Dev Update: Pirate Crew!

This week we've started work on a new feature! We've been looking forward to working on this since day one.
As a pirate captain, you'll need a hearty crew of pirate lackeys to do your bidding, right? After you secure your first boat, you might find someone willing enough to join your crew! Although, chances are they'll need some convincing.
Once you've earned their trust, you'll be able to give them some commands. Have them follow you or wait at your ship. Set them to work, or have them carry your burdens.

A development screencapture of your crew coming to your aid from the ship. They follow you!

Later in the game, you'll need a substantial crew to be able to pilot some of the larger ships. Bigger vessels require more upkeep to stay afloat. You'll need to set teams to bail bilgewater, rig the sails, or even man the crow's nest.

Concept art! Showing the crew busy at work aboard one of the in-game ships.

In order to create a wide variation of characters on our limited indie budget, we've designed a system to generate semi-random characters that still have personality and style.
Our artists have created a bunch of body-part modules. With a small amount of programming, each new crew member will generate with a random selection of features. Kind of like a kids' mix-and-match flip book.

Grab the book here :P

We've already made a fair amount of progress. We hope to wrap up this feature addition in about two weeks. We'll be posting updates on our Twitter as always!