Sea of Thieves loading spinner was changed because of a dev tattoo
Pets were also a topic of conversation as was the huge number of players joining the game with the Anniversary Update.
You’ve got to love Sea of Thieves and you’ve got to love the passion of the developers at Rare. We got to speak with Design Director Mike Chapman and Senior Producer Drew Stevens about all things Sea of Thieves, including a particularly funny story about a developer’s tattoo.
In a hilarious moment that clearly tickled Mike Chapman, Drew revealed his beloved Sea of Thieves tattoo and the story behind it. The tattoo, the official Sea of Thieves compass, sits emblazoned on Drew’s hand for the world to see. After getting the tattoo, Drew realized that it was actually being used as the game’s loading spinner. This obviously could not stand. Drew states he went to talk with the UI team, whereby they wound up changing the loading spinner to the ship’s wheel we see today.
This little story was used to highlight the love and passion that the community shares with Rare, especially when showing off their Sea of Thieves-themed tattoos. The team always brings out a handful of developers to E3 so they might revel in the excitement. As Mike describes it, it’s an experience that makes it impossible not to be hyped to go back and build more awesome content.
And awesome content they do build. Sea of Thieves recently received a massive update in the form of the Anniversary Update. This completely changed the landscape of Sea of Thieves. Tall Tales is one of the best experiences Sea of Thieves has to offer and Arena is 24-minutes of adrenaline-pumping action. Plus, fishing was added.
Mike also revealed that the team has seen 2 million new players come to Sea of Thieves since the Anniversary Update. This is no doubt a massive boon for the team as they plan out the future of the game.
The conversation of pets always comes up, and it’s likely because of two reasons: people want their own parrot or monkey and they want to support Rare. Mike and Drew both discussed designing pets, and the goals the team are trying to hit with them.
One of the biggest things is that pets add to the experience, whether it’s through interacting with the pet or showing it off to another crewmember. They should aid in the humor and be a sort of supporting character. However, Rare is also being careful about ensuring pets don’t offer a player an advantage. They won’t be used for a bonus attack or to carry something for you. But they do apparently dance to your music and can throw up!
Take a look at our interview with Executive Producer Joe Neate, where he talked about maybe adding different ship types to Arena. And for more content on Rare’s beautiful pirate game, check out the Shacknews Sea of Thieves page.
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