So, Google I/O has come and gone, and along with it came the announcement of something I’ve been wishing to see for a very, very long time: Google Play Services with highscores, achievements, cloud saves, etc.
The big question that this leaves me with, of course, is what to do with Pirates and Traders. High scores are easy to add; I can simply use the existing high score tables in the game and move them into G+. Achievements are a bit harder, but absolutely doable (biggest problem is adding achievements in the first place). Cloud saves… that one is probably a bit tougher; messing around with the save games is always dicey. It is not an impossible proposition; it is just a lot of work that could perhaps be better spent elsewhere. It all adds up to a significant amount of work, though; work time which might be better spent elsewhere?
The alternative (other than to ignore it completely), is to put that work into readying Pirates and Traders 2. I have already done a lot of work refining the RPG system for Dwarf King; adding that would not be a big deal. The graphical engine would be practically exactly the same; even a lot of the GUI work (e.g., the character status view) would be reusable. The land combat engine still needs refinement, but would also be shared between the two games. Having said that, there is still a lot of work that needs doing before a P&T2 effort is even at the same level as the existing game. I would need to rewrite the entire way that the game deals with ships, in order to make it even possible for it to recognize the possibility of multiple ships. I want to make characters more persistent, so the way the game deals with ports has to be rewritten as well. The ship construction/modification system also wants an overhaul. Not to mention the stuff that I’ll need to commission externally. I’ll probably reuse a lot of the artwork from the first game, but there are some things that will probably be needed: a new map, for instance (bigger!) and more character portraits.
But reading your feedback, it is obvious that this is something that most of you want (at least those of you who write on the fan page). So… I won’t make any promises, but I am looking into the possibilities.