Bought and Played - Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy
by Britton LaRoche · 12/10/2008 (10:29 pm) · 9 comments
Guys!!! This game is a classic must have! Its obvious it was made by artists. Before I proceed, I must issue a warning. If you develop games it will be both inspiring and disheartening. Its so beautiful and professional looking that it may intimidate the rest of the independent developers.
Read here for the history Buccaneer Sets Sail for the background story.
I'm not kidding, it is simply awesome. Its going to be a milestone for the independent game community for several reasons.
1. It was made with TGE (an affordable game engine).
2. It was made by two independent game developers (with the help of a few others)
3. Its sold through Steam (cutting out the traditional publishers and retailers)
4. The music by Joel Steudler is totally professional.
5. Its freakin awesome!!
(even the little things like the "e" key zoom are cool... looks like a pirate telescope to me)
I kid you not, this game is going to make the world take notice of the independent gaming community. Its one of the most fun games I have played in a long time. I bought it to study it, because I'm now working (again) on my games. I wanted to gain some insights on how they did things. I was not looking to play a game because I just finished uninstalling Steam, TF2 and all my other games.
I spent the necessary time to reinstall steam, downloaded the game, fired it up and I was BLOWN AWAY. Its so awesome. The water is great, its beautiful. I ran over a fishing boat and watched it sink beneath the surface... right in front of a great white shark swimming just beneath the surface.
Holy eye candy, Batman!
The game plays well, as you use the keys to sail, the sails turn and the boat moves like you are sailing. I'm still learning the game play, my guns fire off the port bow and I'm currently on my first mission fighting another ship.
I noticed a number of things I can do... I can get loot, buy enhancements and build up just like a traditional RPG, yet its got the real time FPS feel. I can see the moral of the crew and other indicators of my success.
Listen guys, if you get one game this year... This is the one. Its not just a great game, its a piece of history. Never before has the demand for games been so high, and the traditional game industry so lost. This to me is the heart of what makes the United States of America so great. Only here can you get such a strong shot of the entrepreneurial spirit... to have one group of guys build a game engine... and a couple of artists make an earth shatteringly great game... for next to nothing. No great venture capital, no publisher, no endless list of managers producers and developers... just a couple of guys with a great idea. And they made it a reality!
Freakin A+++ guys!
This is it. This game put the torque game engine, and the whole independent game movement on the map. This will be all the buzz for the next year. Buccaneer is a shining symbol of hope to me, and I think to the rest of the independent gaming community. For this Buccaneer gets the official seal of awesomeness.
I read through the console.log and I can tell they are using the TGEA beta 1.8, its using sharers for the gorgeous water. It took them 18 months to develop the game.
Read here for the history Buccaneer Sets Sail for the background story.
I'm not kidding, it is simply awesome. Its going to be a milestone for the independent game community for several reasons.
1. It was made with TGE (an affordable game engine).
2. It was made by two independent game developers (with the help of a few others)
3. Its sold through Steam (cutting out the traditional publishers and retailers)
4. The music by Joel Steudler is totally professional.
5. Its freakin awesome!!
(even the little things like the "e" key zoom are cool... looks like a pirate telescope to me)I kid you not, this game is going to make the world take notice of the independent gaming community. Its one of the most fun games I have played in a long time. I bought it to study it, because I'm now working (again) on my games. I wanted to gain some insights on how they did things. I was not looking to play a game because I just finished uninstalling Steam, TF2 and all my other games.
I spent the necessary time to reinstall steam, downloaded the game, fired it up and I was BLOWN AWAY. Its so awesome. The water is great, its beautiful. I ran over a fishing boat and watched it sink beneath the surface... right in front of a great white shark swimming just beneath the surface.
Holy eye candy, Batman!
The game plays well, as you use the keys to sail, the sails turn and the boat moves like you are sailing. I'm still learning the game play, my guns fire off the port bow and I'm currently on my first mission fighting another ship.
I noticed a number of things I can do... I can get loot, buy enhancements and build up just like a traditional RPG, yet its got the real time FPS feel. I can see the moral of the crew and other indicators of my success.
Listen guys, if you get one game this year... This is the one. Its not just a great game, its a piece of history. Never before has the demand for games been so high, and the traditional game industry so lost. This to me is the heart of what makes the United States of America so great. Only here can you get such a strong shot of the entrepreneurial spirit... to have one group of guys build a game engine... and a couple of artists make an earth shatteringly great game... for next to nothing. No great venture capital, no publisher, no endless list of managers producers and developers... just a couple of guys with a great idea. And they made it a reality!
Freakin A+++ guys!
This is it. This game put the torque game engine, and the whole independent game movement on the map. This will be all the buzz for the next year. Buccaneer is a shining symbol of hope to me, and I think to the rest of the independent gaming community. For this Buccaneer gets the official seal of awesomeness.
I read through the console.log and I can tell they are using the TGEA beta 1.8, its using sharers for the gorgeous water. It took them 18 months to develop the game.
#2
12/10/2008 (10:52 pm)
@Jason, I've played just about every demo of every game on here, and I've seen some great games. I'm not easily impressed. This game is simply greater than great. Its awesome! 
#3
I was going to comment further but the game plundered my text and all I'm left with is an, "avast!"
12/11/2008 (3:15 am)
Soooo, what you're trying to say is 'this is no Age of Conan'.I was going to comment further but the game plundered my text and all I'm left with is an, "avast!"
#4
12/11/2008 (7:47 am)
@Ben, AoC is a good game with a much bigger scale. Honestly, (right now) I like Buccaneers better. Its got a very novel feel. I like the ability to both add to my ship RPG Style and have FPS. This combo rocks. I have not played multi-player yet. 
#5
12/11/2008 (10:27 am)
I downloaded and the trial limitations are really unfortunate. There is no single player in the trial, only multiplayer. But there was no one to play with so I was just sailing around by myself, with no tutorial, and nothing to do. That's gonna be really crippling for this game. Sad, it looks gorgeous. 
#6
Cheers to you all so much too, amazing comments 8()
Andy, we've already realised this week that the lack of SP in the demo is a big mistake, and doesn't give anyone the practice time to feel confident enough to go plundering complete strangers online...We're going to include 6 single player levels in the free demo as soon as we can, I think it coul dbe as soon as the weekend, but certainly within a week. We've got some patching to do which has jumped to being the priority jobm but we're on it !!
Again, big thanks to all,
Harv
12/11/2008 (11:41 am)
Well, what can I say. I'm completely blown away by that review Britton. I cannot tell you how much it means to have someone be so positive about the game we've toiled away over for such a very long time..That has seriously made my day / week / month. Almost makes the entire experience worth it on it's own 8) ..So glad you like it !!Cheers to you all so much too, amazing comments 8()
Andy, we've already realised this week that the lack of SP in the demo is a big mistake, and doesn't give anyone the practice time to feel confident enough to go plundering complete strangers online...We're going to include 6 single player levels in the free demo as soon as we can, I think it coul dbe as soon as the weekend, but certainly within a week. We've got some patching to do which has jumped to being the priority jobm but we're on it !!
Again, big thanks to all,
Harv
#7
We originally began Buccaneer in the old TGE before moving to the TGE Advanced and have systematically ported it to each new version as it has been released. The migration process has been... relatively painless, although there are always features that are either removed or changed in some way and initially things tend to... look different until you work out why. :-)
Not sure whether you've seen it, but we have done an interview with GG here that may give you a little more insight into the project:-
http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/71623/15757
12/11/2008 (3:11 pm)
Hey Britton... I would just like to echo Harvey's sentiments and thank you for the kind words. We really did try and show what the Torque Engine is capable of and glad you liked the results.We originally began Buccaneer in the old TGE before moving to the TGE Advanced and have systematically ported it to each new version as it has been released. The migration process has been... relatively painless, although there are always features that are either removed or changed in some way and initially things tend to... look different until you work out why. :-)
Not sure whether you've seen it, but we have done an interview with GG here that may give you a little more insight into the project:-
http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/71623/15757
#8
12/11/2008 (3:33 pm)
Hey Harvey and Simon- Looking forward to the update! The game seems to have tons of promise, and I can't wait to give it a try!
#9
I read the interview and its great to share all this information with the community. I noticed that your game supports open gl. How did you do that with TGEA 1.7.1? ...Or did you upgrade to the TGEA 1.8 beta?
12/11/2008 (4:11 pm)
@Simon, Harvey I read the interview and its great to share all this information with the community. I noticed that your game supports open gl. How did you do that with TGEA 1.7.1? ...Or did you upgrade to the TGEA 1.8 beta?
Torque 3D Owner Jason Nabors
LOL I was thinking of checking it out actually.