Make Sail looks like a physics-based Wind Waker

Make Sail, the latest crowdfunding endeavor on Fig, looks like an endearing alternative to Rare's upcoming Sea of Thieves. Both titles are first and foremost about sailing, naval combat, and treasure-hunting, but where Rare is gunning for the co-op audience, Make Sail is tapping those with an appreciation for physics-based pirating.

In development by Popcannibal (of Girls Like Robots and Elegy for a Dead World fame), Make Sail tasks players with crafting their own sea-faring vessel. These will affect how your ship moves, its top speed, and its sustainability through hazards. Sometimes you'll need to be fast to outrun nautical predators, other times it's more important to focus on shielding for harsh terrain, and sometimes you'll want to invest on extra cargo space to haul resources around.

"Snap together planks, poles, sails, masts, jets, propellers, balloons, propellers, sparklers and more," Popcannibal teased of its robust vehicular crafting system.

While Make Sail is primarily going to a solitary adventure, there will be options to share your ship online.

The world itself will be procedurally-generated with different arrangements of islands, creatures and obstacles. "It's being designed to give you reasons to build a wide variety of ships. Each replay will present different challenges and opportunities at different stages of gameplay," the developer stated.

Every time you dock on an island you'll be able to rejig your ship. The game will be set within the eye of a storm, but by finding totems in the world you'll be able to push the storm wall back and explore further sections of the sea.

After launching its Fig campaign yesterday Make Sail has raised $12,990 of its $50k goal with 34 days to go before the 2nd November deadline.

Make Sail is currently aiming for a Q4 2017 release on PC, Mac and Linux. You can reserve an early copy for $20.