5 months ago - - Direct link
Ahoy there! We’re thrilled to be sharing a much-awaited progress update on Sailing, Old School RuneScape’s first new skill.

Transcript (by Youtube)


0s oh my word wo God that is a big ship
3s look at this lifting technique now it's
5s sailing hello Sailors hello Sailors
7s hello Sailors we're back with an
9s exciting update on the sailing skill we
11s know it's been a while since last time
12s so we thought we'd show you some of what
14s we've been cooking up first up let's
16s take a look at the tech side of
22s sailing One Challenge we quickly found
24s was that given the size of ships the
26s usual movement algorithm just doesn't
28s feel great we're used to our characters
29s moving that way but applied to a ship it
32s just doesn't feel quite right we started
34s looking at making ships turn in a larger
35s Arc how you'd realistically expect them
38s to whoa drifting yeah it feels like yeah
42s it feels like I'm drifting as you can
43s see when the ship moves it more
45s gradually turns to face the direction it
46s wants to go in rather than just turning
48s on the spot another challenge we've had
50s to overcome is how our ships deal with
52s blocking simply put that means that
54s ships shouldn't go on land we didn't
56s show it before because frankly it looks
58s a little odd but ships could sail across
60s land in our initial prototype we have of
62s course changed that to make sure the
63s ships stick to the sea but there still
65s needs further work for the ships to
66s understand just how big they are oh my
68s goodness that is big they can easily get
71s stuck too which isn't ideal and we will
73s of course fix for launch immediately
75s just want to check this out no one's
76s telling me to stop yet so I'm presuming
78s this is this is totally allowed oh my
80s Lord I'm taking damage right that was a
81s mistake Elena help me
84s now from the start we wanted to make
86s sure that different Siz chips offer
88s different advantages some larger ones
90s might be more spacious and well equipped
92s While others might go
97s faster the way of gaining sailing XP is
100s by interacting with facilities on your
102s ship the most basic facility interaction
105s is trimming the sails at predictable
108s intervals the sails will start Ling
110s meaning they don't catch the wind very
112s well anymore this slows down your ship
115s if left Ling for too long you can trim
117s the sails to pick the speed back up and
119s get a nice bit of experi while doing so
121s what's happening to your sale oh right I
123s can love it like that 35 sailing
126s experience oh my God I'm on my way to 99
128s this is of course not the only way to
131s train sailing we have developed early
133s versions of two gameplay methods with
135s more to come later one such type of gaml
138s is Port tasks this is all about offering
141s up your ship as a service to the locals
143s at a port to help them with the
145s challenges that they're facing okay we
147s got a bunch of jobs going to be a noob
149s and go for the level one I accidentally
151s received this crate of steel swords
152s luckily I've made a good deal with some
154s people down at mua point to buy them off
156s of me okay Brian I'll take the cargo for
158s now the challenges are largely the fact
161s that they want things delivered to
163s various ports we call these type of
165s tasks Courier tasks oh hell yeah go look
168s at me go oh my God I'm strong nice okay
171s now I need to go to Musa point I don't
173s need a world map because I know the old
175s school RuneScape world map like the back
177s of my hand and uh MOA point is is this
181s way is is this this way I'm confident oh
186s is that ducks no they're sharks I think
188s this is Musa
191s Point uh that's mud skipper point no oh
193s yes Musa point is of course here clearly
196s clearly MOA Point 122 bones my God I'm
200s going to be 200 mil prayer XP in no time
203s whilst doing the port task you might
205s encounter shipwrecks on the way if you
207s have a salvaging hook facility built on
209s your ship it can be used to salvage
211s useful parts from the Shipwreck as soon
213s as it's going to run out like a tree
215s wood and get replaced with a boat stump
217s is that how that
218s works nice all right oh and it just
220s ticks away like that it's a nice AFK so
222s this is better Salvage so I presume I
224s should be quite happy about that so I
225s guess this is not so much like you need
227s to be right at the Salvage Point you're
228s just trying to get the stuff that's
229s Fallen to the bottom of the ocean
231s basically the shipwrecks will probably
232s look a bit more like large shipwrecks so
235s you only see parts of them sticking up
237s more like a m or something exct ship
240s salvaging aims to be a social friendly
242s more laid-back way of training sailing
245s the Salvage will be unidentified when
247s you find it but you can sort through it
249s at a salvaging station found at ports oh
252s brilliant oh wow okay oh that can be
255s anything okay sweet I get I get the loop
257s there is that just like like a trop
259s table for all sorts of Salvage depends
261s on the Salvage that uh the Shipwreck
264s that you've salvaged 10 gold bars this
266s is a roller coaster of a ride you're
268s getting really lucky
270s am I oh little key here yeah fishing Key
273s M SS of fish great what do you think the
276s the key could do well I'm presuming that
278s the um the island that allured me
279s earlier is all about that key but that's
281s my presumption and I'm terrified of
282s getting stuck there again oh you have a
284s different ship now I do have a different
286s ship we've not forgotten about the other
288s gamepl we discussed in refinement such
290s as Barracuda trials charting the sea and
292s even ship combat these are still on our
295s to-do list
300s while out at Sea you never know what
302s obstacles you face sometimes it's all
304s smooth sailing other times it's Stormy
307s Weather and high seas thankfully you can
309s build facilities on your ship that can
310s help counter some of these obstacles
312s sometimes a heated Lantern might be just
315s hot enough to let you pass through icy
316s bossers other times you might need a
318s particularly strong Keel under your ship
320s to pass over sharp reefs this larger
322s ship Elena I'm presuming can Sail on
325s this ice why is that it's just pure
326s faith in you could it have anything to
328s do with anything on the ship I have this
331s Lantern ex Enchanted Lantern a strange
333s Lantern giving off a sense of warmth
334s enough to protect the ship from lowlevel
337s Frozen Waters that all makes so much
338s sense it's so much simpler than my
341s assumptions about what it would be T
342s let's open another key so what I can do
345s with this extra key is a big mystery to
346s me but I don't think we probably have
348s the time to work that out building and
350s utilizing these facilities to their
352s fullest will require various sailing
354s levels meaning that you've got some
356s exciting new places to unlock at higher
359s levels
364s navigating the sea needs to feel good
366s this goes further than just how the ship
368s moves and we have to ensure sailing the
370s Seas works just as well for mobile
371s players as it will for desktop players
373s we're aware as you probably are from
375s watching this that we still have work to
377s do on the draw distance and general
379s playability of sailing a lot of the work
381s that has allowed us to capture this
382s footage is in preparation for the
384s upcoming technical Alpha the first time
387s players will have a chance to be
388s Hands-On with the skill this Alpha would
390s be closed to a group of Select players
392s so we can get focused feedback
394s specifically on ship navigation before
396s we then move into an open Beta where
398s you'll all be able to try out old
400s School's First new skill with some of
402s these improvements already in place
404s we're now fully charting our course
405s through the choppy Waters of developing
407s sailing and as with any great Voyage
409s we've encountered some technical hurdles
411s along the way that have slowed our
412s progress slightly rest assured though
415s we're not just drifting aimlessly we're
416s steering the ship with precision and
418s making sure every knot is tied perfectly
421s it's taken a bit longer to navigate
422s these obstacles but we believe it's
424s better for us to take the time needed to
426s get things ship shaped now rather than
428s rushing through and having to resolve
430s them anyway further down the line after
432s all sailing is old School's First new
434s skill and we want to make sure it's
436s release is as epic as it can be we're
438s still M at Phase 1 Milestone one on our
440s current road map and while that might
442s seem like we're just Treading Water
444s we've actually been all Hands-On deck
446s front loading a lot of the technical
447s work which trust me will make our
449s journey speed up significantly once
451s we're P this initial point we already
453s have a lot of the design work ready for
455s future milestones and we'll be sharing
457s more on that real soon our next update
459s will be on primary gameplay which then
461s leads into customization and crew once
463s we've got past these it will be on to
464s discussing islands and all the shinies
467s you can expect to grab from them that's
469s when we also have some competitions for
470s a player designed Island the skill cape
472s and the sailing skill icon well that's
475s all for now until next time until next
478s time until next time for
5 months ago - /u/JagexHusky - Direct link

Originally posted by Bulky-Departure603

With regards to luffing the sails, if I'm in navigation mode and can't directly click on the sails to luff them would I need to exit out of navigation each time they need luffing?

Yes, you'll currently have to click the tiller/wheel to stop navigating and then click on the rigging of the sails to trim the sails.

The specifics of this and how it feels in actual gameplay is something we'll be directly looking for feedback on when you can all playtest it and it's something we've discussed heavily during development so far.

In general, having some friction during the early parts of Sailing is probably a good thing, especially as we can relieve that with meaningful upgrades to your ship or by adding crewmates (both of which will be discussed later on during development) to do the task for you.

It also kind of makes sense that it's something you do when you've got a smaller ship with less facilities as there isn't exactly all that much for you to do while moving around anyway.

There's still many variables we can tune over time which impact this

  • We can change how often it happens

  • We can change how long you have to trim the sails before suffering the speed penalty

  • We can change how big or how small the speed penalty is

  • All of these could be dependent on the specific ship too!

Anyway, as per for me I've gone on a bit of a ramble for something I probably should've just answered Yes to but hopefully this provides a bit more context.

5 months ago - /u/JagexLight - Direct link

Originally posted by Plebsaurus

So is the actual sailing part going to be instanced? I don't see how this is going to work with multiple ships in the same area at once without it looking like an absolute mess

Hey Plebsaurus, I love your name btw!

We know that players really resonated with Sailing being NON-instanced as a skill, like most other skills are, so that it feels like it's part of Gielinor and not a minigame or silo'd off. The development team would like to re-affirm that it's non-instanced much as possible.

We mentioned having time-based challenges, like Barracuda Trials, for Sailing and those absolutely need instances where it makes sense as players would experience griefing if they are competing for a certain time.

The "mess" part is harder to answer with absolute certainty at the moment. We're not far enough in development yet but certainly we'll be looking to limit the amount of ships that are visible in an area at a time to avoid those problems.

5 months ago - /u/JagexHusky - Direct link

Originally posted by Raima_Valdes

Yes, you'll currently have to click the tiller/wheel to stop navigating and then click on the rigging of the sails to trim the sails.

The specifics of this and how it feels in actual gameplay is something we'll be directly looking for feedback on when you can all playtest it and it's something we've discussed heavily during development so far.

This was literally the one thing in the blog that did not give me joy. "Oh no. Is entering/exiting navigation mode going to be miserably clunky?" Good to see it's firmly on y'alls radar to monitor.

Yeah it's on the radar for sure.

We have some experimental builds with middle-ground approaches too we're still going back and forth on what we like better. It's all very divisive though and ultimately we may just have to make sure that there are different navigation-style options which players can build a ship to accomodate for choosing the upgrades to enable the gameplay they want to experience.

5 months ago - /u/JagexHusky - Direct link

Originally posted by ki299

Yes, you'll currently have to click the tiller/wheel to stop navigating and then click on the rigging of the sails to trim the sails.

Sounds tedious, clicking on the sail should automatically exit you that way you don't need to click to exit.. to then click to luff. then click to enter again.

What are your thoughts on the points I touched on with regard to skill progression, starting off with a little friction and then alleviating that later on?

I also mentioned in another comment that it's quite divisive, we've seen some people say during playtests that clicking the sails accidentally was a problem, other's say that they liked it, so I'm keen to see what player's say during the tech alpha and I'm open to us allowing ship upgrades to help customise the navigation options available to you on a ship by ship basis if we can.

Edit: Follow up on reading the comments below, this is all really subjective, hard to pinpoint requires lots of playtesting and balancing. I have no intention of releasing something that just feels bad and there's so many variables involved. If I'm hating doing this from my multiple playthroughs of the skill closer to launch then I will not be subjecting players to the same. I'd just like everyone to remain open minded for now until they've tried it themselves which will happen before launch!

5 months ago - /u/JagexHusky - Direct link

Originally posted by lastdancerevolution

The worst part about OSRS is the navigation. You're spoken about how horrible walking and energy is in OSRS.

A huge part of the game progression is already unlocking teleports to walk less. Introducing a new clunky navigation mechanic isn't going to be fun for the player base. Players want to engage less with navigation. The aspect of 1 tick = 1 tile walked will always be a crude and punishing part of the game. That same limitation is going to exist in Sailing, only it's going to have an additional layer of tedium on top of it.

I really do think some fundamental aspects of OSRS have been missed in this. The messaging has been "we'll figure that out later" when it should be the very first thing you solve. It's possible it's an unsolvable problem, and Sailing isn't a good navigation method for the game. (Which this has become. Sailing is far more than just a skill, it's a new method of navigation and player control to interact with other skills.)

Perhaps I've just mis-spoken but the intention really is to figure this stuff out now! That's why we have the technical alpha which was set up purely to test how moving around on a ship and interacting with facilities on it while the ship is moving feels.

This 100% needs to be right at an early stage as it's the foundation for all things the skill is later built upon. The only thing I'm asking is for the current implementation to not be shot down until players have tried it for themselves which will hopefully be sooner rather than later