First off, you might have heard we will be launching a Kickstarter for Salt 2. At this point we've got the page all built and ready to go. We are just waiting for approval from Kickstarter which should be any day now. Once that's done, we'll have a pre-launch page where you can sign up to notified on the day of the actual launch. As of right now we plan on launching in the middle of March (about two weeks from now) bar any unforeseen issues.

So why Kickstarter? We started working on this project almost a year ago and while it has come a really long way, we still have a little ways to go before releasing onto Steam Early Access. Even though we will be releasing the game in Early Access, it is our goal to get the game as polished and feature complete as possible before launching. Kickstarter will help us add a lot more content to the game and get more features in before the Early Access release. We also believe in involving the community in the development of the game as early as possible and this is one way for us to do that. We've been completely self funded up until this point but need a little help to get the game to a state we are proud of when releasing..

In addition to implementing a lot of new models these past couple months, we've also begun adding some basic mechanics for ship customization. Decorating your ship is going to be a major gameplay feature of Salt 2. We want your ship to be your cozy home at sea, and we want you to have as much freedom as possible when decorating it. We'll have more information on how this works down the line but as of right now you'll be able to find or craft ship decorations and place them almost anywhere on your ship. While we do want the process to be polished and smooth, we also want to be as hands off as possible in controlling where you place items. It's your ship and you should be able to decorate it the way you like. 

Last month we also implemented some basic mechanics for fishing. Fishing is not only a relaxing hobby in between fighting pirates and delving into giant caves, it also serves as a way to get food. And of course in order to catch all the fish you'll have to try out different locations, times of day, and lures. 

As always we are continuously adding new points of interest. Last month we implemented cellars as a brand new area. You can find this in various places. Sometimes behind a merchant shop and sometimes deep within a cave. These will serve often as storage rooms with loot and perhaps even some lore. In addition to that we've added brand new cave systems, new pirate campsites, graveyards, and a lot more. 

Over the last couple of weeks we started working on adding more flexibility to our island generation system as well as some new models for different looking islands. We want you to be able to find a wide variety of island types all the way from large mountainous islands to small flat desert islands. 

Another big area of focus for us recently has been performance. We want the game to run as smoothly as possible and so we are constantly taking time to tackle performance issues early on. Although this will be an ongoing process, right now we are pretty happy with how the game is performing on various islands, even some very large ones with lots of geometry. 

One main area of focus for us right now is getting a user interface system in and working. This means implementing an inventory system, map system, a quest screen, a crafting interface, and things of that nature. Getting a polished UI implemented and running efficiently is a huge milestone and we are excited to get that in. We are also adding controller support from the beginning which will be another focus for us over the next month or so. 

As always thank you all for reading and your support. Keep an eye out for the Kickstarter launch within the next couple weeks!