The navigation system outlined in the blog is significantly better than I expected based off the options shown beforehand.
One thing that sticks out to me as bad, however, is that .5 tile per tick base speed of the Colossal ship type. Walking speed is abysmal in this game, and I never want to move at a speed half that. Large ships with a base speed the same as walking also sounds terrible. Even if these rates are only for basic unupgraded ships, it needs to be possible to upgrade that speed right away because I do not want to be spending any amount of time moving that slowly.
EDIT: The 0.5 tile per tick speed in the graphic is incorrect. The base speed of the Colossal ship should be 1. I personally think that walking speed is still too slow, but at least it's not half that like I had thought.
Numbers are placeholder currently and just to show our design intention. Specific variables such as how slow a ship moves or turns are things we really won't have a good handle without being in full-fledged development tweaking the numbers ourselves to see what feels best.
Also as you mentioned these numbers were envisioned to be for the base speed of a colossal ship and doesn't take into effect things like wind, currents, ship upgrades etc.
The graphic shows 1.5 for small, 1 for large, and 0.5 for colossal, which doesn't match the table. They messed up something. /u/JagexLight, which speed is the correct one for the colossal ship?
Thanks for the tag. I've looked at our internal documentation and the table in the blog is what matches the internal doc, so I would say use the table on the blog rather than the graphic for now.
I'll double-check with the team tomorrow to be 100% sure. We can easily get the graphic amended if that was incorrect. Apologies for the inconvenience it has been quite a tight turnaround to get all materials to you in good time!
I think not enough people are talking about the movement speed. I understand large ships take a while to get going but how was it not immediately addressed to have a ship not move slower than running speed let alone walking speed for the entire time? There should be a ramp up sure but for the love of all that is good don't make it walking speed or slower.
Copying my response from above
Numbers are placeholder currently and just to show our design intention. Specific variables such as how slow a ship moves or turns are things we really won't have a good handle without being in full-fledged development tweaking the numbers ourselves to see what feels best.
Also as you mentioned these numbers were envisioned to be for the base speed of a colossal ship and doesn't take into effect things like wind, currents, ship upgrades etc.
Requiring you to lock yourself in place to navigate is a terrible decision. The navigation mechanics as shown in the demo video worked so well because it was seamless, you can click and go both on your boat and on the sea. You even say it you4selves in the blog, it's just less convenient, and the reasons for doing so are flimsy at best. Preventing misclicks? Showing who's controlling the boat? It's weakening the fundamental mechanics substantially solving non-issues or issues with easy alternative workarounds.
I would highly recommend to at least develop a prototype with both control schemes and see how they play out. I think after getting your hands on it you'll see just how much of a difference it will end up making.
I'd be curious to hear your easy alternative workarounds and how you'd suggest the issues we outlined be handled instead. Then we can have a discussion about the pros and cons of each approach because I don't believe them to be "non-issues"
But yeah, fundamentally if something feels bad once if we get to a stage where they are more fully developed we're absolutely open to changes. It's just that we have to make design decisions now based on what sounds correct.
Honestly I feel like we entirely skipped over what should be the first step of designing this skill, which is figuring out why moving across water tiles is fun and engaging enough to be a 1-99. Obviously navigation is a big component towards the core identity of the skill, but I want to know what that core gameplay is before making decisions on the more specific details.
Yeah, that was my thought too and why I initially pitched us touching on the core gameplay loop section first and then navigation second.
However, when we released our refinement schedule to the players there was a fairly loud demand for us to tackle navigation first as players didn't really see if it would even be possible to navigate a ship at sea in a way that felt oldschool or wouldn't be incredibly janky.
Ultimately they both go hand in hand and you won't really have the full picture until both are fleshed out and designed. So watch this space! Core Gameplay & Mechanics coming to you soon!
I think a way around this would be to allow the hiring of crew. You can have a NPC crew-member steer the ship, while freeing the player to move around on the deck and interact with other objects such as cannons. The player “gives orders” to the npc navigator by pointing and clicking on the ocean tiles.
Having an NPC crew is something we absolutely would like to have as part of the skill! The idea that you can level them up, train them, scout them out is an exciting idea especially for allowing solo players to control large/colossal ships
Thanks for the tag. I've looked at our internal documentation and the table in the blog is what matches the internal doc, so I would say use the table on the blog rather than the graphic for now.
I'll double-check with the team tomorrow to be 100% sure. We can easily get the graphic amended if that was incorrect. Apologies for the inconvenience it has been quite a tight turnaround to get all materials to you in good time!
Hi, thanks for your patience. I've just synced with the team and it looks like the internal documentation was incorrect. The infographic is correct. I apologise for misleading you with the blog info. I can assure you it was the info I was presented when we wrote the blog, so it must have been changed since writing it.
I'm going to update the blog now with the correct information. After speaking with the team about it, I was assured that this would not make players feel like it's a slog to travel on larger ships, as we plan to have various upgrades and other mechanics which would improve ship speed.
Please also bear in mind that if the skill passes a greenlight poll we'd be open to changing these numbers based on feedback, so I would ask that you keep an open mind if possible.
Thank you for highlighting the inconsistency and for your feedback.
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