The wait is nearly over! The long-awaited sequel to Tasharen's Windward, originally released on Steam in 2015, is finally getting a sequel, and it's coming sooner than you think!

[previewyoutube=CEM8PzT0EZQ;full][/previewyoutube]
Windward Horizon aims to improve every aspect of the original, such as adding lore to the game, a robust economy system that governs growth, fully configurable internal ship layouts with adjacency bonuses and penalties for interesting builds and many, many new skills to complement the expanded talent trees.

Better still, anyone that owns Windward will be able to try Windward Horizon next month for free, in advance of the game's launch later this year! Keep your eyes peeled for more details on this coming in a few weeks, but in the meantime you can add Windward Horizon to your wish list here on Steam in order to stay informed:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2665460/Windward_Horizon/

If you're extra curious, can find even more information in Tasharen's discord and follow the game's development by joining discord.gg/tasharen and choosing the Windward role in the #permissions channel, which will allow you to see the #windward_horizon channel. A new player's guide to the game can be found pinned there going over many of the new things you will be able to discover next month!

But, until then... :)

I'm happy to announce that today marks the launch day for Tasharen's latest game, Project 5: Sightseer (available here on Steam). If exploration, resource gathering and base building is your thing, check it out!

In other news, Windward is officially getting a sequel! The development on Windward 2 will begin next month, using Sightseer's tech as a starting point (which should shorten its dev cycle considerably).

While right now is too early to commit to a release date of the first playable build, I expect it to be in 2020. Back in the early Sightseer dev days I had playable weekends for owners of Windward where they could check it out by opting into it -- and I plan on doing this again with Windward 2, for Sightseer players -- as a thank you for your support. :)

-Aren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQZJtWpGH2Q

A little trip back in time for old hats and new come join us on the TASHAREN Community server.

Ahoy, Captain!

We’re proud to announce that development studios from all over the world have united to offer you the Pirate ‘AAAAR!’ collection, a special bundle of games about pirates!

The bundle is available on Steam starting today and last until the 4th of July.

The Pirate ‘AAAAR!’ bundle contains three games that are going to be your ultimate journey into the world of pirates. As you navigate the dangerous waters you won’t just catch up with merchants, but you will encounter fellow pirates, terrible mythical monsters and other dangers of the sea.

Purchase the bundle now and save 10% on each of these great games on top of the Summer Sale discount!

• Tempest
  
• Windward
  
• Sid Meier's Pirates!
  

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you guys again for being supportive of Tasharen's latest game -- Project 5: Sightseer. Since the original announcement just over a year ago we've had 3 open play test weekends where many of you got to play the free prototype, as promised, and allowed the two of us at Tasharen to gather a great amount of outstanding feedback.

We took all of your feedback to heart (and the many, many bug reports with a nervous twitch and a sigh), and kept chugging away, getting the game ready for Early Access. And guess what? It's now just around the corner!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhIjlPteUwg
You can find more details about the game below, and if you're in the mood for another cooperative multiplayer game to play with your friends, be sure to follow its progress!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/655780/Project_5_Sightseer/
Thanks, guys! Stay awesome!
-Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you guys again for being supportive of Tasharen's latest game -- Project 5: Sightseer. Since the original announcement just over a year ago we've had 3 open play test weekends where many of you got to play the free prototype, as promised, and allowed the two of us at Tasharen to gather a great amount of outstanding feedback.

We took all of your feedback to heart (and the many, many bug reports with a nervous twitch and a sigh), and kept chugging away, getting the game ready for Early Access. And guess what? It's now just around the corner!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhIjlPteUwg
You can find more details about the game below, and if you're in the mood for another cooperative multiplayer game to play with your friends, be sure to follow its progress!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/655780/Project_5_Sightseer/
Thanks, guys! Stay awesome!
-Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

Interested in checking out the next game Tasharen is working on? You can do that for free this weekend!

Right-click Windward in your Steam library, Properties, Betas, and choose "sightseer_weekend_2" from the drop-down. Let it download, then launch Windward and you will be playing the latest Sightseer Alpha. The preview test will last until Monday morning (June 5). Have fun, and I strongly suggest you play with your friends, as building your outposts is going to be a lot easier as a group. :)

If you're looking for a guide on how to get started, this might help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fnyl3En3SQ5eijL8dY-KzEjoszfB1YvG4LCRiLLpsJo/edit?usp=sharing

Have fun!

Interested in checking out the next game Tasharen is working on? You can do that for free this weekend!

Right-click Windward in your Steam library, Properties, Betas, and choose "sightseer_weekend_2" from the drop-down. Let it download, then launch Windward and you will be playing the latest Sightseer Alpha. The preview test will last until Monday morning (June 5). Have fun, and I strongly suggest you play with your friends, as building your outposts is going to be a lot easier as a group. :)

If you're looking for a guide on how to get started, this might help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fnyl3En3SQ5eijL8dY-KzEjoszfB1YvG4LCRiLLpsJo/edit?usp=sharing

Have fun!

I have no words... I'm blown away by everyone's support for the game that let it get noticed so quickly. I expected it to take a few months... but just under a week? You guys are amazing!

I have no words... I'm blown away by everyone's support for the game that let it get noticed so quickly. I expected it to take a few months... but just under a week? You guys are amazing!

As promised (and a bit delayed due to a curious buuuug), the Project 5: Sightseer pre-alpha play test for you Windward players is now live and will end some time on Monday morning, at least 48 hours from now.

To opt in, right click Windward in your Steam library and choose Properties, then Betas. You can activate a beta branch by using code "tooEarly2Share" (without quotes) which will open the "w2prealpha" branch for you. Select it via the drop-down if it isn't already, and let Steam update Windward turning it into the Sightseer alpha. You can then launch Windward, which will actually be the new game!

Obvious disclaimer though -- this is a pre-alpha event, and as such there are bound to be buuugs. Hopefully nothing serious, but just be warned!

Also note that as a pre-alpha, vast majority of the game's planned content is still missing. This play test is mainly for those that enjoy the peaceful side of gaming -- exploration, sight-seeing, building bases, trading, etc. While you can craft weapons and use them in mock duels, they are just that -- mock duels. They are just for fun.

Aside from that though, have fun, and thank you again for supporting me as a game dev (or technically now it's "us" as I'm currently working with a friend -- Neil).

P.S. Also quick pro-tip ahead of the coming "getting started" post. Make your faction using /createFaction , then invite your friends using /inviteFaction . Work together to lay claim to the world!

Cheers and happy holidays!

-Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

Edit: Play test ended on the 26th of December. Thank you everyone for the awesome feedback! Until then, please vote for the project on Greenlight to help!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920

As promised (and a bit delayed due to a curious buuuug), the Project 5: Sightseer pre-alpha play test for you Windward players is now live and will end some time on Monday morning, at least 48 hours from now.

To opt in, right click Windward in your Steam library and choose Properties, then Betas. You can activate a beta branch by using code "tooEarly2Share" (without quotes) which will open the "w2prealpha" branch for you. Select it via the drop-down if it isn't already, and let Steam update Windward turning it into the Sightseer alpha. You can then launch Windward, which will actually be the new game!

Obvious disclaimer though -- this is a pre-alpha event, and as such there are bound to be buuugs. Hopefully nothing serious, but just be warned!

Also note that as a pre-alpha, vast majority of the game's planned content is still missing. This play test is mainly for those that enjoy the peaceful side of gaming -- exploration, sight-seeing, building bases, trading, etc. While you can craft weapons and use them in mock duels, they are just that -- mock duels. They are just for fun.

Aside from that though, have fun, and thank you again for supporting me as a game dev (or technically now it's "us" as I'm currently working with a friend -- Neil).

P.S. Also quick pro-tip ahead of the coming "getting started" post. Make your faction using /createFaction , then invite your friends using /inviteFaction . Work together to lay claim to the world!

Cheers and happy holidays!

-Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

Interested in the next game by Tasharen? Watch FatPlanetEntertainment's stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/fatplanetentertainment/

Yup. It's true! W2 is now known as Project 5: Sightseer, and is now one of the games on Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920



All existing Windward players that are interested will be able to play Sightseer this weekend right after FatPlanetEntertainment's stream of the game, countdown for which will begin on Friday the 23rd, at 8:50 PM EST (7:50 CST, 5:50 PST) on his Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fatplanetentertainment



If you're interested in the current state of the game, come by the Twitch stream and watch FP try to figure out how to play it. I may or may not even give him hints... we'll see! After the stream ends, I will put up a new weekend-only Windows build under a separate Windward beta branch and anyone will be able to hop in and check out what's there so far.



Word of warning though: there won't be any combat in this early play test. This test is going to be all about exploration, building, trading, crafting and other peaceful activities. If that still sounds interesting to you, I will make a more detailed post about how to get started and what you can expect to be able to do in the game in its current state.



Oh, and if you think the game looks promising, please help it get through Greenlight faster by voting for it!

See you guys on Friday!
Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

Yup. It's true! W2 is now known as Project 5: Sightseer, and is now one of the games on Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=822934920



All existing Windward players that are interested will be able to play Sightseer this weekend right after FatPlanetEntertainment's stream of the game, countdown for which will begin on Friday the 23rd, at 8:50 PM EST (7:50 CST, 5:50 PST) on his Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/fatplanetentertainment



If you're interested in the current state of the game, come by the Twitch stream and watch FP try to figure out how to play it. I may or may not even give him hints... we'll see! After the stream ends, I will put up a new weekend-only Windows build under a separate Windward beta branch and anyone will be able to hop in and check out what's there so far.



Word of warning though: there won't be any combat in this early play test. This test is going to be all about exploration, building, trading, crafting and other peaceful activities. If that still sounds interesting to you, I will make a more detailed post about how to get started and what you can expect to be able to do in the game in its current state.



Oh, and if you think the game looks promising, please help it get through Greenlight faster by voting for it!

See you guys on Friday!
Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

It's no secret at this point that I've been busy working on the followup game to Windward for the past several months. Windward was an excellent project to work on, but I feel like it has achieved what I had in mind for it: a multiplayer action game set in the Age of Sail meant to be played with your friends. Now... I feel like it's time to move forward a few years into the future.



When I say "time to move forward", I am not only talking about the age that the game is set in, but also about the tech used to make the game in the first place. Windward was created using Unity 4 and an older version of my custom networking solution, which together forced me to abandon my original "one huge open world" idea and instead split the world into separate regions. Fortunately this is 2016, and not 2014 -- and there are newer versions of both that make it possible to create the huge open worlds I envisioned in the first place.

But... I digress. Let's get back to the game itself. Let me just take a moment to explain what I have in mind for it.



First, I want the world to be really *huge* and varied enough to have the scenic sights be their own reward for exploration. I think that part is well on its way already.

Next, I want every action to have a reason. I don't want the cliche "deliver X to Y for a Z gold reward" approach. I want the "establish a mining rig to extract raw uranium ore that should then be delivered to the processing plant so that it can be enriched then shipped to a nearby reactor so that it can start generating electricity which will then power a nearby manufacturing facility which will then require aluminium, iron, and various other elements to create an automated defense turret which can then be placed nearby, protectiong the player's outpost". Does that sound long? It should! I think every meaningful action should have an extended set of consequences.



Not only that, I want there to be clear reasons for establishing outposts in the first place. In Windward you could place towns everywhere without a care in mind. What if every outposts, placed structure by structure, took resources to construct, which there were only so many of in the world? Suddenly players would have to be more mindful of what they spend their hard-earned resources on and would always have to be on the lookout for new sources of minerals and other crafting components.



Even better, the limited resources combined with the lack of fast travel and a huge world will all but ensure that players will have to band together into groups in order to defend their territory from others that don't shy away from using force to take what they want. This approach also means that no one group of players will be able to control the entire world as it would simply take too long to travel from one end of it to another. Instead, establishing trade routes between outposts owned by friendly player guilds would facilitate alliances and promote teamwork and allow players to feel like they actually *own* a part of it -- and that's another something that I felt was always missing from Windward.



With the new game set in the near future era, modern and futuristic technology will grant me a great leeway in creativity and what's possible. Giant tech tree that features research technologies like radar absorbing materials for stealth composites, energy shields that can reduce incoming damage, even rockets that make it possible to establish outposts on the entirely new untapped territories of the outer planets... the possibilities for expansion are truly endless here. As a developer who wants to work on this for a couple of years, this part is arguably the most important of them all.



And so we're brought to today and the still-unnamed project I'm currently referring to as simply "W2". I hesitate to call it "Windward 2" because it's not a followup, but an entirely new game meant to improve on its predecessor in every way. At this point you may wonder, "so what is actually being kept from Windward?", and the answer is simple -- you.

While most companies these days start off with their new projects using Kickstarter to raise money, followed by selling it via Early Access, followed by the full on-release, I'm going to use a separate opt-in Windward branch right here to let you -- the existing Windward players -- to play the new game while it's in alpha and/or beta, for free.

You can expect more details on this in the coming months.



Think of it as my way of saying "thank you". Thank you for being awesome and for supporting me -- an indie developer, and allowing me to get to this point in the first place.

Love you guys!

- Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

It's no secret at this point that I've been busy working on the followup game to Windward for the past several months. Windward was an excellent project to work on, but I feel like it has achieved what I had in mind for it: a multiplayer action game set in the Age of Sail meant to be played with your friends. Now... I feel like it's time to move forward a few years into the future.



When I say "time to move forward", I am not only talking about the age that the game is set in, but also about the tech used to make the game in the first place. Windward was created using Unity 4 and an older version of my custom networking solution, which together forced me to abandon my original "one huge open world" idea and instead split the world into separate regions. Fortunately this is 2016, and not 2014 -- and there are newer versions of both that make it possible to create the huge open worlds I envisioned in the first place.

But... I digress. Let's get back to the game itself. Let me just take a moment to explain what I have in mind for it.



First, I want the world to be really *huge* and varied enough to have the scenic sights be their own reward for exploration. I think that part is well on its way already.

Next, I want every action to have a reason. I don't want the cliche "deliver X to Y for a Z gold reward" approach. I want the "establish a mining rig to extract raw uranium ore that should then be delivered to the processing plant so that it can be enriched then shipped to a nearby reactor so that it can start generating electricity which will then power a nearby manufacturing facility which will then require aluminium, iron, and various other elements to create an automated defense turret which can then be placed nearby, protectiong the player's outpost". Does that sound long? It should! I think every meaningful action should have an extended set of consequences.



Not only that, I want there to be clear reasons for establishing outposts in the first place. In Windward you could place towns everywhere without a care in mind. What if every outposts, placed structure by structure, took resources to construct, which there were only so many of in the world? Suddenly players would have to be more mindful of what they spend their hard-earned resources on and would always have to be on the lookout for new sources of minerals and other crafting components.



Even better, the limited resources combined with the lack of fast travel and a huge world will all but ensure that players will have to band together into groups in order to defend their territory from others that don't shy away from using force to take what they want. This approach also means that no one group of players will be able to control the entire world as it would simply take too long to travel from one end of it to another. Instead, establishing trade routes between outposts owned by friendly player guilds would facilitate alliances and promote teamwork and allow players to feel like they actually *own* a part of it -- and that's another something that I felt was always missing from Windward.



With the new game set in the near future era, modern and futuristic technology will grant me a great leeway in creativity and what's possible. Giant tech tree that features research technologies like radar absorbing materials for stealth composites, energy shields that can reduce incoming damage, even rockets that make it possible to establish outposts on the entirely new untapped territories of the outer planets... the possibilities for expansion are truly endless here. As a developer who wants to work on this for a couple of years, this part is arguably the most important of them all.



And so we're brought to today and the still-unnamed project I'm currently referring to as simply "W2". I hesitate to call it "Windward 2" because it's not a followup, but an entirely new game meant to improve on its predecessor in every way. At this point you may wonder, "so what is actually being kept from Windward?", and the answer is simple -- you.

While most companies these days start off with their new projects using Kickstarter to raise money, followed by selling it via Early Access, followed by the full on-release, I'm going to use a separate opt-in Windward branch right here to let you -- the existing Windward players -- to play the new game while it's in alpha and/or beta, for free.

You can expect more details on this in the coming months.



Think of it as my way of saying "thank you". Thank you for being awesome and for supporting me -- an indie developer, and allowing me to get to this point in the first place.

Love you guys!

- Michael "Aren Mook" Lyashenko

If you haven't been sailing around Windward recently, and particularly around the seas of the Tasharen server, you may have missed some of the newly added content that has been in testing there recently. The kind of content that requires some planning, preparation, and patience. I am talking, of course, about creatures like these:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705711039
Added as a "let's see if it can be done" feature one evening, they've been flying around the Tasharen server for about two weeks now and players have been going after them relentlessly. Why? Well, the unique loot of course! Players lucky enough to defeat a dragon were able to harvest its essence -- a special ammunition type that changed the look and damage type of their cannonballs and their Inferno.

Speaking of damage types, new equipment can now be found in the world that gives improved resistances to elemental damage type ammunition -- which is what both dragons and pirates in heroic instances now use. Heat, cold, acid and shock-based ammunition have all been seen and acquired so far with more to come. These unique and hard to obtain items are still in testing -- so can only be acquired on the Tasharen server for the time being. Still, those that prefer to duke it out solo or with their own friends will be able to try their hand at it soon enough.

The Valiant faction has long been grumbling about the distinct absence of a flying ship that would be more suitable for their tastes. Recently they've gone as far as kidnap the legendary designer ViDanci, showering him with gold and asking him politely to design them a ship (or else). He happily obliged. Dubbed the "Flying Fortress", it can be found flying around in the worlds' more difficult regions for those that still seek its blueprints. Although there are rumors of the Valiant faction offering a cheaper, more affordable way of acquiring its new ship already in the works.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705710948
There have been more changes an additions, of course. Like always, the full summary can be found on google docs.

Happy sailing!

If you haven't been sailing around Windward recently, and particularly around the seas of the Tasharen server, you may have missed some of the newly added content that has been in testing there recently. The kind of content that requires some planning, preparation, and patience. I am talking, of course, about creatures like these:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705711039
Added as a "let's see if it can be done" feature one evening, they've been flying around the Tasharen server for about two weeks now and players have been going after them relentlessly. Why? Well, the unique loot of course! Players lucky enough to defeat a dragon were able to harvest its essence -- a special ammunition type that changed the look and damage type of their cannonballs and their Inferno.

Speaking of damage types, new equipment can now be found in the world that gives improved resistances to elemental damage type ammunition -- which is what both dragons and pirates in heroic instances now use. Heat, cold, acid and shock-based ammunition have all been seen and acquired so far with more to come. These unique and hard to obtain items are still in testing -- so can only be acquired on the Tasharen server for the time being. Still, those that prefer to duke it out solo or with their own friends will be able to try their hand at it soon enough.

The Valiant faction has long been grumbling about the distinct absence of a flying ship that would be more suitable for their tastes. Recently they've gone as far as kidnap the legendary designer ViDanci, showering him with gold and asking him politely to design them a ship (or else). He happily obliged. Dubbed the "Flying Fortress", it can be found flying around in the worlds' more difficult regions for those that still seek its blueprints. Although there are rumors of the Valiant faction offering a cheaper, more affordable way of acquiring its new ship already in the works.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705710948
There have been more changes an additions, of course. Like always, the full summary can be found on google docs.

Happy sailing!

Today's Deal: Save 60% on Windward!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Tuesday at 10AM Pacific Time

A much-requested feature, Steam Workshop support is now live: http://steamcommunity.com/app/326410/workshop/
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=545193570
Create mods that change everything about the game -- from adding new quests, ships and skills to changing existing ones... and then put them up on Steam Workshop, sharing it with others -- it's as simple as typing /uploadSteam in chat!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=544587394
As usual, for a more detailed explanation and full list of patch notes, check the writeup on google docs. I will be answering questions regarding modding, how to do this and that, and will create a better guide for it all in the coming weeks based on your questions (if someone doesn't beat me to it, of course!)

If there's enough interest I may even do a live stream where viewers can ask questions regarding how to do something, and I'd explain, show, or possibly even code it right then and there.

But, until then -- happy Halloween, and happy modding!

A much-requested feature, Steam Workshop support is now live: http://steamcommunity.com/app/326410/workshop/
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=545193570
Create mods that change everything about the game -- from adding new quests, ships and skills to changing existing ones... and then put them up on Steam Workshop, sharing it with others -- it's as simple as typing /uploadSteam in chat!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=544587394
As usual, for a more detailed explanation and full list of patch notes, check the writeup on google docs. I will be answering questions regarding modding, how to do this and that, and will create a better guide for it all in the coming weeks based on your questions (if someone doesn't beat me to it, of course!)

If there's enough interest I may even do a live stream where viewers can ask questions regarding how to do something, and I'd explain, show, or possibly even code it right then and there.

But, until then -- happy Halloween, and happy modding!

Just a little over a year ago Windward launched on Steam Early Access. What did I do to celebrate, you may ask? Why, I was completely absorbed working on the then-upcoming Fall update to even notice. Shame on me!

Well, no matter! Now all of you guys can celebrate by feasting on the changes brought forth by the now-live update including new ships, improvements in questing / trading, adjustable amount of pirate towns, ship stat rebalancing, changes to how ships are unlocked, and more importantly -- a great deal of modding improvements.

Ship customization has reached a new level with the addition of support for colored symbols and customizable pennants. Server admins can upload an assortment of custom symbols and pennants using the new /upload command making truly custom looking factions or creating custom rewards for players via the /createSymbol and /createPennant commands.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=540057846
Better yet, it's now possible to upload entire new ships, easily making them a part of the game without requiring your players to download any mods. Those willing can even replace all existing ships with custom ones set in a completely different era.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=537065620
Those were quite fun, by the way!

If modding is to your liking, definitely check out this update and watch the step-by-step video that shows exactly how to add custom content to Windward.

Git to da choppa!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE40pLt1VLw
As usual, the full patch notes can be found on Google Docs.

If you have a powerful Android device such as NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet or console, you can now take Windward with you wherever you go. Better yet, since it's the same game code, you can use your tablet to play cross-platform with your friends on PC, Mac and Linux! If you are unsure if your mobile device is up to the task, you can check the PassMark benchmark to see where it ranks, but keep in mind that it's truly meant for the NVIDIA SHIELD Console, so your experience may vary!

Speaking of mobile games, two years ago I launched a fairly simple co-op multiplayer strategy game called Starlink on Android. You can also play it freely in your web browser here. I have been thinking of spending some time updating it to Windward's much more stable net code, adding achievements and the ability to create custom maps, then releasing it on Steam. Do you think adding another co-op multiplayer game to your Steam library may be worth pursuing? Let me know in the comments below.

-ArenMook

The crazy rush of the release is finally behind me, and now I get to look back on the whole experience and wonder how I lived through it. I can see it now... telling my kids years from now, "ARR! Back in my day we used to release indie games and sleep maybe a combined of 10 hours in the first week! Uphill! Both ways!" Which... honestly wouldn't be far from the truth.

There are times when being a lone developer of a project like Windward is a great blessing that makes me giddy with the thought of how clever I am not having to deal with a corporate structure and anyone breathing down my neck. I know how everything works, so I know what to do in order to fix something or add a new feature in the shortest amount of time possible. Then there are times, like actually releasing the game, when I wish I could clone myself a few times over; the times like when I just put up a patch and hundreds of people suddenly ran into a problem that simply didn't exist when I tested everything. I am left running around panicking and frantically trying to track down the cause of the issue and fix it in the shortest amount of time possible without going insane from being awake for over 30 hours straight. On that note, have you ever tried to lose weight? I recommend releasing a game. I lost 8% of my body weight in the first week simply because I didn't have time to eat!

So yes -- fun times!

Well, let's get down to some numbers. The first week of release has seen a concurrent peak of nearly 3500 players, with roughly 15% of them playing online on public servers. One of those servers that had a peak of maybe 25 players throughout all of beta and was deemed "rock-solid" quickly stated having issues once the number of connected players passed the 200 mark, leading me to spending the first few days almost exclusively focused on fixing the server stability. Fortunately that went over well, and by the end of the weekend there were over 300 players connected to the server -- which happened to be running on my own computer. In my home. With a typical household cable modem connection.

Needless to say, I blew through my 500 GB monthly bandwidth cap in about 3 days.

Well, no matter! There were more important things to worry about, like discovering that most players who played online seemed to prefer to play it as an MMO on one densely populated server, rather than spreading out like I thought would happen. Now keep in mind, the game was designed to be a co-op game for LAN parties, ideally meant to be played in groups of 2 to 12 players. I never expected that I would have over 300 of them on the same server; dozens of them in the same regions. In fact, one of the first few days of release there was a Heroic Instance running with over 50 players in it, which was using twice as much bandwidth than the rest of the 200-or-so players combined. Needless to say, player limits were one of the first changes I had to quickly implement.

Another thing that quickly became obvious was that the server back-end was really lacking important administration features -- banning trouble-makers in particular. Yet another thing I had to scramble to implement in the first few days, keeping me away from the one feature that has been bothering me since the first day -- the chat window's lack of scrollable history. With everything else going on I didn't get to implement that one until the second week...

Fortunately as the influx of players started going down, I was able to relax a little and work on features that I felt were missing from release. Among them were the ability to design your own factions, create much larger world maps, and even the most recent one -- the addition of PvP battleground instances.

Hell, I was even able to get a proper night's sleep -- all 9 hours of it for the first time in weeks! Ahh... let's never do this again. Next time -- clones. I swear.

For a full list of patch notes, click here. The patch notes since release are the first 9 pages. Not bad for 3.5 weeks!

See you on the high seas!
-ArenMook

Windward is Now Available on Steam and is 15% off!*

Windward is an action-filled sandbox game that puts you in control of a ship sailing the high seas of a large procedurally-generated world.

*Offer ends May 19 at 10AM Pacific Time

Terrible puns aside, Windward has reached a major milestone today, officially leaving Early Access and hitting version 1.0! ARR!!

Getting to this day has certainly been one interesting experience... From the day Windward was conceptualized as more of a jest at GDC 2012 when I walked up to a certain legendary game designer and asked him a mischievous question to today, it certainly hasn't been a straight run by any means. Some of you may be aware that Windward was actually started in 2012, only to be put on hold due to various reasons. Between the success of a small side project of mine (NGUI) and me joining Unity Technologies for a year I had no time left for poor ol' Windward. Back then it seemed that the game was going to become just another one of my started but unfinished projects that would sit on the back burner and haunt the deep blue depths of my dreams until the end of days...

Well, thankfully that quite obviously didn't come to pass! On the 1st of August in 2014 I simply woke up and decided that it was time to start finishing the things I left undone, and I sat down and looked at Windward's code again. I could continue where I left off... but the 2012 version of the game felt too static to me; too rigid... I wanted something more -- something epic and procedurally generated. I also had to completely redo networking part of it anyway, so scrap it I did.

It only took a few months to redo the game and turn it into a moderately fun playable state, and so Windward launched on Steam Early Access in October last year. The feedback I got from early players reinforced my idea that I was on the right track this time, but also that I still had a lot of work ahead of me. I originally thought that Windward would only need 1 to 2 months in Early Access, if you can believe it. Well, that quite obviously turned out to be very wrong, as here we are 6 months later! Lesson learned... don't make any plans until you get players involved and hear their feedback!

Speaking of feedback -- the feedback I got during Early Access have all been truly invaluable in the game's development. Had I not gotten the comments, suggestions, bug reports and in general just other players to play with throughout the beta process, Windward would be but a shadow of the game it is today.

And so from me to all the beta players: Thank You! You guys are awesome. Enjoy the game, and please continue to offer your feedback!

See you on the high seas,
- Michael "ArenMook" Lyashenko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhASte-REy4

Arr, Captains!

Two days shy of six months on Steam! Has it really been that long? The time just flew by...

Looking back, I originally thought that Windward would be in Early Access for about two months, but listening to all of you offer awesome suggestions on how to make the game better I kept reconsidering and pushing the date back. The "date" itself has never been announced; it was always something that existed only in my head. Well, no more! It's time to draw a line in the sand: Windward will officially leave Early Access on May 12th! (although I fully expect the updates to continue well past that, so don't worry)

And now, onto the look of what happened over the last few weeks.

At the beginning of March there was PAX East. That... was an interesting experience. It started with me and a friend of mine driving from Toronto to Boston, getting stopped at the border, and basically being forced to fork over a thousand bucks just to be able to bring a few computers across. Ridiculous? Oh yes.

Once we finally made it to Boston and figured out how to navigate the city's ridiculously convoluted tunnel system, the rest of the trade show went quite well (pic 1, pic 2). I had 3-4 people helping me out with the two booths I had at the show (the other being Starlink) and both were quite packed with people of all ages, from older gamers with grey hair to young and extremely adorable ones. All in all, Windward was very well received with some players even having entire impromptu LAN parties while there! All in all, high expenses aside it was an excellent trip. I just wish I had more time to do things like this.

Well, moving onto the world of actual development, the past month has been quite busy as well. The majority of updates have been focused on balancing, polish and squashing of bugs, but I did get Windward running on NVidia Shield at 60 FPS! Shield is an Android tablet, in case you aren't familiar with it. Windward for mobiles? Quite possible, it seems.

The most obvious change for returning players will be the redesigned menu system and deeper Steam integration that allows players to open up their local games to their friends without having to host a server.

For players seeking a peaceful, relaxing experience there is now an option to create a Questing / Trading instance in the game. Much like the Combat instance type that preceded it, it allows players to create a private region hand-tailored to their current level, except that there won't be any pirates present. This makes it uniquely ideal for sailing around and earning some gold without having to fight for your life.

The functionality of the game's difficulty slider has been changed as well. Where before it was simply scaling all HP and damage, now it controls what abilities AI ships will get. Above 100% challenge AI will be able to hire allies to follow them around, for example. This way players that wish to increase the challenge can get a more interesting experience without making players handicapped in the process.

For higher level players, heroic instances have been revamped as well. While still very challenging, they can now be done by smaller teams and siege towers found there are now going to be quite a bit more effective against pirates. If you've been waiting to try them, hop onto one of the public servers and team up to give them a shot. The loot will be very worth it!

As usual, if you want to read the full list of patch notes, you can find them here.

See you on the high seas!
-ArenMook

Ahoy, Captains!

Another month of development comes to a close, and with it -- a boatload of polish! Oh yes, I went there!

So what went down this month? Well, let's look over the patch notes, shall we?

The most obvious additions of February will likely be the improved ambiance of the game with the newly animated tree cover and the NPCs that will now talk to you and each other as they sail about. Random amusing banter aside, they may give you hints that will aid your trading, ask for help when in trouble, thank you when you save them and even encourage you to stand fast when they try to save you in turn.

That said, I would say the most important addition lies in private instances. Previously when playing multiplayer the players would be often faced with a world that has already been conquered by others with little to offer to new players who wanted some action. Well, meet the new Instanced Region addition (think private random outdoor "dungeons") -- simply use the Instance button at the top left and you will be sailed away into a private region just for you (and whomever you invite to play with you). And the best part? The instance's difficulty will be hand-tailored to your level providing the optimal experience -- not too difficult, yet also not too easy.

For those on the path of exploration and sailing around, a newly added Diving Suit can be used to salvage shipwrecks found lying about. Players can now recover resources and sometimes even items while exploring. The Sojourn faction, being so uniquely suited for the nature of this work will even get experience doing so. The Diving Suit was actually a community suggestion originally brought forth on the forum.

Continuing on the path of relaxed gameplay, both trading and questing systems have been altered to better reflect distance-based demands and production. The farther away the trade commodity being produced from the town that needs it, the more it will be willing to pay for it. Similarly the farther away the quest's destination, the more the quest will offer as a reward.

Better still, for those that want to enjoy the ambiance or watch their friends play can now simply connect to the game then right-click the player's name in the newly added player list and choose to Observe them. Think "streaming video", without the streaming, or the video! Just watch your friends play in real time, offer suggestions, tips, or commentary as you see fit. And if you're not a fan of being stalked by the paparazzi, fear not! Just go /anonymous. (pro-tip: You can even observe the AI by using the /observe command)

Highly experienced captains may run into elite bosses (Pirate Lords) from time to time. Beware of those, as they will hire allies to follow them around. Speaking of experience, have you ever found the perfect Legendary (orange) item, just to leave it gathering dust as you've gained more experience? Well, now you can upgrade your items by visiting size 10 towns in regions with a higher challenge level than the item you are trying to upgrade. Beware though, doing so won't be cheap!

As usual, you can read the full list of patch notes here.

And finally, if you are coming to PAX East this year be sure to stop by booth 3248 to say hello!

Ahoy there, landlubber Captain!

Another month of sailing the high seas comes to a close, heralding more improvements, bug fixes and new additions for you to explore.

Improved Steam integration brings forth Trading Cards -- a frequently asked-for feature, as well as cloud-based saves. You can now play on your PC, then continue on your Macbook without missing a beat!

Speaking of missing things, don't miss out on the new 6th faction that was recently added to the game. You won't find it at world creation, but you may find its presence known here and there thanks to the recent addition of liberated towns that lets other factions participate in your conquests alongside you.

Joining this new faction won't be as easy as others, but those who do manage to obtain the purple flag are in for a few surprises. Solani Syndicate, as the faction is called, is essentially an organized criminal organization with their own unique rule-breaking perks that are yours to discover.

Plunder the full set of patch notes below, and don't forget to give your feedback regarding the game's progress on the forum.

2015-01-30

• You can now rename towns again.
  
• Establishing embassies should now immediately update the world map.
  
• Added a mod selection window to the start of the game.
  
• Player characters now get bound to mods used to play them. This means that once you play with a specific mod enabled, you will always need this mod to play with that character. You will be warned before this irreversible binding takes hold.
  
• When players capture pirate-controlled towns, there is now a chance that they will liberate it for another non-hostile faction instead. For example: a Valiant player captures a pirate town, and instead of it becoming a Valiant town, it becomes a Consulate town. This will add some diversity as well as let players gain reputation with other factions.
  
• In PvE situations all non-pirate ships now count as one faction for the sake of team balancing. This should reduce lag and keep teams fairly balanced against the pirates.
  
• Slightly reduced the effectiveness of Diplomacy when it comes to aggro range reduction.
  
• Flags will no longer be awarded if the player already has them in the vault.
  
• Path trail will now be visible over terrain as well, not just water.
  
• Enabled cloud saves.
  

• Servers that get removed from the public list will now be immediately removed on clients that are watching the server list.
  
• Lobby server (used for the server list) will now correctly remove stale servers.
  
• Hopefully properly fixed an issue that was preventing public servers from reconnecting to the lobby (server list).
  
• Town icons will now always be on top.
  
• Unequipping a flag no longer resets the cooldown timer.
  
• Syndicate now requires players to have at least 50 talent points before offering them to join.
  
• Added a new skill that will be granted to players after 10 minutes of combat. It’s called I.W.I.N. and I’ll let you guess what it does…
  
• Added two new quests that you will find among the floating loot.
  
• Certain quests will now offer items as rewards
  
• Added /anonymous mode that will hide player’s country flag as well as make them hidden from /who all.
  
• Spyglass will now provide extra zoom on larger ships.
  
• 29.1: Trading cards are live.
  
• 29.1: Improved Syndicate’s base colors a bit.
  

• Syndicate players will no longer see “can’t capture anything here” messages.
  
• Made Windward work on 4k monitors / TVs.
  
• New players will now always use their faction’s colors until customized.
  
• Explosive charge should now be usable on a zeppelin that’s not flying.
  

• Quest NPCs will now only be invulnerable until the player gets close. After that they’re fair game and players going out of range won’t make them become invulnerable again.
  
• Poison cloud, inferno and mortar can now all be used outside of combat.
  
• Reduced the range stat of siege towers at higher levels.
  

• Syndicate faction no longer accepts embassies.
  
• Syndicate players can now always challenge other factions (even if they don’t have a presence nearby), but can’t establish embassies.
  
• Syndicate faction’s control should now be visible at the top of the screen.
  
• You can no longer bribe ships if your faction has enough ships on it.
  
• Captain, Crew and Specialist items will now gain levels as you earn experience. The item level can’t exceed the challenge level of the region you are in.
  
• Building a siege tower will now complete both the “build a guard tower” and “build a lighthouse” quest, as it counts as both.
  
• Made Syndicate’s color a little bit lighter so it’s easier to distinguish from pirates.
  
• Flags will no longer drop for you if you already have that flag in the vault.
  
• Faction that wins the contest war will now automatically assume control of the entire region.
  
• Support specialization’s aura’s skill cost reduction will now be visible on tooltips as well.
  
• AI logic was a bit messed up: they were still updating objectives while in combat.
  
• AI should now aim water barrels a lot more effectively.
  
• Faction that wins the PvP challenge will now assume control of the region.
  

• Completing a quest will now boost production of a random commodity in the town where the quest was given.
  
• Delivering cargo will now grant a random quest in the town where the goods were delivered to.
  
• Guard Tower and Lighthouse building quests should now be available again.
  
• Offered quests are now going to be less likely to repeat.
  
• Tweaked the ship’s hull shader, adding some glossiness to make ships look better. Most noticeable with dark colors.
  
• All factions now have a unique look.
  
• Added a 6th faction. This faction won’t appear at world creation, and you can’t choose it from the start. You can get invited to join it after doing enough missions for them, however. Note that this faction is a lot more selective than others, so the reputation requirement for it is much higher.
  

• Added a theoretical fix to an issue where AI would simply stop doing anything. This is a very odd bug. Unity engine simply stops executing coroutines without any warning or reason. If my “fix” resolves it then I’m going to have to rewrite a lot of code...
  

• Fog now prevents capture.
  
• Added some code to eliminate the player ship duplication bug.
  
• Minor tweaks to the networking code to improve security and memory management.
  

• Permanent PvP setting should no longer prevent stats from accumulating when driving out pirates (for the summary screen).
  
• You should now be able to steer and accelerate/decelerate at the same time using a controller.
  
• If the player doesn’t get credit for Edimas, they should now be able to restart that part of the ZPL quest by docking in the same town and right-click advancing the quest as before.
  

• 360 controller should now work better with the zeppelin.
  
• Country flags should now be offset so they don’t obscure the player’s name.
  
• Added extra checks to ensure that locked worlds can’t be modified.
  
• Lengthened the respawn timer cooldown that towns get placed on towns after some ship spawns there. Also lengthened the cooldown caused by hostiles being nearby.
  
• Added some tweaks to hopefully address a couple of minor issues.
  Improve buff should now correctly repair buildings when outside of combat.
  

Ahoy, Captains!

Windward has been out on Steam Early Access for 3 months now and in that time a great amount of changes have been made, as you can see by visiting the Google Doc -- and at the time of this writing there are 24 pages of patch notes! You can also find a video explaining how easy it is to create a mod in Windward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC4GiD67SpA
Nonetheless, long patch notes and modding support aside, the game is still under development and will continue to be added to even after its 1.0 release. Which brings me to the topic of player feedback -- without all of your feedback over the course of these months Windward would not be the game it is today, so please continue to voice your opinions on what you like, what you dislike, and what you wish would be different.

More importantly still, I want your honest opinion -- how ready do you think this game is for release? Is it worth the price point? Does it offer enough gameplay? Is it in a state that you would tell your friends about it? And if not, what do you believe would be holding the game back from achieving its best potential?

Please voice your opinion, but keep in mind that setting the release date won't mean "it's done, moving on", but more of "hello world, check out this game!". We all need more victims teammates in PvP, right? :)

If there is anything the game really lacks right now is better exposure to the public, and setting the release date would be one way to help, but I won't do it if the community believes it's too early.

See you on the high seas,
-Aren Mook

Happy Holidays, fellow Captains!

The holidays are here, and with them, the stream of updates marches on! There is more to talk about than we can go over without a wall o' text, so we'll just leave you with the astonishingly long list of patch notes since our last update on the 5th. Aren has really outdone himself this time, so be sure to send him tons of hugs. Some cookies and milk couldn't hurt either! We wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season from Tasharen Entertainment <3



2014-12-18 - Now Live

* Added a Vault to towns. It’s a private 30-slot extra inventory space that’s shared between all characters on the same Steam account. Use it to store useful items or to simply transfer items from one character to another with ease.
* Item auto-compare will now be much more detailed and will color compared stats red or green to make things easier. It will also show the sum of all stats.
* Certain items (cannons, ammo) were missing some stats.
* Added more variety to which stats can appear on items (within reason).
* AI will no longer use skills on lighthouses.
* Triple Digits achievement is now Four Digits. Same idea: reach 1000 on any stat (used to be 100 before the stat changes).
* Reduced respec cost. Below 10 points it’s simply 1 gold, then up to 30 points it’s 100 gold per point, 250 gold per point until 70 points, then it becomes 500 gold per point. Previously it was 1000 gold per point.
* You can no longer turn off player ships option at word creation if you are not running a dedicated server.
* AI should no longer be getting stuck, and when you get reefed your ship will automatically push away.
* Adjusted sight / attack range of units and towers and made it so that if something is in combat with you, you will also be marked as in combat.
* Made minimap icons a bit more legible and made towers and lighthouses smaller.


2014-12-17

* Towns will now reset their inventory when pirates get driven out, so you no longer have to wait for an hour (or make towns grow) to have their inventory update.
* Pirate raid quest got a bit of love. It should spawn ships in better locations, mark them as quest NPCs properly (meaning a player needs to be nearby to harm them), and will include pirate captains at higher challenge levels.
* Subdue quest pirate will now repair itself, and can no longer be hurt by friendly fire once they surrender. To complete the escort part you can just right-click the source town and send the follower there, same as any other follower. You no longer need to actually go back to the town yourself.
* Diplomacy-based aggro range reduction should no longer affect other things like experience gain range.
* Sight and aggro ranges are now separate, and have both been adjusted to avoid the situation of where something was shooting at players from way off-screen.
* Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause AI to try to endlessly capture something that’s already captured.
* Fix for the bug that was causing AI to circle repeatedly after getting close to their target.
* Persistent server’s configuration will now always be automatically updated by the first updated client. Before it was simply ignoring the server’s configuration and keeping the client’s, but this didn’t account for the case when clients had different (modded) config files.
* Added an indicator visible when first entering a region that shows the region’s challenge level and its associated difficulty.
* Changed the way stationary turning works. It should now be much more difficult to get your ship stuck and to tilt it weirdly when beached.
* Fixed an issue with loot that would sometimes get picked up visibly but would never get added to the player’s inventory.


2014-12-16

* Spyglass will now also offer an extended zoom range at all times.
* All loot is now local to you. It’s no longer shared with other players.
* There will now be a greater variety of pirate ships in the higher challenge regions since top ships are now all useful.
* Zeppelins will now drop loot.
* Added a way to reset the talents.
* Significantly lowered health of all pirate captains.
* Raised Corvette’s hull to 250% (from 200%) and damage to 400% (from 370%).
* Range stat’s effectiveness has been reduced. Everyone was shooting from way too far away at higher levels (and way too quickly), which was making Corvette’s agility much less appealing than it should have been.
* Towns will no longer offer items for sale until the region has been cleared of pirates.


For even more notes, check the community forum here:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/326410/discussions/0/626329820743050052/

Enjoy!

Ahoy thar!

It's amazing to think that Windward has only been on Steam for just shy of two months, and yet in that time so much has been added! Just take the last five weeks for example, in no particular order: achievements, custom world map creation, new ships (including a very unique one that few people will ever obtain!), ship customization, new items, new skills, reputation system, late-game co-op content, and even the ability to change your faction, including to that of the vicious pirates -- just to name a few!

Some changes were proposed by the community -- people just like you making posts on the forums. The last patch in particular added a way to group skills into shared cooldown timers (all moddable of course) -- and this was a community suggestion! Want to make your own voice heard? Join in!

Speaking of community contributions, did you know that there is a full German translation available, done by your fellow captain MMantz? You can find it here. You are welcome to do add own too, if you like.

As usual, with nearly daily updates it doesn't make sense to release frequent patch notes here on Steam, but you can always get real-time updates by visiting the shared Google Doc, found here, although be warned -- there are now 14 pages of patch notes.

In two months.

Craziness!

Greetings Fellow Captains!

We have decided to move the updates to a bi-weekly format, and so this one includes last week's changes as well. The last 2 weeks have certainly been busy! Achievements are now in, as well as multi-stage quests, a new special equipment slot, and the spymaster specialist. Aren has continued to make tweaks and improvements to controller support and overall gameplay, and has made some very exciting additions to the game. Pro tips have been added to guide players and help you learn the ropes. You can even pause now in singleplayer when you press escape, which we know will be a welcome feature for all you busy folk. There have also been adjustments to loot dropping, a new pennant for reaching Admiral, and plenty more updates, fixes, and changes! Feast your eyes on the notes below:

_CHANGE LOG_

2014-11-21 - Now Live

* Ships need to now be damaged by players in order to drop loot. It’s no longer based on proximity to players.
* Reaching the Admiral rank with any faction will now unlock a new pennant on your ship.
* Added a new achievement for reaching the Admiral rank with any faction.


2014-11-19

* Ships that sink far away from players will no longer drop loot.
* Player ship’s stats are no longer saved. They come from the config now.
* Ganker achievement is no longer awarded for killing yourself.
* Menagerie and Bigger is Better achievements are no longer awarded to new characters.
* You can now right-click on items to share their stats in chat.
* You can now rearrange all icons on your skill bar via drag & drop.


2014-11-18 - Now Live

* “Ganker” achievement should now be unlockable.
* “Unstoppable” achievement should now be unlockable.
* “Unequip” right-click option should now let you unequip flags at sea.
* Fixed an issue that would sometimes allow players to edit existing world maps.
* Added some extra code (read: hacks) to prevent Unity’s physics going all crazy after collisions in multiplayer. Player ships should now spontaneously combust much less frequently.
* AI ships should now get stuck slightly less frequently.
* AI ships that explode due to being stuck will no longer drop loot.


2014-11-17 - Now Live

* Guard Tower achievement should now be unlockable.
* Raised the drop rate of all items.
* Raised the drop rate of customization items.
* Added progress indicators to some achievements that needed them.
* Added icons for all achievements.
* Added a new achievement: ship customization.
* Added a new achievement: combat repairs.
* Fixed a pair of null ref errors that crept into the previous update.
* Added a subtle Bloom effect to 100% graphics quality.
* Towns will now sell wood, stone and black powder (existing towns must grow first).
* Floating loot revealed by the Spyglass should now have proper icons.
* Lantern is no longer a cargo slot item (will affect future drops, not existing items).
* Specialists should now properly go up to Legendary (orange) quality.
* Changing graphics quality should no longer mess up the minimap.
* World creation stage should once again show initial faction information.


2014-11-16

* Added a summary screen that will show inflicted / repaired damage, kills, deaths, etc when pirates get driven out and when a PvP match ends.
* Added 27 Steam achievements. Only Windows currently supports the Steam integration (and thus achievements). OSX and Linux integration will come later. In addition, the achievements are currently missing graphics. This too will be rectified in a future update.


2014-11-14

* AI ships will now be synchronized by the channel’s host as well, matching where AI logic happens. This should reduce ships jumping in MP.
* The game should no longer freeze the first time you generate a new world.
* Added an option to turn off the new camera panning.
* Raised the town name character limit from 12 to 20 characters.


2014-11-13

* The game will now pause in single player while the menu is open.
* Added a grappling hook that will automatically pull in nearby loot onto your ship.
* The camera will now pan around a little with the mouse / right thumbstick, letting you look around.
* Added a spyglass that is able to identify floating loot items and increases sight range.
* Added a spymaster specialist that gives you sight from all structures, regardless of faction.
* It should no longer be possible to enter towns from too far away by clicking on them.


2014-11-11

* Quest items will now be lost when your ship sinks.
* You can no longer give quest items to other players.
* Added even more checks to make sure that player saves don’t run into a situation where one overwrites another.
* Added an option to turn off specular highlights on water for video streaming and video recording, since it greatly improves overall quality when video compression is used.
* Couple of minor bug fixes.

See the update thread for the full notes!

http://steamcommunity.com/app/326410/discussions/0/624075566819709478/

Greetings fellow Captains! Apologies for the 1 day delay in getting this out to you, I was waylaid by offline life this week. Not to worry though, there has been plenty of work on the game in the meantime! After the extensive feedback on the damage/difficulty of the game, some adjustments have been made to keep it from feeling frustrating. It turns out that the game was treating level 7 and higher as CH13 for pirate captains, yikes! Sliders have been added for difficulty at world creation, as well as combat damage. Diplomacy has received some attention as well, to make it more impactful, and it now correctly impacts the price of ships, reputation gain, etc. To balance that, it's also been adjusted and scaled so that it's less effective as you become more powerful. Here are the full notes and changes from Aren:


**2014-11-06 - Now Live**

* When playing multiplayer, AI will now be controlled by the player with the lowest ping.
* Changed how damage gets applied. There can now be 3 settings: host (lowest ping player), source (whoever is causing the damage), and target (whoever is being damaged -- this was the previous default setting). I’ll be trying them out to see which one works best.
* Added some extra code to ensure that player characters get saved.
* Explosive ammunition now ignores the first 5 defense. Corrosive is still better with 15.


**2014-11-05**

* Mortar explosions should now affect buildings, and will do more damage.
* You can now remove the faction that started in the bottom left corner when editing your world.
* Swapped out the hand-written Pristina font with another one that supports Cyrillic characters.
* Added a difficulty slider to world creation.
* Added a slider that controls combat damage scaling to world creation.
* Mortar explosions are no longer affected by Defense.
* Added a Language selection drop-down list to the first screen.
* Made Defiance a lot more potent. It now raises hull by up to 300%.


**2014-11-04**

* Added a new item: mortar. Rare drop in higher challenge areas it’s the improved version of explosive ammo coating that also grants a new AoE skill.
* Fixed an issue with the “zone ID -1” when creating new worlds.
* Turns out Siege Towers had the same stats as regular guard towers. Ahem. Oops?
* Scaled damage down at higher challenge levels gradually. The effect will now be that at lower challenge levels, combat is as fast as in the previous update, but at higher challenge levels the damage scales down, giving you more time to react and adjust your tactics. This felt necessary because damage is already naturally higher at higher challenge levels.


**2014-11-03**

* Starting regions can no longer be contested/captured.
* You can now draw your own world maps.
* Fixed the game not loading the modded localization file on start and the language drop-down list not working properly.
* A random seed will now be picked at start when creating a new world.


**2014-11-01**

* Improved store itemization. You can now find higher quality items in higher challenge regions in large towns.
* Made Defense much more common in pre-Ch9 regions. Hull, crew and specialist can now all have some basic Defense.
* Maximum price towns will pay for goods is now based on challenge level as well.
* Price of ships is now affected by diplomacy.
* Diplomacy is now less effective than it was before, since it’s pretty easy to get it to a high value. It’s now shaped like a curve, with it being less and less effective the higher it gets.
* The value of all trade goods has been reduced by 50% to balance the profit margins.
* Hire ship gold value is now affected by both Diplomacy and reputation standings.
* Quest rewards are now affected by both reputation and diplomacy.
* Expanded the rumors page to also include demands into consideration.
* Diplomacy now correctly affects reputation gain, like the tooltip mentions.
* Pirate captains were using ch13 stats in challenge regions 7 and up. Ouch!
* Quest rewards are no longer affected by town size.
* Paint and dye generator should now create richer, more vibrant colors more frequently.
* Fixed Inferno’s hull damage. It’s much more potent now.

Greetings fellow Captains! Can you believe it's already time for another weekly update? Time has certainly flown! This week has been centered on a lot of balance and trying to get combat and AI feeling better. While this balancing will be an ongoing thing as the game develops and is polished, we want to be sure there is an element of challenge, and a need to employ tactics to win a battle. Challenge level 13 has been added, as well as the ability to play as a pirate. Content has been fleshed out across the game, from the starting areas all the way through to the new level 13 late game additions. Here are Aren's notes for this week, and remember, you can follow daily notes on the google doc here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/134aQGWrGfiwQFpcmsk0IxLsfS8WcB9rrXez2XNJVnB8/edit



**CHANGE LOG**
**2014-10-31 - Now Live**

* You can no longer give flags to other players.
* You can no longer do business in towns where your reputation is too low.
* Added a new Rumors page to towns showing the player’s reputation standing as well as any rumors available in the region related to trade. As the player’s reputation increases, the number of rumors will grow and their content will become more detailed.
* Fixed a bug introduced in the last revision where you’d appear in a town after sailing to a new region instead of appearing on the edge of the map like before.
* Pirates will no longer randomly spawn on the edges of the map unless the region is fully under player control.
* Reduced respawn rate for pirates in low to mid challenge regions.
* Being close to a pirate town now invalidates its ability to spawn ships for the next 5 seconds.
* AI will now properly respect well-defended towns and will not try to siege them. This includes avoiding towns with high-ranked players near them.
* AI will no longer be aware of towns that are being captured if there is no active sight on them.
* AI will now again properly fear and avoid high-ranked players.
* AI will no longer gang up on enemies from across the map in regions below ch9.
* You can now right-click hire ships to follow you as an alternative to earning combat reputation. Hired help is more reliable than combat-gained followers.
* Doubled all damage. It makes the combat faster and more fun.
* First captured (or last remaining town) now creates 3 ships instead of just 2.
* Each town now increases pirate respawn cooldown by 25%. This means AI will spawn less frequently the more towns they have, and when they do they will be more spread out.
* Buildings that have been discovered by players (lighthouses, guard towers) will now mark all ships passing by as discovered as well, which will make them share their sight.
* All towns in challenge regions 3 and higher will now sell guard tower and lighthouse building kits.
* Reputation is now affected by the challenge level reward multiplier, going up with each challenge level.
* Reputation wasn’t awarded on kills properly. Fixed.
* Ships are now bright dots on the map. Buildings and towns are dark (reverse of how it used to be).
* Inferno is now 250% stronger than it used to be.


**2014-10-30**

* Changed how world-related data gets stored. As a side effect, you will be able to choose a new faction when re-entering your previous worlds. Don’t worry, everything is still there.
* Talent points were not affecting buff strength properly, as it turns out.
* Players no longer drop generated floating items on death unless their kill count is 4+.
* Crit above 100% now raises damage.
* You can no longer challenge regions where you can’t capture anything.
* I thought ch13 loot wasn’t in yet. I was wrong, but it had wrong stats. Fixed.
* Added a reputation system to the game. Your questing, trading and pirate-fighting is now tracked.
* Sinking pirates raises reputation with the region’s dominant faction.
* Completing quests and trading resources raises reputation with the town’s faction.
* Sinking ships belonging to the faction or capturing their towns lowers the reputation standing with that faction.
* Added faction flags to the game that let you permanently switch your faction. Obtained by raising your reputation with other factions.
* Reputation now affects the prices of ships sold in towns.
* Most quests now have a reputation requirement before you can obtain them.
* Delivery type quests can now choose non-hostile towns belonging to other factions.


**2014-10-29**

* Pirate towns no longer have production. Just demands.
* Writ of Service quests (capture a pirate, defend, raid, etc) will now fail the quest if you take them to another region.
* Added Challenge Level 13. Beware. No, really: Beware!
* You can now find a tool that lets you build siege towers in challenge 13 areas.
* Black Flag no longer functions in regions above challenge level 8.
* Corrosive ammo coating now debuffs 15 defense instead of 10.
* Fixed an issue with not being able to capture some things.
* Boosted base stats on the Corvette to make it more inline with what I had in mind.
* Fixed an issue with respawning in places you shouldn’t have been.


**2014-10-27**

* Black Flag will now drop from ch9+ areas (or ch7+ captains), rather than from any pirate ship.
* Slash (/) should now activate chat and remain there.
* In order to capture buildings and towns in regions, your faction must now own a neighbouring region first.
* Players can no longer respawn just in any region. They must own at least one town in a neighbouring region first. Dying in a far-away region will fast-travel the player to the closest region with a town belonging to their faction.
* If a player dies, and his faction no longer has any towns left, the player will now permanently switch his faction to that of the Pirates.
* Ally ships created from having stars will no longer follow you into new regions unless you can actually respawn in this region.
* Players belonging to the Pirate faction, whether permanently or with a Black Flag equipped can no longer use the Fast Travel map.
* Building placement for towns was not getting validated properly when players revisited the region. This should now be fixed.
* Pirate-controlled towns no longer give out quests.
* You can no longer switch ships if your cargo hold’s items won’t fit.
* Deflect now buffs Hull by 20%, 40% and 60%, respectively (instead of Defense)
* AI will now use Inferno earlier than poison cloud (they swapped places).
* AI has been taught to use Deflect.
* AI has been taught to beware of AoEs.
* Buffs no longer cause the skill bar to refresh.
* Haste is now Hasty Repairs: regenerates up to 30% hull and 60% sails over 10 seconds, has a 60 second cooldown and is only usable below 70% health.
* AI has been taught to use Hasty Repairs.
* Damage from ramming other ships is now capped at 50%.
* Ramming into a dead ship no longer does any damage.
* Only ch11 and ch12 items will have the orange color now (ch 9 and 10 are purple).
* AI has been taught to account for velocity, so all of their abilities will be much better aimed.
* Added a new more powerful guard tower (Siege Tower). Watch out for it in higher challenge areas (will not show up in previously visited regions).
* Improved the look of the lighthouse and guard tower by adding the missing AO and normal maps.
* The ability to capture things wasn’t being validated properly. It should now be fixed.
* Added a message that shows up on the player’s screen when they enter a region that can’t be captured by their faction.


For the full notes, check the discussion link here:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/326410/discussions/0/620695877245814837/

Greetings Fellow Captains! Time for our first weekly wrap up, bringing everyone up to date on the patch notes for this week. For those who want to follow it day to day, be sure to keep an eye on the Google Docs thread, which Aren updates as he goes along! You can find that here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/134aQGWrGfiwQFpcmsk0IxLsfS8WcB9rrXez2XNJVnB8/edit

Some of the highlights this week include a new ship, the Corvette, ambience enhancements such as birds and fish, environmental effects, etc., new quests, ship customization, dyes, etc. Aren has created a video to show you some of the changes in our first two weeks on Steam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZQQMXxyYBc

For those more inclined to read than watch, here are all of Aren's notes through today:


**CHANGE LOG**
**In Development**

* Fix for the issue where players could duplicate themselves in multiplayer.


**2014-10-24 - Now live**

* Added birds to the game, further improving ambiance (50%+ graphics).
* Added snow to the arctic climate (75%+ graphics).
* Ineligible quests (such as capture X when it has already been captured) will not show up anymore.
* Added a minimum placement distance to all structures.
* Towns will no longer request structures if they are already present.
* Added a new quest for towns with excess resources that let you buy them with a 15% discount.
* You can now sell back trade cargo to the town that you bought it from, just in case you can’t find somewhere else to sell it (remember: hover over towns on the map to see what they need)


**2014-10-23**

* Fixed an issue where structures could spawn inside a town.
* Added /team chat.
* Added visible quantities to town tooltips on the map, and they will be visible for all non-hostile towns now, not just those of your faction.
* Town tooltips on the map also show how close the town is to growing in size.
* Dead ships should no longer count for the team balancing logic.
* Fix for some minor messages that were showing up in MP.
* Towns belonging to other factions will now auto-repair your ship, same as your own faction’s towns.
* Chat will now automatically fill in /global or /team for you when you start typing based on the last used value.
* Players no longer respawn on top of other ships in some situations.
* The number of ships should now gradually go down after players leave.
* Reworked how loot is picked up to resolve a minor MP issue.
* Added marine life (75%+ graphics).


**2014-10-22**

* You should no longer be able to pick up the same loot multiple times in MP.
* Another attempt to get rid of RFC #1 messages in MP, seeing as last change didn’t quite do it…
* It should no longer be possible for two ships to spawn in the same town on top of each other in MP.
* It should no longer be possible to flip over ships in MP, or make them go underwater (for real this time!) (Note: you can still tip them over, just not upside-down anymore)
* Found the code that was causing ship explosions to insta-kill nearby ships and removed it.


**2014-10-21**

* Higher challenge areas should now spawn more difficult ships.
* XP for capturing objectives should now be adjusted by the challenge level properly.
* With the new legendary loot being priced at absurdly high values, max item price when sold to towns is now 5000 rather than unlimited.
* Fix for the harmless RFC #1 message that was occasionally showing up in MP.
* Improve Structure talent will now also buff defense and no longer has an expiration.
* Newly placed buildings will now auto-build themselves.
* Buildings now cost more to create and repair in higher challenge areas.
* Turns out damage applied to sails wasn’t done quite right. Fixed now.
* Added a Chain Shot ability. Players start with it, same as Volley. Boosted by the same talent as Volley.
* Added corrosive and explosive ammunition coating (goes into the previously unused item slot). Corrosive bypasses some defense and explosive does extra damage to buildings.
* AI will now react to captured towns in a much more hostile manner in higher challenge level areas.
* AI’s initiative range will now increase with challenge level.
* All quest experience will now scale properly with the challenge level.
* Ships are now worth a bit less experience to balance out the extra XP from quests.
* Reinforced sails talent is now 3 times more effective, but has 3 points instead of 2.
* AI will now go after all visible targets in mid to high challenge areas, no matter how far they are.
* Friendly AI units weren’t as powerful as they should have been compared to pirates.
* Fixed an issue where player stats were not sync’d properly initially in MP, leading to discrepancies with player movement and very noticeable jitter.


**2014-10-20**

* Added customization items to the game. You can now find items that let you dye your sails, paint your hull, and change the symbol you see on the sails.
* Pirates should no longer try to capture anything in the starting areas.
* Increased the starting movement speed a little.
* Reduced the explosion force from smaller ships.
* Quest-spawned pirates should no longer attempt to capture anything.
* Everyone will now gain experience from trading. Exchange will gain more.
* Larger towns will now take longer to capture.
* Towns will now show how many quests they need completed in order to grow.



**2014-10-19**

* AI ships should no longer explode randomly. Only when they actually get stuck.
* Pirates in heroic areas (challenge 9-12) now have defense, making Poison Cloud’s debuff very useful to have there.
* Changed item quality colors, adding one more (for heroic gear). Don’t panic if your purples become blues. Stats didn’t change.
* Added player ship customization support: sail color, hull color, symbol, pennant texture.
* Note: I added support for this, not in-game UI yet. Meaning you can mod it now. The actual in-game items (dyes etc) will come in the next update.
* Modded content is now loaded from My Documents/Windward instead of steamapps/Windward.
* Added a new ship -- Corvette. High-end light vessel.
* Rebalanced trading somewhat. Challenge level now affects prices, but the excess production/stronger need discounts are now 5% per extra point rather than 10%. Diplomacy is still just as effective, which makes it more important for traders.
* Factions no longer have faction-restricted ships, but rather get a 30% discount for their favored ships.


**2014-10-18
**

* Fixed the lockout zone issue. Whew! Multiplayer should now work fine even outside LAN.
* Reduced repair costs down to 8% of what it was in 10-17.
* You can now get auto-repaired in neutral towns.
* Dedicated server will now load worlds from the same place as the game and you can use the “-world WorldName” parameter to choose which one it will load.
* Build town skill should no longer lead you to invalid locations.
* Added stat information (hover).


For earlier notes, please see the Google Doc linked above!

Ahoy, everyone!

We are so excited to be here on Steam, and the last week has certainly been eventful for Aren in getting the game released here! We've already gotten so much great feedback from the community, which is incredibly helpful in making the game even better. Please keep it coming, we really appreciate it! In addition to landing here on Early Access, I have joined Aren as the new Community Manager for Windward. It's certainly an honor, and I hope to build our budding community into a fun and welcoming place. While I am still getting my sea legs under me, as it were, I'm already learning so much about the game, and looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us!

I've hit the ground running, getting us a presence on Twitter now, and working on bringing people to all of our social channels. If you haven't already, you can find us at:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/PlayWindward

and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Windward/364318780313588

We'll keeping up there with news, and community events. Concerning game updates, we want to be sure everyone knows where to find the patch/version notes as the game progresses. Aren is working solo on this, and builds very frequently, so to avoid bogging him down with massive amounts of patch note posts, we've shared his Google Docs page, featuring his to do list and version notes. You can find that here:

Patch Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/134aQGWrGfiwQFpcmsk0IxLsfS8WcB9rrXez2XNJVnB8/edit

As you can see there, a great deal of work on the game has already been done, and with the great feedback and support of the community, it will continue to be shaped to its full potential. Today's update brings late to end game content to Windward, so be sure to check the link above for the notes on that! We'll be awaiting plenty of feedback for those who venture that far.

One very commonly asked question for a new arrival on Early Access, is always “How far along is the game?” To answer this I want to provide a quote from Aren, in reply to a thread on Steam. These are his estimates as to where Windward currently stands:

Mechanics and gameplay: 100%
Skills and abilities: 75%
Quests: Ongoing, I'll keep adding them. There are 13 types right now.
Ships: Also ongoing. There are 9 right now, I'll keep adding new ones from time to time, including a special one that is going to surprise everyone.
Itemization: 75%
Steam integration (achievements etc): 0%

The sails are unfurled and it's going to be an exciting trip to 1.0! We're happy to have everyone along for the ride, so thanks for reading and be on the lookout for our next newsletter soon!