When you think of video game studios, what’s the first one that comes to mind? For me it’s Rare Ltd. I grew up playing Rare games, just like most anyone who has been around since the dawn of video games. Granted I did miss out on most of those earlier 80s titles until Rare Replay was released.
Rare Replay caught my eye last year at E3 2015, but it was the debut trailer of Sea of Thieves that really got me hyped. As a huge Rare fan it put a smile on my face to see, they were getting away from their “Kinect Era” and truly getting back to making the type of games I loved as a kid. My excitement for Sea of Thieves was so over the top I went as far as to start up a podcast specifically centered around it. I spent the next couple of months after E3 getting ideas together, the plan was to launch on none other than “Talk Like A Pirate Day.” On September 20th, 2015, the day after TLAPD, Pirate Port Radio set sail for its maiden voyage. Every month my first mate, Paladin_Topaz and I would break down any tidbit of info we got from good ol’ Captain Bones (@AskCaptainBones), at the time, the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account. Every week the account would update us with new concept art that we would pick apart in any way we could.
It went on like this for six months, until Rare announced they were holding a contest where they were inviting six lucky fans to visit the studio and play the game. I, of course jumped at this opportunity, to get to go to the studio, whose games I’d grown up playing and shaped what I look for in video games today. I spent the next week, setting up a homemade tavern in my barn, and began recording myself first in normal everyday clothes while sitting in my office, then again dressed in full pirate garb having a pint and saying things in a pirate voice sitting down in my newly made tavern. I dubbed the video “Pirate Language Lesson.”
Weeks passed and I heard nothing, I thought it was a good effort, there just must have been better entries. Then, on March 24th, 2016, I received an email from a Rare employee stating that while I didn’t win the contest Rare still wanted me to come to their studio! I never knew a grown man could have so much excitement until I read this email. On Friday, May 20th, 2016, I was flown to the UK on an all expenses paid trip to meet the developers, tour the studio, and play the game. Among the sea dogs invited, were the 6 contest winners and some of Rare and Sea of Thieves biggest fans, my co-host on Pirate Port Radio included. One of the contest winners brought along his wife, and my co-host had his dad along side him, making for a total of 14 of us.
We spent the following Saturday the 21st recuperating from jet lag, as we are all at the very least 5 hours behind. It gave us an opportunity to meet some of the incredible fans we’d spent so much time interacting with through social media.
On Sunday the 22nd we spent the day with developers. We had lunch, where numerous Rare employees showed up, Cameron Thomas, Emma Bridle, Bobby Lamirande (Community Managers), Joe Neate (Exec Producer), Andrew and Shelley Preston (Senior Designers), and Mike Chapman (Lead Designer), just to name a few. After lunch we were all divided into groups of 3 and paired with one or more developers to go on a scavenger hunt around the city of Birmingham. My group consisted of Steve from raregamer.co.uk and Jackie, one of the contest winners, our developers were Executive Producer of Sea of Thieves, Joe Neate and Louise O’Connor, longtime Rare developer and voice of Berry from Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The scavenger hunt required walking around Birmingham to find old landmarks and answering questions about them, among other things, from stupid “awkward family photos” to “do your best air guitar.” After the scavenger hunt we all met at a local pub called “The Brew Dog” where we had drinks and laughs about our crazy tour of Birmingham. Later we had dinner at a restaurant not far from our hotel. Having spent the day with all these developers, by dinner time, we were all having full fledged conversations like we’d been friends for years. These conversations continued until, there was a hushed silence from our table, Craig Duncan, Head of Rare Ltd, had sat down. That was it, it was just a brief moment of silence.
Then, Monday morning came. We were all loaded onto a bus and began our journey to see the fabled, Rare Ltd Grounds. Throughout the 45 minute journey to the studio, there was almost silence, save for the occasional “I can’t believe this happening!” to “Nope nope we’re all dead, it’s like LOST.”
Then we reached the gates, think of it this way, have you ever seen “Willy Wonka?” Then you know the feeling, you get when you proceed through those gates. We even half expected to see Mike Chapman, Lead Designer on Sea of Thieves, in a full fledged purple Willy Wonka suit, sadly it was not so. The ride up the driveway, brings back memories with the numerous statuettes of some of Rare’s most iconic characters (Banjo, Kazooie, Conker) and some not so well known characters from the unreleased “Dinosaur Planet.” Then we came around the last curve and saw the main building of the studio in all its glory. There was an eruption of excitement as we made our way into the building. Numerous floors of developers had all began clapping as we walked into the main lobby. Man enough to admit, I began crying. Not many people get the opportunity to say they’ve been to Rare Ltd’s studio. You just get this feeling of nostalgia and euphoria, unlike any other. “I’m at Rare! This isn’t happening! This can’t be happening!”
The day began with a small tour of the studio, where we were shown the hallowed grounds that you’ve probably only ever seen in picture form. We then proceeded back inside for a small presentation. Afterwards they took us to their streaming studio, which looks completely different than it did for their Rare Replay live streams. It now was a full on command center with monitors to capture all of our reactions while playing the game, as well as 12 sound-proof booths, each with a monitor, camera, and controller. We were divided into three teams of four and told “have at it.” Nothing, no tutorials, no hand holding, just us and a controller, save for a small button map giving us the basic controls.
I almost instantly discovered, I had a tankard of grog and some sort of wooden plank. I managed to down my tankard and notice the screen go a bit blurry and my character stumbling. We then managed to discover that there was ship nearby. The four us climbed aboard and instantly were in full pirate mode. Every part of the ship is functional. The anchor must be raised using the capstan in the middle of the ship, the sails have to be the right length and angle to catch wind. What intrigued me most, was the helm. It was the first place I went to after helping pull up the anchor. Behind the wheel, I truly felt like a pirate captain. However the helm has a downside, as you can’t see past the sail, you have to heavily rely on your crew whether in the Crow’s Nest or otherwise, to lead you in the right direction. There were a few times we were able to pull of some breakneck turns that would have otherwise had us crashing straight into huge rocks jutting out of the sea.
After the first play session the day continued with more tours, presentations, and then lunchtime came around where we were able to connect and just have conversations with some of the people who were developing Sea of Thieves. After lunch, it was another play session, a completely different one than the last. Finally the first day came to end and we ate dinner at a local restaurant then headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday morning rolled around and we were back at it again. The excitement from the previous day was still in the air, when we arrived at the studio. More play sessions, more presentations, the opportunity to play footgolf with the legendary, Greg Mayles, creator of Banjo-Kazooie and so many others. I managed to become the first person ever to hurt themselves while playing footgolf at Rare Ltd, and that in my eyes is an accomplishment of its own. That last day ended with small celebration, where each of the fans were given an embroidered Sea of Thieves messenger bag, with a few goodies inside. On top of that were each given our own pirate name scroll from Greg Mayles himself.
Being invited along for this journey was an experience I’ll never forget. I’m still convinced that I’m asleep in bed on the night of March 23rd, 2016, this was an experience like no other, there’s no way it was real.
Three weeks later at E3 2016, Rare showed off their debut gameplay trailer for Sea of Thieves, which I was a star in!
