Update 1.9.2 Coming to Testing Branch Soon!

8:49 AM willsterling23 2 Comments

We are in the process of finalizing the content for the 1.9.2 Update and plan on pushing to the testing branch within the next week or two. Today we want to go over what you can expect in this update, as well as some other things we've been working on!

Update 1.9.2 - What to Expect

This update will be another one of our content updates while we are implementing multiplayer. If you've been following us for a bit, you'll know that since multiplayer implementation is a long endeavor, we wanted to release small updates during that process so that you would still have fun content to experience while you wait on multiplayer.

With our next update we are introducing three major new changes. These changes will include a brand new new NPC and quest giver known as the Sea Hunter, pirate and NPC graves that can be discovered throughout the world, and the introduction of island music to some large natural islands.

Sea Hunter

The Sea Hunter NPC will be much like the Sea Scholar and Fisher, where you will able to complete a number of quests, rank up to earn new vendor items, and eventually do a repeatable quest for a chance at a nice loot drop. Each of these new npc's are meant to tailor to a certain playstyle. In Salt, we've always wanted players to feel like they can play the game the way they want and still be rewarded for it. The Sea Scholar rewards players for exploring and finding lore books, the Sea Fisher rewards players for fishing, and the Sea Hunter will reward players for fighting and hunting down particular enemies.

NPC Graves

Salt at its core is an exploration game about discovering new content, and as such we try to constantly introduce new places and things for the player to discover. With this update we'll be adding in a new piece of discoverable content that we are calling NPC Graves. These will basically be tombstones that you'll find scattered throughout the world, and if you have a shovel on you, you'll be able to occasionally dig up a lockbox and get some nice loot.

The graves will feature four different lockboxes: bronze, silver, gold, and ceremonial. Each one of these will require a key of one of those types. The ceremonial lockboxes will contain very nice high end items and will only be able to be opened with a ceremonial key. These keys will be introduced in this update and will be found in various places.

New Music

We are also introducing brand new island music in this update. This music will only occur occasionally on large natural islands so as not to negate the feeling of combat or intensity on other islands. The goal for this music is to add to the relaxation and exploration aspect of the game while roaming around some calmer islands. To begin with, there will be three daytime island songs that can play and three night time island songs that can play. We will likely add more in the future.

What Else Have We Been Working On?

In addition to the 1.9.2 Update, we've also been making some good strides in other areas. Robert has been working hard on designing a new recipe discovery system and overhauling the current crafting system to be more intuitive and streamlined. We will talk more about this in a future update. John has also been working very hard on the multiplayer update and we are making some great progress there. We still have a ways to go but we will be sharing some more info on that soon as well.

Thanks for reading and as always we would love to hear your feedback!

A Look At The New Music In 1.9.2

6:48 AM willsterling23 2 Comments

Hey everyone!

We've been busy here at Lavaboots working on a bunch of new content. The past month we've been working hard on Update 1.9.2, multiplayer implementation, and a bunch of polishes and changes that we think you are going to like a lot. If you haven't read up on it yet, go read this post so you can get an idea of what our next update (Update 1.9.2) will entail. With this update we are introducing a new NPC with quests and over 30 new items to earn, NPC Graves that you can discover with buried treasure, and brand new island music.

Today I wanted to share some of the new music we've been working on with you.

New Island Music

With Salt, we've always wanted to keep the music unobtrusive and so we originally opted to only have music play occasionally at sea. We believe that too much music can be overstimulating and actually take away from the immersion of a game. Walking around on an island listening to the birds, wind, and waves hitting the shore can really immerse you in the game, and we didn't want music to take away from that.

That being said, we do think that some island music could be beneficial in the right setting and with the right restrictions. We've decided to introduce new music for large natural islands. These islands are usually quite big and do not contain enemies. This means a good bit of time spent on these islands is pure exploration and walking across the land. We figured these islands would be a good place to introduce some light and occasional music.

I've composed specific songs for day and night time that will be able to play while you are exploring large natural islands.

Here are some of the songs you can expect to hear soon.

Day Island Examples

Night Island Examples

Soundtrack Update

We'd also like to note that we've updated the soundtrack to include the boss music in the game as well. You can stream the soundtrack in its entirety for free here. We will eventually be releasing a downloadable copy of it when the game releases.

Thanks for reading as always we'd love to hear your feedback!

Salt Development Blog