Great to have you back! Looking forward to this as always, and love the detailed blog!
For the echolot confirmation - I’d always be tempted to make the warning diegetic, rather than breaking immersion - whether it be a crew member asking for confirmation or some other in-world function, but I think your instincts are right that it needs something.
Do let us know when/if you need beta testers, I’d be happy to help root out bugs or problems when you feel the game is complete enough.
Take care!
Very happy you enjoyed the log! Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad that you mention this point because I thought about what you suggest, and forgot to explain why I didn’t do it.
I did my fair bit of reading about life aboard U-boats, and I got from it that the captain was very rarely challenged, if ever, regardless of the situation. Now I guess that the first officer could offer a respectful reminder, and that would be okay. But then what about the second time, and the third, and the time after that? We would be in this bizarre situation where a crew member systematically challenges the order. Also, I think that there’s going to be other situations in which it will be difficult to find a plausible objection from the crew, in which case we would have an inconsistent system, where sometimes we stay in game and sometimes we step out. I was afraid to paint myself into a corner. So in the end I figured that it’s just easier to admit that this is a game and we sometimes have to break immersion.
Of course I’ll be glad to have you and others test the game. It’s way too early for that, but when the time comes I’ll have an announcement here, and you’ll be able to opt in.
