The Caribbean Sail V1.4.9

Sorry to string you along another day. I was at the end of my rope last week while caught up in making a net. The tensions are still high as I haul in another line of updates.

There's now an inventory system! I built it from the ground up the past couple weeks along with these items available from the first shop only:

  • The Trawling Net - Physics enabled and perfect for catching fish with minimal effort.
  • The Spyglass - More of a placeholder for a later update but you can stare at the water in a whole new way! You can also see the whale and land I guess but that's nowhere near as cools as the water.
  • Fishing Bait - Toss it into the water to summon the hordes! Here's a tip for those of you who persevere through my loquacious updates: If you see little dark fish swimming in the ocean, go fishing when they're below your ship for a special event- use fishing bait when above them to catch enough fish to sink a Sloop.
  • Barrel of Apples - If your crew is dying of scurvy it's probably too late- you should have thrown an apple at their head when you had the chance.
  • Shanties! - This may be the most important update of all: TWO NEW SONGS HAVE BEEN ADDED SO WE NO LONGER MUST LISTEN TO "DRUNKEN SAILOR" ON LOOP UNTIL WE DIE.

 There are more items planned and half finished but I didn't want to postpone the update another week and I needed some feedback on it, so have some patience and expect more great things!

I keep saying things like "Calmed down" and "Taking some rest" but considering how hard i'm still working, I somehow started to believe that working for 12 hours a day is rest- compared to 19 hours though, I suppose it is. 

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.8

It's been a stressful first three weeks but things have calmed down as I've patched out the last few bugs and discrepancies found. This means I can start designing and building content for "Route Planning" and share the details with you all when ready.

There are still a few updates i'll implement while preparing the framework for the expansion so this week you'll find a completely redesigned logbook, it now has an index with five sections: Crew Log, Ship Log, Supplies, Journal, and Inventory. The journal is more of a personal notepad for you that is saved between voyages. The inventory tab is empty right now but necessary for preparation of new items that will help you on your journey in an update soon. 

The Frigate art was redone (again) to have two masts and be less of an eyesore. Hull depth of large ships was changed for accuracy and reefs are less dangerous now- but still deadly. I corrected the terminology as to no longer call St. Georges Cross a Union Jack (Dev Tip: Write dialogue after making the art)

A lot of behind the scenes work is going on but you'll see more updates next week!

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.7

After a hectic first launch week I've taken some time to rest, plan ahead, and do some important code clean up for the expansions. I've also made a few updates worth mentioning.

Continuity has been improved by making it rain during battles or reef crossings when appropriate, praise the rain! No longer will you have to be confused about the currency you're using because i've extended the font library and changed "E" to "£" - they were pounds all along! Not the weight, the UK currency. To my surprise, the lowest achieved achievement is still "Reel it back" so get out there and catch 100 fish with one harpoon without taking a break! I added an achievement stat counter for it- but Steam updates it rather slowly.

I've enjoyed reading all your messages in bottles! Plenty of messages even saltier than the water they're in but it's really spiced up play testing. One day, our 8-bit ocean will just be a surface of bottles and corpses border to border.

- ON ANOTHER NOTE - 

A friend and I participated in the Gamejolt Dreamhack Jam and made a game in 48 hours. It's called "Captain Cutter's Last Stand" - a punchy melee combat game where your goal is to survive as many waves of Squid's as you can. It's completely free so if you'd like, check it out here!

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.6

You asked for it, I delivered!

Messages in Bottles can now cross over between players! You MUST opt-in by going to settings and enabling online bottles. This was one of the trickiest features to make and may need work but with a large player base now i'm sure you'll help me find any problems in no time.

Another change has been to the profession menu, no longer must you dream of what the glorious pixelated face of a fisherman looks like- You can view every occupation and it's perks in the menu! Not enough? Well now you can be a Surgeon! 

The RNG also had a few small adjustments to lessen the absurd Influenza epidemic during storms along with more common food spoiling and battle injuries. Wondered what your hull integrity was while sailing? It's been added to the logbook and while at very low hull integrity the leaks will continue on main sailing screen- that won't get annoying for Raft sailors i'm sure. Defeated ships will have more than just food now, sometime's they'll have cannonballs or harpoons.

The feedback has been fantastic and I love hearing what you all have to say! Lot's of great ideas.

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.5

Prepare yourselves for September 19th when the Caribbean Sail launches on Steam!

This update contains a few polishes before release - A new song for liars dice. Slightly modified AI because that wasn't hard enough already. You can now catch Swordfish rarely when fishing. There's also a new fishing event where if you see some little fish passing by while sailing you can try to catch an entire school of fish! - before you start loading your ship down with so many fish that they spill over the side, they can spoil now. If you make your crew eat spoiled fish they have a chance of contracting ciguatera.

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.4

Been polishing the hull of this game and making sure it's not infested with bugs before it sets out from port next week. Ever thought "Gee, the Caribbean Sail is alright- but you know what would really make it great? Liars dice!" -oh... you never thought that? Just me? Well, the entire game of liars dice is now playable in London at the newly added Pub! A few small tweaks here and there, a "fullscreen" bug should  be fixed, a reminder to buy supplies before leaving port, and a few more little additions.

We're nearly ready to set out! This Captain is very excited.

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.3

What happened to V1.4.2 you asked? It came and left in the night because...

Tomorrow morning the Steam coming soon page will go live! Prepare yourselves as the date draws near!

As for the patch: You can now amputate all of your crews limbs and ships move a little in combat. Time passes slowly while you're anchored, you can try to flee from pirates and a few music changes were made in friendly menus to keep those glorious tunes playing while you talk or shop- the birds squawk at you too now. There are also more particle effects and a few bug fixes and some small text adjustments.

The Caribbean Sail V1.4.1

As the new month draws near, I'm aiming my efforts towards Steam. There may be a few more small updates to come but most of my time will be spent on marketing and preparing for the Steam release.

Hopefully you've enjoyed the story button on the main menu because now it has been replaced with STATISTICS! Yes! Now YOU can read all kinds of number based information about how many minutes you've spent hypnotized by the ocean, how bad you are at hitting fish compared to the amount of harpoons you've thrown, how many men you've sent to their death's AND MORE! Thought the leaderboard had seen it's best days? Nevermore! The scoring menu has been changed to award points for Food, Currency, and increased Luxury value! A small button was added to the ship selection menu to give you more information on the ships. There are quite a few abandoned ships floating around the Ocean as of the new disease buffs which will dwindle down the health of your underfed crew. The raft also has had it's minimum speed increased from 0 to 1 so you don't spend so much time in the middle of the Atlantic being circled by sharks- and finally, go fishing for a fantastic new surprise!

 

The Caribbean Sail V1.4

Feast your eyes on this massive update as I continue preparing for the Steam release now planned for September 19th.

If you felt like "Experience" wasn't rewarding enough before, there's a new unlock screen with at least 1000% more particles. A glorious new ship has been added: The Clipper - That's right, the fastest type of ship in the 1800's is now in your hands to wreck on the new reef changes. Hull damage is now persistent throughout each playthrough and there have been many minor tweaks to the spawn rates of everything from turtles to typhus. French ships can now be encountered along with another surprise event. A cannon reloading bar was added to combat. The main menu was overhauled with a new header, footer, reactive music... and a small secret. The music of the sea has found it's way into the fishing minigame along with new sound effects, bug fixes, and particle effects.

The Caribbean Sail V1.3.9

Feel like getting to Nassau just wasn't enough? Well now you're rewarded with an increasing experience bar every time you reach Nassau! It unlocks three ships you previously had unrestricted access to in order to fulfill your secret desire for progression- There are also particle effects when you unlock a new ship.

The names of your crew are now saved run-to-run so you don't have to re-type their names each voyage. Reefs now have a visible end when crossing them. Restarting and going to the main menu no longer forces you to watch the amazing intro. The master volume is now adjustable from the settings menu and many bugs were found and thrown to a bull shark.