Dev Update: Game Intro Cinematics, Crafting System, and Dungeons



Hey everyone!

We've got a lot of new content to talk about that we've been working on over the past month. Progress on Salt 2 development is moving along well and we're excited about a lot of the upcoming changes to the game. We know you can't wait to get your hands on a ship and start exploring the seas, and we're working as hard as we can to make that happen as soon as possible. 

Our goal right now to release in Early Access sometime late in the Fall of this year, though that could change as is the nature of game development. We want to make sure that not only is the game full of fun content to experience at launch, but also that it is polished and as bug free as possible. Even though we plan on launching in Early Access, we don't want to have a buggy or half baked experience. Our goal is for the game to be very polished at launch and we're going to work hard to make that happen. We're getting close to our content goal for the game in terms of all the systems and how much there is to do in the game, but we really want to spend some time making performance improvements, improving visuals, fixing bugs, and just overall polishing the game before you dive in. 

Here's a look at just a few things we've been working over the last month. 

Intro Cinematics



Recently we started work on some intro cinematics for the game, including some voice over work and just setting the stage for the adventure you're about to take. Although it's short and sweet, we want you to really feel the isolation and novelty of awakening on an island in the middle of a massive ocean and uncovering the story and lore of the world. While our game is heavily focused on crafting and just general exploration, there is a story to the world and we want that feeling of mystery to be all throughout your experience in Salt. Creating a little cinematic intro helps immerse you into that world.

Crafting System



One of the major features in the Salt 2 gameplay loop is crafting. While you are on your ship or at a workbench, you'll be able to craft all kinds of items. Crafting will also be a skill that you can level up. This means as you get better at crafting, you'll have a greater chance of crafting high quality weapons, armor, and other items. Weapons and armor in the game also have randomized talents, and high rarity items have a bigger talent pool to pick from. 

You'll have a handful of basic crafting recipes to start with, but many of them you will discover while exploring and looting the world. We've recently begun implementing the crafting UI and the ability to stack items, sort by rarity, and things like that. This system is moving along well and we should have it fully implemented soon. 

Dungeon Scenes



Exploring caves, ruins, and other strange places is a massive part of Salt 2. This is a major change from Salt 1. In the original game, we didn't have any way for you to transition into a dungeon, cave, etc., from the islands. This meant if you couldn't find a point of interest on an island, it didn't exist. In Salt 2, we've added the ability to transition into new scenes from an island. We recently implemented a saving/loading system and it remembers where you are in the dungeon, and also what island what location you were at on the island. This is important especially for a procedurally generated world where you could be on any number of infinite islands. 

As always we're still adding lots of new caves, shrines, ruins, and other interesting places to explore. We want you to have a lot of fun areas to delve into in search of treasure and loot. 

Performance and Graphic Tweaks

We've also spent a good deal of time recently improving the visuals of the game. We've added new foliage that can spawn, improving the fidelity of some assets, and even made changes to the wind and particle systems to make the world feel a bit more atmospheric. We're also still working on tweaking performance and making sure the game runs smoothly. This is an ongoing process and something we will continually be working on even through release.


Thanks for reading and don't forget to hop on over to our Discord and chat with us some time! We'll have more updates coming soon.

Dev Update: Combat Improvements, Main Menu, and New Points of Interest

 Ahoy Mateys!

We wanted to give you a quick look at what we've been working on for Salt 2 recently and give you an update on Kickstarter rewards. 


Kickstarter Rewards



First off, we again want to say thank you to everyone who supported our campaign in any way. We're thrilled to have a successful Kickstarter and it will really help us get the game in a more complete and polished state for launch. 

We're currently working on designing and getting the Kickstarter physical and digital rewards in order. We sent out a survey a couple weeks ago on Kickstarter requesting info for your rewards. Most everyone has responded but if you backed the campaign and haven't responded yet, please hop on Kickstarter and fill out that survey so we know where to send your rewards and other relevant info. 

We expect physical Kickstarter rewards to start being mailed out within the next couple months but we'll have more concrete info on that soon. 

Combat Improvements



One area of focus for us recently has been combat. We still have more tweaking and work to do, but we're making some good improvements and combat is feeling better than ever. We recently started tweaking camera animations and weapon swing animations to make swordplay feel more quick, responsive, and weighty. The camera movements are subtle but they really help add a sense of weight to your swing. We've also added in a parry and block mechanic, new enemy tactics such as ranged attacks, and death animations. 




In addition to combat tweaks, we've added a new loot window that will make looting enemies and containers much more fluid. Instead of having to click on an item and it opening up a whole screen or stopping your game, simply hovering over a lootable item/enemy will pop up a small window where you can quickly see what items are available to loot. This is particularly important in a game like Salt where you are constantly looting and don't want to be taken out of the game flow. 

Main Menu



Over the past couple weeks we also set up a new main menu scene and the code/logic needed to create a game, save a game, and have that game associated with a world seed. Like in Salt 1, locations will be shared across world seeds. This means if you find a merchant at 10 East 4 North, your friends can also find that merchant as long they are using the same world seed as you. 

New Points of Interest



I feel like this gets added to every blog post but it's something we are constantly working on so I like to mention it! We are constantly adding new and exciting points of interest for you to explore from caves and ancient ruins to fishing holes and shrines. We really want Salt to be a fun exploration experience and so we're working as hard as we can to add a ton of unique areas for you to explore. The world is infinite, which means we obviously can't fill up the whole thing without repeats, but our goal is to have hundreds of places with unique visuals so that you are always on the lookout for something new. 

We are also adding random elements to some points of interest so even if you come across them again, they can have different enemies, resources, and even some randomized puzzles. 


As always thank you all for reading! Development is going smoothly and our current plan is to launch on Steam Early Access in October of this year, with a closed alpha/beta shortly before release. Keep in the mind this can change depending on development but we're working as fast as we can and will keep you up to date.

See you on the high seas!

The Salt 2 Kickstarter is officially done!


Wow! What a journey that was. The Salt 2 Kickstarter is officially over and we hit our goal all thanks to you! So, let me go over real quick where we are going from here.

First, it'll take Kickstarter a couple weeks to process and finalize all the pledges. Once that's done we'll have a final list of backers and I'll reach out to you and get information for your rewards. So be on the lookout for that in a few weeks time. 

As for Salt 2 development, we're hard at work moving along as fast as possible and we will be releasing the game onto Steam Early Access in the fall of this year. As always, development time and release dates can change but right now we are on course to hit that mark. 

The closed beta access will be about a month or two before the early access launch. So right now we're looking at early Fall for that. We'll have a more specific date as we get closer. The closed alpha will take place before that so we're looking at probably a late summer timeframe for the alpha. Again these dates can change but this is what we are shooting for right now. We will have more specific info on that as we get a bit closer.

Don't forget you can also wishlist the game on Steam! Also feel free to hop on over to our Discord channel and chat with us (Kickstarter backer roles coming soon!) Thank you all again for all your support. We could not have done this without you and it means a lot that you put your faith and trust in us to make this game. 

See you on the high seas fellow pirates! 

Dev Update: UI Changes, New Points of Interest, and Kickstarter Update!

 


Hey everyone!

We've got some updates to share with you but first we just want to say thank you so much for all of your support during our Kickstarter Campaign. Your donations and support has completely blown us away. We're already at 65% funded and we have 21 days to go. We still need your help to reach the finish line over the next few weeks. Please help us spread the word on social media or to your friends who may be interested in a pirate adventure themselves.

Now, let's dive into what we've been working on as of late! 


UI Changes



Our main focus over the past month (in addition to launching a Kickstarter) has been UI development. We're making some great progress with our user interface and are excited to make it intuitive, polished, and fun to use. 

Because we are building the game with controller support from the beginning, we wanted a way to easily hotkey and change weapons and items with both a keyboard/mouse and a controller. And so we've settled on a radial wheel. This is what it looks like. 


The radial wheel achieves a few goals. It allows us to keep the UI interface minimal while you are playing. Instead of having a large hotbar take up space on the screen, the radial will only pop up when you want it to. Selecting items in the radial is also easy and satisfying for both the keyboard/mouse and the controller. Every item is essentially one click away instead of being cumbersome to get to. We are also allowing you to customize and add items wherever you want on the radial. 

We've also been working on the inventory system. We've chosen to make a larger full screen UI so you can see items easily whether you are playing on a computer monitor or on the couch with a TV. We are working on adding features for sorting your items and you'll be able to inspect items and get more information on them as well.



New Points of Interest



Since exploration is such a huge part of Salt 2, we are constantly adding new and exciting points of interest. It's important for us that you have a ton of content to explore and so we're working hard to build as many interesting places as we can. As of right now we've got tons of caves, ancient ruins, pirate camps, cellars, graveyards, shrines, and more to come.




As always thank you all for reading and be sure and hop on over to the Discord and chat with us sometime!

The Salt 2 Kickstarter is Live!

 


Ahoy Mateys!


Today is the day. The Salt 2 Kickstarter Campaign is now live! We are very excited to go on this journey with you and develop the game with your support and feedback. Even if you can't donate, please consider helping us spread the word and sharing the campaign on social media.


Thank you to everyone for your support and happy pirating! 

Salt 2 Launching on Kickstarter March 23rd, 2021


 

The Salt 2 Kickstarter Launch Trailer is here! We'll be officially launching Salt 2 on Kickstarter March 23rd, 2021. You can sign up on the pre-launch page here. Please help us spread the word and thank you to everyone for your support thus far!

The Salt 2 Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page Is Live!

 


The Kickstarter Pre-Launch page for Salt 2 is now live! The official campaign will launch very soon within the next couple weeks. You can sign up to be notified when the campaign launches currently on the pre-launch page. 

Thank you to everyone who has been with us this far and we are looking forward to developing this game alongside you and with your support! Even if you can't support us financially, please help us spread the word about the game. 

See you on the high seas!
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