User blog:ElizaCreststeel/CAPTURE THE CHEST PROGRESS UPDATE

Posted by Mr. Dev on Dec. 20, 2019, 5:30 p.m.



Ahoy, everyone!

Mr. Dev here, writing this post on the behalf of the entire TLOPO game development team. It's been a while since we dropped our announcement trailer for the Capture the Chest expansion.

Previous Release Date
As I'm sure you know, the trailer for "CTC" lists its release date as "this fall." Well, as I'm sure you can see, it isn't fall anymore. Technically, the fall season ends on December 21st, but let's not get into semantics. It's pretty much Winter once the holiday season begins. We haven't really addressed the fact that the expansion's release was delayed, mostly because, for the longest time, we thought we'd make that vague release window of "fall."

But, now that we're well into December, it's clear that we won't, but know it comes from a good place! In terms of new infrastructure, this is the most complex piece of new content we have added, ever.

The Lobbies System
Not only are we adding a new PvP mode, but we're completely overhauling the vanilla POTCO matchmaking system. Essentially, the Lookout system is going to become the Lobbies system.

We've talked about this a bit in our Upcoming Content Spotlight on the forums and you can see the various stages of development on Lobbies chronicled there.

We're building Lobbies to be intuitive, user-friendly, and encourage more group interaction. It'll be easier than ever before to find a crew, a PvP match, and much more. The Lobbies system has also been built with the future in mind. New game modes, new PvP maps, and much more can now be easily added.

Capture the Chest may be the flashier content addition, but Lobbies is the heart and soul of this expansion.

Capture the Chest Game Mode
While we're on the topic of Capture the Chest itself, here's a rundown of exactly what the game mode entails, in case you've been living under a rock.

An all-new PvP map, Marauder's Cove, designed specifically for the Capture the Chest game mode. Marauder's Cove was once a Navy fort, from the Crown's early attempts at a foothold in the Caribbean. The island was abandoned for better locations, such as Port Royal, and decayed for many years... that is, until some pirates found it. Two warring pirate crews laid claim to the island and the riches within the old Navy fort. You must pick a side and fight for your team. Steal the treasure that's rightfully yours!

With the new game mode comes the new Objective Infamy track, complete with its own badges and rewards. There will be a new rewards vendor on Tortuga for this track, sporting new clothes & tattoos that we think you'll like.

New Release Date and Strategy
So, now that it's become clear that "fall 2019" isn't happening, where does that leave CTC's release? Well, we don't have a specific date for you, but I can explain our release strategy.

Since CTC and Lobbies are both big additions, we're going to do what's called a "soft launch." This means that we'll be spacing out the Capture the Chest expansion over multiple updates. The 1st update will absolutely be Lobbies. That is our priority right now, as it will fix the issues you all are currently experiencing with the Black Pearl Boss Battle and PvP.

We have been testing Lobbies for months, and are continuing to do so. In fact, as I'm writing this right now, some devs and QA members are planning a big Lobbies testing session for tonight. We want Lobbies and the CTC expansion overall to be as polished and complete as possible. Unfortunately, bugs will always arise. There are certain things that just aren't findable with a small QA team. We need the large numbers that you, the community provide. That's why we're releasing the expansion through staggered updates.

We'll release Lobbies, and fix any issues that pop up. Once we believe it to be in a stable enough condition, we'll release the next update, which will likely be the Capture the Chest mode itself. There will be more CTC expansion updates after that which we think you'll like a lot, but I'll keep my lips shut on those for the time being.

Our original goal was to get our Test Server up first before the CTC expansion was ready, so we could test it there first, but it's become clear that it isn't going to happen. The Test Server is still coming, but we don't want to needlessly delay new content for you by waiting for the server to go live.

Also, while we're here, we wanted to address the dwindling population on the game. We're well aware of it, we see it, and we're taking measures to revitalize the game. CTC is a big part of that, as are some other content additions we have down the pipeline.

Our plan is to release CTC with minimal fanfare for now. Once all of the updates for the expansion are out and we believe all of the content to be sufficiently polished, then we will promote the expansion with a trailer or two, and a bit of a promotional campaign for the game overall. We want players back as much as you, but the game needs to be in a good place when we promote it. And we're working hard to get there!

This is actually a release strategy Disney employed when first releasing POTCO. They did a "soft launch" of POTCO on October 31st, but didn't start a larger marketing campaign until about a month later, when they believed everything to be polished. It's a smart move, especially for a smaller fan-made game like ours, with not as many resources or not as big QA or dev teams compared to larger studios.

So, when is the CTC expansion coming? Well, soon. Very soon. The first update could drop as early as tonight, or as late as two weeks from now. When we believe it to be ready, we'll push Lobbies out to the live game.

Conclusion
Well, that certainly was a huge information dump. Kudos to you if you actually read the full thing. If you have anything you want to say in response to this whole "announcement," feel free to head on over to the forums, specifically our official Q&A thread. Other staff members and I regularly respond to any and all questions posted in there. We love talking with you, and want to hear what YOU think!

As always, thanks for sticking with us on this journey that is TLOPO. We're really excited about the Capture the Chest expansion. It's been a labor of love since the summer of 2018, and we can't wait for you to see what we have in store for this content and beyond.

Until next time!

~ Mr. Dev