Draft:Airship: Kingdoms Adrift

Airship: Kingdoms Adrift
Developer(s)	Revolution Industry
Publisher(s)	Gamersky Games Freedom Games
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	Windows 21 September 2023
Genre(s)	Action, Simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

Airship: Kingdoms Adrift is an airship simulation game developed by Revolution Industry and published by Gamersky Games and Freedom Games. Set in the steampunk world of Spheara, the game places players in the role of a skyfaring captain navigating the politically charged Suthseg Archipelago in the aftermath of the Great Sky War. Players customize, upgrade, and pilot various airships while exploring a vast archipelago filled with settlements and trade opportunities. The game features both combat and economic management as players establish their own trading companies and build industrial empires.

The game was released on September 21, 2023 for Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay

Airship: Kingdoms Adrift is an open world tactical combat game with a customizable airship. There are over 30 different airships, customizing them with a variety of weapons, engines, and equipment to balance mobility and protection. In the game players need to pilot airships that resemble historical sailing ships, locked to a 2D plane.Combat is one of the game's highlights, with mechanics resembling late 19th-century naval warfare. Players must balance offensive and defensive tactics, using escort ships for support and making use of abilities to turn the tide of battle. Some battles are incredibly challenging, with pirates and enemy fleets posing a significant threat. If overwhelmed, players can even parley to avoid defeat.

Exploration being one of the key roles of the game with settlements providing resources, upgrades, and new ships. The game features detailed ship customization, encouraging players to experiment with different weapons and armor. The long travel does allow the game to show its visuals in a lot of places.

The game also allows players to meet NPC companions as officers, who provide passive buffs and active skills, although some companions lack fully developed questlines as of now. The game emphasizes the roleplaying experience through worldbuilding, detailed settlement histories, and thematically appropriate cargo missions.

Plot

Background

Airship: Kingdoms Adrift takes place in a semi-fantasy reimagined Earth-like world where the land shattered and broke up into many floating islands. Players are allowed to choose one of the 3 factions: the Aecerlian Kingdom, New Viridian Republic, and Teutonic Confderation. The player will become the captain working for the Silverblum Trading Company seeking new ventures and opportunities after the Great Sky War recently came to a ceasefire.

Narrative

The narrative is driven by interactions with various NPCs, uncovering the history and current tensions in the fragmented world. The overall tone borrows from familiar steampunk and fantasy themes, with a plot that revolves around trade, combat, and building alliances, though it lacks deep role-playing elements. While the plot sets the stage for the game's world, it primarily serves as a backdrop for exploration and combat rather than offering deep narrative complexity.

Development

The idea for the game came from the team’s founder, who was inspired by the success of Guns of Icarus to create a game set in the sky with airships. He began sketching airship designs, drawing inspiration from Ascent: Infinite Realm. However, by the end of 2017, there were only drawings and no clear gameplay ideas. Progress was slow at first, as the founder focused on securing funding for Revolution Industry, which officially launched in April 2021. By mid-2020, the project gained momentum when key members, including a writer, lead coder, and technical artist, joined full-time. A small team of four worked on a prototype to attract additional funding, which they successfully secured.

The GameFi boom in 2021 made hiring harder because salaries in the industry shot up, but the team kept growing. By the end of 2021, they had eight members and moved from making a prototype to full production. Throughout 2022, the team worked on improving the visuals and world-building, and they prepared a multiplayer demo for Steam Next Fest, which helped them get a publishing deal.

Even though the team delivered content on time, the decision to release updates slowly over four months after launch didn’t go well. Players weren’t happy with this, and the sandbox style of the game wasn’t enough to keep them interested. By the end of 2022, the team had grown to 13 members, but they were dealing with technical debt from earlier mistakes in planning. Many systems weren’t built for long-term development, which caused delays and the need for a lot of rework.

In 2023, production problems got worse. Technical issues, mistakes in implementation, and a growing number of bug reports slowed things down. The team got tired as unfinished tasks kept coming up again. The development pipeline eventually broke down, leading to data loss just before the final build. The team spent the last quarter of 2023 fixing critical problems while parting ways with temporary staff and some members who chose to leave the project.

Release

Airship Kingdoms: Adrift was announced in April 2021, originally under the title Airship Academy, with a planned release in 2022.

The game was officially released on September 21, 2023, for Windows, and is available on platforms including Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG.

Reception

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
Softpedia	8/10
Gamer Escape	6/10

Airship: Kingdoms Adrift received mixed reviews from critics, who praised certain aspects of the game, such as its engaging combat mechanics and intricate ship customization, but noted limitations in other areas.

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2021	SEA Game Awards 2021	Best Innovation	Won
2022	G-Star Indie Games Award 2022	Best Indie Games	Won