Developer Diaries – Page 2 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

August 27, 2018

Arcona’s Digital Land – Dev Diary: Building A Digital Marketplace

Already this August the Arcona augmented reality ecosystem launches its Marketplace on a trial basis. This will enable the system participants, developers, people interested in AR/VR technology to operate on a platform of their own when dealing with each other, offering the services and surely land trading. We’d like to emphasize that the Arcona Marketplace is considered and built as the platform where the users solely could buy the Digital Land plots for further remote placement of the author’s interactive content all around the world.

Arcona The principles of blockchain will underpin the commitment to maximum transparency and accountability of the system trade, that’s one of the main ecosystem technical features.

“For such a massive multi-player project like ours, the blockchain technology is the ideal solution”, says one of the Arcona co-founders Ilya Korguzalov. “By 2020 we plan to create an AR layer covering the territory of more than 40 000 square km in different locations all over the world. So, we are talking about millions of landowners and a huge number of interactive projects – of gaming, social and business kinds. It is incredibly difficult to create a universal infrastructure for such a system that will simultaneously take into account the interests of landlords, tenants, software- and content-providers. Therefore, we had to work hard on the smart contract for quite a long time to make it automatically record and securely store all the information needed about the status of each land plot and users’ intellectual property. As a result of this emphasis on transparency and security, when the ecosystem is fully operational, our users will be able to focus on their creativity and making money out of it and not on organizational issues. In addition, due to decentralization and introduction of internal currency, the financial interaction within the ecosystem will be easy and safe for people living in different parts of the world.”

Hexagonal Digital Assets

The Arcona Marketplace will start functioning with a series of special land auctions, where the most interesting areas in the 10 biggest megacities will fall under the gavel. These plots are all ready to get listed on the trading platform having been digitized first of all. We are talking about Paris, New York, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul, Rome. Barcelona, London and Mexico City. These lots in are not only already divided into equal hexagons with the help of GIS technologies and accurate mathematical calculations, but have their precise coordinates are indicated in the smart contract system.

“At first glance, the choice of this hexagonal shape for the Digital Land plots is not evident”, says Ilya Korguzalov. “However, it appeared to be perfectly relevant for two reasons. First, it basically resembles the Arcona brand symbol. Second and most important, it allows for minimum possible distortion.

As the Earth is spherical, it’s surface can be easily modeled using the figure called icosahedron consisting of twenty triangles which, in its turn, can be divided into smaller and smaller ones, and then – into hexagons.

At the moment, more than 35,000 plots have already been generated. They are located in the most attractive – for 3D content positioning – megapolises areas. To choose and select them, our research department distinguished a number of conditions, important both from a technical point of view and in terms of content-usability. So, the prior factors are: the location in the central city areas and thus huge traffic and the landscapes “convenience” for stable allocation of descriptors, on the basis of which the interactive users’ content will be geographically linked.

Arcona Digital Land - GIF

Step Into The Future

The full-feature version of the Arcona Marketplace will be implemented before this year’s end. It will present ample opportunities for multi-level trade in land, 3D content, software, AR/VR services for all the ecosystem participants. The Marketplace will be a space for communication and cooperation for developers, artists, lawyers, copywriters, musicians, animators and other creative professionals interested in the project and earning money within one single AR ecosystem.

“Recently, we have made a fundamental breakthrough in the technological platform development”, says Ilya Korguzalov. “We have published the latest version of Arcona Core which is the core of the platform for 3D content remote positioning and management. That’s a result of three-year research in the field of computer vision and artificial intelligence. The new release includes our original concepts and achievements related to distributed GIS and mono-SLAM technology. Due to this, the Arcona Core already demonstrates the highest speed and accuracy of the reconstruction of the earth’s surface. In its functionality the Arcona Core is not inferior, but in some cases goes beyond most of popular counterparts in the field of computer vision, such as OpenCV and PCloud. Moreover, due to the use of neural networks, it has huge advantages for the formation of augmented reality environment in the open space.

Parallelly, our developers team is working on the Arcona AR Viewer, which is a cross-platform application for smartphones, tablets and various AR headsets. It will be a universal frontend for everyone who wants to see the world of Arcona. The procedure of camera calibration for different kinds of users’ devices has already been implemented. We bet on it when it comes to virtual objects correct positioning in augmented reality.

Arcona

Thus, this fall we are going to introduce a beta-version of the platform, with which our landowners will be able to remotely launch their trial interactive projects in the largest cities of the world. That’s when they will need all the functionality of the Arcona Marketplace, so that we will provide a wide range of not only ready-to-use 3D models, but also the scripts, music and texting in different languages for the interactive shows. We expect the developers of different kinds to join the work on the platform improvement and further expanding, and the experts in the sphere of marketing and advertising from all over the world to find interesting and fascinating tasks.

“We are sure that the Arcona ecosystem will bring together many professionals and enthusiasts in the AR field,” says Ilya Korguzalov. “It has scope for becoming an information environment, where the breakthrough ideas and solutions will emerge pushing the whole industry forward, at this incredible moment in time from the wildest futurists’ dreams”.

May 23, 2018

Reality Clash Developer Diary – Part Seven

Welcome to the seventh edition of our ‘Developer Diaries’, in which we keep you informed on the progress of Reality Clash and provide updates from our developers.

In this edition we wanted to share more information about the creation of the digital assets currently seen on the Reality Clash Armoury Store and Android App. As such we asked Kevin Boase, Development Director of Buko Studios, Manilla, which exclusively develops the weapons for Reality Clash, to give us a step through guide on how these digital assets are created.

Reality Clash

The staging process involved in the creation of these assets is set out from the design concept through to the integration of the item into the app. A lot of work goes into each item and we have tried to show the major points of the process in this diary:

CONCEPT & DESIGN

Review the technical data and specifications from the Game Design Document (GDD).
Check real life references including loadout options, firing and reloading.
Block out weapon concepts in 3d, establishing moving parts and weapon form.
From the start we establish the calibre of ammo, clip size and working mechanics alongside a referenced model to conform to basic ergonomics and dimensions.
The initial batch of weapons take cues from real world weapons; great care is taken to tone the weapon aesthetic based on its imagined place in history, origin and intended purpose.
Some weapons are purely functional; their look heavily influenced by production techniques of the time or place they might be built.
More modern weapons utilise advanced materials and these required a lot of design work to ensure good handling and ergonomics.

Reality Clash

3D MODELLING | TEXTURING

We utilise Hard Surface Polygon Modelling using a mixture of block modelling and subdivision techniques using Autodesk MayaLT.
We assign materials to the mesh, assessing use of metals, molded plastics, and padded components. Whilst we use UV Layouts, we ensure the texture data can be baked to a single texture page for optimal file handling.

SKINS | PATTERNS | DECALS

We manage our decals, texture sheets and colour schemes using Adobe Photoshop CC. The software is capable of handling the level of detail that we need when making these weapons.
The skins/decals are applied to the weapons with specific rules in order to match up our cryptocurrency skins and technical skins within the 3D application.
UV Sets are used to apply the illustrative liveries to give most impact on the weapon.
We apply decals and stickers where appropriate to give the weapons more interest and personality. We have a lot of creative room for varieties of skins due to the ongoing production prior to, and at the game’s launch, towards the end of 2018.

EXPORT FOR ARMOURY STORE

We export the weapon package for Sketchfab via Allegorithmic’s Substance Painter.

Finally, with the creation of the weapon completed, the item must be tested and then animated for use within the Armoury app and, later, in the Reality Clash app.

GAME SETUP AND ANIMATION CONTROL

Weapons are tested to conform to specifications and nodes for character attachment.
Rig controls are added to manage operations such as trigger-pulling and firing parts of the weapon.
We animate the bullet right from loading from the Magazine through to firing and ejecting the shell.
The weapon is imported into the Character Rig setup and fitted comfortably into the hands with a natural firing position.

These items are later added to The Armoury store and imported into the Armoury app, completing the long journey from our designers to our backers and soon-to-be players. The weapon is tokenized when sold to a player and ownership of this item is registered on the Ethereum blockchain. A truly unique item has been created and passed to its owner! Scarcity of the item is guaranteed and a transaction fee to tokenize has created inherent value

We hope that you have found this Developer Diary to be of interest, if you want to see some of these items up close – you can download our Android Armoury app here. All items are available at the Armoury for RCC holders, with weekly additions of limited edition weaponry. Stay tuned for our next installment in which we discuss more on the Tokenization of these items.

April 24, 2018

In The Sights Of Bullet Hell: Archiact On Developing The Enemies Of VR FPS Evasion

VRFocus has been fortunate to get hands-on with frantic first-person shooter (FPS) Evasion on a couple of occasions now and early indications are very positive. Our most resent playtest with the title was at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) where Peter ended up being particularly impressed by the visual quality of what he was seeing describing it a “‘wow’ moment” and that “stepping out into Evasion’s alien world, it looked so crisp and vivid that it’s was easy to forget this demo was being held in GDC”.

Evasion - Logo Whilst we’ve previously gone into details about the title’s background in another interview from that period, we also wanted to discuss a little more about that world you step into. So Evasion‘s developers Archiact – more specifically Jennifer Dowding (Senior Producer) and Ian Rooke (Senior Game Designer) – stepped up to provide some in-depth details about just what kind of threats you’ll be facing.

Who are the enemies of Evasion and what threat do they pose?

The enemies in Evasion are called the Optera. In game, very little is known about their origins. Scientists theorize that they evolved from insects, but it’s unclear whether they wear exo-suits or if the Optera themselves are cybernetic organisms. They use energy weapons, have the ability to instantaneously teleport from location to location, and can propel themselves using some sort of anti-gravity technology. Since their attacks are highly coordinated, it’s assumed that are governed by a hive mind or use some non-verbal method of communication.

The main campaign in Evasion takes place on a moon that orbits the Optera homeworld that is rich in a mineral called chloragen, which the humans use to power their ships and colonies. When humans first established a mining operation on that moon, there were some initial skirmishes with the Optera, but a peace accord was struck. Now the Optera have launched a full-scale invasion… but you’ll have to play the game to discover why!

What is Swarm A.I and how does it bring Evasions’ enemies to life?

Evasion is a ‘bullet hell’ shooter, so it’s vital that the enemies feel relentless and overwhelming. Our design team referenced the natural movement of real-world insects to inspire our enemy behavior during gameplay. We use our proprietary Swarm A.I. to ensure that enemies possess not only a distinctive set of weapons and abilities, but also a distinctive movement pattern that operates in concert with the other units. Some Optera travel in ways that can be predicted and anticipated, others zig-zag energetically, while still others use cover and the environment to keep out of range of the player’s weapons. Their attacks are highly coordinated, so that if you focus too much on one type of enemy you will likely to be killed by another foe. To survive in Evasion you need to pay attention to how the various Optera operate together and plan your attacks accordingly.

What inspired the diverse designs and abilities of the Optera?

The behavior and abilities of each Optera is based on the movement behaviour of real world insects. We took a deep ‘nerd dive’ into the individual traits of various insect species and then tried to apply those principles to the A.I. for the enemy races. Whether it’s mimicking the way ants use pheromones to ‘follow the leader’, or recreating how male rhino beetles will charge a competing suitor to impress a female, we wanted to make sure that there was a real world analog for each enemy class.

What are some examples of specific Optera and why are they challenging to fight?

Gnats

If you’ve ever walked into a hovering cloud of tiny black insects (and probably started sputtering and frantically waving your hands in front of your face), then you’ll recognize these creatures. Gnats are the most ubiquitous enemy in Evasion. They typically travel in small groups, and while they don’t do a ton of damage, they are great at slowly whittling down your health as you focus your energy on the larger enemies. Their movement patterns are erratic and can be hard to predict. But grabbing onto them with your tether and chucking them against a building is extremely satisfying – and they die with a very pleasing scream (courtesy of our talented Sound Designer, Gonzalo Lopez)!

Evasion - Gnat Concept Art — Gnat Concept Art

Evasion Enemies - Gnat Render — Gnat Render

Evasion Enemies - Gnats Swarming — Gnats swarming in-game

Evasion Enemies - Gnats In Action GIF — Gnats in action.

Paragords

These are the Optera’s foot soldiers. Since there are no other bipedal Optera, it is believed that the Optera create Paragords by using parasites called nematodes to enslave humanoid races and use them in their legions. Paragords lumber into battle and use cover in a human-like way. They will often hide behind cover and lob mortar fire on the player. They fire their weapons in short bursts, machine gun-style, often while moving and changing tactical position. Paragords are dangerous because they’re so different than the rest of the Optera troops.

Evasion - Paragord Concept Art — Paragord Concept Art

Evasion - Paragord Render — Paragord Render

Paragords make a tactical retreat.

Bombers

Bombers are modeled after pill bugs, or woodlice, a type of insect often found in old wooden houses. We thought it was cool how they ball up when threatened, so in our game Bombers roll into battle, plant themselves on the ground and then unfold into a mobile turret that spews blaster fire at the player. As an added bonus, if the players get to close, the Bomber will explode! (Which causes major area-of-effect damage). The best way to defeat a Bomber is to destroy it before it gets too close. As our testers have discovered, you ignore a Bomber at your peril!

Evasion - Bomber Concept Art — Bomber Concept Art

Evasion Enemies - Bombers Swarming — Bombers swarming in-game.

Evasion Enemies - Paragords and Bombers — Dealing with Paragords and Bombers together.

How does VR help bring the enemies of Evasion to life?

VR is all about immersion, a core gameplay pillar that we’re always mindful of in developing Evasion. This extended to how we designed the enemies. For example, like their namesake, Gnats in our game create a buzzing sound when they travel, so players can locate them when they’re hiding behind rock columns or ducking behind buildings. Several Optera have been designed to ‘buzz’ the player, forcing them to to be constantly looking up and around. The landscape has been specifically designed to provide all sorts of nooks and crannies for the Optera to hide in, which ratchets up the tension as you make your way through the levels.

How does Evasion’s gameplay work to compliment the enemy abilities and behaviour?

Evasion is a sci-fi shooter that supports co-op, so the goal is to force players to work together. There are many ways to survive and prevail in Evasion, but the best way is to coordinate your attacks. For example, it’s smart to have one player keep an eye on the ground forces, while the other play keeps their eyes on the skies. Another effective strategy is to separate to draw enemy forces apart, and then pick them apart one at a time.

Who designed Evasion and when is the videogame coming out?

Evasion was designed by a close-knit UE4-focused team at Archiact, a studio entirely devoted to creating high quality AR & VR content located in Vancouver, Canada. We are a passionate group of developers who want to push the limits of what can be done in VR and create the kind of sought-after AAA experiences that players have been craving. We are targeting a Fall 2018 release for Evasion.

For more information on Evasion, check out the Evasion wishlist page over on Steam. VRFocus will have more news about the title very soon.

April 17, 2018

Pastimes For Pirates Developer Diary #2 – Navigating The Early Waters

In the first dev blog for VRFocus, we looked at the creation of the initial mobile virtual reality (VR) prototype and how this evolved into a full VR design, ready for pitching to publishers alongside the high-level design document and pitchdeck.

Following on from the high of XR Connects and the XR Indie Pitch 3rd place, we had lots of interest and positive initial discussions but getting a new game funded is never a straight-forward process. So, whilst the seas are calm and there’s less wind in the sails, we’ve been able to take the time to look at other areas of the game to ensure its appeal and success for launch.

Crow’s Nest View

VR games development in 2018 – especially the funding of – is not an easy task for a studio to secure. With many publishers and platforms looking to sign the next level of experiences against an ever-rising bar of quality and quantity of expected features for gamers.

Whilst the installed hardware ownership numbers are growing (although we still only really know the Sony PlayStation VR numbers) the overall market size is still small in comparison to standard PC and/or console hardware numbers, where publishers are much more experienced in releasing content.

A studio must be canny and have a considered design that meets the requirements of gamers keen to get their hands on deeper, longer experiences. Indies working on new IP are up against big brand names, such as Fallout 4, Skyrim, DOOM etc, potentially having a hard time to show and prove that they can create bigger budget content with a scalable team effectively. However, expected returns have to be realistic in terms of budgets and projected sales revenues.

Wind In The Sails

So, we’re focusing on the aspects that will make sure that Pastimes for Pirates is as attractive as possible to potential publishers, namely:

Multi-platform release to ensure largest potential cross-platform player base for multiplayer
Strong single player experience to ensure there is always a reason to return outside of multiplayer.

Based upon our experience and successes with Loco Dojo, ensuring that there is a reason or element of the gameplay that will make the game appealing to VR Arcade operators and the various VR Arcade admin platforms and content channels.

Strong launch content with a regular update plan, to ensure the game feels fresh and has reasons to be featured on the various digital stores, driving continued awareness and favourable positioning.

Plotting A Course

As discussions continue, we often tweak the pitchdeck accordingly so that as time moves on, the proposed game concept isn’t left behind or overtaken by advances made elsewhere. Whilst the core gameplay pillars are largely left untouched from our original intended idea, we must be mindful of areas around what the extended features and functionality need to be, how it fits within the marketplace and competitor analysis. Whilst we’re sure on what it offers that’s specifically the reason to be played in VR, each publisher and/or platform has their own unique emphasis on what model and demographics are important for them.

For example, there’s a popular wave of pirate-themed games at the moment, with many focusing on the more stereotypical activities – but with limited repeat play depth and no emphasis on life outside of the usual looting, swashbuckling and hunting treasure.

Of course, changes in scope can have adverse effects on timelines, budgets and development resources needed to achieve v1.0 (and beyond) so it’s a careful juggling act to ensure we remain within the thresholds.

A pitchdeck is only a small part of the tale however; the main concept has to be conveyed by the prototype, which we’ll look at in the next dev blog as we build upon the initial version towards a more representative vertical slice.

February 14, 2018

Reality Clash Developer Diary – Part Five

Welcome to the fifth edition of our ‘Developer Diaries’, keeping you informed about the progress of Reality Clash and the latest updates from our developers. For this update we wanted to focus on the backend technology that drives some of the key features of the videogame.

Reality Clash - BaaS Nearly every modern mobile videogame will utilise a BaaS (Backend as a Service) to allow the developers to remotely communicate with each other and work on the code. Reality Clash utilises this technology in many ways and we want to explain a few of these to you.

Player Accounts

Every Reality Clash player creates their own unique account, which securely stores all relevant information such as name, user profile, gameplay statistics such as kill/death ratio, as well as weapon purchases, custom configurations and loadout. The cloud profile also ensures player preferences and inventory to be automatically restored if you they devices.

These profiles can also be accessed by the Reality Clash trading platform, so in-game item purchases will automatically show up within the mobile app.

Leaderboards

Comprehensive leaderboards allow us to store the results of in-game fights and as the title grows, highlighting the best local, national and global players to let people see how they compare against their friends (and foes!).

Economy

The in-game economy forms one of the largest parts of the BaaS – it’s where we store all the information regarding weapons and consumables. Weapons in Reality Clash are defined by a large number of parameters to ensure that combat is as realistic and fun as possible and that each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The economy can be updated at any time to add new weapons and items to the videogame without requiring an update of the iOS or Android app itself. This provides a smoother user experience, whilst also allowing us to ensure players are always up to date.

DLC

Each weapon’s models and textures are stored in a compressed downloadable package. This means we can add new weapon assets to the app alongside updates to the economy without re-downloading other weapons that haven’t changed, which reduces the bandwidth that Reality Clash uses.

Cloud Code & Data

It used to be that all the data and code needed to be on the device itself, but now we have the ability run code and access data from the cloud. This feature opens up great opportunities to interact with the community, reward players remotely and support future features such as Clans, Tournaments and Competitions.

Push Notifications

We want to ensure that players never miss anything, so the BaaS allows us to send notifications to devices, such as challenges from other players, updates on new available weapons or new safehouses in your area that may be of interest.

Analytics

The analytics system allows us to track how players are using the title and iterate and, as such, improve the gameplay and user experience. For example, if we notice that players are utilising certain features more than others, we can add new shortcuts to make them more accessible.

A/B Testing

A/B testing allows us to try out new features on different focus groups to see how they’re received before we release them to the entire world. We can add a new feature and then test it with different parameters in different geographical locations, monitoring the feedback and tweaking the gameplay accordingly.

The BaaS allows us to easily balance and improve the title once it is released without having to make players download large updates to the videogame on their devices.

It isn’t the only online technology being used however, as Reality Clash also utilises custom servers that ensure players can easily find opponents to fight and validate combat to make it harder for nefarious players to cheat.

But there will be more about that in a later update…

February 7, 2018

Pastimes For Pirates Developer Diary #1 – In The Beginning

One page is all it takes – in July 2017, during the Develop: Brighton conference, we met with a variety of virtual reality (VR) platform and hardware companies to discuss our thoughts about what our next videogame title should be. At the time, it was decided that a mobile VR title would be best fitting, to put the studio in a position of gaining invaluable experience designed and developing for mobile and standalone chipsets with the technology moving towards standalone, all-in-one VR headsets.

Pasttimes for Pirates Dev Diary #1 A number of one-page proposals were created by our Senior Designer Pete, who joined the Make Real team to create the early prototype for what became Loco Dojo, into a full title in late 2016 through to its release in April 2017. One particular idea struck a chord with the team and ultimately, VR platform holders who encouraged us to flesh it out into a larger concept pitch document.

With continued positive noises, we developed the one-pager into an early mobile VR videogame prototype, incorporating some key mechanisms to showcase the core concept and use of mobile input devices. After the initial review, whilst the feedback was good, we continued to tweak the prototype incorporating suggestions to bolster the desire for funding.

Not Enough DoF

At this stage, being a mobile VR focused title, the title was set around one particular skill-based game and theme, the then working title “Darrrts” should make it clear what that was. However, even after further tweaking and honing of the potential skill mastery and character progression, we felt that the 3DoF input available with current mobile VR devices was holding back the true potential of the title. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, those who we were showing the early prototype to agreed and so we set out to expand the videogame mechanics and scope by moving over to a full, 6DoF VR experience.

Pasttimes for Pirates Dev Diary #1 Suddenly we were freed of the input limitations in relation to what we wanted to achieve and a creative burst of ideas waiting in Pete’s head were unleashed, meaning that we went from a simple, single idea to a much larger, social VR title with much more breadth to consider. Of course this meant that the necessary budget required to be able to deliver the idea increased along with the scope, something that those initially interested weren’t willing to continue to support.

New Funding Ventures

Undeterred, we started to look at other avenues of funding for development and reached out to other publishers and platforms we knew were keenly and aggressively pushing VR videogames that didn’t necessarily have the big brand IP behind them but still offered something new and unique with tight, core gameplay loops and aspirations.

In 2017 we’ve seen some funding options dry-up or require much more analysis or consideration, backed up by sales market metrics and analyst projections, compared to the earlier care-free, caution to the wind approach taken before. This is only natural and to be expected with a slowly maturing market (which is also growing at a slower pace than previously predicted) making some publishers more risk adverse and keen to capitalise on themes and genres that are deemed popular with VR gamers.

XR Indie Pitch

In order to meet new potential funding partners, the Make Real team applied to be considered for XRConnects London 2018, to be selected for the XR Indie Pitch event running on the second day. We also registered for the Speed Match and Pitch & Match systems running alongside the event to widen our opportunities to meet publishers and VR platform holders attending.

Armed with a lovingly written pitchdeck for Pastimes for Pirates, the 3DoF mobile VR prototype was showcased to select attendees for invaluable feedback, as well as the XR Indie Pitch judges and those who had arranged meetings throughout the event. Whilst the meetings were positive, it’s still at an early stage in the process of getting a title funded and so, the outcomes of which will have to wait until another developer diary in the future.

To our surprise we were selected as 3^rd place for the XR Indie Pitch, winning $1,000 credit on the Steel Media website network to use at a time more suitable around release. Up against 18 (?) other really strong, more complete VR videogames and experiences, it was a real boost to the team morale to be selected on the back of a placeholder art in an admittedly fairly rough prototype. Massive congratulations to our expo neighbours Shuttershade Studios for taking 1^st prize (we really wanted the baseball bat for getting out of Moorgate across London during rush hour) and Groundrunner Trials for their 2^nd place – well deserved winners all.

Pasttimes for Pirates Dev Diary #1 So now we have validated our idea on paper and in prototype, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback and noises around our intentions of what we plan to achieve with the full project. We’re positive that the next stages will be successful but we certainly aren’t holding our collective breath. Being veterans of the videogame industry, having worked on both the development and publishing sides, we know how many titles struggle to get funding at all, and even those that do have a high likelihood of being cancelled before seeing the light of day. Now we have to get our heads down into the serious business development process of negotiating contracts, budgets and development timelines, or at least will do once we settle on a publishing partner. Hopefully this will be covered in some detail within the next developer diary, due in a couple of months. Until then, keep your fingers crossed for us!

You can view an interview with Sam Watts discussing Pastimes for Pirates further here.