Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Official announcement!


More Than Cannons is a game where you play as a new sky captain looking for adventures in the sky. What's the first thing every captain needs? Of course, a sky ship, which you must create by finding random pieces and glue them together to make something that flies - then you can go exploring the skies full of adventures, enemy ships, huge floating islands full of loot and more!

You can really take advantage of your imagination, as everything in the game is highly customizable (even the player character!). You can improve your ship by destroying enemy ships, then taking their parts and adding them to your own (for example better engines, weapons or simply a cute little fountain you like) or by exploring and looting various places like previously mentioned floating islands with dungeons on foot.

Everything is randomly generated (island layouts, enemy design, loot), so every playthrough is different. Yes, playthrough, since the game features permadeath, meaning when you die you die for good, loosing your ship and everything you collected thus far. But fear not, it won't be in total vain, as you can still complete certain objectives/achievements that grant you special items you can find and use in the next playthrough.

After a while you're also able to recruit AI pirates to help you maintain the ship and fight when you board the enemy ship and take it over on foot by killing its captain.

Let's summarize the features:
  • high customization of the character player, from clothes to innovative weapons
  • take advantage of your imagination and build a powerful or a beautiful ship (or both)
  • fight as you want – do you prefer a smaller ship to stealthily approach enemy ships or would you rather have an unstoppable, but slow and vulnerable killing machine?
  • Recruit AI pirates to help you in large scale battles
  • explore wondrous floating islands full of secrets and loot
  • random generated map, enemies and loot means you'll never experience the same thing twice, which leads to infinite replayability!
  • Free DLC

Are you a bad enough dude to do what it takes to become the best sky captain there is? Ahoy!

Concept Art, showing what kind of character you can build.


FAQ
Why should I care?
Because we're giving you loads of artistic freedom to create any kind of ship you want and to proudly fly it through a huge map full with new surprises each time you play it.

Is this a 2D or a 3D game, what's the perspective like?
It's a 2D game. You view the action from the side, meaning the game features a similar perspective as 2D platformers.

How customizable is the ship?
Very. Every tiniest detail is placed by you, from the engine itself to the whole plank layout and paintings. We don't care if you want to make a ship shaped as a certain giant male reproductive organ or a recreation of titanic – you can do it.

Why would I keep playing if my ship gets destroyed?
Because each time you unlock more stuff to add to your ship, meaning next time you'll create an even better ship that might eventually be unstoppable.

Am I glued to my ship or can I explore on foot?
You are able to dock the ship and explore the ship itself or the floating islands anytime. The ship can't be stolen by another AI captain or other player, so you can do it in peace. You can also use this when fighting enemy ships – if you think that it'd be better do dock and assault the enemy ship by foot, you can do that as well, which is particularly interesting when both ships have lots of AI soldiers to participate in a massive, epic battle.

What kind of weapons can I use while fighting on foot?
The weapons will also be customizable, meaning you'll be able to combine two weapons at once just like in the weapon concept art, where you see a parrot tied to a mini cannon. The parrot can be used for melee attacks (pinching), while the cannon does ranged damage. We'll do our best to add as much "parts" as possible so everyone can make something that suits their play style while keeping the game balanced.


Example of weapon crafting

Is there going to be a multiplayer mode?
This remains to be seen, as we're focusing on the singleplayer portion of the game right now, but multiplayer is something this game really needs and we'll do everything to include it in the initial release. So in short, yes.

What platforms will the game be available on?
PC, Windows for now, maybe for Mac and Linux or even consoles after we release it, but right now we're focusing on making the best possible experience on Windows.

When will it be released?
When it's done – probably sometime in 2014.

What about future support?
We're planning on releasing FREE DLC after the game is shipped, to keep the game alive. These kind of packs will always be free, unless we do a huge expansion pack that will take a lot of resources and time, then we will sell it for a few bucks.

Where can I buy it? 
We're starting a fundraiser for it soon, so you'll be able to get it cheap there. Otherwise either on Steam or at our upcoming website.

Why don't you guys have a proper domain/website?
Because it costs money and we're extremely poor. But it's coming soon!

Is this like Faster Than Light?
No, not at all. There are some similar elements, but at its core FTL is more of a tactical micromanagement game while ours is a lot more actiony and fast paced, we also have a big emphasis on fighting and exploring on foot, and as you can see our art style, perspective and management is completely different. The real inspiration behind it is Captain Forever (play it).


How can I help?
We wouldn't mind if you share this page to your friends, we need as much publicity as we can! We're also recruiting programmers, so if you are one you can apply to morethancannons@gmail.com. Thanks!