Sea of Thieves will change dramatically as content is added, but this pitch is regarding the content on launch and how it would be built on to keep its core gameplay & themes.
SoT is gaining major content in “Event style” Updates, which is antithetical to its gameplay. Here I will explain how this is negative for the product & I will describe solutions to overcome the issues faced.
Rare, as it is currently adding content, will never patch enough into Sea of Thieves for it to not be stale after merely a few hours. I’ve written this for Rare readers & sailors alike so, please, forgive me.
I must set the theme.
What is “Sea of Thieves” about?
What is the core themes of the gameplay?
It’s not about the Gold.
The core gameplay is about the VOYAGES, alone or with others, to get Mythical Treasure and experience the hijinks that happens to you along the way. Just like the classical Epics “The Odyssey”, “Anabasis”, “The Devine Comedy”, & more!
TRAVEL, and the great wealth & tragedy it contains; that’s the core theme of “Sea of Thieves”!
Everything else must be built around this.
The core gameplay is NOT multiplayer PvP.
Realize that a Pirate Hunting ship is Voyaging to hunt other ships, that sailors Voyage to raid Skeleton Forts, and that multiple vessels Voyage to slay the Megalodon. Everything is a Voyage.
Sea of Thieves isn’t “Destiny”, it’s a “Rogue Lite” where you, alone or with a small crew, go on a Voyage to Make Your Legend.
The Legendary Tale of what happened to you, that one time!
That IS THE GAME. That IS THE REWARD.
Treasure gets players Gold to buy cosmetics; players constantly change their appearance to take pride in their looks; GOLD DOES NOTHING MORE.
What does SoT need to capitalize on its strengths, quickly & cheaply?
There’s 3 “quick” Core Theme Waves needed to retain players & grow the fanbase!
Treasure, Multiplayer, & Environment!
The Treasure needs to effect the voyage physically.
The Multiplayer needs to be properly supported & featured.
The Environment needs to effect gameplay & support the gameplay & themes.
“Differing Stuff” needs to happen at sea, on land, in the air, beneath the waves, and all the while mentally engage players.
I will now flesh out these 3 concepts.
Note: I’m not writing a thesis here. Writing this out gets pedantic & nitpicky fast; this is not a video and I am not able to easily illustrate these points and explain my rationale to a painstaking degree. Please forgive me for merely mentioning information.
(Also note that “Sea of Thieves” artistically pulls from Mythology & Folklore.
It ties nicely on the gameplays’ “Narrative Epic” gameplay loop and my thoughts will be capitalizing on this. Implementation, balancing, & fine tuning are be determined by Rare.)
Treasure.
Treasure is important but, aside from cursed chests, does nothing to change how players play the game nor (in and of itself) generates original experiences.
I’ll not waste your imagination with ideas (unless asked) aside from a conceptual description, because it’s tied to much with the games’ code limitations. However, Chests need to help make every voyage as unique as possible & be worth dying for.
An example being a Buff & Debuff of the ships crew, but nothing that positively effects PvP. Like cursed items in other games; something gained, something lost.
Multiplayer.
Multiplayer needs to properly support multi-vessel fleets, to allow multiple crews to join the same session, to allow in session crews to join & make fleets, and to share treasure sales across fleet crews. Vessels not in fleets would get a speed boost, to boost effectiveness.
Environment.
The Environment Gamespace does little, outside of island shapes & unmarked crags, to make every voyage as unique as possible.
Crews can’t reliably gather anything other than Voyage Contracts & Powder Barrels, enemy variety is “low”, there is few environmental hazards, ect. Countering these deficiencies would require me to write a LOT, from map changes to tool mechanics, but I have a couple that are simple enough to easily communicate.
Implemented enemies that improve player interaction with the game world would include Harpy, as a example.
Occasionally above those unmarked crags of stone that spear out of the sea Harpies, instead of seagulls, circle. Their songs lure crew (the drunk effect, but much weaker) within 100 meters (balance tbd) into the crag, but the effect is staved off by being within 30 meters of a playing song (sloops need a music box). The harpies have nests that spawn sparkling treasure & trade goods, but to pilfer the nest crews must fire themselves from cannons.
Harpy nests function as an environmental hazard overcome by delightful player teamwork/engagement & reliably spawn otherwise exotic items.
This version of harpies would be altered in the future with the introduction of flying enemies allowing for Sirens, Harpies, and Mermaids which would all function distinctly different.
(Sirens, Harpies, and Mermaids are all based on the same, variously corrupted, folklore IRL BTW.)
Vodnik (men sized frogs wearing human clothing) run & hop out of the ponds on islands. They punch or use melee weapons, occasionally “hop” to dodge player attacks, & can spit venom like snakes (cured by drinking grog). Their ponds could have banana crates or other goods.
Vodnik function as a (“easily” coded) versatile enemy type that rewards player mental engagement.
A hopping skeleton that spits & doesn’t use guns.
A quick list:
Instruments lull nearby animals to sleep, aiding capture.
Underwater temple puzzles solved by sacrificing particular treasures.
Underwater Ports & Factions.
Multiple Giant Cryptids that can ambush player vessels & be summoned by players.
Short lived Cryptid ambushes. (Example: 30 second Megalodon attack)
“Grog” consumption cures venom effects, but inflicts “Drunkenness”.
Skeletons heal via “grog”, for folklore reasons.
Firearms inflict heavy knockback, unless “blocked” by swords, but minimal damage.
Swords inflict movement stun, which doesn’t impede blocking, and heavy damage.
And more!
The bunnyhopping & voice chat coming through my TV are unforgivable kraken slime. Rare, please fix.
I have more, from more details on the mechanical balancing of Swords & Firearms to tool versatility that engages players with their environment, but I don’t know the coding limitations of the “Sea of Thieves” team nor do I know if I communicated this all effectively (and many more reasons).
As such, I won’t waste further time with what is otherwise delusions of grandeur.
In conclusion, I got a lot of simple ideas and a VERY different vision of this games’ future than most folks. I’d like to talk to folks about this different vision, and would like to hear others’ thoughts.
Please forgive me, however, as writing isn’t my specialty. It's also quite hard for me to write in the forums here...
