Argh! There’s an interview, portside, Cap’n!
I got the opportunity to talk to brandon58590, and interview him for RoGo. He is the creator of the Pirates series, which appears on top favorited all time. Let’s zoom into our telescopes and see what he has to say!
What inspired you to make the Pirates series?
What started me creating Pirates 1 was the classic pirate games back around ’08 to ’09. Lando’s pirate game was probably the largest influence. I ended up making a game similar to lando’s except I changed what I thought could be improved (mostly combat). Back then I didn’t really know much about scripting so the result isn’t the best in my opinion.
Pirates 2 was inspired mostly by Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag except I re-imagined it into an open world Pirate game that places an emphasis on trading.
What is something you’d like to have had added to the game?
I would’ve liked to include some kind of AI crew, cannons that rotate and more islands.
Is there anything limiting you from updating it?
I don’t think roblox can support an AI crew or a hundred cannons moving at the same time. The more islands part has been put off because I’m not sure what to do with all those islands.
What is your favorite features about the series?
In Pirates 1, I like the back and forth combat.
For Pirates 2, I like how people can form crews and battle it out. I also like the trading element of the game because you need to watch out for other pirates coming to steal your goods.
Which one are you most proud of?
I think I’m the most proud of the trading part of the game because I had to create a script that manages prices according to the items popularity.
What do you like to do outside of ROBLOX?
I just started my summer break from university so not much really. My days consist of going to the gym, playing video games and working on ROBLOX games. Weekends I hang out with friends. I’m currently in between university programs; I’m switching from a game development program to a computer science program.
What is something you had trouble with while making the games?
In Pirates 1 I had a lot of trouble getting the boats to move properly. I’m a self-taught programmer (or was up until this school year) so a lot of what I did was guesswork.
Pirates 2 was somewhat the same as Pirates 1 except I was better at scripting but I still had no formal schooling so my code was messy and was riddled with bugs.
With both games, I struggled to build objects in ROBLOX studio because of the poor tools developers are given. I also find building rather boring and much prefer to program.
Any easter eggs?
No, I’m not big on making easter eggs, especially when the main game needs improvement.
Does the series so far meet your expectations?
It used to. After taking a year in game development I see a lot of improvements that should be made, so the answer is now no. Fixing all the code is very time inefficient so I wont be adding features for a while.
