Wouter Schoutteten on his upcoming game 'Dreaded Flags'

Naval Conflict in the Age of Piracy 1568-1720

 This is look into Wouter Schoutteten's new, and first, game Dreaded Flags. Everyone, please practice your Arrgghhs.

 Dreaded Flags is a game for 1 - 3 players about historical naval conflicts between small fleets in the Age of Piracy. It's a hex-and-counter wargame of medium-light complexity, with playtime ranging between 30min and about 2 hours and available as a gamebook.

It is my first release and hence my first (very instructive and enjoyable) experience with game design! 

Robert asked me to write something about the game and since this piece goes together with a review, I like to give you an inside look into the development process.

Much of what we (think we) know about pirates, stories with protagonists like Blackbeard, is highly romanticized. Many of those stories can be traced to Charles Johnson's collection of stories (fact or fiction?), A General History of Pyrates. Nonetheless, when we look at the facts behind the legend, a fascinating story persists. These freebooters did manage to hijack ships or steal goods. How did they do it, with a small - often outdated - ship, only a few cannons and a very small crew? 

Rulebook

The few alliances we know of did not last (as we see between Bonnet and Blackbeard, and Every and Pharo, all featured in the game). Sea battles were deadly dangerous and the gains often unpredictable. A captain had to earn the trust of his men, and had to be able to maintain it in chaotic combat. And then there is the trick of just also being an agile, technical captain who can skillfully steer his ship and keep it on course. My first goal for the game was to make a realistic game in the setting of the age of piracy.

In addition, I also made an amazing observation. Just about all games about the age of piracy lose themselves in the romanticized, mysterious portrait of pirates. A historical simulation - or wargame - based on the facts at hand, is almost impossible to find. And the few I did find are outdated, cumbersome and/or out of print. That brings me to my second goal Dreaded Flags should also be a fun, playable game in addition to its historical depth.

The Counters are on the Back Page of the Rulebook

Playable for me meant that the game should not take hours. One of the mechanisms that slow down play is when the main action or narrative has to be interrupted to do some bookkeeping or when dice have to be rolled again (e.g. if a player rolls an X, roll again to see what happens). 

I wanted as much info as possible to already be hardwired into the game, before any dice are rolled. I believe we have succeeded in that, and it’s the strongest point in the gameplay, if you ask me. Some modifiers provide more or less dice, while others manipulate the value of the dice. Factors such as number of guns, distance, morale, wind speed...all are contained in one small table. Players roll a number of dice once for their cannon fire and immediately read the result. And with the addition of 2 colored dice for the optional hit table we increase the realism (and the agency of the players because with this rule they can aim at either hull or rigging). This way, Cannon fire and combat is very fast and yet yields incredible detailed results. To interrupt the action as little as possible, most bookkeeping and extra checks happen after the main action. 

Some Action from a Test Game

Another way we want to make the game accessible and playable is by avoiding jargon (and probably naval wargame fanatics will raise their eyebrows here!). But new players can't tell terms like backing, aft or port. And because there is already so much info for new players, we have left out any jargon as much as possible. This way gameplay is more intuitive and easier to understand for novice naval wargames. To preserve some of the atmosphere, the well-known terms bow and tern have remained. But wind attitudes have been translated to a number, from 1 to 6. We speak of small fleets - not flotilla, and so on.

Playable for me also means replayability. And that means versatility. In the choice of scenarios we have taken this into account. There are 2 completely solitary scenarios in it, while other scenarios are perfect with 2 players. There is 1 scenario for 3 players. Some scenarios are short and can be played in 30 min, others are longer but can also be played in 1 evening. Something for everyone. Another nice extra, I think, is that besides the 8 scenarios, players can easily create their own scenario. In the book are blank log pages with which they can work out their own duel. The system is perfectly scalable to play with even more players as well ( I think 8 players is a bit the maximum for practical reasons) Also, the standardized map makes working out scenarios easier.

Developing a game from A to Z is an incredible experience. But as a rookie, I still have a lot to learn. I am incredibly grateful to my test players and proof readers. It never ceases to amaze me that people want to take the trouble and time to test a game that may turn out to be rubbish. Or to pick out spelling errors from a text not written by a native English speaker! But it is indeed the passion, knowledge and willingness to help that makes our niche so wonderful. 

One of the things I had the hardest time with was deciding which input from the test players to respond to and which not to. In doing so, I tried to go back to my original goal: a fairly fast-playing, accessible game of medium complexity with the necessary historical depth and realism. Balancing realism with playability became a real obsession. 

You can also use Miniatures to play

For example, I was satisfied with how hits translated into damage. You always have to consult and execute the hit table in a fixed order. This yields predictable damage results. One test player found that not realistic enough and upon request I developed the Advanced Hit Table. Since this adds another layer of complexity to the game, I decided to make this an optional game rule (again, pondering how complex game rules should be).... But I notice that I now always play Dreaded Flags with that optional rule, so maybe that should become a standard rule! So, putting my ego aside here, input from playtesters is very valuable.

I think making a complex game is easier than a simple but challenging game. So what to delete and what to keep? If you want the development process to keep moving forward smoothly, you have to be prepared to make choices quickly. 

This whole process went pretty fast but that's what I had chosen. In a short period of time, this gave me a much better overall understanding of game development and what is involved. I hope Dreaded Flags finds a small, enthusiastic group of players. I am working on new games, and I hope the success of dreaded flags motivates me to continue working on them.

Thank you all for your support!

Wouter

 Thank you Mr. Schoutteten for giving us a look at your new game.

 These are some of the Battles:

The Trader (A learning Scenario) - 1716
The Ambush: John Hawkins vs. the City of San Juan de Ulúa - 1568
The Sacking: Henry Morgan vs the city of Maracaibo - 1669 (Solitaire)
The Heist: Henry Every vs. the Murghal Fleet - 1695
The Salvaging: Charles Vane and Henry Jennings vs. The Spanish Salvage Fleet - 1715
The Hunt: Frances Hume vs. John Martel - 1717
The Reckoning: Blackbeard vs. Stede Bonnet - 1718
The Menace: Black Bart vs. the people of Barbados - 1720 (Solitaire)

This is the Amazon page for the U.S.:

Dreaded Flags: Naval Conflict in the Age of Piracy 1568 - 1720: A Wargame Book: Schoutteten, Wouter: 9798390935064: Amazon.com: Books

Tempest, the Pirate Action RPG, is exactly what the name suggests. This game, previously available on PC and now ported to mobile devices, puts you in the role of the captain of a ship in an open-world where you can sail about fighting other ships, completing quests (both mundane and legendary), or hunting for treasure. There are quest lines to explore if you are looking for a focused experience, but nothing holds you back from going wherever you please after the tutorial. Along the way you'll also need to manage your crew, buy and sell goods, and upgrade to better ships.  For a little $8 mobile game, there is a lot to see and do. Grab your eyepatch, strap on a peg leg, and let's set sail on this pirate adventure.

As you can see from the official trailer above, the game does look pretty nice, especially in terms of atmosphere and lighting. I played the game on an iPhone 5s, and it looks just like that while running perfectly smooth. All of the screenshots in this review were taken on my phone. The file size clocks in at 341 MB, so it won't take up too much space if you are constantly maxing out your file storage like I do.

Since this is a mobile game, how the controls work is going to be critical to whether I will enjoy it. In the case of Tempest, I can report that the controls work quite well, even with a lot of stuff jammed onto the screen.

The big arrows you see in each screenshot are how you steer the ship.  Simply touch one and the ship will turn in that direction. There are a variety of menus which are reached by tapping the icons along the edges of the screen. These menus let you manage your crew, inspect your ship's inventory and status, review your quests, or hoist a different flag, among other things. The camera can be spun, tilted, and zoomed at any time. During battle, the camera can be locked onto an enemy ship, which frees you up from needing to manage it. You will have plenty of other concerns to take up your time, between steering your ship into position, watching the direction of the wind, changing cannonball types, and of course firing the big guns.

A typical round of combat in Tempest has you and an enemy ship circling each other, attempting to get the enemy in your sights while staying out of theirs as much as possible. The blue strip in the screenshot above shows your line of fire. You need to hold the enemy in this lane so that your men can take aim. You can fire at any time, or wait for the circle to fill completely, which automatically triggers a full power shot. Engaging at long range makes this tricky, as you must anticipate the speed and direction of yourself and the enemy ship. Engaging close up is of course easier, but puts you at greater risk of taking heavy damage. 

The game starts you off with the basic age of sail attack options. You can load your cannons with standard cannonballs for hull damage, bars for sail damage, and shrapnel for taking out enemy crew. These different options come in a variety of quality levels, and your stocks are finite, so you need to keep an eye on inventory levels as you head into a big battle. Luckily, rusty old cannonballs are handed out for free at pirate ports. As you play the game, more exotic weapons like mortars and flamethrowers can be added to your arsenal.

There are also a variety of other upgrades you can add to your ship which give you more options for attacking and other advantages. For example, a very thematic item you can pick up early is the spyglass. Using this actually takes you into a first person telescopic view, where you can gaze at ships in the distance to gather information about them. 

As you sail around the game world you will visit ports belonging to a wide variety of factions. Your reputation with each is tracked, and like in most games, having higher rep will give you advantages with that faction, while dropping it too low can get you locked out of their ports entirely. The various factions all have some sort of bonus that gives you a reason to visit them and keep your reputation with them strong. Each faction also has a series of quests you can complete, which run along their individual theme. Completing these will boost your reputation and reap you some nice rewards.

You also gain a variety of personal reputations based on how you fight. These reputations colorfully describe your character, but also give you a bonus related to actions you take while playing. In my case I tended to fight at long range and flee from combat when needed. This gave me a bonus to accuracy and speed, respectively. These bonuses are earned and changed automatically as the game goes along. I thought this was a really cool idea that rewarded you based on your preferred playstyle. 

The game offers you a very interesting option in how you want to play it. You can travel around using the strategic map (see above), simply tapping on where you want to go and waiting a few seconds for your ship to arrive. Along the way, random encounters and quest events will pop up at the bottom of the screen. You can choose to engage these foes or pass them by. Most quest locations are clearly marked and you simply click on them to head that way. This is all very efficient and easy, but true sea dogs who want to feel the ocean spray on their face have another option (see below).

It is possible play the entire game without using the strategic map at all. You can sail around the entire game world while looking at your ship, or even zoomed in all the way to the deck. A map is available there at the helm with the same information as the strategic map. This is a cool option that adds to the immersion, especially when you want to do some peaceful sailing.

As I mentioned before, as captain of the ship you are also responsible for managing the ship's finances, cargo, crew, and officers. Crew management has two key factors. How many crewman of different experience levels you have, and where you put them. There are five different experience levels. You can always pick up more level 1 crew for free at ports, but skilled crewmen are limited and have a price. However, the crew you have gains experience and this can be spent to level up your men and make them more effective. Crewmen can also be wounded or killed in battle, which means you want to avoid lopsided battles where you might lose numerous experienced men. 

The second aspect to crew management is where you put these men. There are three sections of your ship: the guns, the deck fighters, and the sails. Each section can be boosted in efficiency by placing more men there, so you may want to shift men around as the situation demands. In practice, you don't have to mess with this too much, but it's something to always keep in mind.

Hauling cargo from port to port, buying low and selling high, is a classic open world mechanic that fits into Tempest nicely. Whether you are buying those goods legitimately, or taking them off the wrecks of your latest victims is up to you. Funds earned by combat and selling goods can be used to upgrade your ship in numerous ways. Stronger hulls and bigger cannons are on offer of course, as well as smaller upgrades and tweaks to customize your ship. Once you earn enough cash, you can even buy an entirely new ship. These range from quick sloops to triple decked battleships. 

I talked early on about how impressive the visuals were (considering I am playing this with smooth frame rates on a two year old phone) but something should also be said about the sound and music. The music is some of the best I have heard in a new game so far this year. It's exactly the kind of stuff you would expect from a good pirate movie and will have you feeling like Jack Sparrow going into the action. The sound effects are also very well done. The ship creaks as you change direction, the waves crash against your hull, and the cannons roar in battle. There is a lot going on in this regard, and I recommend playing with headphones on to get the full effect.

The game includes more fantastical elements as it progresses, including special artifacts, magical powers, and even sea monsters. I will let you discover those fun encounters on your own. The game also features co-op and PvP multiplayer, though I did not experience any of it during my playtime so far. This was likely because I spent most of my time playing before the game fully released. From everything I've read about the PC version of the game, these features are fun and seamlessly built into the gameplay. If you and someone else are sailing through the same part of the game world and enter a battle, there is a chance you will find yourself fighting along with, or against, that human player.

If any negatives could be said about the game, it would be that there are a lot of systems here, but none delve too deep. The gameplay loop is nothing new, you earn money in a variety of ways, then spend it to get bigger, better stuff so you can earn more money faster to buy more stuff. You've seen all this before. That said, everything here is as solidly constructed as the hull of Old Ironsides. The game delivers exactly the experience the developers set out to create. 

Clearly, this is a game with a lot of content and things to do. Considering the price, and compared to typical mobile game offerings, you get some serious bang for your buck with Tempest. There are no In-App Purchases or microtransactions to be seen. $8 gets you the full experience, which is a rare thing on these platforms. I wanted to try the game out on my iPad, but it kept saying the device was not compatible. Hopefully this has been fixed with the full release of the game, but even if not, the game works extremely well on the much smaller iPhone.

While in a lot of ways the game offers standard open-world gaming fare, it is done here with a high level of competency all wrapped in an appealing setting. I find that I don't game much on my iPhone, with unsatisfying titles arriving and then walking the plank shortly after, but Tempest has me rethinking that pattern. The short initial load time, impressive sounds and visuals, all on top of the fully featured gameplay, has earned it a permanent spot on my phone.

- Joe Beard

Developer: HeroCraft
Official Website: http://www.herocraft.com/

Tempest is available on iOS and Android devices. 
The PC version is available on Steam.