Game Introduction

[admin]

Introduction

 

Our goal is to create an exciting and realistic naval combat game. We want to give players the opportunity to experience the most beautiful period of naval history first-hand – a time when sailing ships ruled the seas. A time when traders, naval officers, privateers and pirates roamed the oceans in search of fame and treasure.  

 

We are following a development process similar to Kerbal Space Program, Minecraft and DayZ, releasing content early and improving it using player feedback. You are encouraged to join the development process by voting on features and milestones that will be developed first.

 

Our current priorities are combat and core systems, render development and tools programming.

 

Further steps include:

• Open world gameplay
• Player Guilds, Companies and Global Conquest
• Crafting and Trading
• Guild owned ports and villages
• In-depth exploration

 

General information about the game (work in progress)

 

Ship line-up:  16^th Century to the end of Napoleonic Wars.

 

The Royal Navy Rating System will be used for our ships with hull sizes ranging from First Rates wielding 100+ guns to unrated with just one gun.

Players will be able to customise and improve their ships. This includes adding better equipment, armour, weaponry, sails, and variety of internal modules.

We will post a more detailed post on ships within a week.

 

Weapons and combat

The game will include the common weaponry of the Age of Sail: fort guns, mortars, carronades, cannon and their variations

 

Combat
Your performance in combat depends on your skill. Players must judge variables like velocity, distance, movement and crew performance. Weather and ship conditions will also affect your aim: a pitching ship due to damage or stormy seas will change the way you fire your broadside.

Boarding will be a feature. There are no plans to create an action game with characters fighting it out on decks. There are ideas that are being discussed on how to realistically represent boarding combat from the captain’s perspective. Players are invited to participate in these discussions on the forum.

 

Damage model
The game will feature a comprehensive damage model.  Different parts of ships can be targeted and damaged to have various effects. These can include destroying a rudder, or tearing sails and rigging to damaging internal equipment like pumps or the magazine. Flanking and maneuvering will have a great impact on battlefield performance, because of weak stern and bow armour. Buoyancy and flooding will influence combat as well – you may sink without having lost anything vital. A simple repair system will be implemented to keep combat dynamic.

 

Navigation
Wind, heel, and pitching will affect performance of all ships. Wind needs to be taken into account when planning your maneuvers. Our selection of ships and sail layouts will let players choose what fighting style they want to use.

 

Crew
As the captain, you must higher sailors and officers. Officers will participate in combat with you, influencing a wide range of combat, sailing and passive parameters and gain experience. The number of officers on the ship will be limited by ship class and your rank.

 

Ranks, awards and titles

A selection of ranks, titles and awards will be issued for achievements in and out of combat. Ranks and titles will grant access to new ships, officers, flags, banners, weaponry and ship upgrades. Skilled players may even display their achievements on their masts. 

 

[Kalesin]

We look forward to the game.

Kickstarter campaign will, I will announce by Steam Greenlight, is able to acquire / try for Steam Early Access, ... ?

Thanks and good luck on your Project.

[tvGuy]

Looking forward to more updates! Looks great

[adambomb]

You said you can hire crews for ships, will the crews be rates as recruit to maybe veteran status. Also, will we be able to buy sailing ships before the game starts like Star Citizens is doing selling space ships to get crowd funding for game.. They are up to 14 million so far.(Anything sold before game can be bought in game with credits made playing the game-so it's not "pay to win" game. The reason I mention this is they made a lot of money this way. As soon as you have an offer up I'll buy the game ( kickstarter or crowdfunding) We need this type of game NOW. LOL

[admin]

You said you can hire crews for ships, will the crews be rates as recruit to maybe veteran status. Also, will we be able to buy sailing ships before the game starts like Star Citizens is doing selling space ships to get crowd funding for game.. They are up to 14 million so far.(Anything sold before game can be bought in game with credits made playing the game-so it's not "pay to win" game. The reason I mention this is they made a lot of money this way. As soon as you have an offer up I'll buy the game ( kickstarter or crowdfunding) We need this type of game NOW. LOL

 

we will be launching a crowdfunding drive once we have a fully working vertical slice of the game. We would prefer showing something substantial (not just concept art like most developers).

[Marquiz]

How with economy and trade? This was main propose why ship sail on seas. Fights must have meaning. Trade between ports on worlds should be important thing on game. Economy will be open world, with no npc interacion? There should be fixed parameters like, speciality and local goods which can be buy on one place on earth (like tea, pepper, wood, slaves ect.) and transport other to get money  

[admin]

How with economy and trade? This was main propose why ship sail on seas. Fights must have meaning. Trade between ports on worlds should be important thing on game. Economy will be open world, with no npc interacion? There should be fixed parameters like, speciality and local goods which can be buy on one place on earth (like tea, pepper, wood, slaves ect.) and transport other to get money

once combat is awesome and fun - trade will come easier. Economy is a very big design block and we have not started working on it yet.

Short version - we are thinking of taking best elements from SWG and Eve and suiting them to Naval Action.

[Marquiz]

 

once combat is awesome and fun - trade will come easier. Economy is a very big design block and we have not started working on it yet.

Short version - we are thinking of taking best elements from SWG and Eve and suiting them to Naval Action.

Thats sound very promising. Please do forget about trade, (not only economy as crafting).

[Digby]

Can you tell us please what is the basic intent of the game from the players perspective? Are you designing a sandbox MP open world game in which a player runs a character and determines their own future (something like Pirates of the Burning Seas) or are you proposing a more historial based simulation of some of history's most interesting and significant naval battles and camapigns (something like Akella's famous and much-missed Age of Sail II)?

 

What's the core of the game's gameplay please?

 

Also how much historical accuracy will there be in maps and squadron/fleet organisation, or is it just a free for all, do what you like world?

[Barberouge]

The description looks very promising. The list includes many features one could imagine about an age of sail game: naval combat, economy, conquest, exploration. Character view (boardings, taverns...) is one missing. As a PotBS player, I've been looking for a good replacement for a few years.

 

I've been experiencing player feedback development in PlanetSide 2 and it didn't end up very well: instead of the 3 months delay initially announced, the endgame will be developped one year after the game was released. The classic development of PotBS, despite the same features as Naval Action, didn't either give convincing results.

 

I'm especially interested into how dynamic the combat will feel and how far you will go with the conquest system.

[admin]

Can you tell us please what is the basic intent of the game from the players perspective? Are you designing a sandbox MP open world game in which a player runs a character and determines their own future (something like Pirates of the Burning Seas) or are you proposing a more historial based simulation of some of history's most interesting and significant naval battles and camapigns (something like Akella's famous and much-missed Age of Sail II)?

 

What's the core of the game's gameplay please?

 

Also how much historical accuracy will there be in maps and squadron/fleet organisation, or is it just a free for all, do what you like world?

 

I don't understand why you are separating naval battles and playable realism from player's fate and sandbox. Current developments in technology and design can allow both to happen in one game with minimal effort. Potbs was a cartoon and FLS did not think the topic through. There are multiple games now in the market in other settings that actually showing the way how it should be done. 

 

On the core gameplay

 

The game will ship in blocks. We mentioned Minecraft as our potential development model. Game will evolve according to player feedback and we will only work on absolutely needed features. 

for example Potbs had lots of content that was not used. It wasted a lot of resources of the development team taking time away from important features, developing things players did not want or did not need.

 

Core gameplay is ship combat and sailing. It is currently done as a organized fleet warfare. 

All other elements will reinforce the core gameplay for those who are not only interested in combat: elements like exploration, trade, crafting, guilds and conquest and of course piracy. 

 

 

The description looks very promising. The list includes many features one could imagine about an age of sail game: naval combat, economy, conquest, exploration. Character view (boardings, taverns...) is one missing. As a PotBS player, I've been looking for a good replacement for a few years.

 

I've been experiencing player feedback development in PlanetSide 2 and it didn't end up very well: instead of the 3 months delay initially announced, the endgame will be developped one year after the game was released. The classic development of PotBS, despite the same features as Naval Action, didn't either give convincing results.

 

I'm especially interested into how dynamic the combat will feel and how far you will go with the conquest system.

 

Game development is hard - seriously hard. Whatever any developer says will probably be not delivered on time. There is only example right now where promised 2 week content updates are delivered on time - Guild Wars 2. But we don't know for how long they will be able to keep this.

 

So please forgive our vague answers that we give on certain questions, because we are only working on combat now and want to show it as soon as possible. 

 

That is also a reason why we are not doing any PR on the game at this stage and only work with select communities - we have not answered certain important questions yet.

While in another game - http://www.ultimategeneral.com/ - we are actively working with the press, were mentioned by major game related publications and even have been named a "second most exciting wargame in development" by Rockpapershotgun. Because we have the final vision on how that game will look like.

 

PS. Our creative director, and most of our team considers open world and piracy and trading as important as fleet combat. But what we can assure you that in our game you will never be forced into activity that you don't like, unless you are hauling "Navy issued" brass cannons near the pirate controlled zone. 

 

more info will follow.

[admin]

The systems, render technology and combat mechanics we are currently finishing will allow 3 products to be developed.

 

1. Hardcore single player ship simulator - with sail and yard trimming, individual sail control and deep crew management. 

2. Session based fleet action a-la world of tanks or war thunder - we call it Faction Warfare or National fleet duty

3. Open world RPG with conquest, crafting, trading and pirates

 

2 and 3 can easily co-exist in one game and reinforce each other. 

[Verhoeven]

S!

Sounds great Admin!

 

Yes, it takes time to develop a great game. Glad to read your approach. Many gamers are dissapointed by releases from the big game houses, mainly because they launched prematurely driven to earn money and satisfy stakeholders. Fortunately the introduction of things like Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight gives the more dedictated developers a chance to find their niche in the market.

 

Last months a Dutch FPS WW1 shooter named Verdun got 30.000 votes on Steam Greenlight. All based on the first beta. Though maybe not as polished as a big game house game,it is a hell of an achievement by a team of only 3 people.

 

So good luck again. I have been waiting for 12 years for a good Age of Sail combat game, so it's not hard for me to be patient :-)

 

Yours etc,

 

Verhoeven

[Barberouge]

Game development is hard - seriously hard. Whatever any developer says will probably be not delivered on time. There is only example right now where promised 2 week content updates are delivered on time - Guild Wars 2. But we don't know for how long they will be able to keep this.

 

So please forgive our vague answers that we give on certain questions, because we are only working on combat now and want to show it as soon as possible. 

 

That is also a reason why we are not doing any PR on the game at this stage and only work with select communities - we have not answered certain important questions yet.

While in another game - http://www.ultimategeneral.com/ - we are actively working with the press, were mentioned by major game related publications and even have been named a "second most exciting wargame in development" by Rockpapershotgun. Because we have the final vision on how that game will look like.

 

PS. Our creative director, and most of our team considers open world and piracy and trading as important as fleet combat. But what we can assure you that in our game you will never be forced into activity that you don't like, unless you are hauling "Navy issued" brass cannons near the pirate controlled zone. 

 

more info will follow.

I was mentioning PS2 because they had to re-work their game (mostly the world) in order to implement an end-game. They thought the first-hand world could have supported an end-game, but it couldn't. One year without anything strategical to do (despite awsome battles) was just too long. And I was mentioning PotBS because what they actually implemented was contradictory to what they announced.

 

I will for sure have a look at Ultimate General, especially since the guy is an excellent modder of the Total War series.

[Barberouge]

The systems, render technology and combat mechanics we are currently finishing will allow 3 products to be developed.

 

1. Hardcore single player ship simulator - with sail and yard trimming, individual sail control and deep crew management. 

2. Session based fleet action a-la world of tanks or war thunder - we call it Faction Warfare or National fleet duty

3. Open world RPG with conquest, crafting, trading and pirates

 

2 and 3 can easily co-exist in one game and reinforce each other. 

Three games into one ? Sounds interesting. I think PotBS got already the 3 products: 1. PvE ( less hardcore though) 2. "Skirmish" PvP 3. Economy, Open Sea PvP and Port Battles.

[Llewellyn Jones RN]

While in another game - http://www.ultimategeneral.com/ - we are actively working with the press, were mentioned by major game related publications and even have been named a "second most exciting wargame in development" by Rockpapershotgun. Because we have the final vision on how that game will look like.

 

 

One of the games i currently play is Scourge of War Gettysburg so the above mentioned game has already sparked my interest and i look forward to play that game with keen interest.

 

With regard to what Digby was alluding too will there be the ability to create sea battles between rival nations or groups of friends in a sandbox situation or will it be only in game thus developing a entirely different experiance in game.

[Capt. JC White RN]

Ahoy Mates... I look forward in walking the quarter deck and smelling the sea air once again.

Salute

[adambomb]

Can't wait much longer, lol

[Ampen]

Just found this, and it looks promising. A wide range on ship development though from 16th century until late napoleonic. It's going to be massive.

[Brandon Heighton]

Just what I was searching for. I'm really excited about this game.

[Duskguy]

Looks extremely promising. May suggest looking at "Voyage Century Online" for some ideas on the open world part if you are looking at a full world map compared to say Pirates of the Burning Sea's carribean only map. Voyage Century also featured not only wind direction, but wind speeds and depending on area, the prevailling winds (trade winds) as well as weather effects such as hurricanes, thunder storms and cyclones. Players could get into combat in thunderstorms, and hurricanes (though the hurricanes usually caused the sinking of both sides) but not the cyclones. All three storms would cause damage over time in the open world, and thunder storms would sometimes pull the p[layer into an instance where they had to either furl sails to wait out the storm (about 60-100 seconds) or continue sailing with the trade off of increased storm damage but the ability to exit the storm quicker (20-30 seconds).

 

Pirates of the Burning Sea had a number of good points to look at as well, such as the economy and crafting system compared to voyage century online's grinding system that passed as a crafting system.

 

 

Really looking forward to this, keep up the good work and good luck.

[Foam Rat]

I agree, it looks extremely promising. I especially love the game community centric vision you appear to have. Good things on the horizon!

I look forward to getting my head wrapped around the game and following your progress. So too I enjoy your deliciously articulate posts. I really didn't expect that from a Kiev based development team.

Thanks for the great reads.

Since one of my friends is from Kiev I can't help but leave you with some Red Elvises, enjoy:

[Wilberforce]

Sounds like you guys have an exciting premise. I'm really interested in seeing the final product.

 

As an aside, I hope you have considered crowdsource (i.e. kickstarter) funding. As I for one would love to contribute to this endeavor.

[Tonypat]

Im ready to sink a man o war  

[admin]

Sounds like you guys have an exciting premise. I'm really interested in seeing the final product.

 

As an aside, I hope you have considered crowdsource (i.e. kickstarter) funding. As I for one would love to contribute to this endeavor.

 

we will do it at a later stage - kickstarter is a very time consuming endeavor and requires precision in execution and lots of preparation. Failed kickstarted will do a lot more harm to a project, thus we will start it only when we are ready.