Seven Seas

Seven Seas is a 3D pirate game I'm developing in Unity, where I handle all aspects of the project, including game design, coding, and 3D voxel art.

Game concept

The main goal is to sail a ship to the "edge of the world." Throughout this journey, the player will sail through seven distinct seas, each with its own unique enemies and mechanics. The player will face various naval battles against rival nations, pirates, skeleton crews, and many other dangers drawn from pirate folklore.

Sinking enemy ships rewards the player with gold, which can be spent on upgrading the ship to a larger one and purchasing enhancements to improve stats such as range, maneuverability, cannon reload time, and special attacks.

The player can choose their route to navigate through each sea, but they must reach and defeat the sea's boss, such as Blackbeard's burning ship or the spectral Flying Dutchman, in order to advance to the next one.

Game loops

These game loops encourage the player to upgrade their ship and engage in new battles, culminating in a boss fight. After each boss, the player advances to a new "Sea," a new level featuring unique enemies and mechanics. At this point, they experience a partial ship reset, requiring upgrades again but retaining the augments they've earned and purchased throughout the game, preserving the sense of progression.

Varied combat

Fighting is deliberately varied: across a run the player takes on enemy fleets, raids fortified coastal strongholds, hunts sea monsters and duels the iconic bosses that guard each sea.

Encounters come in several forms:

• Battles: the player must defeat waves of enemy ships, sea monsters and final bosses to reach the next zone.
• Convoys: a large merchant ship crosses the map in a straight line. While the merchant ship has no cannons, it is escorted by smaller, armed ships. The player's goal is to sink as many enemy ships as possible. The loot distribution is 80% for the merchant ship and 20% for the smaller escort ships.
• Raids: the player attacks a fortified island, primarily defended by land-based cannons, sea mines and mortars. To win, the player must destroy a specific building on the island.

Ships that fight differently

Enemy ships are built around distinct behaviours, so the player has to read each fight rather than repeat a single tactic:

• Gunships are the baseline threat. They circle the player's ship, keeping their broadsides trained on it as they close in.
• Mortar ships stay at long range and lob salvos in high arcs. The impact zone appears on the water before the shells land, giving the player clear feedback to sail out of the way in time.
• Fireships carry no working cannons. They charge straight at the player's hull to explode on contact, so destroying them before impact becomes the priority, whatever else is happening in the battle.

Because each type demands a different answer, from keeping distance to breaking off and focusing fire, fleets can be composed to create very different tactical situations.

Art

The basic ships are modeled with historical accuracy. As the player progresses, they will encounter more fantastical ships, whose designs hint at the behaviours described above.