The latest developer journal out of Flying Lab Software looks at how they've implemented treasure maps and brought iconic "x marks the spot" adventures for pirate loot to Pirates of the Burning Sea.

For as long as I’ve been working at Flying Lab, I’ve wanted to add treasure maps to Pirates of the Burning Sea. We have had missions that involve maps before, of course, but they were always dealt with in the text only. Real “X marks the spot” treasure maps were not a priority as we geared up for launch though, so that’s how it stayed.

When I was outlining the Black Flags and Dread Saints storyline, I included a chapter called Black Bart’s Gold. I wanted Black Bart’s story to involve many classic pirate elements, so hidden treasure seemed a natural. When I wrote that outline, I assumed that we’d be dealing with any treasure maps the same way we had previously. It was Raymond, our Content Lead, who suggested that this was the time to figure out how to do treasure maps right. So Black Bart’s Gold will not only be Chapter 4 of Black Flags and Dread Saints, but also the first time we’ll have real treasure maps in Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Read more here.