Pirates and Traders version 2.0.0 has finally been released.

It took a lot longer than I had expected. Two issues troubled the development. Firstly, I decided to rebuild the RPG module in the game, and that required ripping up a lot of the old gameplay code before putting it together again. And then there was the playing and balancing act afterwards. I started out with 16 skills, increased it to 20, before scaling it back again to 16 and 12. Hopefully, the 12 skills I settled on will feel balanced – all useful for some purpose and playing style (and they will all be a lot more interesting once I start adding in the new story snippets).

The other issue that troubled is the art. It simply didn’t get ready in time, and there is still a deal of it that is not ready. I finally decided to simply go ahead and release it as is – I hope that you agree with my decision.

This version adds a lot to the game, but a lot of it is still under the hood. This is on purpose – the changes with v2.0.0 are so massive that I expect a lot of bugs to turn up once it gets into the hands of a couple of 1000s, rather than the handful who have been slaving away at the interface for the past weeks. Rather than add a lot of new content which would undoubtedly include even more bugs, I will wait until the major bugs have been ironed out before I start adding. And there is a lot to add – in addition to fixing up the artwork as I get new deliveries, there is an entirely new major quest waiting to be added into the game in addition to many, many small ones, the personal dueling module, all of the new in-game items, many new traits, and so on. If you enjoy the RPG aspect, I believe and hope that you have something to look forward to.

Summarizing all of the changes in version 2.0.0 is not doable, but briefly and incompletely, here are the main changes:

• All new RPG system based on 4 Aptitudes (Physical, Intellectual, Spiritual, Social) and 12 skills. Also with (in this release) 8 traits to specialize your character.
• New and improved graphics for the game map and new ship portraits for all 20 ships.
• Changed ship improvement system; ships now have a size factor, and adding cannons and ship improvements reduce cargo capacity. More than 20 ship improvements.
• Revamped map structure (ports and sea zones). Ship movement now allowed for more than 1 zone at a time.
• Ship combat has been revamped. Boarding combat now has a morale aspect involved.
• Financial district replaces treasure. Loans are now global.
• Rebuild the shipyard. Now offers more than one ship improvement or ship hull at a time.
• Missions can now be gotten in two places: jobs and trouble. A third location (socializing with the governor) will shortly be added.
• The port attack algorithm has been completely rewritten. Ports are now also defended by their militia.

I hope you enjoy it and the changes arriving in the coming versions.

Special thanks to ronalddame and jakal323 on the forums for finding a lot of different bugs. Any bugs still left in there are all my fault.

The Blog is Back!

First of all, my apologies to the three followers of this blog for the long hiatus. It’s a long story, but briefly put – Junior spent most of January ill with all sorts of interesting bugs picked up in kindergarten (and passing it on, whenever possible). That pretty much put me on the back foot from the start of the year, and intermittent bouts of interesting child diseases plus work pressure (both real-life and this “hobby”) has kept me on the back foot ever since.

So what is the status? Well, we passed 250,000 free downloads of Pirates and Traders some time ago. What can I say – a huge thank you to all of you who have taken the time to look at my development efforts and especially those of you who continue to play and enjoy the game after the first look. A very special thank you to those of you who have decided to support my development efforts by purchasing Pirates and Traders: Gold! I hope that the improvements that are in the pipeline will repay the faith you’ve shown in the game. (more…)

Just a short note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Pirates and Traders was reviewed in the PCWorld App Guide, which – as far as I know – is the first media review of the game. It got 4 1/2 stars out of 5, which I’m pretty happy about considering the still pretty rough edges on parts of the game.

My development system outage last month really screwed up with plans. To my (sometime) amusement, first the power supply of my PC went AWOL. When I got that replaced (took a week since it was still on warranty), I then found out that my graphics card was entirely shot. So that went back to the producer (under warranty too), and since I did not want to waste any more time, I immediately purchased a replacement. Unfortunately, this brand new graphics card was itself defective… Finally, after a good deal more back and forth and lots of work on my PC and yet another new graphics card, I finally got everything working again.

The bottom line was that development stood still for about two weeks, which means I am that far behind my planned schedule. It did give me time to do some design work on a new project I would like to do (more on that when I have something to show), but everything else (i.e. Imperium) is thus pushed ahead in time.

Before I turn development effort to other things for a while, though, I intend to complete the Port Attack feature in Pirates and Traders. I am also looking to release a “Gold” version of Pirates and Traders. Currently, I intend it to be the same as the free game, but without ads and with a larger choice of starting ships for those who want a challenge (e.g., try starting with a pinnace). If you have anything that you wish could be included in a gold version (that does not hugely affect game balance), let me know. And lest I forget – thanks everyone for helping the game become such a success as it has been (passed 100,000 downloads about a month ago). I hope that I can continue to make the game worthy of its fans.