So, the rebuilt Pirates and Traders 2 is finally out. This basically reiterates the post from earlier this year for those of you who did not catch it then..
Expect that everything in the game has changed.
- The user interface has been entirely rebuilt
- Instead of using Android’s native UI, all of the graphics in Pirates and Traders 2 are now developed using LibGDX. This has some significant upsides in that I can now do some things with the graphics and UI that were very difficult to do with the Android native UI, including potentially bringing this game to Windows, MaxOS, and iOS in future. It does have downsides in that the game switches from (theoretically) portrait/landscape mode to pure landscape mode, some missing functionality, and that the game loses Android’s native text-to-speech capabilities. Hopefully I can re-establish most of that functionality as well (except portrait mode – too much work), but it might take some time.
- Savegames structure completely changed
- Unfortunately, all existing savegames will be deprecated, and there is no way to transform them. The old savegame logic had become a mess over the years in trying to keep all the old saves viable. With a new set of changes to the underlying game engine, it just wasn’t worth it to try and maintain that against the new version – it would have resulted in a ton of bugs.
On the marginally plus side, the new savegame logic is faster.
- Unfortunately, all existing savegames will be deprecated, and there is no way to transform them. The old savegame logic had become a mess over the years in trying to keep all the old saves viable. With a new set of changes to the underlying game engine, it just wasn’t worth it to try and maintain that against the new version – it would have resulted in a ton of bugs.
- RPG engine changes
- The old game engine was built around a “dice-pool” style RPG mechanic. The new version is closer to a D20-style mechanics. This means that skill check results might feel more swingy, but hopefully also that each skill increment feels more meaningful and also more intuitively understandable.
- Skill advancement has changed.
- Sea combat has changed to add more strategies (and more randomness in what can be done in any given round).
- Duels have been added in, using a system similar to the sea combat. The purpose of these changes are to add more variety to the combat systems (so it’s not just attack/maneuver moves), but also to add more viable strategies to the combat. I am still balancing this system, so it might not feel well-balanced just yet, but I’m workng on it.
- Land combat is in development and should hopefully soon be available. It uses a similar system to the above, but with its own distinct twists.
- The entire way settlements are constructed and work has changed. Among the minor changes, the various areas of individual settlements now have randomly-generated names and descriptions, appropriate to the period.
- And just a ton of changes to the game’s underlying data structures and logc, most of which won’t be visible.
I’ve joked before that P&T 2 should really be P&T3, because the changes from the first version of the original Pirates and Traders (published eventually as Pirates and Traders: Retro) to the version currently on the app store were so great that it was essentially a new game. If so, this version could almost be called Pirates and Traders 4. While the core gameplay loop is the same, there are so many changes here that to all intents and purposes, this is an entirely new game.
A lot of bug fixing and polishing has already taken place, much thanks to the sterling help of the people participating in open testing of the game. A thousand thanks to everyone who has contributed with feedback and bug reports during the past year. I couldn’t do this without you guys.
Despite that, releasing the game to even more players will no doubt turn up new bugs, so some time will undoubtedly go to fixing any remaining bugs in the coming weeks. If you have feedback, please join the Discord (https://discord.gg/92qW4XC).
Finally: Thanks to all of you who have stuck with the game this long. This has been a long hiatus, and I don’t blame anyone who has concluded that the game was abandoned or that the wait hasn’t been worth it. A lot of you have stuck with the game, though. Your support is the main reason why – even when non-MicaBytes life has been at it’s busiest and most tumultuous – I’ve never considered the option of abandoning the game.
Thank you. I hope you enjoy the game and the updates to come.