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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Friday, 29 August 2008 |
Taelorn has posted a new devlog talking about how come 1.8 battles will be open to all sides:
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We’re wrapping up the recent open sea battle revamp with another big change – battle markers are going to open up to all sides. That means there’s the potential for up to five sides in a battle (the four player sides and neutral NPCs). This doesnt apply to PvE flagged encounters, but it does apply to battle markers with NPCs that are inside hotspots.
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1.7 - Black Sails At Dawn To Go Live Tomorrow Morning |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Wednesday, 27 August 2008 |
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We will be upgrading our live servers to build 1.7: Black Sails at Dawn during the usual maintenance window (1:30am-5:00am Pacific / 9.30am-1.00pm British Summer Time) on Thursday, August 27th.[sic]
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New Devlog: Flying Lab Are Listening |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Wednesday, 20 August 2008 |
In response to the outcry over the 1.7 PvP changes, and the criticism the Testbed build received, Flying Lab's Fraxl has posted a new devlog talking about the changes they're making in time for the next event:
First, you were concerned that battles would go on forever and become annoyingly imbalanced because they never close. To address this, we’ve decided to make battles close after 10 minutes. After that point, no more reinforcements can join. Its enough time to call nearby allies for help, but not so long that youll have ships coming from Bridgetown to a fight outside Tampico.
Another good point players made was that they wanted to be able to have 1v1 battles without having a bunch of reinforcements join in. We definitely want to support that kind of gameplay, so now battles with one ship on each side will be locked at the end of the battle start timer. No reinforcements will be able to enter after that time.
[...]
If you’re the type of player who runs around town using your mouse, you probably had a tough time with the camera changes. We had reports that some people were getting headaches and others just having a hard time controlling their view as avatars. To fix this, we tightened up the camera movement to make it more directly responsive to the mouse.
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New Testbed Event Thursday |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
FLS have apparently made "significant improvements" to the testbed build - sorting out the camera and the adhoc rules based on our feedback - and FLS want our feedback again.
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To make things more interesting, a group of FLS staff will be sailing the PVP zones on Testbed ready to be sunk by take on all challengers! We’ll be online this Thursday, August 21st from 3:00 – 4:00pm Pacific / 11:00pm – Midnight British Summer Time. Staff in attendance will include Taelorn, Snap, fraxl and Rhaegar.
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1.7 Build Criticised After Event |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
Lots of people took the chance to gank rhaegar test 1.7 on Testbed yesterday, and the feedback has been.. well, interesting. Most people seem to still be opposed to the changes, and many have found the camera a bit.. well, nauseating. |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
Bruce 'Bsharp' Sharp has posted a new devlog talking about how he feels texturing is an underrated artform:
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At Flying Lab we care very much about textures. Our team endeavors to improve on their ability with each new task. Many of us study painting in our spare time as a testament to the sincerity of our dedication to growth in this area. Our environment artists have developed a process in which they create textures first, then model to those textures (you could say that at FLS modeling is merely something we do to a texture). We all strive not just to be better technicians (modelers) but to be better image makers because we respect the power of good imagery.
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Devlog: New QA Lead Introduces Himself |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
Nutch, Flying Lab's new Quality Assurance lead, has posted a new devlog talking about his new role and replacing new Producer Misha:
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Software Testing and Customer Service complement each other quite well; the more we test, and the more bugs we find/fix, the fewer customer tickets we will have to process. So now, once again, I am doing what I do best as a Lead/Manager; tweaking and improving existing processes to make them run smoother and become more fruitful. For the purposes of Customer Service I will begin by mirroring some of the tweaks I made in the Test Department. I will be focusing Customer Service Representatives on specific parts of the game to create subject matters experts who will work closely with the Tester who supports that team as well as the team itself.
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Devlog: More Avatar Stuff |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
Mat Staltman, PotBS' Character Lead, has posted a new devlog talking about new avatar stuff coming in 1.7:
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Today I’m here to share information about new features coming your way in the avatar customization department. The first part of our plan involves creating opportunities for players to show off their in-game accomplishments through player clothing items We are adding new luxury items to the game that can only be bought at various stores in the Caribbean. The idea is that if you are really rich, you can show how rich you are with your fancier clothing.
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
Flying Lab have announced a Testbed event this Sunday to test out the new highly controversial PvP Changes:
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People who log in to Testbed between 11am and 1pm Pacific (7pm – 9pm British Summer Time) this Sunday (August 17th) will be automatically entered into a raffle to win Pirates of the Burning Sea game time cards and t-shirts. You don’t need to do anything special to enter the raffle, but the longer you play, the higher your chances of winning. After the event, please visit the Testbed forum to give your feedback about the new features!
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Devlog: New Official Website Info |
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Written by Robert "Xaphod" Goforth
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
In a devlog crying out for a picture, K Tatroe, Flying Lab's web code blokey, has outlined what is planned for the new Official Website:
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We like to solve things, and solve them, we have! The web team, Aether, our usability Fraxl, and our artists have been hard at work collaborating on a new version of the site designed to better deliver information relevant to you—whether you’re a sea-worn captain or a green recruit. To that end, we’ve come up with a new design that’s more spacious; provides more and more customizable information; is significantly more usable; and, in some ways most importantly, isn’t light text on a dark background; our Taskmaster General, Misha, may let me live a while longer yet.
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