Details on Age of Booty’s Trial were well received.  Time to go deep into its multiplayer.

Modes

No matter your platform of choice or where you prefer to play, we made sure you get to enjoy Age of Booty’s multiplayer.

Local –  You and up to three friends can play splitscreen on the same console.  All maps are available – the 25 we ship with, future free DLC, any you’ve created, and any friends have created.  Launch them with their defaults or adjust any of the settings (see below) as you wish.  Fill the empty slots with any of the seven AI characters (more on them in the next blog).  Assign everyone to any of the eight pirate factions and play in any team config you’d like.  If you want 4v4, go for it.  If you want 2v2v2, go for it.  If you think you’re cool and can take on everyone else, then play 1v3v3 and start praying to Davey Jones.

System Link / LAN – All the features described above in Local are available with the addition of linking any number of other consoles on the local network.  Link up to eight, so that everyone can have their own screen.  Link two consoles and sit four players at each.  Mix and match, with humans and AI, however you wish.

Online (Private) – Again, all the features describe above in Local are available and here you connect with friends online via Xbox LIVE or GameSpy.  Send them invites or they can jump in once they see you’re online.  A cool addition here is that after you and your friends have warmed up and are ready for new competition, select any of the matchmaking playlists and jump into the matchmaking system together as a party.  The game keeps your group together, creates a matchmaking lobby of the playlist of your choosing, and other players fill out your lobby from there.

Online (Matchmaking) – Age of Booty is designed for everyone to have fun, so we don’t split the available players between Player (casual) and Ranked (competitive).  Trust me, this is a very good thing as it reduces your time waiting for lobbies to fill and gets you faster into gameplay.  We support four playlists (2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and 2v2v2v2) and a Quick Match option if you’re not picky.  When a lobby fills, either from other players matchmaking in or invited in, the playlist selects maps that are best suited for the number of players and teams.  2v2 tends to select the tighter, smaller maps and likewise 4v4 and 2v2v2v2 tend to select the larger maps.  The playlists are designed for the optimal experience.  On launch day we will make only 2v2 and 4v4 available.  Why?  Because we’re looking out for you.  Two playlists at launch means players will be split into only two pools, keeping lobby wait times down.  We’ll turn on 3v3 probably within the first week after launch and 2v2v2v2 we’ll likely turn on around the second or third week after launch.

  More Booty

Above was just a bit about the modes themselves, but wait, there’s more…

Downloadable Content – Let’s not forget those free DLC maps. The maps we’ll release on a regular basis aren’t just extra content for offline gaming.  These maps are available to all of the modes listed above and plug right into the playlists as soon as you download them.  Yes, this means if you play for hours on Day 1 and see most of the maps, then when you play for hours again on Day 15 you’ll see new maps in the rotation.  XBL users will see some maps available on launch day, a few more a few days later, and then a regular release schedule after that.  PSN users will be treated to pretty much the same release schedule, but, just to warn you, your first maps may come a few days after launch.  XBL users get to be lazy; the game detects DLC and pulls it down for you.  PSN users get to work those thumbs with a couple extra clicks.  Age of Booty will still notice and let you know new content is available.  You’ll just need to jump into the Playstation Store through the game’s menu and download a map pack.  PC users are likely to find similar functionality to the XBL users.  We’re working out the last kinks on that system now.  We already have 20 DLC maps polished and ready to go.  We have many more in various stages, being played and tuned daily.  And yes, once again, all of these maps will be FREE! 

Playlist Updates – Another cool thing about those playlists mentioned in the Online (Matchmaking) above is that we can tweak them whenever we want.  If it turns out there are some maps people wish they could play more or less often, we can tweak it so that you do.  So jump on our Capcom-Unity.com forums and let us know!  These playlist updates sneak there way down the pipe along with the DLC maps.

Viral Sharing – You can’t be a good pirate without some good viral sharing now can ya?  As you know, Age of Booty ships with its Map Editor (a detailed blog on it coming soon).  Within minutes you can create a map and have it ready for Local, Lan, or Online (Private Match) play.  In a LAN and Online game, how do your friends get it?  Simple.  They join your game.  …  Yes, that’s it.  As soon as they connect to your lobby the map is shared to their machine and they’re ready to play.  They can then load it in their editor, make a few changes, and send it back to you the same way.  This works the same for all three platforms.  Unfortunately, your maps cannot be played in the Online (Matchmaking) mode…unless…

User Created Maps = DLC for Everyone? – Yes, that’s right.  The best maps created by the community will find their way into the matchmaking playlists.  Who says we’re the only ones capable of making great maps?  I have no doubt that given some time the best Age of Booty maps will come from our community and put our initial 25 to shame.  We’ll be playing.  We’ll be watching the forums.  When we see maps we love or many of you are raving about, we’ll grab ’em, tweak ’em, polish ’em, and release them as DLC along with playlist updates.  We’ll do our best to name the maps to give credit back to you (your profile name).  The great thing here is that when we release a map, everyone gets it.  Get to creating your masterpiece on any platform and we’ll find it and turn it into a multi-platform release!

Leaderboards – We’ve got ’em.  Every win counts.  Good luck!

Map/Game Settings

You may have been wondering, “What are all the settings I can tweak and turn to customize the game to my liking?”  Well, here you go…

Time – How long do you want the map to play before the faction with the highest score wins?  The default settings are all tuned to about 8 to 15 minute games.  You’re welcome to change this anywhere from 1 to 60 minutes to no time limit at all.

Score – Most maps set the victory condition around 50% to 75% of the towns.  Set this anywhere from 1 towns to all.

Starting Resources – How much Gold, Wood, and Rum do you want each team to start with?  Set these to zero and make everyone scrape and fight before they can upgrade anything or fill each team’s chests with enough treasure to pick and choose upgrades from the start as they wish.

Starting Upgrades – Want everyone to start with a basic ship?  Want everyone to start full of Cannons but weak on Armor?  Or maybe start everyone a full Speed – full sails, exhaust, flames, and all – for a game of scavenging before the real battles begin?

Max Upgrades – For the hardcore, limiting how many times a ship can be upgraded forces players into tough decisions.  If they upgrade all the way in Armor, maybe they won’t have enough slots left for Speed or Cannons?  We’ve found the best setting here is 7.  Default lets everyone upgrade to max (9).

Crates / Villages / Merchants – How many of these alternate ways of gaining resources do you want on the map at any one time?  Make it rare to come across a floating crate or fill the seas with an army of Merchant ships to fight through (it’s actually pretty fun!).

Curse Cards – Bombs, Whirlpools, Ghost Ships, Pilfers … mix and match which ones you want to play with and which ones you don’t.

Trial Users

Everything mentioned above is available in the FREE trial other than receiving and sending user created maps and posting your stats to the leaderboards.  You’ll just have to settle for the Age of Booty addiction and upgrade to the full version to join the rest of the Age of Booty armada!