Friday Dev Update: Progress and Depth

12:32 PM Unknown 4 Comments





This week has been very fun and productive. I mentioned in a previous post that we are going to add a bit of “close content” along with new models and the updated rendering pipeline in a smaller patch, which will be pushed before the larger main patch.


The new models and rendering pipeline are currently on the testing branch, and this week we got most of the content related to the new close-content structure implemented, which should be on the testing branch next week.


Depth in Salt


One of my favorite things to do in development is come up with ways to add depth to a game. What I mean by this is: things to do, get, or achieve that are a little bit below the surface of what you see. A pirate that drops a weapon, some gold, and maybe the tree fruit that he was about to eat. There is nothing surprising or deep about that. 

But what if you learned from reading a lore book that a certain pirate owns a powerful armor that protects him from explosive damage. Your cogs begin to turn and you decide to stock up on some bombs before you visit your next pirate island. When you get there, you see the pirate that you read about. You throw some bombs, but are intentional about not killing him with them. You then flee and hide out in the shadows. In the mean time, the pirate realizes that there is real danger of face-explosion by your raining bombs of doom. This is when he decides to run to wherever he has hidden his special armor and put it on. But this was your plan all along. You swoop in with your mighty axe and end to the pirate. The once-hidden armor is yours!


This is an example of below-the-surface content in games. Obtaining that special armor required the player to pay attention, and do some critical thinking. I want Salt to be full of things like this. You can expect some depth in both the new close and far content that is upcoming in the next two patches. (Note that the above example is not in the game).

- John Gamble (Lead Developer)

4 comments:

  1. That sounds insane, the idea of the pirate hiding his special armour, then retrieving it when required, as opposed to traditional in game items always being on the NPC for whatever reason; am really looking forward to where you guy's take Salt, it is shaping up very well; one of my favorite investments in Early Access so far!

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  2. cannot wait for this, please faster devs :p. thanks

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  3. I'm really hoping this is workable. It adds a great level of immersion to the game.

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