The following is our latest blog, originally posted on September 9th, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
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Hey there everyone,
As you’re probably aware, we held a 48 hour Alpha test this week, and even more players got to experience our recent progress on the game (and tested the load on our servers – thanks for your patience, everyone who helped to test). It’s worth noting that we weren’t able to let everyone in that was eligible for this test – we had an overwhelming response (which was amazing, thank you!) and we hope to let everyone in that meets the requirements in future tests, so if you didn’t get in, don’t fret.
Some players shared the adventures that they had during the two days of the playtest, and there were some wonderful tales of cunning, daring and adventure.
First of all we bring you…some screenshots and a video from the epic journey of Boaty McBoatface and her brave and daring crew of ten, described by Infernomortis. This tale is one of woe and of happiness, of discovery and of loss.
Their journey began with the great and mighty ship ‘Boaty McBoatface’, not yet fully fitted, but ready to fly! It wasn’t long before they spotted an abandoned vessel in the skies, so the crew decided to whip out their grappling hooks, and reeled her in for investigation.
After salvaging what they could, they began to run out of fuel, so some of the crew scouted ahead for a place to land. Luckily the clouds parted, and a huge ice island loomed out of the mist.
A few repairs, more engines and a lot of fuel later, they were ready to take to the skies once more! After a few more adventures, the crew decided to land the ship once more, for a refit. Boaty McBoatface would be even more formidable with more engines and guns.
Refitted, refuelled and rearmed, they were ready to roll once more!
With everything (and everyone) tied down, they headed towards their biggest trial yet, the huge, towering storm wall. As soon as the weather turned, the ship started swaying, and everyone tied themselves to the nearest post as the rain lashed down and thunder boomed above their heads.
Below deck they seemed to have lost a few cannons and an engine or two, but that was fine. They didn’t need those anyway (or did they?). With an almighty crash, a bolt of lightning hit the bow, leaving one of the crew hanging on for dear life!
Somehow, against all odds, they made it, passing through the storm relatively intact with all the crew still on board. Sailing out of the clouds, they found a wrecked ship that did not fare so well in the storm, and the crew used it for target practice.
After many more adventures, and a storm or two later, some of the crew marvelled at a sunrise they discovered, glowing through the overcast skies.
Adventures complete, the crew posed on the top deck for one last parting shot as the playtest drew to a close.
Crew member Crumbleduck made a little video of part of the adventure. There are a few little swear words in this, so if you’re offended by those, perhaps switch off the sound. Well worth a watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV8MozYhohI
Want to see what it’s currently like trying to take on a stormwall and lose?
Strite, Fenix, Padre and R1ckster show you what that’s like – with added manta rays!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTGZUuihgfM
Adventures aside, Backsh00ter discovered some of the bug-related joys of an Alpha test. Here’s what he had to say…
“During the playtest, I had several interesting experiences.
The best “bug”, if that’s what you want to call it, was one that my friend Dreemlan experienced. His character spawned with his knees broken in and his legs inverted .With his “condition”, when he sat down one of his legs was propped up nicely for him to rest his head on (I hope his feet didn’t stink). As he ran around, instead of his legs kicking back, they would kick forward up into the air.
Unfortunately, after his game crashing and respawning he no longer had his derpy legs.
On a completely different note, another interesting experience I had involved three of my crew members and myself sailing along. It all began normally, we were cruising along peacefully to the next island, my crew mates all had their grapples down on the deck to hold themselves on from turbulence. All of the sudden, one of my crew members slipped off the deck, his rope was still attached and unfortunately he slipped off right into the propeller of one of the engines. His rope began to wrap itself around and fling him all over. Before we knew it, we had lost complete control of the ship, the other two were now being flung around and all three of them began to wrap the ship with their rope.
Another player, Zerithax, suggested attaching enough lifters to an object to have it float around without gravity, and made a little video of this phenomenon.
https://youtu.be/7XmlgDHH-u8
There were many more tales from this playtest – hopefully we can meet more of you in the next one!
Have a great weekend.
The Worlds Adrift Team