EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ~ Pirates of the High Seas/Pirates Online Rewritten

[Shamus The Brute]

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Welcome! ​

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~ PIRACY is like gold; it is a precious element which has a way of continually captivating our heart, mind, and imagination to where we ultimately become obsessed by the lifestyle created from it!​

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Contrary to what the world would have us believe , a lifestyle based upon PIRACY is not so easily abandoned (nor is it easily thrown aside); PIRACY, me hearties, is highly addictive!​

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Oye! A group of players, unscathed by Disney's decision to scrap POTCO, sought to provide two separate gaming projects for the community of ex-POTCO players whom were displaced from the Caribbean as of September 19, 2013. Each of these projects, titled "Pirates of the High Seas" (POTHS) and "Pirates Online Rewritten" (another remake), are being developed by Zachary/Edward Shipstealer and James Gleamings respectively. As such, each developer has agreed to respond to a series of interview questions here on this forums to where those responses obtained, I would like to stress, are greatly appreciated. ​

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Without further delay, I present to you now the January 2014 piratesforums.co online interview of Zachary/Edward Shipstealer ('Pirates of the High Seas') and James Gleamings ('Pirates Online Rewritten').​

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(NOTE: The questions below do not concern themselves with the development 'details' associated with each project. Such information is easily accessible via key websites maintained for each project. The questions below DO concern themselves with issues related to the 'direct' player/gaming experience and serves as a reminder, where noted, for each project to learn appropriately from POTCO's development mistakes).​

~ BACKGROUND INFORMATION ~​

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1.) On POTCO, what was the (main) pirate name you log onto the game with, the guild this pirate was last known to have participated in, and the total number of years you played POTCO?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

I always played as Edward Shipstealer. I started playing all the way back in 2007, and played a lot until 2009, from there it was on and off. I quit for what I thought was the last time in early 2012, when one of my good friends quit. I joined once and awhile to check in on the latest updates. When I heard it was closing I quickly ran to a computer but forgot my log-in information! So I had to make another Edward Shipstealer. I went through so many guilds they blend together. I was second in command of Pirate Brethren, which was an old guild and sadly didn't make to the end of my POTCO days, which about the only one I remember as I stopped joining guilds after my friend quit.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

James Gleamings, McRaging, just under 6 years​

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2.) In light of the information provided above, what pirate and/or guild name will be representative of the character you will decide to use on your game? (This information will assist the general public in distinguishing which in-game character will be you).​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

Of course I will be playing as Edward Shipstealer again! As for staff guild, I haven't been able to come up with any good staff guild names yet.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

Well, I will have two characters: a Game Master character for events, and a private one so I don't always get a crowd.​

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3.) From POTCO, what background information can you provide concerning the co-developers whom share with you the same responsibility in so far as the development of your game is concerned?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

It’s been awhile since I talked about the other developers in an interview and a lot has changed. Todd and I have made some changes to the APEZ line up. Todd is now in charge of management, meaning he controls everything on the business side. I have started to only focus on development. With this change we brought in two more developers. They know several languages each and right now are training in Maya 2014. We are paying for the schooling of the new developers in Maya because it saves money. Instead of the 250k original goal, we now only need 150k with this new layout.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

All of our development team are former POTCO players, whom wanted to join out of their free will.​

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4.) What are your game, development credentials?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

Myself, I have always loved computers. From a young age I always loved being able to access the freedom that computers give you. One of the first games I have ever played was Microsoft Flight Simulator. I have some that are over 20 years old, and I remember how awesome it was that you could make your own planes and fly them. Flying really became a passion of mine, I logged over 250 hours in Flight Simulator 2004 alone, and even more in FSX. I have even flown real planes. This is when I first realized that I love doing things and making things on computers. I started to learn Java, I used YouTube to learn in the beginning, but it’s not the best. The best way to learn to code is just doing it, I am self taught. Before I knew it, I had learned so many different languages. I know JavaScript, C#, and C++, and basic, but learning more PHP, HTML, and CSS. Unity wise, I started with the tutorials Unity on their website and with my knowledge of C# it really just became a piece of cake to work with.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

So far, our updates have shown all the main characters, islands, many animations and on terrain.​

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5.) Concerning your personal support directed at POTCO, which petitions (if any) did you actively support using the same name you had provided above?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

I never signed any to keep the game open. Coming from a line of very successful businessmen, I knew that there was no chance and started focusing in the future, Pirates Of The High Seas.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

I did not sign any petitions with "James Gleaming", but I did sign one with my real life name.​

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~ GAME SUPPORT/CUSTOMER SERVICE ~​

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1.) Where specifically does all of my account information go once I download any version related to your game? Explain how my account information will be protected and by whom.​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

All information will be stored in our databases at APEZ headquarters. They will be highly secured through all the latest technology available. I have been training in internet security with a guy named Mark. He works in servers/databases for local government departments working on protecting their information and he has been helping with information security here at APEZ. No important information will be stored in easy access and not all developers will have access to the user information.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

This is still being figured out. At the moment we are thinking of storing it in a large and locked database where only one member of the customer service team can access it.​

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2.) What if I decide to cancel my account with your game? What will happen to my account information and the pirates I have created/items acquired under my account?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

75% deleted. We do not want any user information that the user doesn't want us to have. If you delete your account the only way we can access all the information is through previous backups, until those backups are overwritten. We do need to keep some small information in the books for some reasons, but as far as private information, it will be gone.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

If you permanently delete your account, it will be wiped from the database. If you simply decide to not play for a long time, your account credentials are still there.​

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3.) Once live, will there be an "official" website (excluding forums/wiki support) for your game?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

Of course! I have been working on the site lately and it's coming along great! I recently got a temp site up and running and hope to expand from there very soon!​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

Yes. We have a dedicated set of people doing this.​

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4.) Will your game have support and/or customer service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Will your game cater to the experience of international players without having restrictions?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

No, sadly we cannot provide 24/7 support. We will try our best to reply as soon as possible. Expect a reply within 12 hours at most.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

We will certainly strive to meet your needs, but if we aren't there on live chat, then our email service is soon open. We also intend to make sure our international players get what they need; once we have released Beta, we intend to translate all the text. What's more is, once they enter text, I have figured out a way of translation so that the text can translate to English.​

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5.) During the height and peak of major US calendar holidays, will your game have in-game support and/or customer service available?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

APEZ will be able to provide 365 day support. It might be a bit slower than a normal work day, but you will certainly still get a response within 12 hours.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

We do intend to continue our customer support - even though many would be off, one person would probably still be there to help with the support.​

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[Shamus The Brute]

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(continued from above) ​

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~ HACKING/ACCOUNT STEALING ~​

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1.) On POTCO, what remained your personal conviction towards the issue of in-game hacking (with 'hacking' referring to the manipulation of POTCO coding/account stealing)?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

Honestly the way I look at fixing this issue is to be the hacker. Now I'm not saying that you should hack a game for "testing", but it's a good way of fixing issues. I picked Minecraft as a good game to hack for a couple of reasons. It's popular, it's easy to hack, and it has great support. Every update I would try and find a bug and see where that takes me. I’d use the same code Moder’s do and test out bugs on private servers of mine. From healing hacks to teleportation hacks, I'd look at how Mojang would fix the issue. I've seen a lot of different kinds of patches for hacks but there's one that stood out as a success every time. Everything important being stored server side. With all important information being server side, there is basically no way for the player to manipulate values. They'd have to hack into the server and change the value that way, and the average hacker will not go through the trouble of that. So that is our plan, we hope it will work out for the best and if not, we can always just try and keep up with the holes in our code as they are found.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleaming):​

Both Pirates Online Rewritten and Toontown Rewritten are figuring out this problem. We'll get back to you as soon as possible with that answer.​

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2.) If you were to witness the same level of hacking on your game as you possibly have on POTCO, will the personal conviction you declare above be the same conviction for you within your game? If yes, in what way will you specifically seek out to assure the follow-through of this conviction to where in-game hacking may not deter the evolutionary success of your game?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

If hacking in our game every got as bad as in POTCO, I'd take that as a great disappointment on me. People count on us to provide a fun experience, with them getting mistreated by hackers, that isn't fun! If the amount if hacking ever becomes an issue, we will shut down the servers for a couple of days and completely rewrite all the code with bugs. In Pirates Of The High Seas our promise is hacking will never be an issue.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

As we continue to fight hacking, we would think it would not deter Pirates Online Rewritten evolution success, however hacking is the point we are focusing on right now. We do know that there will be some hackers, but we don't intend to have this game with 1 million + players, we just want the game for those who missed Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and those who want to Relive the Legend.​

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3.) In what way will hackers be dealt with in accordance to your game's (official) rules or terms of service? Who specifically will enforce such rules to where the issue of fairness is achieved?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

Hacking will result in a ban. Your account will be shut down without refund. We hope to take down all hackers as they come. Many say "They can just change IPs", and well yeah you are right, but we have another layer of protection now. Since all the attacks and people just switching IPs, we needed another way to block people. We were able to come up with something incredible. Even if you make a new account and change your IP, we still can detect who you are. No worries, it doesn't download anything onto your PC or anything along those lines. It's just some small code on our website. We have been using it on our site and it has been working amazingly to help block those IP-changers.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

Our terms of service are still in development, but we think that hacking is the worst thing, and it is certainly not an accident. So if hackers do occur, we would ban them forever.​

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4.) Has your game taken a stance yet concerning (off-game) account exchange? In your opinion, would such "account trading" that occurs between players impede the future success of your game?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

This is up to the player. We do not suggest account sharing unless you 100% trust the person you are sharing your account with. We will do our best to keep your information safe from the person you shared your account with as well, by providing multiple layers of protection.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

We would take the same action as above, however, much like Pirates of the Caribbean Online, we would allow those who did trade their account to email in and tell us why.​

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5.) Will limitations be enforced to where - on your game - an infinite number of player accounts created by the same individual will not be permitted? If no, do you understand that the lack of implementing such limitations permits problematic players an advantage to where they are not 100% held accountable for their in-game actions? ​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

You can create as many accounts as you have emails. Please keep in mind that if you give us false information your account can be shut down until you contact us with the correct information. Also keep in mind that you must pay for Unlimited on every account.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

We are still studying how to track their IP addresses to see how many accounts that have been accessed by the IP address, and there will be a 1 month ban for every extra account they access. They are allowed 2 accounts.​

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~ IN-GAME MAINTENANCE/UPDATES ~​

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1.) Approximately how many updates do you expect your game to receive within a 6 month period? ​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

We are planning on a couple big bug fixes updates a month, and small bug fixes as bugs are found. We only will release major updates as they are completed, maybe 2-4 major updates in a 6 month period.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

Being ex-POTCO players, we know how it feels - we aim for 2, but would certainly do more!​

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2.) Concerning periods of in-game maintenance, will players' gaming experience on your game be interrupted? Approximately what time(s) will those maintenance periods likely be scheduled?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

If a server is down for maintenance the other servers will be up. We will only take down all servers if necessary. If all servers go down, we will try our best to get all of them back up and running to normal status.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

Maintenance would simply be adding particular scripts that were pre-meditated. So it shouldn't be any longer than POTCO's; maybe 2 hours.​

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3.) If problematic maintenance or update issues cause a lapse in overall log-in or game experience, what type of reimbursement or account extension will players receive from the development staff of your game?​

Pirates of the High Seas (Zachary/Edward Shipstealer):​

If a update causes all servers to be down longer than 12 hours then an extra day will be added into your plan. We do not want to keep players out of our game. We will post updates on the site if this does occur, to keep all of our players up-to-date.​

Pirates Online Rewritten (James Gleamings):​

If this is to occur, when the game is back into good experience, we would offer them a famed weapon.​

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So there you have it. As ex-POTCO players, the decision is now left to us to support "Pirates of the High Seas," "Pirates Online Rewritten," or both!​

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Whichever project ye do decide to support, there is an important lesson to take from the whole POTCO experience and that is, of course: to continually update yerself concerning the progression of the game and if ye happen to notice something ye like (or dislike), never fail to communicate your concerns to that game's development team as your input provides the necessary feedback they need to understand for themselves the current benchmark they have achieved! ​

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(Disclaimer for 'Pirates Online Rewritten,' per James Gleamings: Pirates Online Rewritten is using the game engine Panda3D. Unlike the other games in development, we are doing an exact copy of POTCO's playing experiences. Due to the fact we cannot make profit, free unlimited access is granted and our servers are kindly offered by Toontown Rewritten. We also release Daily Alpha and Savvy Saturday updates on our wiki that you can download). *** Pirates Online Rewritten is not associated in any official way with the Walt Disney Company, its subsidiary the Walt Disney Interactive Media Group, or any additional subsidiaries or affiliates. The characters as well as "Pirates of the Caribbean" are TM and © (copyright) Walt Disney Company, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and their related entities.​

 

[Zachary]

Thanks for letting us answer some questions, I feel honored every time someone wants to ask me anything about Pirates Of the High Seas.

 

[TheGleamings]

Thank you for doing this, Shamus. Personally, I'll be playing both another remake and POTHS, as they both help me relive the experience.

 

[Samuel Cannonskull]

I hope another remake and POTHS will become allies and work together.

To New Comings!!

 

[Looter X]

I will probably play BOTH of these games. But I will probably play POTHS more. Best of luck to both games.

 

[tom da ninja boy]

excellent interview, i support both another remake and POTHS very excited about both of them and hope thier both a big success.

 

[Remy]

I know both will most likely be a big success, I wish both good luck on their work! Can't wait.

 

[Captain Ghosty]

Arrrrr!!! Very interesting!!!! Looks awesome and I love to see very dedicated players of POTCO working on these projects !!! I wanted to know where do they plan on getting 150,000 dollars and what will the money be used for? I also want to know are there servers available for us to play on ?

 

[Shamus The Brute]

If opportunity presented itself to where I had one more question (out of a thousand) to ask the head developers of both POTHS and another remake, it would be this:

• What would likely happen to the development of your game once all of the "FUN" ends?

I realize this question seems a bit unfair for myself to ask but, the question itself is important because the legacy of both POTHS and another remake are directly affected by the answer drawn from it. Basically, the question (prematurely) probes the foundation of POTHS and another remake without either game ever launching a Alpha or a Beta; it is a rhetorical or reflective question.

Please understand that I am not questioning the overall commitment or dedication of POTHS or another remake development teams. Rather, I have been around long enough to know that when something begins as just "fun and games," that this does not necessarily mean the effort created from it will result as just "fun and games" for those most responsible for it.

~ When the demands of LIFE do happen to take over (i.e., school, work, family, sports, etc.), it's only understandable that people's interests will also be altered to where the amount of time devoted to something they have been focusing upon will also change!

In consideration to POTCO, I do feel this was one of the major reasons as to why the game had failed (according to the lack of sustainability of the energy and excitement Disney devoted towards the game to where the game's own development was directly affected). As a result, numerous subgroups of other "issues" had sprung up within POTCO including an influx of in-game hacking and reductions of overall player support and/or lack of unlimited access subscriptions.

As Disney Interactive had to learn the hard way concerning POTCO, it does not bode well to become "Sid the Sloth" to where a wooly mammoth-sized project is left to fend upon its own within the chaotic world of frigid cold and ICE.

 

[Jim Cannonhawk]

This just sucks. someone go find the dog, get the keys, go over to the servers and TURN it Back ON !!!!been playing swtor ,gallactic starfighter, only reason being its the closet thing to svs i can find. BIG BUMMER!!!

 

[TheGleamings]

This just sucks. someone go find the dog, get the keys, go over to the servers and TURN it Back ON !!!!been playing swtor ,gallactic starfighter, only reason being its the closet thing to svs i can find. BIG BUMMER!!!

That's what we're trying to do. We're just finding out how to actually decompile the pesky pyd files. In the meantime, we're remaking it from scratch.

 

[Bort Greasegorb]

Very good interview, but I don't think a famed weapon giveaway every 12+ hour maintenance update is too good of an idea. What if some pirates do not have high enough levels to use famed weapons? Otherwise, I look forward to both games. Keep up the good work!

 

[Nate Magic]

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Whichever project ye do decide to support, ​

Are these games legit?

 

[Irene]

Are these games legit?

another remake is... not sure about POTHS.
They say they are, but there are no contracts signed, developers hired etc.

 

[jzfredskins]

Very good interview, but I don't think a famed weapon giveaway every 12+ hour maintenance update is too good of an idea. What if some pirates do not have high enough levels to use famed weapons? Otherwise, I look forward to both games. Keep up the good work!

Not every scheduled maintenance. The question is saying if the server crashes and the game is down for like three days, how are we going to repay players for the lost game time. POTHS intends on giving you extra days added onto your membership. The problem with another remake is that it is going to be 100% free, so giving you days of Unlimited Access is pointless. Our only option is giving away an in-game item. It might be a famed weapon, it might be an exclusive piece of clothing.

 

[Irene]

Not every scheduled maintenance. The question is saying if the server crashes and the game is down for like three days, how are we going to repay players for the lost game time. POTHS intends on giving you extra days added onto your membership. The problem with another remake is that it is going to be 100% free, so giving you days of Unlimited Access is pointless. Our only option is giving away an in-game item. It might be a famed weapon, it might be an exclusive piece of clothing.

Actually I was thinking today some ways you could profit...

I know it says you aren't able to profit from any POTCO content, but what if we make things ourselves?
For example, instead of using glitches, swift foot, name change, you could set up a market like many other MMOs have, people would have to buy coins in order to unlock packs, like speed, name change tokens, special clothing etc.

Not sure how difficult that is, just throwing out ideas..

 

[Crazy Jonah]

Will another remake have the old body types?

 

[jzfredskins]

Actually I was thinking today some ways you could profit...

I know it says you aren't able to profit from any POTCO content, but what if we make things ourselves?
For example, instead of using glitches, swift foot, name change, you could set up a market like many other MMOs have, people would have to buy coins in order to unlock packs, like speed, name change tokens, special clothing etc.

Not sure how difficult that is, just throwing out ideas..

We would still be making money off of the game. There is no legal way around it. Not matter what we did, (selling shirts or other items) we would have to say: "The revenue from this is to support the game another remake." which would then be using the game and violating their terms.

Will another remake have the old body types?

Yes.

 

[Crazy Jonah]

We would still be making money off of the game. There is no legal way around it. Not matter what we did, (selling shirts or other items) we would have to say: "The revenue from this is to support the game another remake." which would then be using the game and violating their terms.


Yes.

old clothes to?