Sailing to the Ashlands: A Cleaner Interface, a Faction Screen, and Sea Shanties

Ahoy, captains!

Welcome back to our ongoing tour of what’s headed to Ashlands, with a peek at the reasoning behind the changes.

Our previous two entries were devoted to ships. If you missed them, you can catch up with [part 1] and [part 2]. For this installment, we’re drifting a little off course and into the interface: everything you see on screen and every menu you open day after day.

Fair warning: screenshots galore ahead.

We began with the HUD, the display around your character that includes the action panel and health bar. When we first designed it, our chief aim was to convey everything the game world itself cannot. The next step is to keep all the information you need while ensuring it never gets in the way of playing and exploring.

Some of you mentioned that the HUD could feel a bit clunky at times, and we appreciate you saying so! We’ve made it lighter and tidier, so it stays easy to read even when several notifications appear at once:

Two other areas also looked a little dated: the dialogue window and the Adventure tab. We weren’t able to polish them as thoroughly as we’d have liked before Early Access, so they’re finally getting the attention they deserve.

Alongside a visual overhaul and fresh icons, dialogue options will now turn gray once you’ve exhausted the entire branch behind them. This makes it simple to spot which paths still hold something new.

We also want the game to be as accessible as we can make it. These are modest tweaks, but we hope they make a difference. The dialogue screen will offer two font sizes, regular and large, which should help if you play on a smaller display or just prefer bigger text. You’ll also be able to adjust the opacity of the backdrop behind the dialogue text.

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Nothing revolutionary here, just visual refinement and smoother navigation so the screen is easier to read and quicker to move around in.

While reworking the Adventure tab, we also built a screen we’d long wanted but kept bumping down the priority list: the faction screen.

Our goal was a single place to keep tabs on every faction, including your shared, server-wide reputation with each one, what they buy and sell, which quests they offer, and anything else you might need. Quest progress is personal, so each player will see their own.

And here it is: a brand-new faction screen, found in the Adventure tab.

We wanted the screen to have some character as well, so we commissioned entirely new splash art for the faction leaders.

Since the faction screen may expand down the line, we’ve intentionally left space on it for whatever comes next.

Refining old screens is all well and good, but we wanted to bring something new aboard too.

We know how much you adore a good sea shanty, and so do we! Everyone has a favorite, and probably one they’ve heard a few times too many. Some of you even like to sing along with your crew.

So we’ve added a few fresh ways to enjoy them.

Every shanty now has its own item in the Curios section of your inventory. There you can read its lyrics and add it to your playlist or take it off again. All the shanties from the Early Access release will be waiting for you from the start.

And if you’re the singing sort of captain (we certainly are), you can switch on Sing Along Mode in the settings. Lyrics will appear on screen while the shanty plays, making it easier than ever to join your crew in song.

We can also unveil the new shanties arriving with Ashlands. Unlike those from Early Access, these won’t just show up in your inventory. You’ll need to set out and track them down yourself, and some may not surrender their songs without a fight…

• Dead Horse

• Haul Away Joe

• High Barbaree

• Lowlands Away

• Randy Dandy Oh

• Roll Boys Roll

• Roll the Old Chariot

• Santy Anna

• Spanish Ladies

• Wellerman

A few more surprises await when Ashlands launches, but we’ll keep those under wraps for now.

Naturally, every new song will also be added to Windrose: Original Soundtrack on Steam, and if you already own it, they’ll be delivered automatically.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4564200/Windrose_Original_Soundtrack/

To everyone who picked up the soundtrack: thank you once again. It truly means a great deal to us.

As always, everything shown here is still a work in progress. We’ll keep refining it as development continues, and we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time, fair winds and yo-ho-ho!
— Kraken Express

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