Two books were big references in the development of the game. The first book was "The General History of Pyrates," which provided a solid historical foundation for the game to use, as well using a German style of capitalizing all nouns, which Ubisoft used in the game's subtitles. The second book was "The Republic of Pirates," which helped the team establish the hub town, real life Nassau, which was a famous stopping point for pirates. The book's author, Colin Woodard, was so much of a influence that he was asked to join the development team to make the game more accurate.