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Pirates of the Burning Sea - All News

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Box Art

Tuesday - October 06, 2009

PotBS - Expansion Interview

by Myrthos, 21:33

In an interview CEO Russell Williams and Associate Producer Janice Von Itter explain what they are doing in the upcoming expansion of Pirates of the Buring Sea.

For quite some time, Flying Lab Software has been refining and improving upon the core of Pirates of the Burning Sea. Then, at PAX, they announced their first major expansion pack - Power and Prestige – which marks a shift in development towards new, themed content. FLS CEO Rusty Williams and Associate Producer Janice Von Itter recently discussed this announcement with MMORPG.com.

Everything in this free update – due out next year – revolves around its title. They want to make players feel more important, more legendary. And what’s more legendary than being a governor of a port?

That’s the core feature of Power and Prestige. Players can submit themselves for the post and then must campaign within the game to secure the votes of other players. Whoever wins the voting is declared the governor for a period of time and put in charge of the port’s economic and defensive decisions.

Saturday - September 05, 2009

PotBS - New Expansion

by Myrthos, 22:12

Ten Ton Hammer has the intel that a new expansion is in the making for Pirates of the Burning Sea. In the new expansion, players will be able to develop a port's trading and manufacturing capabilities (and collect a portion of the taxes) or, in a scorched earth scenario, tear previous developments down, leaving nothing for the enemy.

Tuesday - January 06, 2009

PotBS - Avatar Combat Revamp Live

by Dhruin, 00:30

The large v1.11 update to Pirates of the Burning Sea titled The Clash of Steel that introduces huge changes to avatar combat went live last week - head over to the official site to read about the new stuff in v1.11.  Here's a snip from the patch notes on the content changes:

  • Every AvCom mission in the game has been updated to work with the new system.
  • We've increased the number of levels the difficulty slider adds to NPCs. This means each difficulty setting from the Port Captain should increase the difficulty of Avatar missions more than it used to.
  • We've substantially changed the way boarding works. Instead of having 6 or 9 boarding members, you have 4 or 5. Boarding party members are also 1 level lower than their respective captains, and you have more waves of reinforcements than before.
  • New group daily mission:  The Guns of Del Morro! The Confrérie Libre have taken over an old fort overlooking a vital shipping lane and are sinking any ships that pass! You must fight through the enemy pirates, spike the cannons, and escape! Visit Santiago to try it out.
  • New daily mission: Pit Fight! We've added a new daily mission in Tortuga that allows you to fight characters from every faction in the game, mano-a-mano. Completing the mission gives you a token that you can spend in a special shop with some new items and rewards. See Pit Boss Roy in Tortuga for more information.
  • New solo mission: Bloodsport!   This mission allows you to battle various factions in the game at no cost. Dying in the Bloodsport mission does not consume smelling salts, and there is no loot or XP awarded. This mission exists purely as a "Sandbox" for you to test out skills and combat. Visit your friendly neighborhood Fighting Master in Rosignol, Fort Caroline, Morgan's Bluff, Barilla, Belize, Biloxi, Spanish Town, Roseau, Golden Lake, Matthew Town, Maracaibo, and Santo Domingo.
  • Old Fighting Master missions have been removed.
  • Bey's Retreat and Fortaleza da Luz are temporarily hidden as we update them to work with the new system.
  • Lots of bug fixes for encounters.

Source: EuroGamer

Monday - November 03, 2008

PotBS - Interview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Asbjoern, 21:40

Pirate of the Burning Sea's Lead Designer Kevin Maginn has been interviewed by Ten Ton Hammer about his recent developer blog entry about avatar combat:

According to Kevin, the PotBS team has been working on updating the avatar combat system since shortly after the team shipped the game. They weren’t entirely satisfied with the way avatar combat felt, so they have been continually making iterations on the design. 

 “I consider my top priority to be designing a game I have fun playing; if I’m not enjoying it, I certainly can’t expect players to enjoy it,” Kevin said. “And while I had moments of fun in our initial avatar combat system, I also had moments of irritation, where I just wanted to reach inside the game and change things.  Luckily for me, I can do that.”

Tuesday - September 30, 2008

PotBS - 14-day Trial

by Dhruin, 11:59

Flying Lab has announced a 14-day trial offer for Pirates of the Burning Sea - you'll need to plug your email address into this page and they'll send you a key to their nautical game.

Sunday - April 27, 2008

PotBS - Wrap Report @ RPG Vault

by Asbjoern, 12:16

RPG Vault features a Wrap Report (Post-release article) on Pirates of the Burning Sea, where Russel Williams speaks about the game's development history, reception and future:

Development began late in 2002. We had a number of scope changes during the project; they led ship dates revisions. This meant we were very tightly focused during development, which was both a good and bad thing. Though we went off-track a number of times, our focus meant we kept our eye on the ball, which led to keeping the budget in line with what we were trying to accomplish. The negative is that we made a number of decisions along the way that sacrificed some long-term benefits in favor of short-term gains, based upon ship dates that were later changed. Had we known what the final scope of the project was, and what the actual date would be, we would have made some of those decisions differently.

The biggest change, though, is that once we'd built the game and tested it, we found the nature of the ship combat in a seamless world meant either the battles would suck or travel times would be incredibly long. We could have soldiered on and shipped that game, but instead, we took a year, ripped it apart, and built it again using instancing. That's a key advantage of keeping a small prototype team until you're sure your game is solid; if we'd had the full team and its associated burn rate at that point, rebuilding the world would have been impossible.

Source: Blue's News

Saturday - April 19, 2008

PotBS - Servers Merge Explained @ WarCry

by Asbjoern, 00:13

An interesting read is up at WarCry where CEO Russel Williams speaks about the recent merge from 11 to 4 servers in Pirates of the Burning Sea. It is difficult not to quote the entire text but here is an excerpt:

Earlier this week, Flying Lab Software made the most dreaded of announcements: server merges. Typically, this means an MMO is in trouble, but according to CEO Russell Williams, that is not the case for Pirates of the Burning Sea, which remains a healthy game, for the most part in line with their projections.

"Companies are so afraid of any negative publicity that they basically wait until the game is on life support," said Williams. "People are always nervous about change, but the fact is the game has so many interrelated systems that the game really does function better when there is a higher density of people."

Currently, Pirates of the Burning Sea has 11 servers and after the merges in 30 days, that number will be cut to four (five including Australia and a Russian one coming in June). However, the capacity of each of those four servers is double that of each of the 11 they have now, which obviously helps population density. Further, one of those servers was for their Spanish launch, a debacle Williams has yet to fully understand.

"The Spanish launch is extremely disappointing," admitted Williams. The theory seemed solid. Spain is one of the four playable nations in Pirates of the Burning Sea and often ignored by the MMO community. As such, FLS decided to put some effort into a simultaneous Spanish launch and a dedicated Spanish server. It didn't work. Williams, to this day, has absolutely no idea what went wrong. He's seen some evidence that the game did, in fact, make it to shelves in Spain, but the subscribers never materialized.

Source: Bluesnews

Wednesday - April 16, 2008

PotBS - Servers Merge

by Woges, 20:53

11 servers become 4 all the offical info here.

When Pirates of the Burning Sea launched on January 22nd, we introduced our customers to 11 new game servers. Through feedback from our players and evaluation of our server populations, it has become clear that key game features require populations of higher density in order to function at optimum levels. When you take into account both the disparity in player time zones and the delayed launch of our title in some countries, we were spreading our overall population too thin. Also, in more recent builds, we were able to improve our server technology to allow for an even larger population than we were originally equipped to handle.

Friday - April 11, 2008

PotBS - Review @ MPOGD.com

by Asbjoern, 18:23

MPOGD.com reviews Pirates of the Burning Sea with a score of 3/5:

Pirates of the Burning Sea is a mixed bag of a MMO, as it features some really nice concepts that are done pretty well, and it’s nice to see a MMO that doesn’t fit into your standard fantasy and sci-fi genres. For everything it does well, however, there are two or three more things about the game that are unsettling, and after only a few hours the game had already became pretty repetitive and. Pirates of the Burning Sea feels like a game that EVE Online players will love (since they share some of the same elements) but not one a World of Warcraft or LOTRO player would necessarily enjoy. The game has potential, but as of now it doesn’t feel as fulfilled as it could be.

Source: Bluesnews

Monday - March 24, 2008

PotBS - Buddy Key Program

by Asbjoern, 14:44

Today it is made possible for Pirates of the Burning Sea players to invite three friends to a 14-day free trial of the game. They call it the "Pirates of the Burning Sea Buddy Key Program":

This Monday we will be unveiling the Pirates of the Burning Sea Buddy Key Program, which will allow customers with active accounts to invite three of your favorite people to join you on the Burning Sea for a 14 day trial – free!

The three keys will be generated just for you, and can be used at any time. The trial doesn’t start until the keys are entered, and they don’t expire until they’ve been activated.

Rhaegar will be providing download links and instructions for you to claim your three buddy keys on Monday, so keep your eyes on the headlines!

Enjoy, won’t you?
Aether

Source: WarCry

Wednesday - March 19, 2008

PotBS - Review @ About.com

by Asbjoern, 22:05

Pirates of the Burning Sea has been reviewed by About.com resulting in a score of 4.5/5:

The Bottom Line
Quite frankly, this review doesn't touch on half the problems facing PotBS. It's an unusually ambitious game, and Flying Lab is sailing into uncharted waters, so it's bound to have rough spots. It also requires a considerable amount of patience. A lot of people will be bored or frustrated sick long before they get a decent ship and start making a meaningful contribution to the larger PvP conflict. Even if they survive they lower levels, they'll have to cope with population imbalances, a stumbling economy, dysfunctional PvP mechanics, and a host of other issues.

Yet, there's something about PotBS that makes you want to overlook all the game's weaknesses and keep playing. When the naval combat is good, it's really good. The setting and the wooden ships are irresistable, and at the end of the day, there's just nothing else like it right now. This may not be enough to save it from obscurity, but I sincerely hope that the game does find an audience, because there's tremendous potential for fun here that falls outside of standard online RPG formula.

Source: Blizzard

Tuesday - March 18, 2008

PotBS - Patch v. 1.2.67.0 Released

by Asbjoern, 23:40

This is indeed a great day for Pirates of the Burning Sea players. The games has been upgraded from v. 1.1.69.0 to v. 1.2.67.0 introducing a lot of changes, bug fixes and additions. Some of the major points are:

  • Bey's Retreat: Bey's Retreat is the unapproachable stronghold to which the Corsairs of the Main escape when the national navies and Brethren pirates chase them down. You and your allies (do not try this alone) have a rare window of opportunity to attack when the defenses are weaker than usual. Still, the chances of everyone making it through unscathed are minimal. See Mattt's Devlog for more info.
  • Changes to Open Sea battle placement: We've replaced a system where allies sometimes spawned too far from the battle to make it into the fight before it was over and enemies sometimes spawned on top of each other. The new system should result in a more fun experience for all. See Taelorn's Devlog for more info.
  • Underdog tools: If your nation wins the map, it becomes more difficult for them to do so next time. The losers get a little boost. See Isildur's Devlog for details.
  • UI Improvements: We've revamped chat channels, added chat bubbles (that you can turn off), improved the Social UI, and made other changes. See Fraxl's Devlog for more info.
  • Fight Gold Spammers: Among other changes we've made to combat these parasites, you can now use /spam to report gold spammers without leaving the game or right-click the character name in your chat window and choose Report Spam. Reporting spam also automatically adds the character to your ignore list. There are many other changes we're very excited about. Details of some are listed below.

You can read the entire (and very long) release notes here.

Source: Bluesnews

Monday - March 17, 2008

PotBS - Preview of Patch 1.2 @ WarCry

by Asbjoern, 23:08

WarCry has had the opportunity to get a preview of Patch 1.2, which will be released to the servers tomorrow. Some of the main aspects of the patch are:

"[Patch] 1.2 is the sum total of all the content that the art and mission design teams have been working on since we froze for the gold master in November, so we have quite a bit of stuff in it," Ludwig explained. In addition to ongoing bug fixes and game balance tweaks, 1.2 contains new zones and missions that appeal to novices and veterans alike. Perhaps the most notable change is to Pointe-à-Pitre, the French capital city. Pointe-à-Pitre sees a complete overhaul in Patch 1.2 that allows it to stand out from other French ports.

"The second biggest thing in the 1.2 content update is 'Bey's Retreat,' which is an epic mission," said Ludwig. "Basically, a really hard, really long group-oriented mission," The mission is available at Rank 25, but scales so as to remain a challenge to players of all ranks. Expect to take a full group of minimum Rank 25 players with you and make sure you allow a considerable chunk of time to complete the encounter. "Bey's Retreat" will subject players to wave after wave of enemy ships, multiple bosses and loot that will be attractive to even Rank 50 players.

Friday - March 07, 2008

PotBS - Review @ IncGamers

by Woges, 17:10

Another positive review for PotBS by Stephen Macek. 

Whether you are a fan of MMOs or this is your first experience, 'Pirates' seems to be a good game. It is relatively easy to pick up and play and quite difficult to put down once you get started. If you can manage to meet up with some mates online, it is even more engaging. I feel comfortable recommending this game to anyone interested and I will post a more formal review once I get my sea-legs.

Tuesday - March 04, 2008

PotBS - Review @ CVG

by Woges, 01:11

Another review of PotBS over at CVG by Tim Edwards. A mixed review with a final score of 7.2/10.

Once you get going, it isn't long before you realise that you're playing Elite on the high-seas; trading with other players for the goods they need, and running a profit/loss spreadsheet in a separate window.

This is fundamentally fun. I'm pleased that Pirates does this. But there are basic flaws. Now the game is up and running, and not in beta (I'm reviewing this off a retail version, after the game has gone on sale) we can see how the developers' vision is playing out. 

Monday - March 03, 2008

PotBS - Review @ Gamespot

by Woges, 12:23

Kevin VanOrd has reviewed PotBS over at Gamespot giving it a healthy 8/10.

Pirates of the Burning Sea isn't World of Warcraft with swashbuckling. In fact, if we were forced to draw comparisons between Flying Lab Software's massively multiplayer role-playing game and another title, it would be EVE Online. Like EVE, Pirates is a complex game featuring an intricate supply-line economy--and like its galactic counterpart, its rewards aren't always immediate or obvious. No, it takes a while for the game to wriggle into your psyche. This isn't because the early hours aren't fun--they are--but because there's a bit of a learning curve to conquer before the pieces all fall into place.

Thursday - February 14, 2008

PotBS - Primer @ IGN.AU

by Inauro, 20:53

IGN.AU has posted a Pirates of the Burning Sea primer to help players get under way in Flying Labs' new nautical MMO.

When you start Pirates you've got four different nations that you can play – Spanish, Pirate, British, French. And if you're playing Spanish, British or French, you've got these various sub-classes that you can play. So you can play Free-traders, and Free-traders are the economic anchors in the game – they make everything in the gameworld, all the way from bandages to cannon balls, to the actual ships themselves. And that has a huge profound implication for how our PVP works.

Source: IGN

PotBS - Interview @ Gamespot AU

by Inauro, 20:50

Gamespot AU catches up with Russell Williams, co-founder of Flying Lab Software, to talk about the recent launch of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

GameSpot AU: Given Blizzard's domination of the MMO market with World of Warcraft, how hard is it to get eyeballs on a fresh title?

Russell Williams: I think if we were releasing another elves and dwarves game it would be a hell of a lot harder. But the great thing is, when you're releasing a pirate game, people's eyes light up when you say the word "pirate"--people get it immediately. I don't have to explain the background or the understanding of it. People get excited about it. The fact is, Disney showed us with the Pirates of the Caribbean films that if you put out something good with pirates, people love it, and they're interested in picking it up and trying it out.

Source: GameSpot

Wednesday - February 13, 2008

PotBS - Review @ PC IGN

by Dhruin, 11:53

IGN has posted their full review of Pirates of the Burning Sea, awarding a score of 8.2/10 but criticising some apparently unnecessary complexity:

We have to admit that we weren't big fans at first. The game simply seemed to offer a fairly standard MMO approach with hot bars, xp grinds, and the usual assortment of lethargic NPCs who are only interested in seeing if you'll run a few errands for them. But after playing for a week or so, the game began to reveal a rich ship combat system that relied more on the player than their character. Further play opened up a sophisticated economy that is not only driven by the players, but also acts as an incentive to participate in a rewarding PVP game that's not strictly geared towards veteran players.

Monday - February 04, 2008

PotBS - Review @ Gaming Heaven

by Inauro, 20:50

Gaming Heaven weighs anchor with Flying Lab's Pirates of the Burning Sea.

I’m a bit torn about Pirates of the Burning Sea. On one hand the game delivers plenty of new features that other MMOs would do good to copy. The naval combat is a tacticians dream and with a good group of players naval battles resemble actual naval engagements. The economy is well designed as well, with crafted items actually needed by players and pirates hard at work to prevent them from being delivered. To top it off, the setting is very original and a breath of fresh air. On the other hand the game is very unfriendly to newcomers, has a horrible sword combat system and the economy is right now still half asleep. With time the game could turn out to be one of the best MMOs, but right now only MMO buffs will be truly able to enjoy it.

PotBS - Q&A @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 20:46

RPG Vault catches up with four key members of the Flying Lab Software team to discuss their work on Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Jonric: With respect to your personal contribution to Pirates of the Burning Sea, what are a couple of things that stand out? What are you most proud of, and what did you find most challenging?

John Scott Tynes
Producer

My first pick would be the user content system for flags and sails, which I spec'ed way back in November of 2002. I'd spent a lot of time over the years playing Doom mods and the like, and thought we needed a way to apply that kind of creativity to an MMO. This was before Second Life, and the prospect of reviewing and approving user content in an MMO was commonly considered an unworkable idea. Fortunately, HotorNot.com supplied the peer review methodology we needed to make it workable, and it's been a huge success.

Source: RPG Vault

Saturday - February 02, 2008

PotBS - Interview @ PotBS Vault

by Inauro, 23:54

PotBS Vault chats to Bruce Sharp and Tom Tobey, Art Director and Lead Animator for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Bruce: One of the first things that's going to happen is that UI is going to get a lot of attention. There have been a lot of complaints about UI so we've put together this little task force and they're all going to review what's been said, and see where we need to go with that. After that, or maybe even simultaenously, we're getting dev support for this. The environment pipeline is kinda slow, our toolset isn't great so it takes a while to make a town. I have interns from the school where I teach doing what should be done by the tool. They're putting in the physics, like they're building all these shapes and stuff around the objects ingame so they don't collide. So we're really going to have a big overhaul of the tools. It's something that players won't see but what they will see is more content coming out more quickly.

Source: IGN

Thursday - January 31, 2008

PotBS - Review @ VideoGamer.com

by Inauro, 20:52

VideoGamer.com reviews Pirates of the Burning Sea and makes some interesting points about community and the endgame.

It's also worth casting an eye over what PotBS will have in store for players who get to later levels. Societies replace guilds (you can only join a society of members from your own nation, which we think is a bit of a drag). We've already talked about the tantalising prospect of 25 vs 25 PVP fleet battles, but we're also interested in port conquests. Societies can make a port vulnerable to conquest by fighting NPC trade envoys, naval squadrons and privateers in sea battles and engaging in economic based missions, for example manufacturing gunpowder and other supplies and giving them to rebels in the port. It's then up to you and your sea mates to turn the tide of control on the port, giving your society a server-wide victory and special loot. Nice.

PotBS - Gameplay Section @ Official Site

by Inauro, 20:49

Flying Lab has updated the Pirates of the Burning Sea site with a new gameplay section.

We’ve added a new section to our website! Titled Game Play, this section has some handy resources for anyone looking for additional information regarding Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Complete with Server Status, the Message of the Day, an ever growing list of emotes, the Patch Notes Archive and a downloadable PDF of our game play manual, this section is a must see for every Pirates of the Burning Sea fan.

You can check it out for yourself by visiting this link, or you can click the Game Play menu item on the left side of our site.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Wednesday - January 30, 2008

PotBS - Version 1.1 Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 20:46

Flying Lab has updated the Pirates of the Burning Sea site with a developer log looking ahead to version 1.1 of their newly released MMO.

Version 1.1 is here! This new version of Pirates of the Burning Sea is primarily a bug-fix build—but what a bug-fix build it is. I just ran a query on our bug database and found that this build includes the fixes for more than one thousand bugs. The vast majority of those are text and content bugs, most so small that they aren’t included in our patch notes or Misha’s head would explode when she writes them, but you’ll find small polish improvements throughout the game as well as stability and performance improvements. (Our first free content update, v1.2, is coming soon. That has lots of new content and features and we’ll start sharing details on it in just a couple weeks.)

Source: Flying Lab Software

Sunday - January 27, 2008

PotBS - Reviews @ Hooked Gamers & Trusted Reviews

by Inauro, 23:42

Hooked Gamers and Trusted Reviews weigh in with reviews of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Hooked Gamers

With all that said, Pirates of the Burning Seas is a welcome change of pace to the MMO world. This title will attract many players with diverse interests ranging from hardcore Player vs. Player, to character grinding, to playing with a live economy. There is a little something for every kind of player waiting in this swashbuckling version of 1720. With a little time and polish, the handful of minor bugs can be worked out and the full potential of this title may finally be realized.

Trusted Reviews

Generally, then, it's all good news for PotBS. The quests are fun, there's a healthy sense of progression and the Caribbean atmosphere is strong. It helps that the graphics engine, at least running at full-tilt on my Core 2 Quad 6850/Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra system, looks very nice indeed, with a little of WoW's welcoming cartooniness but with the addition of some lovely tropical lighting and a character that's all its own. Head out to sea, and the ocean waves look beautiful, with plenty of activity and detail visible aboard your ship. PotBS also packs in a fine selection of jaunty nautical music along with some suitably strident battle themes. In many MMOs you can sense the cut corners and rough edges that result in the rush to market. Here, as with WoW and LoTRO, you can see the love and attention that has gone into the game.

Saturday - January 26, 2008

PotBS - Review @ YouGamers

by Inauro, 22:05

YouGamers sets sail with Pirates of the Burning Sea, awarding Flying Lab's MMO a score of 82 and in a mostly positive review concluding:

The limited number of careers (character classes) and the current weakness of most of the available abilities will most likely hamper replayability and create min-maxed cookie-cutter builds that everyone uses. I could see myself rolling maybe one or two alternate characters over time, but chronic alt-a-holics may grumble a bit about the lack of choices. It remains to be seen how engaging the endgame at level 50 will be in the long run, but in any case there is enough here to justify the sticker price and the subscription fees for a few months. Not every MMO has to be all-consuming affair that takes over your life, and this one is definitely casual-friendly, offering things to do even when played in moderation; yet it does include features that could entice veteran players to compete long after the initial level grind to 50 is done. At a minimum, Pirates of a Burning Sea is a tasty light snack to be enjoyed in addition to other games, or as an appetizer while waiting for the Next Big MMO, but it's quite possible that it will develop to be the Yarr-tastic sea-based stepchild of EVE Online with the cutthroat PvP aspect keeping things going - only time will tell.

Thursday - January 24, 2008

PotBS - Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 20:45

A new developer journal at the official site outlines Flying Labs plans for upgrading the Pirates of the Burning Sea user interface.

To help the UI along, an elite “strike team” has been created. I’m on it, along with artist Kevin Loza, developer Mike Byron and Sharon Evans from QA. To enable us to work faster and be more responsive, we’ve actually moved all our desks to the same area in the office. This way, we can work out the details of the UI from start to finish without having to run up flights of stairs all the time. We even have a couch so FLS staff from other teams can jump in to help as they’re needed.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Tuesday - January 22, 2008

PotBS - Launch Day Video & Screens @ WarCry

by Inauro, 20:49

WarCry hosts 15 new screenshots and one new video in honour of Pirates of the Burning Sea setting sail. 

Source: WarCry

PotBS - Ships Ahoy!

by Inauro, 20:47

Flying Lab Software has announced the launch of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

SAN DIEGO, CA - Jan. 22, 2008 - Grab your parrot, raise the gang plank and ready the cannons with Pirates of the Burning Sea™ (PotBS), the hotly anticipated online PC game where players can clash on land and sea. This new title from Sony Online Entertainment LLC's (SOE) Platform Publishing label, and Flying Lab Software LLC (FLS), is available today at participating retail outlets worldwide and as a digital download through www.station.com and www.direct2drive.com for a suggested retail price of US$49.99, with a monthly subscription fee of US$14.99 plus applicable taxes.

"After years of hard work by our top-notch crew, we are thrilled to announce players can now conquer the virtual Caribbean, circa 1720, in Pirates of the Burning Sea," said Russell Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software in Seattle. "Working together with SOE's Platform Publishing, we are able to launch this game simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe and release localized versions in English, French, Spanish and German, allowing players from all over to captain a ship in this world full of swashbuckling and high-seas adventure."

Players start by joining the French, Spanish, English or Pirate nations as a naval officer, freetrader, privateer or pirate. At sea, players can blow enemy ships out of the water. On land, players can engage in a world of action and peril rife with sword fights. A unique economy lets players become captains of industry, running mines, lumber mills, shipyards and other large-scale operations. Players produce all the various goods needed to supply others with the raw materials to conquer the Caribbean, one port at a time. A player-generated content system lets gamers create their own sail and flag designs and even model their own ships.

Set in the New World circa 1720, PotBS recreates a dramatic time of conflict and riches with action for every play style, from epic ship combat to building an empire. With more than one thousand missions per nation, dozens of ports to explore, and the entire Caribbean as their domain, players will find an online experience like no other.

Pirates of the Burning Sea game features:

  • Join one of four nations (Pirate, English, French, or Spanish)
  • Every player is the captain of their very own ship in massive naval battles
  • Duel other players to control more than 80 conquerable ports in the Caribbean
  • Explore the world and make a name for yourself with more than 1,000 missions per nation
  • Economy driven by players, who manufacture and sell all ships and equipment found in the game
  • Take command of more than 50 historical ships
  • Design your own flags and sails
  • Build your very own or customize any of the ships in-game to your liking
  • Choose from three different combat styles - deadly and formal Fencing, flashy, dual-wielding Florentine or rowdy and treacherous Dirty Fighting
  • Participate in epic PvP sea battles with up to 25 players per side
For more information on Pirates of the Burning Sea, log onto www.piratesoftheburningsea.com or the community site at www.burningsea.com.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - January 10, 2008

PotBS - Screenshots @ WarCry

by Inauro, 20:54

WarCry has posted two new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

Source: WarCry

Saturday - January 05, 2008

PotBS - Preview @ GameZone

by Inauro, 23:57

GameZone previews Flying Lab Software's Pirates of the Burning Sea.

But lest you think that PotBS is all about sea battles or sword duels, you are limiting yourself to the scope of what Flying Labs has created. You see, the economic system of the world is in the hands of the players. Players create the materials that populate the world, from bandages up to ships and riggings. It is, without a doubt, one of the deepest systems ever inserted into an MMO and the amusing thing is (if it can be termed ‘amusing’) is that the prices are so competitive (no sense of price gouging) and the system runs so well, that players may not realize that initially. … well, at least not in the beta.

Source: GameZone

Wednesday - December 19, 2007

PotBS - Preview @ WarCry

by Inauro, 20:54

WarCry is making the most of the lifting of the Pirates of the Burning Sea beta NDA with a tour of the Flying Lab Software offices.

We then traveled to the Ghost Ship! That's right, Pirates of The Burning Sea has ghost ships! I was told that it won't be easy to find, and you will need to be well prepared to fight it. They are ghosts after all; a normal sword won't cut it. You will have to visit graves and other interesting places, following rumors and searching all over to find out where the ship is, and more importantly, how to fight it. The ship as you can see in the video was well done, the ghosts raising out of the decks, and swirling around the ship as the full moon shines down. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually fight the ghost ship on the tour, but I must admit, I am looking forward to doing so soon.

Source: WarCry

Monday - December 17, 2007

PotBS - Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 20:55

A new developer journal at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site takes a closer look at ships of the line.

From the start, our goals have been for SOLs to be very rare, very hard to earn, and to be deployed only at port battles of great strategic importance to a nation. We havent met these goals very well. In the closed beta, SOLs were earned by getting a Writ, and the most efficient way to get a Writ was by mindlessly grinding high-level NPCs. Since grinding would get you an SOL, they were seen frequently at port battles where they utterly dominated. This meant that getting an SOL was a sucky single-player grind and that many players got them and used them in every battle they could.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - December 13, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ WarCry

by Inauro, 21:07

WarCry has posted two new and exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

Source: WarCry

Wednesday - December 12, 2007

PotBS - Beta Journal @ PotBS Vault

by Inauro, 21:24

PotBS Vault has posted a new beta journal from John Scott Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Red Tide is a level 6 mission located in the first town you start in when you make a new character. It’s also the first group mission in the game, meaning you should really get a group together to play it. This is a tough mission, especially for new players, so it’s a chance for them to group up and see what it’s like to have a really big naval battle with a lot of players in it.

PotBS - Dev Journal @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:21

Flying Lab Software's Rick Saada responds to MMORPG.com readers' questions in the form of a new Pirates of the Burning Sea dev journal.

The first and most frequent comment has been about our use of instancing. As many posters have noticed, we do a lot of it. More in fact than we’d like, but much of it is for good reason. The underlying reason for most of our instancing is that a continuous world doesn’t work well for a ship based game set in an even remotely realistically scaled Caribbean. We started out, several years ago, trying to do just that. We had realistic speeds, realistic distances between islands, realistic island sizes, etc. It was *horrible*.

Source: MMORPG.com

Wednesday - December 05, 2007

PotBS - Open Beta @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:16

With the recent lifting of the NDA and the announcement of an open beta to commence on the 7th of December, there's a lot of buzz around Pirates of the Burning Sea.  Head on over to the official site for the latest news

Source: Flying Lab Software

Tuesday - December 04, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ WarCry

by Inauro, 21:12

WarCry chats to Jess Lebow, the Content Director for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

WarCry: Often, we're told that when history and fun collide, fun wins. While that makes perfect sense, talk about some of the areas where historical accuracy has endured.

Jess Lebow: I think the biggest thing is the sense of freedom and danger that were so prevalent in the Caribbean at that time. If you take a look at the map and you think about the political climate in 1720, you realize that the conditions were absolutely perfect for piracy. It's a huge area, dotted with islands-which means there were plenty of places to hide. The fastest form of travel is via sailing ship-which means that a pirate in a small ship is likely as well equipped as even the British navy and in many cases too fast to catch.

Source: WarCry

Tuesday - November 27, 2007

PotBS - Chat Log & Summary @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 22:09

MMORPG.com has posted the transcript and a summary of the recent chat with the developers of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Seems like an exciting time for the Flying Lab Folks, but it isn’t all smiles and sunshine on the open sea, as the company has had an “up hill climb” in terms of getting their pre-order boxes on store shelves. That isn’t a particularly surprising fact, with the Christmas season fast approaching and everyone and their dog releasing new games for the occasion, retailers just aren’t stocking as many MMOs as you might think. “If you've been to a dedicated games retailer in the last year or so,” said Tynes, “you've probably realized that PC titles are not a big priority for them in any event. That plus the heavy Christmas release schedule of major titles has made it an uphill climb.”

Source: MMORPG.com

Thursday - November 15, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ WarCry

by Inauro, 21:03

Head on over to WarCry for two exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

Source: WarCry

Wednesday - November 07, 2007

PotBS - Community Spotlight @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:16

Meet another member of the Pirates of the Burning Sea community in this week's Community Spotlight at the official site.

What do you like about being in the Pirates of the Burning Sea community?

The communication and friendly environment. I know as the community grows it gets harder and harder to maintain the friendly atmosphere. That is why it falls upon us that are here to keep it friendly. The communication we have with the Devs is unbelievable. I have seen Rusty post at 1am in the morning while working on Misha’s PC. I have seen Taelorn post at all hours of the day or night. Isildur, Robespierre, Rev, TTobey, Timbojones, even you Theresa have posted responding to something. There are so many games where you never really get a feel for the people behind the game. Here you know they all love what they do and are involved not only in the game but in the community.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - November 01, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:02

MMORPG.com talks to Jess Lebow, the Content Director for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

MMORPG.com: What makes working on a pirate-based game different from working on, say, a fantasy or sci-fi game?

Jess Lebow: Working in fantasy give you a lot of flexibility. Anything you could possibly need you can simply make up out of thin air. With pirates that's a little different. You need to base everything in reality and work out from there. The best example I can think of for this is trying to create a live event around a winter holiday.

In Guild Wars, we just made up a story about what the people in the world believe and what they celebrate. But when you're dealing with the Caribbean in 1720 and real history you can't just go around inventing new winter holidays that no one has ever heard of. So we did a whole bunch of research and discovered that there is a festival called Junkanoo that's celebrated in the Caribbean on December 26th. It even started in the 17th century, so it's believable that people in our game would be celebrating at that time of year. We of course took some liberties with our storytelling, but it all has a basis in reality.

This may seem restrictive, but really the history of piracy is a terrific place to find inspiration. I guess that's probably the biggest difference. Pirate stories have real-world reference material. Fantasy stories don't.

Source: MMORPG.com

Monday - October 29, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ WarCry

by Inauro, 21:04

WarCry chats to Kevin Maginn, Lead Designer for Pirates of the Burning Sea, about work on this nautical MMO.

WarCry: What has been the reaction from gamers at conventions who have never heard of the game before and are seeing it or playing it for the first time?

Kevin Maginn: Almost universally positive. We're aware of issues we still need to address in our game, but one thing that's always been true is that Pirates shows very well. I credit the amount of time we've spent polishing and re-polishing the ship combat experience; it's intuitive and easy to learn.

Source: WarCry

Thursday - October 18, 2007

PotBS - Port Battles @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:10

A new dev log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site takes a closer look at the development of port battles.

There are two ways for an attacker to capture a port. First, they can defeat all the defending ships. When there are no defenders left, the port is lost. Second, they can assault the port itself, landing and attacking in hand-to-hand combat.

On the maps that follow, the port is a green dot labeled ‘P’. Near every port is a gun emplacement that will fire on any attackers that come near. If the emplacement is active, the port is locked to both attackers and defenders. As soon as the emplacement is destroyed, a timer begins; 30 minutes after its destruction, both sides can enter the port and fight for control of it.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Monday - October 15, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:04

MMORPG.com has posted three new and exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

Source: MMORPG.com

Tuesday - October 09, 2007

PotBS - Ship Tuning Part 2 @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:01

Part two of Flying Lab's article on ship tuning is now available at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.

Ship tuning is all about the details and numbers. We define ships in text INI files. Each INI file is a long series of values, amounting to nearly 500 lines in length for the biggest ships (many of those are blank lines). There is also a 100-line base file that’s included in all ships. A good chunk of the values are set once and left alone for a long time, and many of them are used for the ship art. Once those are stripped out, there are about 150 values (not lines) used in tuning ships. Obviously, we cannot show players every single one of those values in the UI.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Sunday - October 07, 2007

PotBS - Preview @ GameSpot

by Inauro, 01:18

GameSpot has posted some updated impressions of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

The game's "supernatural content" will be inspired by the kind of superstition that was common on the high seas. You can expect to see voodoo magic, the ghosts of men wronged, and maybe even a ghost ship or two (piloted by shambling zombie pirates). This type of content will apparently make up about 10-15% of the game's total experience, and will be largely localized in the part of the world that has come to be known as the mysterious Bermuda Triangle. If you don't care to fight zombies or solve supernatural quests, you won't even need to visit the area, given that you'll be able to advance all the way to the game's initial maximum level of 50 through sea battles and economic trading if you care to instead.

Source: GameSpot

Wednesday - October 03, 2007

PotBS - Flag Design Contest @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:02

Flying Lab is holding a contest to find two flag designs for the role-playing story arc in Pirates of the Burning Sea.

“The RP Story arc is content complete and in queue for testing, but there’s one little bit of content left too add. How would YOU like to be the one to do it?

Part of the back story involves a conflict between the Knights of Malta and Algiers, which gets carried over to the Caribbean about 60 years before our game begins. By following the RP story arc, you’ll get a chance to look back into history and relive these events in a high level group mission.

For this mission, I need flags and sails to represent the Maltese and Algerian factions. After seeing all the great work our community did in the previous flag and sail contests, we decided that would be a perfect way to get these as well.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Friday - September 28, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:49

MMORPG.com plays host to the first in a series of exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots.

Source: MMORPG.com

Thursday - September 13, 2007

PotBS - Official Forums Moving to Sony Station

by Inauro, 23:02

The official Pirates of the Burning Sea site has been updated with the news that the official forums will be moving to the Sony Station site.

As many of you know, we’ve been working in the last few weeks to integrate our services with the Sony Station account. Part of this process involves the migration of the Pirates of the Burning Sea forums to the Sony Station authentication system. The current forum software remains the same and existing posts and threads will be preserved in the transition. However, when the migration process is complete, it will change the way forum members access our message boards – they will log in with Sony Station accounts.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Sunday - September 09, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ The MMO Gamer

by Inauro, 02:42

The MMO Gamer talks to Russell Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software, about the company's upcoming title, Pirates of the Burning Sea.

I asked Russell to tell me what makes this game unique amongst the other MMO games. Russell explained that pirates are always an exciting concept, and since they have such a long history it allows for lots of material to work with. He also explained that this game can be taken as casual, and allows a player to spend some time on it without needing to spend every day to keep up. For instance ship combat in this game is not based on the level of the character but rather on the skill a character has. It is not level specific.

Tuesday - September 04, 2007

PotBS - Gameplay Video @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 22:56

MMORPG.com has posted a Pirates of the Burning Sea gameplay video.

Source: MMORPG.com

Monday - September 03, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 22:59

MMORPG.com discusses avatar combat with Drew Clowery, Game Designer for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

"Balance is our mechanic that determines how well your attacks will land on your opponents and how well you defend against your opponents' attacks," said Drew. The loss of balance therefore directly affects your defense. It will regenerate during combat and there are skills that give you balance back, as well as skills that attack your opponent's balance directly. A move that players can do to regain their balance is to simply stun their opponent, then step back for a second or two. Of course, others might decide they'd rather take advantage of a stunned opponent to inflict more damage.

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - August 11, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 02:08

MMORPG.com has posted 10 new screenshots in its Pirates of the Burning Sea gallery.  

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - August 04, 2007

PotBS - Preview @ MPOGD

by Inauro, 03:05

Multiplayer Online Games Directory previews Pirates of the Burning Sea.

The most fascinating component of combat was definitely the ship to ship fighting. The battles that I saw took place in open water, where wind and the elements play factors in determining an appropriate strategy for winning the fights. Your ship is equipped with cannons, which can be loaded with various types of shot, depending on what kind or scope of damage you want to impart on your enemy's vessel. Fights play out exactly as you might expect - using the wind to your advantage to slowly circle your enemy in an attempt to get a shot at him with your cannons, in such a manner that he is unable to return fire. Or at least not as often as you can, since naval fights of this type are one of attrition - the ship that manages to not sink is the winner.  

Monday - July 23, 2007

PotBS - E3 Update & Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:04

MMORPG.com returns from E3 with a Pirates of the Burning Sea update and a selection of screenshots.

By level 50, you will earn 25 ship skills and 25 avatar skills. Each nation has over 1,000 missions and they were talking about the big ones, not the little "take a note to the harbor master and introduce yourself" type. We talked about the cabbages - er... the economy. As in their original design, the economy remains totally player driven, and is an integral part of the game play. "PvP is created in game by players creating unrest. That can be created by players dumping goods and driving prices down for example, while depriving the port of other key goods and driving those prices up. Once there is unrest, the zone becomes PvP and will be shown as such on the map." So, cabbages and kings are directly related. Players can also turn on their PvP flag for freelance battle on the high seas if they wish.

Source: MMORPG.com

Tuesday - July 10, 2007

PotBS - Battle Royale @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:16

A new article at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site recaps the battle royale staged before the most recent beta wipe.

When it comes time to wipe the beta for a major build, we hold a 25 players versus 25 developers Battle Royale. As you may know, we hosted our first Battle Royale a few months ago. The testers dealt a devastating defeat to the developers – we lost all 25 ships and only sank one. I personally sank twice due to bugs (fixed!), but I saw neither death because I was staring at my desktop. Most of the developers suffered a similar fate, as we completely overloaded our internal net connection and we all crashed. In all honesty, that had little impact on the fight – the testers were going to crush us regardless. We were scattered around the battlefield like ants after someone stepped on their hill, and the only tester we sank was probably link dead.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Sunday - July 08, 2007

PotBS - Beta Preview @ Coldfront

by Inauro, 02:37

Coldfront spends some beta time with Pirates of the Burning Sea and finds the game significantly improved since the last viewing.

One of the most surprising ways that PotBS has improved as the beta as progressed is in terms of general graphical quality – particularly surprising because the game already looked good in March '06. Nonetheless, Flying Lab have continued to improve the character models, and particularly the scenery, to ensure that PotBS’ graphics quality remains excellent.

The game itself has changed substantially for the better as time has progressed, with a greater amount of polish provided by in-game music, the tweaking of general mechanics, and the interface. The first large change we encountered was with the database wipe that came with the introduction of the in-game economy, requiring testers to build and maintain facilities in order to construct the in-game items.

Thursday - July 05, 2007

PotBS - Chat Transcript @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:17

A transcript of the recent Pirates of the Burning Sea developer chat session is now available at the official site.

<[SK]Tiber> How are you going to represent personal achievement?

<[FLS]Taelorn> Ships are one of the simplest and most visible ways. You can identify a lot about a player based on the ship that they’re sailing.
<[FLS]Taelorn> There are several ships that come post level 50, that are prestige items that help players stand out.
<[FLS]Taelorn> Ships of the Line are the primary post 50 ships, and they have massive amounts of firepower and armor but they are poor hunting ships.
<[FLS]Taelorn> Beyond that, we are working on unlockable costume pieces.
<[FLS]Taelorn> There’s a variety of costume options that will be locked behind accomplishments
<[FLS]Taelorn> For example, navy uniforms based on your rank, a hook hand or an eye patch
<[FLS]Taelorn> We have a system of player titles planned out, but it won’t be in at launch. Title rewards will be given throughout the game for various achievements (once we add them)

Source: Flying Lab Software

Wednesday - July 04, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:13

Part two of Flying Lab's preview of the swashbuckling system is online at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.

Swashbuckling combat will be, at release, a sword fighting system. We fully intend to expand this system to include other types of armed and unarmed combat, but that will have to wait for the future. There are three schools of sword fighting: Dirty Fighting, Fencing, and Florentine. Each school will make use of a single type of sword: Cutlass for Dirty Fighting, Rapier for Fencing, and Small Sword and Dagger for Florentine.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - June 28, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:02

A new developer log examines the roleplaying story arc in Pirates of the Burning Sea.

People on the street are always asking me, “What’s going on with the Career Story Arc? What’s it about? When will we get to play it? Do you use a product to get your hair like that?” Instead of answering people one at a time, I figured I’d just write a devlog and address everyone’s concerns all at once.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Wednesday - June 27, 2007

PotBS - Dev Chat Report @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:21

MMORPG.com condenses the recent Pirates of the Burning Sea developer chat into report form and answers some important questions about the publishing arrangement with SOE along the way.

"It's a little cheaper to do it that way, but I think it makes for a much worse support experience," said Williams.

It seems that the fans (in this chat) were quickly satisfied, and the questions moved from the SOE deal to the game itself. The gamers in Europe will be happy to know that there are still plans to translate the game into French, German, and possibly Spanish (although Spain will not be in R1). It will still also be possible to play on cross country servers, meaning that you can still play with your friends that aren't in the same country as you. The game will be available as digital download or in a retail box.

Source: MMORPG.com

PotBS - Interview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 23:13

Ten Ton Hammer chats with Flying Labs Software’s Lead Designer, Kevin Maginn.

 

Ten Ton Hammer: The second developer log “Swashbuckling Boarding” really describes, in detail, the sequence of events involved in a boarding encounter. This is incredibly exciting information! When did you know that actual avatar boarding could be accomplished, and when did it finally make its way into the client code?

Kevin: Drew spent months tuning and revising avatar combat based on weekly reviews, constant playtesting, and many hours put in on weekends.  I knew we could do boarding when that process started to wrap up, and the resulting avatar combat was essentially fun and interesting.  The technical side of boarding – which has to do with how the various game servers manage multiple combat environments that can all ‘talk’ to each other – took a very long time to get working.  After the system infrastructure was in place, we started iterating and polishing the actual encounter.  In that sense, ‘boarding’ as a distinct unit has been in the game since late March, but the key elements of the system – the avatar combat – have been working for quite a bit longer than that.

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

Tuesday - June 26, 2007

PotBS - Publishing Details @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:25

The official Pirates of the Burning Sea site has more on the recently announced publishing deal between Flying Labs and Sony Online Entertainment.

Pirates of the Burning Sea will be published in partnership with Sony Online Entertainment’s Platform Publishing. This is an important deal for Flying Lab Software and we know how passionate our community is about this issue. So before you start posting your thoughts on our forums, let me share how this particular arrangement differs from publishing deals you may have read about in the past.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - June 14, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:21

Parts one and two of a dev log dealing with ships in Pirates of the Burning Sea are available at the official site.

In the first part of this two part devlog, I’m going to give you an overview of most of the ships in the game. I’ll talk about ammo, outfitting, mastercraft ships, combat mechanics and I’ll answer a bunch of forum questions. Sit tight – this is a long one!

Source: Flying Lab Software

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:08

Flying Lab has updated the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with some new in-game images

Source: Flying Lab Software

Tuesday - June 12, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:08

MMORPG.com has updated its Pirates of the Burning Sea gallery with six new screenshots featuring uniforms. 

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - June 02, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ WarCry

by Inauro, 02:15

WarCry has a selection of screenshots showcasing night and day in Pirates of the Burning Sea

Source: WarCry

Wednesday - May 30, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:19

MMORPG.com has updated its Pirates of the Burning Sea gallery with thirteen new screenshots

Source: MMORPG.com

Thursday - May 24, 2007

PotBS - New Official Site

by Inauro, 00:09

Flying Lab Software has overhauled the official Pirates of the Burning Sea website .  Head on over and take a look. 

Source: Flying Lab Software

Monday - May 21, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:11

The latest dev log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site takes in open sea spawns.

The open sea spawn manager is responsible for spawning and routing most of the ships in the open sea. The content department can still define custom spawns and patrol routes, but most of the original custom spawns will be removed. The spawn manager's job is to constantly try to make sure every port in the game has a set number of ships heading to it at any given time. Once a ship reaches its destination port it will sit outside the port for a set interval and then de-spawn. On a regular pulse, the spawn manager will find any ports that are below their desired spawn count and spawn another ship to head to the under-visited port. So for example, the spawn manager sees that Port Royal only has 3 ships heading toward it when it wants 5, so it spawns another ship at Jenny Bay and sends it on its way to Port Royal. Players destroying spawned ships bound for a destination port will also cause the spawn manager to create a new ship next update interval.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Saturday - May 19, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 01:52

A new dev log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site addresses the question of shipping dates.

I realize the subject of when we’re shipping is a hot topic for the community. As you may expect, it’s a hot topic for us as well. When I talked about the distribution issues earlier, I had expected that the issue would be closed by now and that we’d have announced the new date. Needless to say, this hasn’t happened. That’s not to say that we haven’t made progress (a first draft of the contract was delivered), but it’s still not done.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - May 10, 2007

PotBS - Captain's Log #10 @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 22:54

A new Captain's Log from John Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, is available at RPG Vault.

You can trade cannonballs all day in Pirates of the Burning Sea, but sooner or later, it's going to be time to throw those grappling hooks, pull up alongside the enemy, and storm their deck with sword in hand and no mercy in your heart. That's a boarding action, and it's the last major feature we're adding to the game before we launch. We've been keeping it under wraps for months while we've worked on it, but we're finally ready to lay it all out.

Source: RPG Vault

Monday - May 07, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:12

A new dev log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site takes a closer look at the landmark manager.

At the heart of the PvP and server victory systems in the mission server there lives the Landmark Manager, which keeps track of the ownership and the PvP information for each port in the world (NOTE: What many of you players call "ports" we also refer to as "landmarks" internally in the mission server. I'll be using both terms interchangeably). Each port has a default owner (England, Spain, France, or Pirate) and ownership is spread out nearly evenly by default. 

Source: Flying Lab Software

Saturday - May 05, 2007

PotBS - Dev Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 01:12

The official Pirates of the Burning Sea site has been updated with a dev log featuing a PvP report.

Some Beta testers wrote up after-action reports of a particularly exciting battle. I've changed the names to protect the innocent – otherwise, these are very nearly exactly their words and points out that players of varying levels with a variety of ships can have exciting battles together:

"Tonight we had some very good PVP action around Port of Spain. On the British side I (level 24) was in my brand new Mastercraft Brig, with B2 in her starter Halifax (level 11) as an escort. The honorable B3 (level 17) of Spain was our opponent.

The battle started with B2 taking some long range shots from B3. She quickly moved back to near me as I advanced. As soon as I was in range, B3 switched to chain (or it might have been bar) and shot at me from long range while I slowly tried to advance on his position firing heavy round. I ordered B2 to switch to dismantling shot and close in to work on his sails while I worked his hull with heavy round.

Source: Flying Lab Software

Saturday - April 28, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Inauro, 01:12

The official Pirates of the the Burning Sea site has livened up its screenshot section with a swag of new images. 

Source: Flying Lab Software

PotBS - Beta Key Contest @ Stratics

by Inauro, 01:11

Stratics are holding a Pirates of the Burning Sea beta key giveaway contest .

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr matey's!

So ye be wanting ta test dat dere Pirates o' da Burning Sea game eh? But ye not quite got that rascally beta key ya be needing to unlock that pirate's chest aight? Well 'ave no fear, we 'ere at Stratics 'ave been busy pirating and got ye some Beta Keys.....

 

Source: Stratics

Thursday - April 26, 2007

PotBS - First View @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 23:08

RPG Vault takes a first look at Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is a highly intriguing title with an unusual concept and quite a few potentially appealing features, assuming they're implemented well and provide a cohesive play experience. We're optimistic, albeit with a fair measure of caution.

Source: RPG Vault

Tuesday - April 10, 2007

PotBS - Captain's Log @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 23:12

A new Captain's Log from the Pirates of the Burning Sea team takes us on a tour of Marsh Harbour, the starting point for characters in Flying Lab's upcoming MMO.

In Pirates of the Burning Sea, you start by choosing which nation you would like to swashbuckle for. Your choice is among four nations - Britain, France, Spain or Pirates. When you create a new character, your first port of call depends on the nation you have chosen. If Pirates is the way you want to go, then you start in Marsh Harbour - a lawless and seedy town in the pirate haven of the Bahamas, roughly southeast of Florida. For this Captain's Log, I thought I'd take you on a tour of Marsh Harbour and show you what you'll see as a player the first time you play.

Source: RPG Vault

Tuesday - April 03, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:15

MMORPG.com talks to Flying Labs' David Hunt about progress on Pirates of the Burning Sea.

MMORPG.com: PoTBS has some very unique features. Can you tell us about the types of ships a player can purchase in the game?

David 'Taelorn' Hunt
: corvettes, and brigs to ships of the line. Thanks to the diligence of our User Content community, we have nearly 50 ship models in the game already and we expect to have more by the time we launch. They are divided between merchant ships, fast attack ships and heavy warships.

Ships are the cornerstone of our economy. Right now, players can make every ship that can be sailed, although there are other ways of obtaining ships. 

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - March 24, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ WarCry

by Inauro, 01:26

WarCry has three new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots available for your viewing pleasure.

Source: WarCry

Thursday - March 22, 2007

PotBS - Video Preview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 21:17

Ten Ton Hammer plays host to a Pirates of the Burning sea video preview in which...

Flying Lab Software's Jess Lebow introduces us to some never before-seen aspects of the swashbuckling, cannonball-lobbing Age of Sail MMORPG Pirates of the Burning Sea. New to the game: avatar combat, the supernatural (completely optional, for you straight-laced Patrick O'Brien types), and a look at some of the recent improvements to the at-sea interface.

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

Wednesday - March 21, 2007

PotBS - Captain's Log @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 21:21

John Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, talks about recent developments in Flying Lab's upcoming MMO.

A great example is our ship sailing and combat tuning. David Hunt, one of our designers, has re-tuned all the stats for every single ship, outfitting item, consumable item and ammunition type. Ship combat is our most important and most innovative area of gameplay, and has also been through more generations of design and tuning than anything else.

Source: RPG Vault

Tuesday - March 20, 2007

PotBS - Preview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 21:18

Also previewing Flying Lab's upcoming Pirates of the Burning Sea are the good folk at Ten Ton Hammer.

Jess Lebow, Content Director, led us through the game's opening scenes. If you logged into the beta as recently as January, you began the game shipboard. Now that avatar combat is in the game, players are drawn into a sequence of in-character events that quickly move you through the basics of first-person combat as well as taking the wheel of your very own ship.

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

PotBS - GDS Preview @ MOGD

by Inauro, 21:14

Multiplayer Online Games Directory reports back on Pirates of the Burning Sea as seen at the GDC.

Walking the fine line between historical realism and fantasy, Pirates of the Burning Sea offers players the chance to fight either as a pirate, or as a member of one of three navies, the British, the Spanish or the French. There are advantages to choosing each of these options, but joining one of the navies gives players a chance to experience a different area of the game pirates will never be able to enjoy. Regardless, in beta, they have found that most players want to live the life of a pirate!

Monday - March 19, 2007

PotBS - GDC Preview @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:09

MMORPG.com gets hands on with Flying Lab's Pirates of the Burning Sea.

If you're tired of the same old cookie-cutter MMOs hitting the market, Pirates of the Burning Sea has probably been on your personal watch-list. Not only are some of the game mechanics new, interesting and innovative, but the entire setting is about as far away from the fictional game worlds of the classic fantasy WoW or edgy sci-fi EVE Online. No, this game is what might be called a historically-based fiction. PotBS is set right here on good old planet earth. No choosing between Elf, Dwarf or Orc here, instead, your choices are more terrestrial, Spanish, English, French, or of course, Pirate.

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - March 17, 2007

PotBS - Preview @ Games Radar

by Inauro, 22:42

Games Radar takes a look at Flying Lab's Pirates of the Burning Sea.

 

Armed with a cutlass and the perfect pirate hat, we took a crash course in PotBS’ combat system. It seems like every new MMO is trying to distance themselves from the static combat canonized by the WoWs and EverQuests out there, and PotBS follows suit. Don’t expect the usual click and forget fights you’re used to. Each enemy you face will have a balance bar at their feet. When the bar’s green, your attacks aren’t likely to do any damage to your foe. The trick is to whittle down their balance bars with light attacks to throw them off their feet before finishing them off with more powerful blows.

 

Sunday - March 11, 2007

PotBS - GDC Hands-On @ Kotaku

by Dhruin, 20:43

Kotaku has sampled Flying Labs' Pirates of the Burning Sea at GDC, coming away with this report:

I was expecting maybe a speech or a demo before hand, but the Flying Labs guys put me in the captain's chair immediately, walking me through character creation. You choose from one of four nationalities...British, Spanish, French, and Pirate (yes dammit, it is a nationality.) You then pick a class and begin creating your character. I of course choose the pirate race, and as tempting as it was to create a female character, I went with a man. the costume choices implemented currently are very impressive, and soon I had a swarthy looking fellow in a fancy longcoat and a feathered hat, ready for action. To spice things up a bit I made his coat pink, and his hat purple. The random name generator christened me Marcel Ducasset, but the devs and I both knew that this was the man destined to be known as Captain Duck Ass.

Saturday - March 10, 2007

PotBS - GDC Previews

by Dhruin, 10:25

Here's a pair of GDC previews for Pirates of the Burning Sea:

A snip from IGN:

The game starts you on the deck of your very own ship. (Each player gets their own ship here, so you won't be able to join a friend's crew.) Your 3D avatar is free to walk around the ship, observing the entire world around in real time or you can take the wheel and drive the action from an external perspective. A colored ring around the base of your ship shows which direction the wind is blowing and what the best points of sailing are for your particular ship. You can view your ship from any angle and enjoy the scenery or target an enemy to engage a padlock view.

Source: Bluesnews

Tuesday - March 06, 2007

PotBS - Hands-On @ GameSpy

by Dhruin, 22:34

GameSpy serves up a hands-on preview of Pirates of the Burning Sea laced with comments from Flying Labs' Russell Williams, based on a trip to their Seattle offices:

 "We like to consider the play style of Pirates of the Burning Sea as 'fun realism,'" explained Russell Williams, Flying Lab's CEO. He and several other members of the team would be popping in and out of the conference room where I was playing the game that afternoon. "When it comes to artwork or ship design or clothing options, you can't find a richer source than actual history." According to Williams and director of development Joe Ludwig, when it came to designing the elements of the game, the classic age of pirates really was a swashbuckling time of derring-do and excitement -- albeit liberally studded with scurvy, slavery, international warfare and random violence. Apparently all Pirates of the Burning Sea has done is excised the dull and dark portions of the era and left the player with the "pirate movie" aspects.

Friday - March 02, 2007

PotBS - ComicCon Preview @ MMORPG.com

by Dhruin, 12:00

MMORPG.com has some impressions of Flying Labs' Pirates of the Burning Sea after seeing it at ComicCon:

Pirates of the Burning Sea is best classified as an adventure driven tactical MMO. You play the role of an aspiring captain pledging your loyalty to one of three nations: Spain, England, France, or become a rebel by living a life as a pirate! These four factions work toward the ultimate goal of conquest in the Caribbean. As we sat at the Flying Labs booth you couldn't help but notice the lines of fans forming and stopping by to play. I would dare to say that it was the longest line of any of the video games present at the Convention and longer than most of the other booths, now if only they had booth babes!

Wednesday - February 07, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ WarCry

by Dhruin, 10:16

An interview that kicks off with on avatar combat in Pirates of the Burning Sea can be found at WarCry:

WarCry: At PAX you announced avatar combat would officially be in the game when it launches this summer. Why did you choose to bring it in and delay launch to accommodate it?

John Scott Tynes: It’s just such a big expectation for the whole pirate/swashbuckling genre that we decided we had to deliver on it – particularly for boarding combat, where you really want to get in there and swing your sword around instead of watching some numbers float by.

Monday - February 05, 2007

PotBS - Interview @ FilePlanet

by Inauro, 21:31

FilePlanet's Fargo talks with John Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Fargo: How do you compel people to pick up and try a massively multiplayer game? What do you think it's got to have to spark that initial interest?

Tynes: You either need a brand/IP that players respond to or you need a concept that is attractive. WoW is an example of the former and City of Heroes, the latter. Both are great games and have succeeded on their respective terms.

One great thing WoW has done for the field is really promoting the idea that paying $15/month for an online multiplayer game is a reasonable idea. It's no longer a strange obsession of a small subculture -- it's the biggest game in the country. So we don't have to cross that hurdle anymore, which wasn't true four years ago when we started working on Pirates of the Burning Sea. In our case, our concept is clearly something different and we really believe it will get people to take a look.

But I'd hate to be launching a fantasy MMO this year.

Thursday - February 01, 2007

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:07

In the wake of recent announcements regarding an avatar overhaul, Flying Labs have updated the screenshot gallery at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with two new avatar images. 

Source: Flying Lab Software

Wednesday - January 31, 2007

PotBS - Chat Log @ Coldfront

by Inauro, 21:03

Coldfront has some purportedly leaked transcripts of recent Pirates of the Burning Sea chat sessions. I say purportedly, as Flying Labs don't seem too upset about it all.

Those scallywags at Coldfront have leaked top secret Flying Lab Software documents relating to a clandestine Pirates of the Burning Sea developer chat held specifically for Beta Players and rumored to have taken place in the recent past.

Flying Lab Software Staff disavow all knowledge of said documents, which can be found by visiting this link.

Enjoy, won't you?
Aether

PotBS - Avatar Update @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:00

The Pirates of the Burning Sea team have announced an avatar overhaul (keelhaul?).

Avatars are a big topic for us these days. A few months back we took a look at the state of the art in our game and realized something interesting: we were getting a lot better at what we were doing. The environments, lighting, ships, animation and overall vision of the world evolved dramatically over time. But we hadn't revisited our characters and as the rest of the game's look advanced, they became more and more noticeably out of place. We decided we needed to take a new approach to the avatars that would better fit with all the great work we were doing in the rest of the game.

Friday - January 12, 2007

PotBS - Site Relaunch, New Content

by Dhruin, 21:13

The official Pirates of the Burning Sea site has been overhauled and relaunched.  Along with the new design, they have 12 new screens on offer and a devlog from Lead Software Engineer, Joe Ludwig:

In September at the Austin Game Conference I attended a lecture on MMO metric collection using the Emergent Metrics Element. This was a similar talk to the one that Larry Mellon gave at Game Developer's Conference 2004 on metric collection in The Sims Online. After that talk we implemented something similar to the system he described. It was able to capture sample data points on as many probes as we wanted and logged a few things about the actors involved whenever those things happened. After the Austin conference I sat down with the designers here to find out what kind of data they want to be able to collect from the beta (and soon from the live game) and found something interesting: none of the queries they wanted could be performed with our existing metric system. In almost every case they wanted more context than was actually available in the data.

Wednesday - January 10, 2007

PotBS - Dev Journal @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:34

Producer, John Scott Tyne, talks about the Pirates of the Burning Sea beta testing in his latest developer journal at MMORPG.com.

Operating an MMO beta is fantastic. You get all the fun of interacting with real players who are really playing your game, but you're still below the radar enough that the pressure isn't overwhelming. It's a great opportunity to learn what it's going to be like to run a live service.

We started our beta program a year ago, in late 2005. Players who tried the game back then and then tried it again more recently are amazed at how much has changed. But that's what a year of development gets you! The game has come a long, long way in that year and is much better than ever before.

 

Source: JoWooD

Sunday - January 07, 2007

PotBS - Beta Account Giveaway @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:20

MMORPG.com and Flying Lab Software have teamed up for a Pirates of the Burning Sea beta account giveaway.  Head on over to MMORPG.com for the full details.

Source: MMORPG.com

Friday - January 05, 2007

PotBS - Three New Ships @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:00

Flying Lab Software has updated the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with three new ships.

Flying Lab Software Technical Artist, Joram Hughes, has been working overtime with the Pirates of the Burning Sea User Content Steering Committee to introduce three new ships to the Captain's Ship Guide!

You can view screenshots and historical information for Kris Wood's Medway Longboat, Jabberdau's Raa by visiting the User Ships section of the Captain's Ship Guide!

In addition to the User Content ships, we've also added the intimidating Raft, as designed by Flying Lab Software Artist, Woody! You'll find this tiny terror of the sea by visiting the Core Ships Section of the Captain's Ship Guide!

Once there, click on any of the ships at the top of the page for more detailed information.

Want to learn more about our User Content program? Then you will want to visit the Pirates of the Burning Sea User Content Shipwright Forum!

Source: Flying Lab Software

Friday - December 29, 2006

PotBS - User-Created Ships @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:05

Flying Lab Software has updated the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with two new user-created ships.

 

With the help of our User Content Steering Committee Flying Lab Software Technical Artist Joram Hughes has introduced two new user-created ships to the Captain's Ship Guide!

You can view screenshots and historical information for Michael O'Dwyer's Capricieux and Eilelwen's Stralsand by visiting the User Ships section of the Captain's Ship Guide!

Once there, click on any of the ships at the top of the page for more detailed information.

Want to learn more about our User Content program? Then you will want to visit the Pirates of the Burning Sea User Content Shipwright Forum!

 

Source: Flying Lab Software

Wednesday - December 20, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:19

Four new screenshots have been added to the gallery at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.

Source: Flying Lab Software

PotBS - Interview @ The Game Musketeers

by Inauro, 21:17

The Game Musketeers talk with Russell Williams about Flying Lab Software's upcoming MMORPG, Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Now that your game is in its extended beta, what has been the most rewarding part of bringing PotBS to life?

The most rewarding part is feedback. When you’ve worked on a game for years, it’s fun to see real people playing it and telling you what they like and don’t like.

How will the development of economic resources and the increased population of players affect the game world of PotBS?


The economy plays directly into the Realm vs. realm, and is the crux of our PvP areas, so tuning of it is critical. We’re continually increasing the number of beta players so that we have the right critical mass to the tune the economy properly.

Thursday - December 14, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 21:32

Ten Ton Hammer has five exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea images available for viewing. 

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

Saturday - December 09, 2006

PotBS - Podcast @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:29

MMORPG.com talks with Pirates of the Burning Sea Producer, John Scott Tynes, to discuss what the game has in store.  The interview is available for download as a podcast.

Source: MMORPG.com

Wednesday - December 06, 2006

PotBS - User-Created Ships @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:43

Flying Lab Software has updated the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with three new user-created ships.

It has been a busy, busy day here at Flying Lab Software! Pirates of the Burning Sea Technical Artist, Joram Hughes, with the help of our stalwart User Content Steering Committee Members, Marion van Ghent, Michael O'Dwyer and LiMuBei, have introduced three new ships to the Captain's Ship Guide!

You can view Marion van Ghent's small and large Chasse Maree, as well as Michael O’Dwyer's Skuda, by visiting the User Ships Section

Once there, click on any of the ships at the top of the screen for more information!

Fans can expect to see two more user-created ships next week- in the meantime, you'll find more information on how you can participate in the Pirates of the Burning Sea User Content program by visiting the PotBS UC Shipwright Forum!

Many thanks to the Steering Committee for all their help!

Enjoy, won’t you?
Aether
Community Envoy of the Captain's Ship Guide!

Source: Flying Lab Software

Friday - December 01, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:12

MMORPG.com has two new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

Source: MMORPG.com

Tuesday - November 21, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 23:31

The Pirates of the Burning Sea site has a new batch of screenshots.

Saturday - November 11, 2006

PotBS - Interview @ Coldfront

by Inauro, 23:33

Coldfront talks with Jess Lebow, Lead Writer and Content Designer for Pirates of the Burning Sea.

CF: Which aspect of PotBS are you personally most proud of?

Jess: The stories and missions. The content team at FLS kicks a lot of butt. We're all game players, and we've all injected a little piece of ourselves into this game. I think you're going to find that we've really gone the extra mile to make sure you're not playing simple fed ex missions or reading cliché text. Recently I played again through the first fifteen levels of the game. It took me several days, and I was so engrossed that I forgot I was working. I'll tell ya, I've been working in the games industry for over a decade now. It's rare that I get so sucked into something that I forget it's a project and instead think about it as simply having fun. I hope everyone who plays PotBS has the same experience.

More...

Friday - November 10, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 23:57

MMORPG.com has two new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots available for viewing. 

Source: MMORPG.com

Wednesday - November 08, 2006

PotBS - Halloween Dev Journal @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 21:41

John Scott Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, shares some insight into the game's recent closed beta test event that took place at Halloween.

Our closed beta test has been underway since December of 2005. By the time we launch our beta will have been going for a year and a half, which means we are getting lots of terrific real-world feedback and solving lots of problems. Betas are a lot of work for players and developers alike.

But betas are also fun. Since it was Halloween, we decided to do something a little bit special and celebrate the holiday in style!

More... 

Source: MMORPG.com

Sunday - November 05, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ Official Site

by Inauro, 01:52

Flying Labs has updated the screenshot gallery of the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with some new images. 

Source: Flying Lab Software

Thursday - November 02, 2006

PotBS - Developer Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:32

Flying Lab Software's newest member, Junior Designer Drew Clowery, offers some thoughts on the company's upcoming MMORPG Pirates of the Burning Sea in his first developer log at the official site.

Hi there, I’m the new guy. My name is Drew Clowery, and I’m the newest (and only) Junior Designer here at Flying Lab. I’ve been working here for just over a week now, so unfortunately there’s not a lot I can tell you guys about the game you don’t already know. Instead I’m going to talk about something that you likely know nothing about: how I got here. I’m sure that some of you will be less than interested, and I promise I’ll actually talk about the game in future DevLogs.

I started in the game industry in December of 2001 when I took a job doing customer service for Mythic Entertainment on Dark Age of Camelot. At the time I applied for the job because I really needed a job, and they were local and hiring. I was playing Dark Age, and I liked it, but I didn’t have any real thoughts of a career. I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, but I had bills to pay, and I wanted to avoid any further work in retail.

More...

Source: Flying Lab Software

Monday - October 30, 2006

PotBS - Milestone 22 @ Official Site

by Inauro, 21:23

Flying Lab Software has updated the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site with a glimpse of the game's current status.

Artists are improving island instances with new graphics standards, transforming the island landscapes so that they have the same visual appeal of our recently released Shark Tooth Island images. In addition, ArtCo is working to improve and polish camera positioning by adjusting the camera angles for improved playability and a more immersive experience while sailing.

There are eight new towns scheduled in Milestone 22, and work continues on several new versions of interiors, like the black market, new taverns and some incredible avatar combat spaces. Artists also spend time this milestone creating new particles, textures and models for avatar combat weaponry. Our ship combat UI gets a long-awaited makeover this milestone, with general art revisions, additions and improvements.

 More...

Source: Flying Lab Software

Saturday - October 28, 2006

PotBS - Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 00:44

Another two exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots are available at MMORPG.com 

Source: MMORPG.com

Wednesday - October 25, 2006

PotBS - Grumpy Old Gamer vs Flying Labs #2 @ GCC

by Dhruin, 01:15

The second part of GameClubCentral's Pirates of the Burning Sea / Flying Labs visit report is online:

When you start up POTBS you are of course, as expected, creating an avatar of yourself. This is who you will be in the world as with all MMO type games. There were many questions relating to how much detail and difference you could put into this creation and I saw first hand that it is quite a lot. If I were to compare it to any game on the market today I think that City Of Heroes comes to mind as to the variety of control you have at this creation, only more so. COH raised the bar in avatar creation and POTBS takes it upon itself to raise it again, pretty much guaranteeing that you WON’T run into a twin in the game looking like you.

I asked Rusty about the real pirate items like hooks, peg legs, and shoulder mounted parrots with no toiletry manners. “We’ve decided to make those rewards for some difficult missions rather than just give them away in the beginning. The idea was to make them more like badges of respect – if you see a pirate with a peg leg you will know that he’s one bad ass that has completed a particularly difficult mission and is no one to mess with.” Indeed, that seems to be a sense of realism to me! While Troy whisked through the different possibilities and worked the colored pallets for each item down to the earrings and such, it was clear that there were perhaps a million or so combinations that would be hard to replicate, thus staring face to face with a replica twin of yourself within the game seems highly improbable – if not impossible. Enough with the Avatar, it’s time to set sail!

Wednesday - October 18, 2006

PotBS - Grumpy Old Gamer vs Flying Labs @ GCC

by Dhruin, 06:43
GameClubCentral has an article titled Grumpy Old Gamer vs Flying Labs Software that is actually a visit report on Pirates of the Burning Sea:

GCC’s Grumpy Old Gamer recently visited the offices of Flying Lab Software for an onsite interview centering upon their upcoming release – Pirates Of The Burning Sea. This is the first of two articles from that visit, this once focusing upon the company itself…

Russell Williams – Flying Lab Executive Producer“Our biggest asset is our ambition, almost to a fault...” Russell Williams – Flying Lab Executive Producer

In order to save myself the long drive to get from the peninsula I live on to Downtown Seattle where Flying Lab Software makes its home, I decided to take the 25 minute ferry across the Puget Sound (inland salt water). As typical to make me go from happy to Grumpy, I dropped from the clear skies on the hill down to the fog covered Ferry Terminal to encounter the behind schedule ferry. Grrr, is this the indication of my day?
As you will see, absolutely not!

Tuesday - October 17, 2006

PotBS - Developer Log @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:44

A new developer log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site takes a closer look at career paths.

In Pirates of the Burning Sea, there's going to be numerous ways to get your character to level cap: Solo missions, group missions, career missions, legendary missions, epic missions... The list goes on. One of the paths that I'm particularly excited about is what we're calling the Career Story Arc. This is a story line designed for solo play that your character can follow all the way up to level 50. It consists of missions that focus on role-playing, character development, and plot. Since our mission system allows for dialogue trees and branching story lines, we want to make the most of these great features to give the player a better role-playing experience. Two of the common failings of current MMORPG's is the lack of a coherent, compelling story line and the ability to give players a sense that they are important. Typically, a MMO player is made to feel like a peon in a horde of hi-level characters rather than a hero with an important role to play in world events. Pirates of the Burning Sea is going to change that with the Career Story Arc.

More... 

Wednesday - October 11, 2006

PotBS - Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 00:17

Flying Labs' Bert has whipped up a dev diary on creating missions:

How do we make our content? Our content department has numerous approaches to how the various stories get made and end up in the game. Some of our key story lines come from our writers. Others the individual designers come up with and they take them from concept to completion by bouncing ideas off each other and off other departments.

My personal favorites are the ones we do ourselves. Finding the kernel of a good story arc in your head, rolling it around to figure out if it would be fun and if it would fit with the overall theme well, then sitting down and writing it out is both challenging and highly enjoyable. But the coming up with the start of the content is just part of the fun. The real fun starts with the brainstorming session.

Tuesday - October 10, 2006

PotBS - PotBS: Screenshots @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 22:35

Ten Ton Hammer has four Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots

available for your viewing pleasure.

Tuesday - October 03, 2006

PotBS: Dev Journal @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 22:42
John Scott Tynes, producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, has posted a new developer journal at MMORPG.com which takes a closer look at the things that will set Flying Labs' nautical MMO apart from the pack.
To some extent, if you've played one MMORPG you've played them all. You wander the countryside, or the office building, or the space sector, and you find small groups of enemies who are standing around waiting for you to attack them. Maybe they charge you as you run by or maybe they react to you depending on your faction standing. They have different classes or attacks or powers that make the combats somewhat different. But there's not a whole lot going on.

This is one of the things about MMORPGs that I find deadening. Your combat gameplay is entirely a function of your class and level vs. the class and level of your opponent. The only tactics is in how you use your skills, alone or in concert with your groupmates.
More...

Source: MMORPG.com

Sunday - October 01, 2006

PoTBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 00:28
Head on over to MMORPG.com for two new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots.

Source: MMORPG.com

Wednesday - September 20, 2006

PotBS: Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 22:41
Marc Overney, the the Lead Animator at Flying Lab Software, has updated his log at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.
Hi and hello, my name is Marc Overney and I am the Lead Animator at Flying Lab Software. I recently moved up here to Seattle with my family from the San Francisco area. Seattle is an absolutely beautiful place to live. And I'm very glad to be here now -- California was just getting too crowded, man.

Prior to arriving here, I was freelancing as an animator on both film projects and game work, most notably on the first Bone game - Out from Boneville by Telltale Games. Before that I worked at LucasArts for just over ten years as a Senior Animator. I was also the Lead Animator on the last two Monkey Island games: Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island. And yes, I worked on a number of Star Wars games too.
More...

Source: PotBS

Tuesday - September 05, 2006

PotBS: Video Interview @ Yar! Radio

by Dhruin, 00:10
The aply-named Yar! Radio has a video interview on Pirates of the Burning Sea:
Pirates of the Burning Sea Lead Writer and Content Designer, Jess Lebow, had the opportunity to sit down for a video Q&A session with Yar! Radio during our visit to this year's GenCon in Indianapolis.

Saturday - September 02, 2006

PoTBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 01:58
MMORPG.com has another two exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots available for your viewing pleasure.

Source: MMORPG.com

Tuesday - August 29, 2006

PotBS: PAX Preview @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 22:59
MMORPG.com previews <a href="http://www.burningsea.com" target="_blank">Pirates of the Burning Sea</a> as seen at this year's <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com" target="_blank">Penny Arcade</a> Expo.<blockquote><em>The big news out of PAX was that Pirates of the Burning Sea will launch in June of 2007 and that the feature list now includes avatar combat. We played the game and sat down with Producer John Scott Tynes at PAX to discuss exactly how avatar combat works.<br><br>a S[We] made the decision a few months ago that we were going to release in a "!07,a ? explained Tynes as we sat in a Bellevue Subway. Once made, that decision allowed them to pursue something theya "!d always wanted, but never felt they had time to do correctly: avatar combat.<br><br>Even as we spoke at PAX, Tynes admitted that they had a playable internal version, but felt that it wasna "!t quite ready for public eyes.</em></blockquote><a href="http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/gameId/68/setView/features/loadFeature/842" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: MMORPG.com

Saturday - August 26, 2006

PotBS: Interview @ FiringSquad

by Inauro, 02:05
Firing squad talks with Flying Lab's John Tynes about avatar vs. avatar combat (as opposed to ship vs. ship) in the company's upcoming MMORPG, <a href="http://www.burningsea.com" target="_blank">Pirates of the Burning Sea</a>.<blockquote><em><B>FiringSquad</b>: Let's talk about the new avatar combat. Why did the team want to allow players to actually fight man to man in addition to the ship-to-ship battles? <br> <br><B>Russell Williams</b>: Wea "!ve always envisioned Pirates of the Burning Sea as a game that combines sea-battles and swashbuckling combat; ita "!s just been a matter of timing. For most of our development, wea "!d decided to focus our efforts on getting the ship combat side of things up and running first, before trying to tackle a whole new side of the game. Wea "!ve been telling our fans all this time a Savatar combat is coming, but it will be after we launch.a ? So ita "!s been in the plan the whole time, wea "!ve just moved up the timetable. <br> <br>Why include swashbuckling combat at all? Well, because ita "!s a core part of the pirate genre! I dona "!t think wea "!ve ever met someone who didna "!t ask if they could jump onto an enemy ship to duel the opposing captain. Who are we to refuse? </em></blockquote><a href="http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11916" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: FiringSquad

Thursday - August 24, 2006

PotBS: Interview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Inauro, 23:08
Ten Ton Hammer <a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=380" target="_blank">talks with</a> Taylor Dayne, Lead Designer on <a href="http://www.burningsea.com" target="_blank">Pirates of the Burning Sea</a> about his role in this upcoming MMORPG.<blockquote><em><B>Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle, Ten Ton Hammer</B> - The most memorable image of Pirates of the Burning Sea from E3, for me, (that rhymeda ¦ sorry) was seeing the deckhands dance a little jig after sinking an enemy. Is jig the correct term? What inspired such a brilliant stroke as the after-battle dance?<br><br><B>Taylor Daynes, Lead Designer, Pirates of the Burning Sea</b> - Dancing is the best way to end a busy day of bloody plunder, so when our animators gave us a a Sjiga ? emote we knew what we had to do. We ambushed our developers, tied them to their chairs, and forced them to make your whole crew play some emotes while at sea. We were going to send them to the briny deep afterward, but they did a good job, so we left them marooned in their cubicles instead.<br><br>On a related note, while ita "!s true that everyone in the office is a fan of the jig, one of our Mission Designers, Gavin Irby, is a particularly devoted terpsichorean. In fact, hea "!s got a whole storyline mapped out about the healing and bonding power of dance. Hopefully he can convince our Mission Lead about the merits of this idea.</em></blockquote><a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=380" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

Monday - August 21, 2006

PotBS: Interview @ HookedGamers

by Inauro, 22:59
HookedGamers <a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/forwarder.html?http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2006/pirates_of_the_burning_sea/" target="_blank">talks with</a> Troy Hewitt of Flying Labs about the company's upcoming MMO, <a href="http://www.burningsea.com/" target="_blank">Pirates of the Burning Sea</a>.<blockquote><em>HG: There has been some differing information on exactly when the game will be released. Could you give our readers a better idea of when it will come out?<br><br>Troy: *Grins* I could divulge that information but then I would have to swear you to secrecy and we all know how writers and members of the media enjoy having a big scoop by letting the cat out of the bag. Seriously, let me say that we will be announcing the release date at the upcoming PAX show in Seattle.<br><br>HG: Touché Troy! Lets try this one then shall we? I have heard different reports and I guess I am a bit confused on exactly how the game will be released. Will it be released in a boxed version along with Steam or both?<br><br>Troy: Good question, but unfortunately we are still working on that aspect of the game and definitive plans will materialize as we get closer to the actual release date. As we have scaled up the scope of the game, wea "!ve been looking at expanding our distribution reach. That process is still underway, so wea "!re not yet ready to talk about it. As you all may know, in the gaming business things change and plans that we think may be set sometimes change. For that reason we chose not to make an announcement at this time. </em></blockquote><a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/forwarder.html?http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2006/pirates_of_the_burning_sea/" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: HookedGamers

Saturday - August 19, 2006

PotBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 02:04
MMORPG.com continues to sail the high seas in week 20 of its Pirates of the Burning Sea feature. This week another two screenshots are on offer.

Source: MMORPG.com

Thursday - August 17, 2006

PotBS: Dev Diary @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 23:40
New Flying Labs' teammember Justin writes about some programming challenges with his blog entry titled How Chickens Move:
Several weeks ago, Joe tasked me with an interesting problem: avatars' position and motion information was being sent back and forth between the client and server WAY too often. We weren't even getting great-looking avatars for all that data - they were popping around on the client when they went any faster than a walk. So we came up with a plan, and I completely ripped apart the old system - completely making a mess of all the towns in the game in the process. Replacing a system like that takes some time, so everyone had to bear with me while avatars walked backwards, slid around without moving their legs, or shook violently like they'd had more coffee than even I drink. (Team Brady makes pretty frequent dashes for the coffee shop down the street, just so you know.) That was just the avatars - you should have seen the chickens.

Tuesday - August 15, 2006

PotBS: Preview @ GameSpy

by Dhruin, 12:34
Flying Labs' Pirates of the Burning Sea has been previewed at GameSpy with input from CEO Russel Williams from GenCon:
"City of Heroes showed us a couple of things," Williams says. "First, an MMO doesn't have to be based in fantasy to be successful. Second, an MMO can be a great game just by selecting one or two aspects of gameplay and doing them really, really well." Williams cites City of Heroes' combat and costume creation system. He then described the brainstorming process that eventually resulted in Pirates of the Burning Sea. "We wanted to do something that hadn't been done in an MMO before. Vehicular -- that is, ship-to-ship -- combat, along with a really fun merchant-based economy." The selection of the Caribbean in the 17th century seemed to follow logically from that. The historical "golden age" of piracy was all about fighting, mercantilism and money.

Saturday - August 12, 2006

PoTBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 00:59
Also in the screenshot business today is MMORPG.com with two new Pirates of the Burning sea screenshots available.

Source: MMORPG.com

Friday - August 11, 2006

PotBS: Screens @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 22:40
Flying Labs has kicked up half a dozen new Pirates of the Burning Sea screens.

Saturday - August 05, 2006

PoTBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 03:21
Two new Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots are available at MMORPG.com.

Source: MMORPG.com

Thursday - July 20, 2006

PotBS: Interview @ FiringSquad

by Dhruin, 22:28
Flying Labs' John Tynes has been interviewed at FiringSquad about Pirates of the Burning Sea:
FiringSquad: How hard has it been to make an MMORPG that has such a different setting and gameplay than your normal fantasy themed game?

John Tynes: Very hard. In the field of tabletop RPGs, there's long been a phenomenon where people who were fed up with the rules of Dungeons & Dragons would make their own homebrew game systems, to "fix" the problems of D&D, and then publish them. This made for dozens of copycat fantasy games, each of which was just yet another reinvention of the wheel. Why? It's far easier to start with something you know and alter it than it is to create something new from scratch.
It's been the same thing in MMORPGs. Actual innovation is rare. People have been "fixing" the likes of Ultima Online and Everquest since the day they shipped and in general, it's a lot easier to start by designing a game that is based on one you know intimately. We see this in other areas such as the first-person shooter or the real-time strategy game.

We had to solve a lot of problems: real-time vehicular movement and combat was the biggest. It took us almost two years of constant iteration on those systems before we got to a point where we were happy. The technical issues weren't the biggest hurdles at all -- it was really just finding a way to make naval combat fast and fun without overwhelming the player with complexity.

The genre elements are still something we're working on. We are spending some time right now putting more pirate flavor into the game, trying to make the experience more immersive, colorful, and with a sense of playfulness. At times we take this stuff too seriously so we're trying to lighten up. :)

Wednesday - July 19, 2006

PotBS: Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 23:04
Head on over to the official Flying Lab Pirates of the Burning Sea site for a new developer journal.<blockquote><em>Recently, I went on a recruiting trip to the University of Washington in search of a fourth member of the newly formed Team Brady. Ia "!m a big fan of having a wide range of experience levels represented on the dev team, and Joe and I both agreed that it made sense to bring on somebody with a fresh viewpoint. It can be a short hop from rookie programmer to all-star in this industry. Ita "!s a lot easier to land a good programmer who is just starting out than it is to get that same programmer after theya "!ve had a couple of years experience with another company. Additionally, Team Brady was feeling outnumbered by Team Joe, ConCo, ArtCo, TestCo, and the other rival factions of Flying Lab. We needed some extra muscle in a big way.</em></blockquote><a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=3559" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: PotBS

Sunday - July 16, 2006

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Screens @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 01:37
The Pirates of the Burning Sea site has 8 new screens posted over the last two days.

Thursday - July 13, 2006

PotBS: Dev Journal @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 04:06
John Scott Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, reveals Flying Labs' summer plans in a new developer journal at MMORPG.com.<blockquote><em>June is apparently party month here at Flying Lab, because wea "!re having two of them in two weeks. Last Friday we rented out the Pacific Science Center, down in the shadow of the Space Needle, so our staff and friends could get exclusive use of the Game On! exhibit. This is a traveling exhibit about the history of videogames, and the best part about it is they have dozens of playable games on hand, most on the original hardware. Theya "!ve got original arcade machines, vintage consoles, and lots more. We played all kinds of stuff -- Space Invaders, Pitfall, The Hitchhikera "!s Guide to the Galaxy text adventure, Bubble Bobble, Rez, Monkey Island, and tons more. My favorite was the original Star Wars vector graphics arcade game, which the exhibit includes in its sit-down cockpit version. But the most popular was the six-player Sega Saturn version of Super Bomberman. Vintage systems available for play included the Vectrex, the TurboGrafx 16, and every Nintendo, Sega, and Sony machine from years gone by. We played tons of games, ate a lot, and drank heavily. My wife completely kicked my ass in Centipede a  and by a Skicked my assa ? I mean, I scored about 8,000 and she scored more than 38,000. Damnit!</em></blockquote><a href="http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?gameId=68&setView=features&loadFeature=757&bhcp=1" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: MMORPG.com

Monday - July 10, 2006

PotBS: Media #4 @ RPG Vault

by Dhruin, 22:26
Four tasty Pirates of the Burning Sea screens are available at RPG Vault.

Saturday - July 08, 2006

PotBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 02:42
Week seventeen of MMORPG.com's Pirates of the Burning Sea showcase features two new screenshots showing a pirate on the ramparts of a city and some rather fine interior design.

Source: MMORPG.com

PotBS: Screenshots @ Pirates Ahoy!

by Inauro, 02:34
Pirates Ahoy! (chasing booty since 2003, don't you know?) has five new and exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots.

Source: Pirates Ahoy!

Tuesday - July 04, 2006

PotBS: Media #3 @ RPG Vault

by Dhruin, 01:05
Four exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screens are available at RPG Vault.

Saturday - July 01, 2006

PotBS: Dev Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 03:08
A new developer journal entitled 'Death, Ships and the Economy' is available at Flying Labs' Pirates of the Burning Sea site.
After we decided to green-light the player-driven economy, we had some decisions to make about how it would impact and change the other systems. It's big, and its tendrils stretch throughout the game, touching almost everything. In most cases, this is pretty minor stuff, quick decisions that we can make on the spot and move on. It's not a tough call to say, for instance, that players will be making the different types of ammunition; it's not hard to plan out which towns need auction houses.
More...

Source: PotBS

Friday - June 30, 2006

PotBS: Screenshots #16 @ MMORPG.com

by Dhruin, 22:12
The latest batch of Pirates of the Burning Sea screens from MMORPG.com is now available.

Thursday - June 29, 2006

PotBS: Captain's Log #7 @ RPG Vault

by Inauro, 00:52
Flying Lab's Executive Producer Russell Williams offers some insight into the company's plans for the promotion of its upcoming nautical MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea.
A Date with Advertising

Those of you who are long time followers of Pirates of the Burning Sea may have noticed that we've missed a release date or two - which is unfortunate, but hardly surprising. When you're working on another shooter (this time with two guns!), you can build a schedule that won't slip too much. When you're building a new type of game, you're not sure exactly how long it will take because you have to try things out by building them, playing them, and then throwing them away and starting over again with the knowledge that you've gained. That's iterative design, and while you can schedule somewhat for it, it can really play havoc with your release date.
More...

Source: RPG Vault

Wednesday - June 28, 2006

PotBS: Preview @ Hooked Gamers

by Dhruin, 22:36
Hooked Gamers takes a look at Pirates of the Burning Sea in this preview:
The game's main feature are the ship-to-ship battles that will take place against real live human players. There won't be any of the common and easy to destroy ships captained by stupid computer AIs. During the era of the sail, when pirates actually plied the blue seas of the Caribbean, there were an enormous number of ships under sail. History tells us that various seafaring folk might choose the life of a merchant ship's captain, bartering and selling their wares at numerous towns and seaports on various islands located in this vast sea. Others chose the life of a Naval officer and assumed the task of defending the honour of one's nation. Still others decided to become pirates or corsairs, not necessarily out of free will, that would prey on helpless merchants or other less fortunate souls. With that said, everything that will take place in this game will be dynamic in nature and it will be patterned after historical events. Add in the human against human factor and you can rest assured that you will have as much fun as is contained in a barrel of rum. So, batten down the hatches and get ready for the sea battle of your life.

Tuesday - June 27, 2006

PotBS: Media #2 @ RPG Vault

by Dhruin, 02:15
Four hi-res Pirates of the Burning Sea nudies can be found at RPG Vault here.

PotBS: Dev Log @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 01:25
Flying Labs' Lead Developer Joe Ludwig has written a new dev log on the exciting topic of moving from LUA to C++:
We've been gradually moving game functionality from Lua into C++ over the past year and a half, but significant chunks of the game were still in Lua, so I took a day out of the schedule for every programmer and we made a single big push to get as much of the lingering Lua out of the game as possible. I would have to call the day a complete success.

Sunday - June 25, 2006

PotBS: Navigation Zone Renamed @ Official Site

by Inauro, 02:47
e game's <a href="http://www.burningsea.com/news_index.php#397" target="_blank">navigation zone</a>.<blockquote><em>When sailing from port to port in Pirates of the Burning Sea, your ship maneuvers through what has been commonly referred to as 'The Navigation Zone'. We went through a naming process, and came up with a SOpen Ocean.a ? Hooray! Except that some folks (Curmudgeon) in our community felt like that particular name wasn't as evocative of the age of sail, and after stewing on it a while (Curse that Curmudgeon!) we were finally forced to agree we were wrong (Damnation!). Hence, the Navigation Zone shall now, and forevermore (or less), be known as the 'Open Sea'.<br><br>We want to thank everyone for their feedback, and we'll be seeing you on the Open Sea!<br><br>Cheers!<br>Aether<br>Community Envoy</em></blockquote>

Source: PotBS

Saturday - June 24, 2006

PotBS: Screenshots #15 @ MMORPG.com

by Dhruin, 23:39
Head to MMORPG.com for a pair of Pirates of the Burning Sea screens.

Tuesday - June 20, 2006

PotBS: Tayor Daynes Interview @ MMOz

by Dhruin, 23:37
Pirates of the Burning Sea Lead Designer, Taylor 'Augustus' Daynes has been interviewed at MMOz with some specific questions about game mechanics:
Can you give us a general idea of the number of days it would take to conquer a single port, in terms of actual, real-world time?

TD: We expect it will take between two days and a week, depending on the size and organization of your attack, to destabilize a port to the point that the Final Battle is scheduled. And since the Final Battle always happens 3 days after it is triggered, that means the entire process will take between 5 and 10 days of real-world time.

Monday - June 19, 2006

PotBS: Dev Chat @ Society of Gamers

by Inauro, 05:17
Society of Gamers will be holding an IRC Dev Chat with the developers of Pirates of the Burning Sea on 23 June 2006.
Society of Gamers is proud to host an IRC Developer Chat on Friday, June 23rd at 7:00pm Eastern. In attendance will be Producer John Tynes, Community Envoy Troy "Aether" Hewitt, and various other members of the PotBS Dev Team. This will be a House of Commons style chat, so tell your friends and bring your questions!

If this wasn't enough, at the end of the chat there will be a drawing for three Pirates of the Burning Sea T-shirts for those who have their question answered! So shake your peg leg over to Society of Gamers on June 23rd! Be sure to check out Society of Gamers for info on how to access the IRC server!

Source: Society of Gamers

Saturday - June 17, 2006

PotBS: Developer Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 05:15
A new developer journal entitled 'Augustus' Tool of Doom' is online at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site.<blockquote><em>Hey folks!<br><br>We've recently made some major changes to our user-content system, and since then, you've had a lot of feedback and suggestions for us. Well, we listen! Or at least, I listen. I heard you asking for a preview tool. "It doesn't even have to be a 3D preview," you cried, "even a 2D preview tool would be dreamy!"<br><br>Well, prepare for the 2D preview tool of your dreams a  but be warned: all the programmers were busy, so I had to make the tool myself! So consider this version to be a prototype, or beta, or whatever it is that will make you both forgiving of flaws and missing features, and thankful that you have even this.<br></em></blockquote><a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=381" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: PotBS

Friday - June 16, 2006

PotBS: Screenshots @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 07:35
Flying Labs has posted new Pirates of the Burning Sea screens at the official site.

Sunday - June 11, 2006

PotBS: Are they ever going to announce a ship date? @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 02:22
Find out in Rusty's latest <a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=9" target="_blank">dev log</a>:<blockquote><em>Are they ever going to announce a ship date? <br><br>In a word, yes. But dona "!t go scanning to the bottom of this log, because ita "!s not in here.<br><br>As wea "!ve noted a few times on the forums, wea "!ve been working on the schedule to release. Usually on a game this is a tough period, in that you have to make some painful cuts to get ready for release. In our case, ita "!s been exhilarating. Wea "!ve cut some things here and there, true, but most of them are behind-the-scenes things youa "!d never see, or things we still intend to do after we launch (such as my supercool Officers system a  sob!!). Whata "!s exhilarating is that we have a specific date that wea "!re confident in. To give you an idea of where this confidence comes from, half of every milestone is reserved for bug fixing and general polish, so wea "!re not exactly cramming in features to the last second. Also, wea "!ve had very good feedback from beta, and while wea "!ve got a lot of improvements planned, we know wea "!re on a good course.</em></blockquote>

Saturday - June 10, 2006

PotBS: John Tynes Interview @ Ten Ton Hammer

by Dhruin, 07:35
mer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=346" target="_blank">interviewed</a> at Ten Ton Hammer about Pirates of the Burning Sea:<blockquote><em><b>Ten Ton Hammer: Pacing is an aspect of most MMOGs that the players take for granted. How would you compare the gameplay pace in Pirates of the Burning Sea to the current crop of MMOGs on the market?</b><br><br>Tynes: 75% less tedium! Wea "!ve made travel swift without making it safe. Wea "!ve turned crafting on its ear by skipping dagger-grinding and going straight to large-scale resource production. Wea "!ve made combat exciting and involving instead of repetitious and macro-worthy. And wea "!ve done it all in a game with real style.</em></blockquote>

Thursday - June 08, 2006

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Dev Log @ Official Site

by Dhruin, 01:19
A new <a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=68967" target="_blank">dev log</a> from a new developer for Flying Labs is up at the Pirates of the Burning Sea site. Here's their own intro:<blockquote><em>Hi, dev log readers! Ia "!m Kevin Loza one of the new members of the Flying Lab team. Specifically, I'm the artist that is creating the user interface for Pirates of the Burning Sea. <br> <br>To give you some background on my work, I am trained in both traditional and digital art. My schooling spans sketching, painting, sculpture, and photography. The digital arena started through my own animation at home on the Amiga computer and, later, graphic design classes on the Macintosh. I studied 3D modeling, texturing, and animation, as well.</em></blockquote>

Saturday - June 03, 2006

PoTBS: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com

by Inauro, 08:00
MMORPG.com has two exclusive Pirates of the Burning Sea screenshots.

Source: MMORPG.com

Tuesday - May 30, 2006

PoTBS: Taylor Daynes Interview @ MPOGL

by Inauro, 06:00
Multi-Player Online Games List interviews Taylor Daynes, Lead Designer of Pirates of the Burning Sea.<blockquote><em>1) First off, could you introduce yourself to our reader and tell us your role in the development of "Pirates of the Burning Sea"?<br><br>Hey everyone! Ia "!m Taylor Daynes, the Lead Designer of this shindig we call Pirates of the Burning Sea.<br><br>2) Since ships will be single-player operated, I'm wondering how smart the NPCs are. Will there be any NPC controlled ships?pirates of the burning sea<br><br> In addition to a world full of NPC enemies, many of the missions in our game involve NPC allies. One thing wea "!ve learned from other games, ita "!s that if you are going to have NPC allies, theya "!d better be worth something. NPCs that just wander off and get killed, or worse, wander off and get you killed are a recipe for frustration. So we firmly believe that NPCs need to be competent. This is a tricky problem for us though, because unlike other MMOs, where NPCs can pretty much just run straight up to you and auto-attack, our NPCs need to know how to use the wind, how to present their broadside to you in order to attack, and how to stay out of your firing arcs. Brady a SJigmastaa ? Houck a  our AI guru a  has worked on our AI over the last year, and Ia "!m happy to report that our NPCs are very smart. Surprisingly smart. They often startle me with actions or tactics that we didna "!t program into them. For instance, one NPC in a fast ship planted himself right in front of me, waited for me to come to a stop after colliding with it, and then it boarded me now that I was an easy grappling target. Stuff like that makes your day! </em></blockquote><a href="http://www.mpogl.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=870&Itemid=42" target="_blank">Link</a>

Source: MPOGL

Saturday - May 27, 2006

PotBS: Developer Journal @ Official Site

by Inauro, 02:19
A new developer journal at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea site has details about improvements to the content system.<blockquote><em>Ita "!s finally happened a  our user-content system finally gets an upgrade! And there are so many revisions and additions that youa "!re going to get a whole dev-log introducing the changes! :)<br><br>In fact, ita "!s the sheer size and scope of the changes that made it take so long. Wea "!ve got a rather tight schedule around here at FLS, so imagine Aethera "!s challenge: coordinate the efforts of several devs and designers in order to give the entire user-content system and overhaul, but dona "!t use up any time on the schedule. How does one man manage a Herculean task like this? How did Aether get useful labor out of this herd of cats? By harassing us on a daily basis! By insulting our bloodlines, by pleading with us, and by plying us with free t-shirts and booze. Gently, quietly, and ever so slowly, Aether managed to turn our after-hours efforts into a product we can release to you: our adoring public.<br></em></blockquote><a href="http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=381" target="_blank">More...</a>

Source: PotBS

Information about

Pirates of the Burning Sea

Developer: Flying Lab Software

SP/MP: Massive
Setting: Historical
Genre: MMORPG
Combat: Real-time
Play-time: Unlimited
Voice-acting: Unknown

Regions & platforms
Europe & USA
· Homepage
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2008-01-22
· Publisher: SOE

Oceania
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2008-01-22
· Publisher: BigPond GameArena

Russia
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2008-01-22
· Publisher: Akella