Since we released the bigger world we have pushed out small chunks of updates to fill in the gaps and now we are uploading our final release build. There are some minor bugs that are being fixed as we speak, but they shouldn't affect the game play as a whole. We hope that this new build is available for everyone by tomorrow (it takes some time for steam to process). This release build features: *4 characters *A caribbean world with islands/caves/other areas *Enemy ships *Build (ships etc) *Mine (mine gold, iron) *Quests *Levels *Caves *Cannibals Our goal was to create a game featuring building/mining/exploring and that is what this game is all about. I also wanted to update the first game and this new sequel is a both a new update and a new game. However, we have decided to include a bigger story and include more items / armor and a lot of other things. But that will be included in a bigger update in a few months. I would also like to include what I wanted to create from the start. A survival mode. In the end this game will feature these titles/gamemodes: HoD franchise: On open seas (our core game that we will focus on) A pirate adventure ( a new pirate survival gamemode) A ship adventure ( a new update from the old game)

For a while now we have had a small version out on the store page of On open seas and now we are opening up the big world. After this we will prepare the game for the big release 24th of December.

I usually do not respond directly to these things but now I felt like I had to. Sometimes I visit the store page and look for new things that people have said or if people have suggestions in general. Now I see that some are a bit skeptical towards this whole thing that we're trying to do. I usually say that people who are skeptical are normally very self-centered and do not really care about others. Hopefully I am wrong. But let's face all of these questions that some people seem to have, I have been honest all the way (personally) and I will continue to be so. Ok, let's begin. First, the price, Yes, it could be lower. But if you need to pay people for doing things, it just doesn't add up having a low price. - And frankly when we release the game it will be roughly 4-5 GB in content, in which - We have created ourselves. Other teams with lower quality products takes much more for their games. But I am going to lower my guard on this one. The price will be changed to 8 € and stay there, from now on. (Not when there are steam sales though) Right now the original game is available and a test version of the new game. So right now you are actually receiving 1,5 games. (roughly). The original game is included and it is never going to be removed. The first game was a disaster yes, but that is why I am personally working to make it right - Haha, I still hope I am wrong with the "only care about themselves thing". Things take time, and if you don't get it right the first time, then you always have the right to make it right the second time. The first game is being remade from scratch and I believe it will be a great product once it is done. I do not really understand why the current game would be a disaster when it is not even out? We have given you a taste of the new sequel/update and prepared the store for it. Not many would give out 3 games in one - I do this because I believe in you guys and because you shouldn't need to pay for three games that is a part of the same theme and story. haha, the December deadline will hold. Don't you worry about that! The game is very much finished. But I don''t want to make any mistakes, everything has to be perfect. why are w carrying on "updating" the first game instead of learning from it and moving on to pastures new? Because, this is very simple and you should all know this! You should NEVER have a bad product out on the market - You continue improving it until over 90 % of the customers are happy and positive about the product. You should never abandon something, you finish it and you make it great. No matter how long time that goes. I never give up, and nor should you. I started this project 2 years ago, believing I wouldn't have to spend that much time on it. Now I've spent roughly 60 % of my time for two years on this to make this launch as great as possible. I won't back down, never will. This below I need to clear up: "why change a game name, blaming it on people calling it "hands on d*ck" when literally no evidence of the such exists on the store page while still having HoD in the title and having Hands on Deck ALLLLLLLLLLL over the store page?" This is also very simple, I have deleted all of the discussions and comments about this - Just because of the fact that it went crazy and it's not good to have such language on a store page... HoD is always a part of the games, the new game is a sequel of the original game.. Like it's literally the same except you play as a character instead of as a ship. So yeah, simple - I took it all away so that you wouldn't need to see it. But hey, if you don't believe me... (Which by the way you should, since I am trying my very best and you all know this to be true) Here:
Let me try at least to make this awesome again. And yes, the old game was a failure and if you think in terms of what is wrong/right etc the absolutely best thing to do is to rename everything and start from scratch. To make this game into what it is supposed to be. But we didn't do that. We're sticking to the original name and making it more "sequel based". The original game is available and the easiest way to get it is just to right kick on the game go to properties and then choose "HandsOnDeck". yes, it's just that simple. We will deliver 24th of December. There is no point of bashing before that date. This is like literally, my child. and I will do the best I can to make you all satisfied. I feel very confident that those of you who are skeptical about this will change your mind after 24th of December. This is how it is going to be, and it is the right thing to do. Also, it is great that you speak out. I just watched a video a person linked in a review that was from 2015. That guy spoke about the steering system being slippery etc - I actually had no idea that people didn't like that and I had no thoughts of improving it at all. In the end, you are all making this product the way it should be. I will probably give you something in return for that. That's at least something I should.. Squadleader32 out,

We will never remove the old original game from this title. The old game should be included somewhere in the new game but for some reason it doesn't work on all devices. So as of now we have updated all of our assets so that the first title will only be accessible through the "beta" tab. We are going to release a huge update towards the old game and release a new sequel at the same time. Also, in order to make everything work for everyone and keep everything simple at the same time. This will be the best solution for now. The original game will be updated at the same time but we want to keep the new update we have separated, since it would be a cool thing to have the first release available at all times with our original ideas and creations. As mentioned above, the original game has always been accessible by going to the "beta" tab and selecting "handsondeck". The game should download without any problems after that. The new update for HandsOnDeck will be located in the new menu when HoD: On open seas has been released:
We are also changing the name in the new update from "HandsOnDeck" to "A ship adventure".

Today we are announcing mayor changes to our product "Hands on Deck" that is listed here on Steam. Be prepared to be amazed. First of all, We are going to release a huge update for the old game 24th December, it is going to be much greater than we ever would have thought it could be. But we also have some other stuff going on as well. During this time (Since the launch of the first game in July 2015) we have created 2 other games that we are going to include here. We are really excited about this! Our mayor title that we are really proud of is going to be called HoD: On open seas and is going to be sort of a sequel. It is based on the same mechanics as the old game. But we didn't stop there, it is a whole new game including things you never have seen before. Today we are preparing the store for On open seas and we have also started to send out the first versions of this to everyone who has purchased the old game. We really believe that HoD: On open seas can really change the way people see our products on Steam. That is why we will let this game take over the whole store page. The old game will always be available and we are really excited about the update towards that game as well. You can see more about it in the store description. And one more thing. We have also created a whole new game that is really breaking out of the things that we have done in the past. This game has been made from scratch in Unreal Engine and we are planning to release it as soon as possible. The name: A pirate adventure So as of today, you will be able to test out the new game for a short while before we release the first parts of the new update 2.0 and HoD: On open seas. *Everything we release will be available for free of charge. However HoD: On open seas will have a lot of things going on and we do not have the resources to release everything as one. Therefore we have to release expansion packs for that game in the future. But we will give out those things for free to customers who has shown loyalty and who has bought the game before 30th of November.

I (Squadleader32) did not quite think through the old version of the game. I did a huge mistake by launching it on Steam so early - Clearly based on all the reviews. The old game wasn't finished on time. However, one year later I stand as strong as ever and I have decided to recreate the old game all by myself once the version 2.0 is out. I have a lot of ideas I want to implement into the original game - And I will do it. My goal is to have high quality applications on PC, Mac and Linux. The only way to achieve that is to continue to update all of my products on Steam until it reaches near the ultimate perfection. One year ago I did not know much about game developing and I was "learning as I go". Now we have a full team that has experience and knowledge in: Unity Unreal Engine UDK Xamarin Visual Studio 3ds Max Blender Maya MotionBuilder Music editing of all kinds Sound editing Programming skills: C# C++ Java HTML5 Python We have also purchased additional tools to help us in the developement, such as: *High quality 3d-printers *VR technology *Animating tools (converting real world motion to animations) That is why we strongly believe that we can achieve the goals we have set for this product. We will not stop until those goals are filled. I really want to thank all those people that supports us, both in our lives and in this community. Squadleader32 out, PS. (sorry for the "update-bombs")

For those who are interested, We are implementing VR features into the version 2.0 It will probably be released as an early stage version at first and we will continue to update the VR based on your suggestions.

We are working as hard as possible to be able to get out the Version 2.0 The quality of the game is increasing everyday. We are aiming to give out the first release of the version 2.0 in the end of June/beginning of July. This time we are very serious about the release date. The first version of 2.0 will be released soon and it will include: *Both games (Hands on Deck and A pirate adventure) *A launcher *Steam cards *Achievements *Customizable characters *Customizable ships *Enemies of all kinds *Animals of all kinds *Multiplayer up to 4 players *A whole new story and game play *A caribbean themed world Some of the reasons why we have postponed this update so much is because of the following: *I wanted to update my own game first with a bigger update - Making it awesome. (Hands on Deck) however the team decided that we would rebuild the game and create a bigger update which is the one you are seeing today. *We rebuilt version 2.0 5 times. Yes 5 times. In 3 different engines. *Our company has recently gone trough a whole change in management and we have replaced some of the people in the team. Here are a couple of in game footages of the game (from the development section): I am really bad at playing games - That is why the enemy is set to idle. I would certainly be killed. Also the blood is not present here.





The menus needs a bit more polish. But our focus is right now on the story and the controls/fighting etc The compiled game (the build we will upload to Steam) is right now 12 GB. We really feel confident that we have a great product to showcase here and we have tried to come up with unique things that no other game has.

Since we have decided to convert the game from Unity 3D to a mix-up between Unreal Engine 4 and our own we had to postpone the launch date of the game to the 30th. We really want this launch to be great - And we are doing everything we can to do so. This game is going to be something you have never seen before.. Really. Not in terms of graphics, but in terms of what you will be able to do in the game and what we have planned... In-game footage:

If you have bought the game: 1. Locate HoD: A pirate adventure in your library 2.. Right click on the game in your library - Then go to the beta tab and select "alpha_tester", restart Steam afterwards If you haven't bought the game: 1. Look through your mail until you see a mail from us with a beta key 2. Add the key to your Steam 3. Install the game and click play.

1. We have added the old game back (it will remain there until we release the new update) 2. Everyone who bought the old game can now test our first test build for free. - You right click on the game, choose properties - Clck on the beta tab and then chose "alpha_tester". THe game will then download a limited version of the new update. 3. To those people who do not have the old game - We are sending out beta test keys as fast as we can! Report bugs to Squadleader32 on Steam or mail us at: mail@hjocreations.com You can also go to the contact pages on: www.hodgame.com www.hjocreations.com We are available 24/7 all year round. (Usually Squadleader32 is)

Since we have started to get the "test version" out to people now we have been able to get a lot of feedback! What we have noticed is that the game is very heavy and it requires at least a NVIDIA GTX 660 in order to run the game smoothly. However, we have been in the works of converting the game from Unity into another engine that is somewhat of a "mixup" between our own and Unreal Engine. The results: Unity3D
A Mix-up between Unreal Engine 4 and our own
Our goal was to be able to run the game smoothly (somwhat at least) on a LAPTOP with INTEL GRAPHIS HD 4000 card and a intel i5 330 processor. The results are... 7 FPS with Unity when playing on the first island 40 FPS with Unreal/Mixed when playing on the first island Both scenes were identical in every way possible. The laptop we used: ASUS ZENBOOK UX32A

Since 4th may we have started to prepare the Steam store for the new update. In this transition process we have taken the libery of phasing out the old game as much as we can since we really believe this update will bring this game into life the Steam records has shown us that no one has been playing the old game lately, that is why we decided to wipe everything. However, it still seems to be a couple of people who were playing the old game. But don't worry the old game will be remade and we will probably release it as a "sub-product" within the update. (you will be able to access it in-game) As of this moment today there is therefore no executable on Steam. However if you buy this game today - You automatically own the new update and everything that will come with it.

We are preparing the store for the 2.0 release today - You will be able to see the new pricing, the new pictures/media - And we will also add more information about all the content in the new update. "Beta keys" are being sent out as we speak to those who has signed up. You will be able to play the "test build" as much as you like - However it is going to be removed once the new update is launched.

We really didn't expect this much people to sign up for the first build! Like, really - We didn't! Since we are going to start throwing out "beta keys" - We have decided that it might be better to see what you guys think about this version before we release the full game. The first build will contain: *The caribbean world with 4 islands *Enemies (Ships, Cannibals etc) *Two type of weapons *Building mechanisms (build a ship) *Two player ships *Male character This version will be around 2 gigabyte in content. ------ The full 2.0.0.1 version will be almost 15 gigabytes in content. *What we wanted to achieve by doing this is to see how well our Steam-integration is working for everyone. We really don't want to see any problems when we click the big release button. Keys will be sent out Today/Tomorrow.

We are uploading our first build to Steam today. However, we really want this launch to be great so you can sign up as a "first build tester" on our webpage here: http://hodgame.com/beta-tester/ You will be able to test our first version for free (if you haven't bought the old game) On Friday we will release the full game on Steam.

The world will look like this in Version 2.0.0.1
Our goal is to implement all of the worlds before the end of 2016.

We are glad to tell you all that the first version of 2.0 is ready for release. However since the game is quite large, it will take us a little bit of time to prepare it for Steam. The old game will be phased out completely. We are however going to add a small version of the old game in a later stage. Version 2.0.0.1 will be taking over this Steam store page and everyone who has bought the old game will get this new one for free + a small token of appreciation to those who has bought the game on Steam.

We are creating a new website for the 2.0 version... http://www.hodgame.com Check back there soon and you will be able to see a lot more content!

This version will be unique - In all categories (almost) When we released the first version of the game it was only one person in charge of the development - This time it is a team of almost 7 people with many others helping out on the side. We started to build the 2.0 version a couple of months before the release of the first version - However we decided to rebuild the game from scratch and fill it with as much as 15gb/20gb in content. Now we are really close to have a version that we feel is a version that we can give out without feeling bad about it. Everything is in order and everyone that has tested the version 2.0 has made a very positive review about it. However, we have kept some of the things from the old game (in terms of puzzles and gameplay). We will also release a remade version of the old game for free as an easteregg in this new version. More updates to come in the near future...

*IMPORTANT REMINDER - The 2.0 version of the game will be given out for free to all of you people who bought the 1.0 version on Steam, Groupees and Bundlestars.

We have been developing HoD: A pirate adventure for almost a year now - But we have unfortunately been very quiet about it. However, since we are growing bigger every day we are going to be a lot more active here. This game is all about survival and great adventures - An open world with pirates, treasures and all sort of other things. We have included some in-game footage on Facebook - Feel free to check it out! https://www.facebook.com/hjocreations/posts/756701504460360

It's been a while since we posted an update on the version 2.0 And the reason is.... We are working on it - Everyday, every night. This time we are not going to show that much about the game until it's time for the final release. However... We have uploaded a small "Teaser demo" for you guys to check out on our website. http://www.hodgame.com This demo is a very small portion of the game and it was created a while ago so there might be some "stiff" things about it. But it will give you a basic idea of how the HoD version 2.0 will look.

http://www.hodgame.com More updates coming soon!