Working so hard on this new version has certainly taken its toll but i'm extremely happy with the progress thus far and I thought I'd let you guys in on some of the stuff I've improved and added to v0.04.
- Firstly, ship collisions, this was a big problem in v0.03, but as far as I can tell complete ship collisions are pretty much eliminated. I've taken numerous steps to prevent collisions, and if they do the ships will simply push each other out of the way. Which, in my opinion, is a much better result than ships climbing onto each other.
- I've improved the AI on the ships all round. They should engage better, fight better, sail better. I've really tried hard to make AI at least seem smart.
- In general cannons will now do more damage and have a longer range.
- Crew members can now die, be it from cannon fire or drowning. Since cannons require crew to function, if your gunners start dying you'll find your cannons are pretty useless.
- Visual niceties... Stuff that doesn't really do much to improve gameplay but looks damn nice regardless. For example, painted hulls, ships can now spawn with them. Also, cloth physics on flags, looks damn good. And something I'm most proud of, wildlife - Birds, whales.
- More to explore. I've added a new map as well as a new time of the day to do battle.
- Four deck cannons not enough? How about 12? v0.04 includes a new ship, 12 cannons of pew pewness.
- Lastly, I got my bug swatter out and swatted as many bugs as I could, and continue to do so.
Well, that's pretty much it. There are a few other things I've neglected to mention, but I can't spoil everything, now can I? When the new version is out this weekend you'll be able to download the patch via the ingame updater, via this website, or you can, if you want, download the entire game again (or for the first time).
Bye.
Games coming along nicely!