Developer Notes: Black Bart

Black Bart was based on the famous Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts. Initially a reluctant pirate, Bartholomew Roberts went on to become one of the most successful captains of the Golden Age of Piracy, capturing the most vessels during his three year career. He was renowned both for his bravery and his ability to evade injury and death, earning him the nickname ‘Pistol Proof’.

Although doing relatively low damage with his melee attack, our Black Bart has a high toughness, allowing him to take a beating! He is also different from most of the other pirates, in that he has not one but two special abilities, both sharing the same cooldown.

‘Pistol Proof’ is available whilst Black Bart is up and about attacking the island. This ability is a taunt, similar to the Brute’s ‘Bring it On!’ that distracts nearby defences, allowing weaker damage dealing pirates to attack whilst taking less damage.



‘Walk it Off’ allows Bart to get back up after being knocked down. Due to this ability, Black Bart only ever uses one unit of Stamina in battle, as he’s never truly down for the count!



Visually, we wanted Black Bart to look like a tank - big, bulky, and mean looking. We wanted to convey that this was a pirate who had lived through a lot of battles, so we gave him a wooden leg and a collection of weaponry stuck in his back. The colours of his standard outfit reflect the colours of the Welsh flag.