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<p class="introductiontext">It's been almost two months since the initial release of Build 14 Alpha 9. So where does that put us? What are we working on? What are we planning on? And what can you do to help us make our plans come true?</p> <p class="introduction"> Posted by <a href="http://www.moddb.com/members/pieter-boelen">Pieter_Boelen</a> on May 5th, 2009 <a class="diggicon" href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.moddb.com%2Fmods%2Fnew-horizons%2Fnews%2Fpast-and-present-of-the-build-mod&title=Present+and+Future+of+the+Build+Mod" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">digg this</a> <a class="bookmarkicon thickbox" href="http://static.moddb.com/cutoff/html/bookmark.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.moddb.com%2Fmods%2Fnew-horizons%2Fnews%2Fpast-and-present-of-the-build-mod&title=Present+and+Future+of+the+Build+Mod&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=440&width=420" title="Bookmark: Present and Future of the Build Mod" rel="nofollow">super bookmark</a> </p> <hr class="divider" /> <div id="articlecontent"><div align="center"> <h2>Present</h2> <p>The present of the "New Horizons" mod consists of course of the just-released Build 14 Alpha 9.5. Although clearly still a work-in-progress game version, the original Alpha 9 proved fairly playable and the subsequent patches have greatly improved on this too.</p> <p>This has culminated in Alpha 9.5, which will be the last update to be released for a while. The reasons for this are to allow people to actually play the game for a while without having to start a new game every week because there's a new update. We now have a Bug Tracker again, which can be found on our forum, so now we need to do bug hunting and work on fixing the bugs as they're reported. The help of the modpack players will of course be invaluable in this respect, so please join in!</p> <h2>Near Future</h2> <p>We have an internal test-version called the "Development Resources" that includes some really cool features, some of which have aready been seen on various screenshots posted here. These features include, but are not limited to:</p> <p>- <strong>Save At Sea Mod</strong>
Long requested, but supposed impossible to achieve due to game engine limitations, this mod finally allows you to save in 3D sailing mode.</p> <p>- <strong>Different Flags Mod</strong>
Finally you will be able to choose which flag to fly for you own.
Additionally at sea you will be able to distinguish between navy and merchant ships.
And the flags will be historically correct too in the different Periods.
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Spanish%20Warship%20Fired.jpg" border="0" width="250" />Â Â <img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Spanish%20Merchant.jpg" border="0" width="250" /></p> <p>- <strong>Upgrade Ship Shipyard Interface</strong>
Want to make your ship better than the others?
Upgrade it by getting better sails or cannons!
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Shipyard%20Upgrade%20Ship.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></p> <p>- <strong>Repaint Ship Shipyard Interface</strong>
Tired of your ship's look, but not ready to get a new one just yet?
Get a different paint scheme!
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Shipyard%20Appearance.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></p> <p>- <strong>Experimental Officers System</strong>
All officers get to contribute their skills, not just the three active ones.
But only those skills relevant to their officer type.</p> <p>These mods all need to be fixed and finished and some of them are still on various levels of completion, but work in being done on them and they should make their way into Alpha 10 once that is done.</p> <p>Additionally the fixing of the various mods is continuing, as is the quest-writing process. With the Jack Sparrow storyline finished for the most part, the Hornblower quest is now being looked into. The Bartolomeu o Portugues quest is also being expanded, with a new Assassin main quest also in the works. The beginning of this last quest can already be previewed in Build 14 Alpha 9.5 as well.</p> <h2>Distant Future</h2> <p>Eventually we want to finish Build 14, of course. But what after that? You might not be aware of it, but Pirates of the Caribbean was the predecessor to Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales. We never bothered to upgrade our modding to that game, but with <a href="http://www.ageofpiratesthegame.com/">Age of Pirates: City of Abandoned Ships</a> soon to be released, we do intend to upgrade our modding to that game. This'll be a major challenge though and won't be easily accomplished.</p> <h2>Your Involvement</h2> <p>The more people we've got working on the mod, the sooner we're going to get things done. Any and all comments and bug reports are of course appreciated, especially when they're made on the <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net/">PiratesAhoy! forum</a> and <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showforum=38">Bug Tracker</a>. However, there's plenty of other things that you could contribute with, the following being some examples:</p> <p><strong>- Checking the various dialogs and quest texts and improving the texts</strong></p> <p><strong>- Write up descriptions for the various ships in the game for the "Repaint Ship" interface</strong></p> <p><strong>- Set up the ships in the game to support pennants for the Different Flags mod</strong></p> <p><strong>- Make new Personal and Pirate flags to be used in the Different Flags mod</strong></p> <p><strong>- Assist in making screenshots for the new Location-Specific Loading Screens</strong>
The below images are a couple of examples, but since we need to redo all the loading screens in the whole game, some assistance would be most appreciated.</p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Alice_Town.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/FortVRight.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Plantation.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Cayman_Port.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p>Of course there's many other things you could be working on. You could even make your own ships, character, locations, quest or mods yourself! Just inform us if you want to help and we'll help you to do it. And have a good time as well, of course.</p> <p>If you have any questions concerning our plans, please leave them in the Comments below.</p></div></div>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/game-news/new-horizons/350-what-are-we-planning-on.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
Long requested, but supposed impossible to achieve due to game engine limitations, this mod finally allows you to save in 3D sailing mode.</p> <p>- <strong>Different Flags Mod</strong>
Finally you will be able to choose which flag to fly for you own.
Additionally at sea you will be able to distinguish between navy and merchant ships.
And the flags will be historically correct too in the different Periods.
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Spanish%20Warship%20Fired.jpg" border="0" width="250" />Â Â <img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Spanish%20Merchant.jpg" border="0" width="250" /></p> <p>- <strong>Upgrade Ship Shipyard Interface</strong>
Want to make your ship better than the others?
Upgrade it by getting better sails or cannons!
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Shipyard%20Upgrade%20Ship.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></p> <p>- <strong>Repaint Ship Shipyard Interface</strong>
Tired of your ship's look, but not ready to get a new one just yet?
Get a different paint scheme!
<img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/pirate_kk_preview/Shipyard%20Appearance.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></p> <p>- <strong>Experimental Officers System</strong>
All officers get to contribute their skills, not just the three active ones.
But only those skills relevant to their officer type.</p> <p>These mods all need to be fixed and finished and some of them are still on various levels of completion, but work in being done on them and they should make their way into Alpha 10 once that is done.</p> <p>Additionally the fixing of the various mods is continuing, as is the quest-writing process. With the Jack Sparrow storyline finished for the most part, the Hornblower quest is now being looked into. The Bartolomeu o Portugues quest is also being expanded, with a new Assassin main quest also in the works. The beginning of this last quest can already be previewed in Build 14 Alpha 9.5 as well.</p> <h2>Distant Future</h2> <p>Eventually we want to finish Build 14, of course. But what after that? You might not be aware of it, but Pirates of the Caribbean was the predecessor to Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales. We never bothered to upgrade our modding to that game, but with <a href="http://www.ageofpiratesthegame.com/">Age of Pirates: City of Abandoned Ships</a> soon to be released, we do intend to upgrade our modding to that game. This'll be a major challenge though and won't be easily accomplished.</p> <h2>Your Involvement</h2> <p>The more people we've got working on the mod, the sooner we're going to get things done. Any and all comments and bug reports are of course appreciated, especially when they're made on the <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net/">PiratesAhoy! forum</a> and <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showforum=38">Bug Tracker</a>. However, there's plenty of other things that you could contribute with, the following being some examples:</p> <p><strong>- Checking the various dialogs and quest texts and improving the texts</strong></p> <p><strong>- Write up descriptions for the various ships in the game for the "Repaint Ship" interface</strong></p> <p><strong>- Set up the ships in the game to support pennants for the Different Flags mod</strong></p> <p><strong>- Make new Personal and Pirate flags to be used in the Different Flags mod</strong></p> <p><strong>- Assist in making screenshots for the new Location-Specific Loading Screens</strong>
The below images are a couple of examples, but since we need to redo all the loading screens in the whole game, some assistance would be most appreciated.</p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Alice_Town.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/FortVRight.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Plantation.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p><img src="http://piratesahoy.net/build/images/loading/locations/Cayman_Port.jpg" border="0" width="600" height="450" /></p> <p>Of course there's many other things you could be working on. You could even make your own ships, character, locations, quest or mods yourself! Just inform us if you want to help and we'll help you to do it. And have a good time as well, of course.</p> <p>If you have any questions concerning our plans, please leave them in the Comments below.</p></div></div>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/game-news/new-horizons/350-what-are-we-planning-on.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
