, but it’s not likely to work.
The days in this place are long. The sun is still high in the sky and I have already managed to build two airships, among other contraptions. I have stripped the first of all but its sky cores, fuel and helm. It’s a lost cause; I’ll see if I can salvage any more using explosives.
Just my luck. The explosives meant to deconstruct the hull dislodged the behemoth; something that half an hour of toil could not. Without a tether, and with the 8 sky cores still attached, it will continue to rise, until it’s just another speck in the sky. Wait, did I leave the stove on?
There was barely any warning. I feel a gust of wind and the strange noise that I have grown used to by now. Then nothing.
I awake on a new island. What happened? I’m not sure I will ever know, but in situations such as this one can only continue to move forward.
At least this new island is preferable to the last. The abundance of flat areas is a bonus, and the temple in the distance looks intriguing. I set about exploring my new location.
Using resources I have collected I have constructed a personal flight device! It’s incredibly useful for getting around, and it might save my life at some point. Here I am on my first flight.
I have done well in terms of resources. Maybe I can build another behemoth! This time I shall be sure to select an appropriate location for it. I have also found a few upgrades, namely procedural engines and wings. I might try some of these out.
Yes, this shall do nicely. Nothing should go wrong. Maybe soon I can get off these damned rocks and out into the freedom of the open sky.
I’m sparing no expense this time, asides from maybe in armour. I’m not planning on anything reckless yet, so I’m not so sure I need any. Even six engines might not be enough, but I have enough fuel to travel far. I can even start to decorate with lamps and dials!
Out in the open sky at long last! The wind in my hair, the swaying of the deck and the slight fall of rain. Maybe a cabin wouldn’t go amiss.
Freedom. That is what this ship means, freedom. Freedom to travel the skies. I feel very much at home here.
What wonderful views for the maiden voyage, as the sun starts to set, throwing shadows of structures a long distance. I’ll have to navigate by the stars soon.
The weather is getting rough. The darkness has closed in and I have nought but two lamps and the wind to keep me company. Two lights in the darkness, enough to illuminate my instruments but not much further.
I believe I have messed up once again. You see those dark objects in the sky above the island? Beetles. And the next island has sky Manta Rays. I know that I have to get out of here quickly, how I wish that I had improved the steering on this thing. The noise of all six engines is going to attract them. I have to divert all of my concentration to piloting this vessel out of harms way.
The aftermath. Maybe an expert pilot could have done better, but when one is being attacked by three Manta Rays while the storm is increasing in ferocity, it becomes a very difficult task.
The ship has lost 2 engines, and it’s possible that more are damaged beyond repair. The helm has come loose, making is nigh impossible to limp wounded back to a ship yard. It’s listing mildly to one side, and the front has lifted so that I find it difficult to even hold on. I will have to salvage what I can before I bail, only to start again on a new island. Thankfully I have the glider. At least that’s one thing I have done right in this journey.
As I hang on for dear life, I hear a clunk, and the wounded screech of metal stretching and bending. I look up as the helm falls off completely, and I watch as it tumbles past me, incredibly close. It’s almost comical, and I can’t help but let out a laugh, closely followed by a groan.
I have salvaged most of what I can, and it’s almost time to let go. It’s hard, but I have no other choice. I linger, maybe too long, as the ship starts to sink slowly. I have left 2 sky cores so that I have a chance to escape before it plummets.
The ship is both a sad and beautiful sight. The wreckage is picking up speed as I glide towards the nearest land mass; soon it will be lost.
As it fades into the fog, it starts to look eerie. It served me well. I’m glad I don’t subscribe to the argument that a captain should go down with his or her ship.
I stand on a grassy outcrop, watching as it sinks lower into the void. I wonder where it will end up, where its final resting place will be. Will it ever stop? Questions for another time, as I must get to collecting more resources again. Let’s take a look at this island; see what it offers.
There are more islands nearby; I see them as goals. This is the start of another adventure, and I’m excited already!
Captain out.
Until the next adventure.
To create your own stories in our next Alpha playtest, make sure you’re registered and that you’ve filled out the Alpha playtest survey that you get shortly after registering! It’s that simple.
Be quick, though, as the closing date is August 29th.
Exciting times ahead.
Weekly round-up 22nd - 26th August 2016
Hey there,
What you can see above is a little snippet of a recent in-house playtest we had, this week! Check out the full video on the Worlds Adrift Facebook page.
As is always the case, we've been very busy this week, making sure everything is ready for our biggest playtest yet, where we need YOU...but, we'll get onto that in a minute...
First, have a gander at these little jellyfish-looking critters that Jack's been making for the game. Which one do you think looks the most dangerous?
There's also this pretty cool looking looking structure? Know what it is?
And finally, we've got an Alpha Playtest coming up, very soon! Check out the trailer for it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaTrkS1C_r0
...and then, make sure you register for the game over on WorldsAdrift.com! You'll get an email soon after registering which will tell you how you go about signing up to be in with a chance of jumping into the playtest. If you're already registered, you know what to do.
The closing date for applications for the Alpha Playtest is the 29th of August so be quick!
Exciting times, eh?
One last thing...and this is REALLY important...
Have a lovely weekend.
Love and kisses,
The Worlds Adrift Team
x o x o
BIG ALPHA PLAYTEST - APPLY NOW!!
Hey there everyone.
GOOD NEWS! TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW (seriously).
We’re really pleased to announce that we’re now recruiting LOTS of people for the next Alpha playtest of Worlds Adrift. Before we go any further, let us just tell you that THE DEADLINE FOR SIGNING UP TO TAKE PART IN THE PLAYTEST IS 29TH AUGUST. We won’t be able to add anyone to the playtest after this, so please make sure you and all of your friends have registered before then.
This playtest is for players in North America and Europe - we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve added more areas to the test.
So what do you need to do to participate? It’s nice and simple:
If you haven’t yet created an account on the Worlds Adrift website, do so here. After activating your account, we’ll email you a link to the Alpha application survey. The deadline for the completed survey is 29th August. That’s it! If accepted to the playtest, you’ll hear from us on the 30th August.
If you already have an account on the Worlds Adrift website and have not applied for a previous playtest, you will receive an email from us today with a link to the application survey.
If you’ve applied before for a previous playtest, we already have your application so there’s no need to re-apply!
If you are already registered on the site and don't get an email, please let us know via the Worlds Adrift support.
As always, we're very eager to get all of you, our fans, into the game at this early stage of development. It's important to us that even when the game is not complete, we keep getting your feedback to help guide Worlds Adrift. This allows us to, for example, scrap features that don't quite work in favor of features that do. Speaking of features...
What wonderful new things can you expect to see in this Alpha Test?
- Crew System - The first iteration of the crew system has been implemented. Now you can start the game with up to four of your friends and explore the skies together!
- New Islands - You may recognize some of the islands in the world - these were almost all built by you using the Island Creator!
- Creatures - ever wanted to lasso a crustacean, or watch a manta ray try to devour a ship? Now you can.
- Weather - will your ship survive a journey through a ferocious storm wall?
- Plus lots of new clothing items to try on and an improved UI for the game!
The screenshots you see here were all taken by players in the previous Alpha, so you can see pretty much what we have in store for you this time.
If you have previously registered for the playtest (even if you weren’t accepted or haven’t had a chance to play yet), you don’t need to reapply. We’ll be in touch.
Looking forward to joining you on your adventures really soon!
And seen the videos on the post? If not, they're definitely worth a watch. Stop reading this and check that out first - seriously!
Back? Good.
Now on to this week. As you saw from the gif at the top, Iain's been pretty busy making loot boxes, or loot crates or however you'd like to phrase them. Here are some stills:
Jack has been working on some new island textures for you, so the ground beneath your feet is beautiful and realistic.
We also did a rather lovely Twitch broadcast all about ship building. Here's the video, in case you missed it. There's also a guided tour of how the world is looking now, and YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THAT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM1S4tTh1XY
Oh, almost forgot. We revealed a new creature in our Snapchat story earlier today. It won't be there for long, so you probably want to check that out RIGHT NOW so you're in the know.
That's all for now, we don't want to overwhelm you.
Have an amazing weekend, even if it's raining, which is in London. It's OK. We're used to it.
