Ahoy, Captains!

February was an exciting month for Windward Horizon, with Steam Next Fest, new patch updates, and an amazing community stepping up to help fellow sailors. Lets dive into whats been happening!

Steam Next Fest & Trailer

Windward Horizon made waves during Steam Next Fest, bringing in thousands of new captains eager to set sail. Some key highlights from the event:

• We've sailed past 22,500 wishlists, up 7,000 in the past two weeks.
• Over 10,000 players claimed the demo
• Over 1,100 unique players connected to the demo server for online play.
• Over 1,200 daily active users over the past seven days.
• Steam reports an average of over 1,600 daily players during the event.

A huge thank you to everyone who played, shared feedback, and contributed to discussions! If you missed it, here are a few screenshots from one of the battles we fought during the demo:

Demo Week Patch Highlights

Throughout the month, I've been refining the game with community-driven improvements and fixes. Heres a breakdown of the biggest updates:

Gameplay Improvements & Fixes

• Volley can now be aimed manually like mortars (right-click to disable auto-targeting) and always does full damage if it hits.
• Accuracy and range mechanics were reworked, making sniper-like Offense builds more viable and removing the 150-yard range cap.
• Summoned ally damage, healing, and kills now count towards their summoners stats.

UI & Quality of Life Updates

• New range and firing arc indicators for abilities and enemy ships.
• A UI scaling option was added for 1080p displays to fit more information on the screen.
• CTRL+Click on ships to auto-attack on sight, bypassing the conversation dialog.

World & Rewards Adjustments

• Diving spots generate floating loot periodically, similar to Windward 1.
• Mini-game rewards improved, and "dud" pickups now grant XP.
• Provinces now have visible control regions that exert influence on nearby areas, affecting reputation gains. Check with /pressure in chat to see the impact.

Community Spotlight

A huge shoutout to the players who have gone above and beyond in helping others and keeping the community engaged! This month, we want to recognize: Sapholin (Sir Pencil), Edwyndham, and Captain Jack for their constant support in Steam and Discord discussions and answering community questions. LimDood for sharing detailed mini-guides that help new captains navigate the games mechanics. Your contributions make the Windward Horizon community a better place, and I appreciate everything you do!

On the Horizon

As we move forward, the plan is to continue and fine-tune gameplay, add more content (like player factions!), and build towards 1.0 Release. If you have feedback or suggestions, be sure to join the discussions on Steam or our Discord server! Thank you for sailing with us! More updates coming soon, and please wishlist the game if you haven't as it helps a lot! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2665460/Windward_Horizon/

[ 2025-03-05 02:28:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Designed from the start to be a fully procedural co-op game, Windward can be played by yourself, but it truly comes alive when playing with friends. Start by generating a procedural world that will be unique to you, design your own custom faction then sail forward fighting pirates, trading with towns, doing quests or simply exploring -- it's up to you how you want to play.

As you sail about you will find resources you can make use of, upgrades for your ship, new towns that will ask your assistance, and as you get farther out from the starting area -- various pirates that will attempt to take what's rightfully yours. Combat experience will let you unlock new talents and abilities to make that particular line of work easier.

As you take up consignments with towns and fulfill their production shortages, the towns will grow, offering more quests, more resources and better items. As the towns continue to grow they will offer you a choice to upgrade your ship itself. Would you prefer a fast Schooner to explore the world, or a heavy Galleon that's able to take up 5 consignments at once? Or perhaps a massive Ship of the Line to take the fight with the pirates to their heartlands?

As you explore the world and get farther away from your starting area, the game will become progressively more difficult -- but so will the rewards. Throughout all of this you can expect the pirates to put up a fair fight, as the AI is bound by the same rules as the player: they have sight, and must explore the map before they can know what's there.

Speaking of AI, build a fearsome reputation and the AI will respect you, even fear you -- avoiding you if at all possible. Some friendly AI will even choose to follow you and assist you in your own adventures.

And so, on the topic of adventures -- ready to have yours?