Troubled Seas
In the 1700s you and your crew while digging for treasure uncover a strange artifact belonging to Black Beard. Now bounded by its magic. You and your crew must sail the seven seas to free yourselves from Black Beard’s curse.
Troubled Seas is the final assignment for the Game Development II class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With more time and team members, and no restrictions on genre or theme, we created a co-op roguelike game, where players take the role of pirates on an exciting adventure. Players will encounter ships to battle and islands to loot as they attempt to break the curse on an ancient artifact. These encounters will require the crew to complete many tasks which will require strong teamwork. After completing these encounters the crew will be given a dilemma and are allowed to vote on how they wish to proceed.
Philosophical Point
This game is meant to be a fun bonding experience for a group of friends or even strangers. Many game tasks are designed so that one player’s actions influence another’s. This helps to create interesting group dynamics that players have to work out with one another. Overall, these tasks emphasize cooperation, but there are opportunities to disrupt other players to some degree.
This game is fantastical and is not supposed to be taken too seriously. The narrative and art direction brings the players into a cartoon pirate world filled with mysterious skeletons, curses, and treasures. This gives the game a light atmosphere with gameplay that still challenges the players. This combination allows players to enjoy the game even in failure.
Key Features
- Pirate Crewmate Players: The camaraderie among crewmates is essential for tackling tasks, fighting off enemies, and making crucial decisions during voting sessions.
- 3D cartoon graphics in a fantasy setting: The game boasts a unique 3D “dark cartoon” style, given a fantastical version of the early 1700s, the Golden Age of Piracy.
- Multiple maps with different tasks and event: Players encounter unique enemies, puzzles, and lore-rich scenarios in various regions of the world of Troubled Seas.
- Immersive World and Lore: The narrative draws players into world filled with magical beings, cursed objects, and legendary pirate mysteries.
How To Play
A controller is required to play the game and it is recommended to play with 2-4 players. Use the left stick to navigate the menu and move the player. Use the bottom face button to pick up/put down/insert objects, use the left face button to perform a task.
In-game screenshots of Troubled Seas.
Disclaimer
Due to time and technical constraints, we were unable to complete the game, as many aspects of the project were ambitious for us at the time. Currently, we do not have plans to resume work on finalizing the game.
