"we can expect over 300 missions – all unique in nature"
Thankfuly this is wrong, FLS have currently got over 1000 missions per nation in the game, some are locked by various other means from what i can gather ie. Career (navel, pirate, privateer etc...)
But cant wait for this game to come out :D
Allakhazam Pirates of the Burning Sea Preview
There are a lot of video game companies in Seattle, Washington. One of the up and coming studios happens to be Flying Lab Software; they’re the developers of Pirates of the Burning Sea (or PotBS for short). Flying Lab is smaller company that is quickly gaining notoriety in the MMO community for having one of the most anticipated upcoming MMO releases. This anticipation has been built around a creative idea built on a simply stunning graphic engine.
Last week, we had the opportunity to stop by the offices of Flying Lab Software on Thursday to get latest on Pirates of the Burning Sea and see where it’s at on its development track.
Our guide for this tour was none other than Troy Hewitt, Director of Community Relations for PotBS. The offices, as you’d expect, are packed full of designers, artists, programmers, and just about everything else required to develop a game of this scale. We were eventually led to a meeting room on the topmost level of the building where we had the opportunity to see the game first-hand and discuss it.
In the room were Rusty Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software, John Scott Tynes, Producer of PotBS, Troy Hewitt, Director of Community Relations for PotBS, and Theresa Pudenz, Public Relations for Pirates of the Burning Sea.
The first thing noticeable was the game was absolutely gorgeous. We started by seeing the newly-upgraded character creation system. Flying Lab is always adding more options to the already incredibly deep character customization, and it shows. Players can not only choose the basics such as an eye patch or peg leg, but some really funny options are now in, everything from full-out masks, super creative new hooks, a number of dead eyes, and thousands of other combos.
Before continuing, it’s important to mention the demo client was run on a crisp 1080p TV, but the computer powering everything was actually a Small Form-Factor PC. No super powerful SLI water cooled setup here.
Next we were thrown onto the sea. The first new thing we saw was the newly designed wind graphics. When sailing the open seas, players now have two ways to judge the wind:
After setting our sails, we jumped into some real action in true pirate fashion by looking at boarding combat on a mid-range vessel. Ships in Pirates of the Burning Sea have a maximum number of crew member (for example, a crew complement of 18). Obviously, having each player with 18 NPCs on-screen at once would be extremely taxing on systems, so instead you start out with a smaller number – up to ten depending on your ship type. On the ship we were controlling, we started with just six crew members. This doesn’t change the total number your ship has, and when your crew is wiped out you can call for reinforcements – twice if you have 18 maximum crew-members. These crew-members regenerate over time when out of combat, so if you have a super-close fight where you just win by the skin of your teeth and you’re forced into fight a few minutes later, you’ll be at a serious disadvantage.
Of course, if you always went in with the same number of crew members it would be extremely boring. That’s where ship combat comes in. In order to board an enemy ship, be it NPC or Player, you have to grapple them. To grapple an opposing ship it has to be moving somewhat slow, so it requires taking out the enemies sails so they cannot use the wind to their advantage. At the same time as you’re taking a ship’s sails, they might be attempting to take out your crew instead – making for an interesting game of rock-paper-scissors.
Any smart enemy Captain might decide that even though you’re taking out their sails, they will just attack your hull to sink your ship, or take out your crew so you cannot win via boarding them. Combat in Pirates of the Burning Sea requires an intelligent balance of thought and strategy behind your actions to be victorious.
After seeing a bit more ship combat we moved on to see the 3rd fighting school in the game, fencing. Fencing is the main damage school, and is the best way to dish out massive damage very quickly. Its downside is that you cannot defend or pull off as many tricks as the other two schools. The attacks in this school are very well animated, and look extremely painful – in just one fight round I saw a punch to the face with the guard of the sword, and a brutal stab to the gut.
We were told that the main port town – seen in all demos at various events over the last few months – is being totally scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. The new town will be much more realistic with unique buildings, more NPCs and a greater sense of atmosphere (for example, the town will look much more “lived in”).
Following that we saw a couple other areas including the fortress El Morro, a real location in San Juan that was destroyed in 1790.
Some other random tidbits: Flying Lab are still in discussion with publishers but say to expect an announcement soon. Flying Lab has started extensive usability testing, including not just gamers, and are tweaking the game as they receive feedback. I noticed a lot of the suggested changes almost immediately from playing the latest demo build from the demo I saw at GDC back in May. Finally, we can expect over 300 missions – all unique in nature.
It has to be said that Pirates of the Burning Sea is looking better and better as time goes on. While content always makes the game, as World of Warcraft proved, polish is also extremely important. Flying Lab seems to be really taking real care to iron out the details of every aspect of PotBS in anticipation for a huge release. Closed beta signup is currently open on the official site and an open beta announcement should be coming in the near future.
We would like to thank Flying Lab Software for the tour and demo and can’t wait to see where the title is at by summer’s end. For more information keep your browser pointed at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.
Last week, we had the opportunity to stop by the offices of Flying Lab Software on Thursday to get latest on Pirates of the Burning Sea and see where it’s at on its development track.
Our guide for this tour was none other than Troy Hewitt, Director of Community Relations for PotBS. The offices, as you’d expect, are packed full of designers, artists, programmers, and just about everything else required to develop a game of this scale. We were eventually led to a meeting room on the topmost level of the building where we had the opportunity to see the game first-hand and discuss it.
In the room were Rusty Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software, John Scott Tynes, Producer of PotBS, Troy Hewitt, Director of Community Relations for PotBS, and Theresa Pudenz, Public Relations for Pirates of the Burning Sea.
The first thing noticeable was the game was absolutely gorgeous. We started by seeing the newly-upgraded character creation system. Flying Lab is always adding more options to the already incredibly deep character customization, and it shows. Players can not only choose the basics such as an eye patch or peg leg, but some really funny options are now in, everything from full-out masks, super creative new hooks, a number of dead eyes, and thousands of other combos.
Before continuing, it’s important to mention the demo client was run on a crisp 1080p TV, but the computer powering everything was actually a Small Form-Factor PC. No super powerful SLI water cooled setup here.
Next we were thrown onto the sea. The first new thing we saw was the newly designed wind graphics. When sailing the open seas, players now have two ways to judge the wind:
- The first is a ring surrounding the ship – Sailing into the green area is great, and you’ll get the most out of the wind, but sailing into the yellow or red is bad and will slow you down significantly.
- The second, and a newest feature, is an actual “wind” graphic – This subtle little 3d effect appears in the same direction the wind is coming from. Combined with the rings, this makes it incredibly easy for new players to understand and navigate without frustration.
After setting our sails, we jumped into some real action in true pirate fashion by looking at boarding combat on a mid-range vessel. Ships in Pirates of the Burning Sea have a maximum number of crew member (for example, a crew complement of 18). Obviously, having each player with 18 NPCs on-screen at once would be extremely taxing on systems, so instead you start out with a smaller number – up to ten depending on your ship type. On the ship we were controlling, we started with just six crew members. This doesn’t change the total number your ship has, and when your crew is wiped out you can call for reinforcements – twice if you have 18 maximum crew-members. These crew-members regenerate over time when out of combat, so if you have a super-close fight where you just win by the skin of your teeth and you’re forced into fight a few minutes later, you’ll be at a serious disadvantage.
Of course, if you always went in with the same number of crew members it would be extremely boring. That’s where ship combat comes in. In order to board an enemy ship, be it NPC or Player, you have to grapple them. To grapple an opposing ship it has to be moving somewhat slow, so it requires taking out the enemies sails so they cannot use the wind to their advantage. At the same time as you’re taking a ship’s sails, they might be attempting to take out your crew instead – making for an interesting game of rock-paper-scissors.
Any smart enemy Captain might decide that even though you’re taking out their sails, they will just attack your hull to sink your ship, or take out your crew so you cannot win via boarding them. Combat in Pirates of the Burning Sea requires an intelligent balance of thought and strategy behind your actions to be victorious.
After seeing a bit more ship combat we moved on to see the 3rd fighting school in the game, fencing. Fencing is the main damage school, and is the best way to dish out massive damage very quickly. Its downside is that you cannot defend or pull off as many tricks as the other two schools. The attacks in this school are very well animated, and look extremely painful – in just one fight round I saw a punch to the face with the guard of the sword, and a brutal stab to the gut.
We were told that the main port town – seen in all demos at various events over the last few months – is being totally scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. The new town will be much more realistic with unique buildings, more NPCs and a greater sense of atmosphere (for example, the town will look much more “lived in”).
Following that we saw a couple other areas including the fortress El Morro, a real location in San Juan that was destroyed in 1790.
Some other random tidbits: Flying Lab are still in discussion with publishers but say to expect an announcement soon. Flying Lab has started extensive usability testing, including not just gamers, and are tweaking the game as they receive feedback. I noticed a lot of the suggested changes almost immediately from playing the latest demo build from the demo I saw at GDC back in May. Finally, we can expect over 300 missions – all unique in nature.
It has to be said that Pirates of the Burning Sea is looking better and better as time goes on. While content always makes the game, as World of Warcraft proved, polish is also extremely important. Flying Lab seems to be really taking real care to iron out the details of every aspect of PotBS in anticipation for a huge release. Closed beta signup is currently open on the official site and an open beta announcement should be coming in the near future.
We would like to thank Flying Lab Software for the tour and demo and can’t wait to see where the title is at by summer’s end. For more information keep your browser pointed at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.
Tags: Editorial, GeneralNews
