Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Questions by Garrett Fuller, Industry Relations Specialist
Answers by John Scott Tynes, Producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea

Although 2007 was a fairly busy year for MMOGs, next year's line-up of titles looks to contend or top what we saw come down the pipe. The first game out the door for the 2008 season will be a title developed by Flying Lab Software called Pirates of the Burning Sea. Initially developed as an indepedent game, Flying Lab opted to partner with Sony Online Entertainment in their "Platform Publishing" deal and have been conducting a fairly thorough beta test for the past three years. As 2007 winds to a close, the Ten Ton Hammer staff wanted to check in with the folks at Flying Lab and see how things were progressing. Pirates of the Burning Sea producer John Scott Tynes sat down with Ten Ton Hammer's Garrett Fuller to discuss how beta's been going, the launch window for the game, and much much more!

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Ten Ton Hammer: What has the response been to beta? How have players been doing sailing the Burning Sea?

John Scott Tynes: It’s been great. We’ve had beta testers in and playing the game since December of 2005, so they’ve seen a huge amount of change and progress and we’ve learned a lot from their feedback.

The Gold Master files for Pirates of the Burning Sea should be heading out this month.

Ten Ton Hammer: How is the game running right before launch? Are things pretty much ready to go?

John: We’re handing off the Gold Master files in mid-November so yeah, we’re about done. We will certainly continue fixing high-priority bugs and making final tuning adjustments, but we have been very strict about what goes in for launch and what goes in for after launch. When we come back from Thanksgiving, we’ll be starting work on our first big content & feature patch for post-launch.

Ten Ton Hammer: You recently unveiled the Boarding Party community initiative, can you tell us a little about that?

John: The Boarding Party is a pretty amazing way for fans of Pirates of the Burning Sea to really make an impact on the game. We’ve always been inclined to over communicate with our fans, and that isn’t going to stop once our game launches. The Boarding Party will consist of several different kinds of groups providing feedback on game features directly to the FLS Dev Team, participating in PotBS public events and so much more. You can read about the program by visiting this link.

Ten Ton Hammer: Your pre-orders begin on November 13th.  Can you tell us about the pre-order program? Will players be in for anything special through the pre-order?

John: If you buy a pre-order box, you’ll get a soundtrack CD of music from the game and key codes that will let you start playing January 7th, two weeks before launch. You’ll also get a parrot to sit on your shoulder and some excellent weapons for swashbuckling.

Ten Ton Hammer: For players who have not heard much about Pirates of the Burning Sea, can you give us some information on the ships you can use?

John: In Pirates of the Burning Sea, every player is the captain of a ship. You start with a Schooner and go from there, moving from one ship to another as you level up. There are dozens and dozens of different ships in the game, from rafts all the way up to a 104-gun warship. Different ships make for very different styles of play, so as you play you’ll find your experience in the game changing dramatically. Every ship handles in its own way in terms of speed, turn rate, best angle to the wind, number and size of cannon, cargo capacity, and lots more. You can modify your ship with items to tune its characteristics much as you would in a racing game like Gran Tourismo.

Every players is a captain of a ship in Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are there any major feed back ideas from beta that you have added to the game? Many games go through some big changes during beta, is there one in particular you’d like to talk about?

John: We haven’t added major features based on beta feedback, but we have made tons and tons of smaller changes. Skills, ship stats, AI behaviors, and the economy have all received multiple, substantial overhauls based on beta feedback.

We did do one thing recently that beta testers were clamoring for, and we haven’t even told them yet. Hopefully they’ll read about it here! We added tabbed chat to the game because they asked nicely…

Ten Ton Hammer: Will the game be available for digital download? Will we find it in retail stores? How can we get our hands on the Pirates of the Burning Sea treasure!?

John: Every which way but loose! It’ll be available as a digital purchase/download and in retail stores across North America and Europe.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will SOE Station Pass Members be able to access the game? Will it be included in their Station Pass?

John: Yep! You’ll still need to buy the game, but the subscription is included in your SOE Station Pass. I think that’s a really great deal.

Ten Ton Hammer: The game is close to launch; players are gripping their cutlasses and muskets, what is something you’d like to tell a player that has not been asked?

John: Ship combat is the star of our game and we’ve had five years to get it right. It’s an incredible and intense gaming experience and we can’t wait for everyone to get a chance to try it. Yar!

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Want to sail the Burning Seas in your new Schooner? Or are you looking to man a full-masted Frigate? Let us know in our forums!

Ten Ton Hammer is your unofficial source for Pirates of the Burning Sea news and articles!