Merchanteer is not just a merchant simulator or RPG, it’s a fully simulated world. 

The southern isles has two factions, the friendly merchant led faction of Freeport and the non-player pirate faction. The NPC merchants wake up every morning leave their residences around the Freeport controlled southern isles and trade cargo all day, sometimes roaming pirates intercept them or friendly ports get seized by a pirate raid, maybe you as the player liberate a pirate owned port and open it back up for trading, maybe you sink or save a friendly NPC, any one of these actions influences the cargo economy, each port having a supply/demand model, and if the player makes it to a port that is in proximity to a pirate controlled area, their profit margins on cargo is very high (simply because the NPC merchants fail to make it there). 

To further add to the strategic value, each island is handcrafted but procedurally placed at the inception of each game save, making every play through unique. The end goal is complete liberation and control of the southern isles, the player starts with a couple small cannons and a small sloop. To progress one must harvest rare resources from trees and rocks around the map, craft cannons, ships and tools with a modular/deep resource system, strategically trade cargo and complete quests for NPCs. 

No matter where you are on the map, the world persist, NPCs on the far side are engaged in combat, an island gets seized, the game changes. This is the alive, player driven, unpredictable and unscripted world you and many other players have been waiting for.

We are far into development, having most of these features functional and showcased (although I’ll note that there is need for polishing). Our kickstarter pre-launch does the best job at explaining more about the game and project, even if you do not wish to be a backer, I highly suggest at least checking it out. As we say on there, starting now, we wish this game to be shaped by the community, driven by the community, so please join our discord so you can be apart of that. Im posting here not only for outreach but also for feedback, ideas and questions. 

If your interested look here for more info and to be part of the community: 

https://linktr.ee/GlowDriftStudio