Hi everyone!
Today we're very happy to announce our new project, currently in active development. This game is called Feral Blue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za9CFrmZ_2c
We've always been fond of sailing ships. Actually, there are about three things regarding games we're very passionate about: how to make our own version Heroes of Might & Magic 3, how to make our own version of "Pirates!" and how to finish our very own Fatherdale. These kinds of 'DIY engines' we worked with before can do miracles in some of the luckiest cases, but obviously that's not something we can say about ourselves. So it's a great thing that an indie team of two people can start making a game with Unreal Engine 4 (we still remember when it was a luxury for a very few).
Sailing ship is always about the freedom. You can't get the same unforgettable feeling of salty splashes getting to your face in Titanic or in a WW1 dreadnought. This is the basic emotion that we wanted to convey with Feral Blue — freedom and the sea. In addition, we are doing our best to introduce the concept we've been working on in our games for the past few years: going from controlling your crew to controlling your settlement and then — to controlling your empire. We want players not just upgrade their stats, but their level of responsibility. At the same time, when you're fed up with everything, you have the ability to get out of your office, gather your crew of veterans and set sail on a frigate, to cut the Maltese in boarding fights. Yes, it seems we have our first game, where the Maltese will be among the main factions.
We took a long time to figure out what the game will look and play like. First it was FTL — but we realized it's not something we want to go with (by the way, if you do want to play FTL about sailing ships — buy Abandon Ship). Of course, we took some ideas from our own Blood & Gold. Russian classics Sea Dogs is our current reference to naval battles (programmer's note: debatable).
In terms of the game's setting, we're taking inspiration from Waterworld (1995) and Master & Commander (2003) — sea, ships, sometimes very weird ones, naval battles in the fog. Also, we were greatly influenced by Snowpiercer (2013), with its idea of a state locked inside the train.
Feral Blue is a typical case of a game we'd like to play ourselves. But we hope it will be of interest not only to us, but you as well! For now, you can wishlist the game on Steam. See you there!