The Retrospective Article
A group "photo" of the team. 3 years before the production started
With the game completed according to its launch scope, whether good or bad, it was what we set out to do. We learned a lot from this experience, as it was the first game of the studio. I'd like to continue the tradition as an old-school game developer by publicly releasing our project's retrospective (or postmortem if you would have it that way).
I hope you find this article enjoyable to read and that it helps everyone who wants to learn more about our plans. Additionally, it may provide valuable insight for industry professionals interested in understanding Steam's recent launch.
Read it now on our website. Airship: Kingdoms Adrift - A Director's Retrospective
Roadmap for Airship: Kingdoms Adrift
What lies ahead for Airship: Kingdoms Adrift? We've consistently emphasized that Kingdoms Adrift is a complete game with post-sales services, and our commitment to supporting it has always been clear. If you just came here from the retrospective article above, you’d know that there are limitations to what we can improve further, given the state of the design and engineering. So, allow me to discuss those and address them before we delve into the roadmap to elaborate on what we can and will continue to do.
What we can't do? While we hold Kingdoms Adrift dearly as our first game, certain adjustments cannot be made without essentially creating an entirely new game. We believe it's more beneficial to learn from our mistakes and apply those lessons to future projects rather than continuously attempting to fix parts that are irreparably broken. These are:
- Rewrite and retell the story
- Enable engagement between NPCs
- Improve AI behavior
- Add more PvP features
- Introducing more quest variety
What we will do in the upcoming months? Despite the limitations, there are still opportunities to enhance the player experience and gain insights into various aspects of design and technology. By leveraging our existing resources, we can make meaningful improvements and lay the groundwork for future projects.
- Continuing the Beta Program: We're extending the beta session and opening up the Beta branch to the public. Confidentiality restrictions will be lifted, allowing everyone to switch to the Beta branch if they desire. We'll streamline our Discord server accordingly, and unless urgent, the new progress will remain Beta for at least a month before being promoted to default.
- Maintaining Regular Updates: We'll consistently address bugs, adjust balancing, and improve performance to ensure stability. We'll also incorporate the latest hardware/software compliance standards whenever possible.
- Implementing Automation to the Industry Feature: We'll focus on improving the well-structured Industry feature over time. Game designers will provide devlogs to discuss these enhancements and gather feedback periodically.
- Further Addressing Issues with Travel Time: We understand the complexities involved in travel time between places, as discussed in the retrospective. We'll closely engage with the community to explore additional improvements in this area.
- Expanding Modding Capabilities: Gradually, we'll introduce enhancements to facilitate modding. This effort aims to simplify base-level architecture for modders and provide players with options to customize their experience on aspects beyond our control.
- Initiating a Community Translation Project: Due to repeated requests, we've made our localization file publicly available. In the previous update, we released the project’s .csv file. Additionally, we'll establish a localization section on Discord and kick-start the translation project there.
I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who has taken the time to read this article until the very end. I hope our experiences have provided valuable insights and learnings to you. Thank you for your attention and support. - Jay
Update Note for 1.5.2.5
Status:
LIVE NOW: 23rd February 2024
Older Saves: Safe to continue
New Stuff:
Added an option to switch between metric and imperial units of measurement
You can now use Steam’s Launch option “-debug” to access the debug version of the game for test purposes. Find out more about debug commands in our Discord community: LINK
You can now scrap ships from the hangar permanently if you want to do so.
Improvements:
- Allow adding captured ships to the fleet in place of destroyed escorts
- Improve the consistency of shield toggling behavior
- Nuala's questline is now tracked on the quest log
- Weapon range and reload calculation should now be more robust
- Compulsive Beam ramping damage should now be more robust
- The firing arc should flicker less when changing the firing chain and with fewer rendering issues
- Added damage-resistant negation to Compulsive Beam
- Added universally producible parts to the rest of the parts production workshop
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed prompt to officer level-up notification not appearing
- Fixed memory leak caused by ship texture not unloading while switching between ships
- Fixed Steam’s overlay and leaving/entering app focus locked up the keyboard input
- Fixed font display errors on the main quest instruction panel
- Fixed reload speed calculation logic
- Fixed weapons range calculation logic
- Fixed error and feedback pop-up closed the game upon exiting
- Fixed another repair logic error which caused a miscalculation in the repair value
- Fixed a shield toggle button being rendered off the screen
- Fixed cruising not getting turned off on arrival at higher time dilation
- Fixed Firwood logs being offered in Arran Town instead of the intended Pinewood
- Fixed graphic glitches on Mana Grypon while in port
- Fixed some logistic quest sizes not being labeled correctly
- Fixed talents and functions that repair certain part types not repairing
- Fixed talents that add specific parts repair not repairing
Detailed Balancing Changes:
Drives:
1. Mana motor
1.1 Torque 600000 > 660000
1.2 ManeuverPropulsion 46000 > 47000
2. Medium mana motor
2.1 Propulsion 420000 > 450000
2.2 Torque 1920000 > 2160000
2.3 ManeuverPropulsion 144000 > 150000
3. Large mana motor
3.1 Propulsion 640000 > 660000
3.2 Torque 2720000 > 3000000
3.3 ManeuverPropulsion 200000 > 208000
Cannons:
1. Heavy Himmelrite Blitz Cannon
1.1 Potency 989 > 1116
1.2 Reload time 5.20 > 4.60
2. Heavy Viridite Blitz Cannon
2.1 Potency 952 > 1028
2.2 Reload time 5.40 > 5.00
3. Heavy Himmelrite Bustercannon
3.1 Power per shot 650 > 700
4. Heavy Viridite Bustercannon
4.1 Power per shot 650 > 700
Repeaters:
1. Twin repeater
1.1 Potency 1448 > 1585
1.2 Reload time 5.65 > 5.15
2.Twin Viridite repeater
2.1 Potency 1500 > 1647
2.2 Reload time 5.45 > 4.95
Protection parts:
1. Mechanized plating
1.1 Integrity 3200 > 4100
1.2 Repair/s 5 > 17
1.3 Power consumption 25 > 17
2. Medium mechanized plating
2.1 Integrity 6400 > 8200
2.2 Repair/s 10 > 35
2.3 Power consumption 50 > 35
3. Large mechanized plating
3.1 Integrity 12800 > 16400
3.2 Repair/s 25 > 70
3.3 Power consumption 100 > 70
4. Generative alloy plate
4.1 Integrity 6800 > 8800
4.2 Repair/s 25 > 70
5. Large generative alloy plate
5.1 Integrity 13600 > 17600
5.2 Repair/s 55 > 140
