Hello Sailors, welcome once again to our devlog. With all things considered, 2021 was a blast to us, as we finally launched the game to the public. We want to say thank you to everyone that played our demos, you guys helped us a lot to shape our next steps! We expect that 2022 will be even better! Well, lets get started as we have a lot to cover today.

Match Search and Lobby System

Addressing one of the most common requests, the game now has a completely new way to find and create matches. Moving away from our old party system, players are now able to create and search for lobbies.
Lobby List All public matches will be listed here, including running matches, which should help you to group up even if other players are in the middle of a match.
Lobby Players will be able to create both public and private lobbies, invite friends using the steam friend list or through code. The host may also set additional preferences such as language, if you want to play through text, voice or both. Expect to see more options in the future!

New Main Menu

Following the lobby system addition, the main menu has changed to better accommodate the new flow.

Configurable Game Settings

Since we are still balancing the game using fun as our baseline, some players might find the game too easy or too hard with each mechanical addition/change we make. To help address this, we will add presets and configurable settings that should help players tweak the game to how they prefer to play. The next demo will only feature a configurable game speed, since this is one of the most common requests we hear from players of all skills. Some of our planned settings will cover changes to rules, letting experienced players toggle back some of the previous and future changes we made to help newer players (Such as less punitive infirmary/brig rules). This addition will also let us release opt-in changes, where players will be able to play using rules that are still in development.

Roadmap Update

These are the additions and changes to our roadmap:

• Dropped the matchmaking in favor of the lobby system (To be released in January).
• Added Tutorial.
• Added End Match Overhaul.
• Removed UI/UX Improvements (The Card/Ship improvements solved most of our UX issues).

Changes/Fixes

• Here is a non exhaustive list of changes/fixes that will make into our next release:
• Added Brazilian Portuguese localization.
• Game settings (turn speed).
• Reconnection improvements.
• Various localization fixes.
• Fixed camera lock after Swarm Turn.
• Fixed a rare desync during Swarm Turn.
• Fixed client reconnection during character selection.
• Fixed character selection when other players are still connecting.
• Fixed main menu loading animation.
• Reduced main menu loading time.
• FPS graph values are now updated according to the game framerate limiter.
• Added new graphics options (trail quality).

Last Demo and Early Access Date

Lastly we are really happy to announce our early access date: January 26th. Furthermore, we will have a public demo available starting January 6 and will last until our early access launch. And thats it for today! Happy holidays to everyone and see you Sailors soon!

[ 2021-12-18 19:57:59 CET ] [ Original post ]