Hi, Let me introduce myself. I am Nicolas, Game Producer of Pirates Outlaws and founder of Fabled Game Studio. I want to share and answer some questions about our game. First, I would like to say thank you for the quite encouraging reception of our game on iOS and Android, despite its imperfections. It was interesting to read all positive and negative comments around the net. Fabled Game is a small studio and our development team is working hard on it to optimize it as fast as we can. Pirates Outlaws will be update frequently, and we will improve it until we will be fully satisfied with it. Based on player feedbacks and comments, there are several things you want to know about the game. Starting with the controversial In-app Purchase system and economic system of the game. I want to reassure you there is no need to buy extra payments needed to fully enjoy the game. Sure, it will cost you more time to unlock more contents, but it can become personal accomplishment to keep you playing the game for “daily” objectives with progressive challenge (Currently each successful run can be rewarded Max 500 Gold). But as I mention before, it matters on you to pay more or not. All contents unlocked by Repute in Pirates Outlaws can be unlocked without any Purchases, Upgrades or Boosters. (Fabled Game Designer confirm me: “yes, it is possible!”) The economic system and game experience for Pirates Outlaws has been designed like this, for multiple reasons. Nowadays, I have the feeling that some type of game is unique in the objective to please only a category of player. Card games for card players, Casual games for casuals... In Pirates Outlaws, we would like to break this limit with an easy-to-play game, low price and progressive challenge. Allowing “gamers” to enjoy and “casuals” to discover a roguelike card game on mobile. It's not as easy to explain it and I am conscious that it can be deformed or counter-argumented but it is the way I want to believe our studio and games will be seen. After this boring paragraph, let’s talk about Pirates Outlaws mechanics and future improvements. People asks if there will be a chance to have a “skip” button on the loot panel, after a battle. No! The game is design in this way for multiple reasons, removing it will affect the entire balance of the game and we have already several ideas to balance and use it (wait and see. Coins cost can be adjusted for unbalance actions and we will provide you more options to manage your deck. We know that the game needs some improvements (text and translations, UI…) and it will be done progressively. We have already new functions, contents, chapters and a new mode with gold rewards planned on our schedule (To not miss any news you can follow us on our Official Social Networks and Website). Our development team are working hard to solve any issues encountered. The game is far from complete and that’s great news, but as I mention before we are a small and independent studio with ambitious ideas which take times to do. So, in advance sorry for the delay (if delay there is). Best Regards Nicolas Lavergne - Game Producer @FabledGameStudio https://fabledgame.com/news
I will agree with you on that 100%. Although i did not buy it and will not buy it as it is right now all the times that i have tried to support these kind of games i ended up either grinding endlessly or buying multiple iaps. Yes maybe i am wrong with this one but i won't take any chances. It is not about the money its i just do not want to support this kind of pay model.
I still consider it strange that people are angry at the IAPs. They are optional and only speed up the unlocks. I bought the Boost but I would even consider to turn it off if it was possible. Having the full game immediately is ok but I think it feels too repetitive too soon because there is no point in continuing apart from climbing in the leaderboard or difficulty levels. Here you have the advantage of earning the IAP (Gold) currency after each run which not every games offer you. Also, there is a second currency being the Reputation. You also earn that after every run (you earn more if you simply stop after a boss instead of dying in a fight). Don't forget that you get some XP after a run and that it unlock even more cards, no stupid boosters and no IAPs for that (some special card can be bough with the Gold currency). I definitely think that if the islands for example were unlockable only by using IAPs, people would have raged even more (I know I would)... What you have here is the "full" game without any additional need for IAPs to unlock 100% of it (apart from the Admiral but hey, the game is freaking cheap so I consider his price a part of the full game). Ok, you probably start with 10% of the game but you unlock things along the way The game is already enjoyable and quite complex even without bothering with the additional islands, characters, perks, etc. First try to beat the game with the Gunner in the first island. I think that by the time you understand how the mechanics work, what risks you should take or not, what are the good combinations, etc, you will have enough to buy the next island or character if you want a different kind of challenge. Why wanting to try something else before even finishing what is offered first? From what the dev said, I can understand now why they did some choices that I was considering strange at first. The impossibility to skip cards after a battle is part of the game and I guess it is a way to prevent some OP compositions of the deck. We all know that this type of game can be quickly broken if you can manage exactly what you want in your deck. You end up with a limited number of cards that you can cycle through again and again and basically have a first turn win. Here you have to think what is best to keep or to upgrade and adapt to the situation. Yes it will be difficult to have the perfect deck to finish the game easily. And don't forget that it is a rogue like. Sometimes luck is what help you win and lack of luck makes the run impossible. But it is a fun factor (arguable I agree). It would be no fun if there was a possibility to have the perfect deck and simply finish the game like it is the case in Silent Abyss. This random aspect of the game keeps the replayability up and the challenge present. Maybe my point of view is biased on the fun part because I do enjoy grinding and I do feel some personal accomplishment spending my hard earned Gold to unlock something. I do not really even feel the grinding because I am trying hard to beat the game and to optimise every run. Maybe this grinding is misunderstood as a hidden way to ask players to use IAPs, or maybe people just do not want to grind at all and have everything given to them right from the start. Still I am surprised that some of the Touch Arcade community thinks this way. But well you can't please everyone I guess. A cool point to note is how responsive the devs are! Only a few days after the release, a patch was made correcting certain bugs. They are responsive by email and they even came here on Touch Arcade. Many updates seem to be planned, some tweaks for the gameplay, some additional content. They are also listening to the feedback! This is really something we miss. I hope that this game will grow but it need support from the players. If people are enjoying it, spread the joy. If some are having trouble, let's discuss it and share our knowledge and ideas on how to beat it. If some people are frustrated with some aspect of the game, yeah sure it is always interesting to know that too and it could be explained or corrected in many cases. Nothing is set in stone so bring you ideas and I'm sure it will be useful for everyone. The community is what makes the game live and evolve
So @Fabled - Game Producer can you tell us what the difference in AP costs means when you travel please. Some cost 3 or 6, is it just cosmetic or is there better loot based on the higher AP costs? Also is there and endless mode after you beat everything possibly? Or one in the works?
Sorry, it will not be possible. But we have already fixe the rotation screen. ("AP" Action Points = Ship Durability) In Pirates Outlaws your ship will be damage (-AP Cost) during your expedition and you will need to repair it. Pick the right path will certainly save you some money to avoid some reparation on your ship. This feature will certainly become an essential factor of the path you will choose very soon. New contents, game mode... are planned. It is just a matter of time. We will keep you updated on our social networks. https://fabledgame.com/news
Completed zone 1, area 3, reward $500 and 250 repute. Not a bad bonus but far from enough to close the gap to unlock zone 2. Guess it’s pay or grind. Good game, don’t mind paying for the booster.
Wish @Fabled - Game Producer would address the reason why they made the design choices they did. I’m enjoying the game and bought the booster myself but still think the way zones were walled off is a strange design choice.
This is a Chinese studio and they do not have the same approach to grinding as we do. I do not want to generalise too much but grinding is omnipresent in asian games and is not considered as a problem most of the time. I do not feel that they are that restricting here. Look at Dungeon Maker - Dark Lords. You have to grind like hell to unlock all the characters, rooms, etc. and the price for unlocks is quite exaggerated in my opinion. At least here, I know what price to expect and how long it might take me to get it. And as long as I am enjoying the game, I don't mind grinding. That's what everyone does anyway on Slay the Spire for example. The content is unlocked pretty fast and then it is just an endless replay without much reward at the end. But even though, if this game is targeted at "Casuals", this might be an opportunity to grab more money on the way. On the bright side, those who are patient enough can enjoy the full game for only a buck. I don't see a problem with that approach and I definitely prefer it that way.
Loved StS and finished with multiple characters. Bought the doubler and really enjoying this game. But also find it to be too much of a grind to open the other areas/characters. In this type of game, similar to StS, some bad luck can end a run. Have already put a significant number of hours in and not earning near enough gold to think about opening the other areas / characters (outside the 5k from the doubler, I've made another 1k+). Don't see how this will appeal to casuals. The grind is way too much to get anything open. Kind of agree on the pricing choices. If there was a $ option to open the other areas and characters, I'd buy it. I realize I could do something similar by buying gold. But as someone that studies human behavior, the mental accounting of buying gold is different than buying a premium game. And I think that internal bias is throwing me off. Would love to see: a premium option to open up the other areas and characters outside of buying gold, or an increase in gold payouts from runs. Without one of those, I suspect the vast majority of players will never see anything more than the initial character and area. And that's a shame to have all the extra pieces of the game of the game that only the most hardcore (or IAP purchasers) will see
Hello, Please tell me how to beat the second boss ? I go to this boss easily, but i don’t understand how to kill it. Any attack give you bleading and his attack pass before my armor. Any help would be great
While I haven’t been able to beat him I’ve come really damn close a couple times. Just keep in mind that you can only have 1 status alignment at a time. So if all your attacks give you bleed just make sure you use a dodge before you finish your turn or something to that effect. It will negate his poison/injury from the spikes. I think that’s how it works. But like I said. Hell I haven’t been able to beat him. I got lucky and didn’t have to fight him on my gunner runner that I finished. As to the requirements to unlock, I don’t mind a grind, but I do feel that either the rewards need to come up just a little or the unlocks should be dropped a little. Nothing egregious on either fronts though.
Thanks to all here for your comments, both positive and negative. In the end though it left me confused as to whether the iap’s will annoy me. Finally decided that at $1.49AUD it would be worth it to try for myself...... rather than just procrastinating about it every day .
My strategy for him is to get a card with immunity early on. With a smaller deck I can get 30+ stacks of bleed in one turn and that’s normally devastating. But if you have an immunity card that clears it up.
I thought personal attacks weren't welcome on these forums. The issue of whether you buy unlocks with dollars, or whether you buy unlocks with gold that you buy with dollars, has nothing to do with difficulty curves, completability, or any aspect of game design. If you make the game hard to win unless you unlock lots of things, then that's the same issue whether you unlock those things with dollars or with gold that you buy with dollars. And neither is present in this game; the unlocks are additional choices but not related to power, it seems.
Good to hear that you may be adjusting gold payouts. As you mention there may be a maximum of 500 gold per run but it’s usually far less than that and that can be frustrating when you are looking at 5000 to unlock an area. I understand what you were saying about encouraging people to play more to earn it but many people may give up on the game if they don’t feel like they are making much progress.
Of course, if those are people who were never going to pay more than $0.99 then they don't lose anything if those people stop playing. The question is how to sell the remaining content to people who tried the game for $0.99 and enjoy it and want more.
