November 2025 Devlog - Setting the Foundation

Combat Overhaul, Dynamic Voyages, and the First Public Playtest

November was a good start for Plunderer’s Run.  Combat systems were improved, voyages became far more dynamic, the quest system was made, and the game was shown publicly for the first time in years.  Here’s a look at what was accomplished.

Combat Updates and Ability Cards

The combat interface received a major upgrade. The menu system was rebuilt to show player stats, turns, and targeting with better clarity. Ships now spawn into combat with their cannon layouts, improving visual feedback.

A major design shift occurred when combat abilities were reworked into collectible cards. Players will eventually build decks from cards earned through voyages, shops, and tavern games. The first card frame and UI systems were implemented, establishing the foundation for the game's future ability mechanics.

Core Systems and Tools

Early in the month, a Sprite Database was created to streamline asset loading. The Google Sheets data pipeline was expanded to support characters, enemies, and combat abilities, making content creation in the future easier.

Numerous fixes were made across the project, including tavern crew issues, gold deduction and reward errors, toolbar updates not refreshing in certain scenes, and voyage-ending logic problems. The Captain Select menu was introduced, along with expanded tooltips and improvements to UI consistency.

Dynamic Voyages and Quest Integration

A large portion of the month was dedicated to overhauling voyages.  Work began on encounter structures, ship component menus, and crew management.  Node generation was redesigned to allow branching paths and more varied layouts, making each voyage feel unique.

By the end of the month, quest-based voyages were fully implemented.  The game can now generate both random journeys and curated routes for story quests, treasure maps, bounties, and more. This replaced the older system and significantly expanded the possibilities for exploration and progression.

Art and Presentation

New building art was created, along with early layout work for Parley Bay. Combat received temporary ship and cannon sprites to improve readability. Additional UI polish included new tooltips, animations, and updates to unify the game’s font style. The month concluded with a refined voyage node presentation, improving clarity when choosing routes.

First Public Playtest

The Share & Play event in mid-November marked the first public showing of this version of the game. Feedback was positive and provided valuable insight into mechanics, pacing, and UI clarity. Several bugs discovered at the event were fixed immediately afterward.

Looking Ahead

With combat feeling more complete, voyages becoming flexible and quest-driven, and major backend systems in place, November represents a significant milestone for the project.  December will focus on the inventory interface, additional encounter types, expanded port functionality, battle cards improvements and continued refinement of the core loop.