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Thank you! So far Panic has been very supportive of the project, so I’m hopeful to be able to bring it to the catalog, but I must keep pushing for making the best game possible. The hard part is to keep the distance.

Thank you!

A silhouette of the gun would be very hard to make readable at that resolution. And then it poses the question of what do you do for the torpedoes? There has to be some consistency within the icon. 

True! I need to be careful with what I write :) In the meantime always feel free to offer any feedback and suggestion here. I’ll take anything that can improve the game.

I haven’t had any request for it so far so it’s unlikely.

Thanks for the feedback. That’s why I show the game in development. The twitching is easy to remove, so will wait for more feedback. We don’t need to decide now. Regardless I’m not a huge fan of forcing the player to customize the game. I think a good game should own its decisions and limit the options to the very strict minimum. Stuff like accessibility issues. Let’s shelf the question for now and see what comes.

Funny how so many (well, many is relative)  people have asked about the beta recently. I guess I should takes this as a sign that the project starts to look like a real game now. Still, we’re quite far from it being in the state where it can be tested.

I’ll have a post for that purpose here when the time comes and you’ll be able to apply. I’m not sure how many I will need, and what form the process will take, but we’ll figure this out then.

Thank you! Yes I agree about the shell. The problem is that respecting the scale would make the shell too small and unrecognizable. I may ditch the propellant case and have just a few projectiles side by side.  I’m sure this can be fixed. Thank you for the feedback.

Very glad that you like that art, thank you! The gyro angle I thought about, but I was concerned of overwhelming the player. I hope that it’s not too much already as it is. 

I will post here when the time comes to have people test the game, and let people apply freely, and we’ll go from there. It’s not going to soon though. 

Huge pressure! I hope you like your Playdate regardless because I would hate for you to have bought it for Atlantic ‘41 and then the game not living up to your expectations :)

Thank you. Frankly I don’t know yet. I can imagine either, if the catalog will have me. Not sure about both co existing though. I’ll communicate about it when the time comes and see what the community wants.

Thank you. It’s unknown at the moment. I’ve had numerous requests for a port on Steam. It’s something I’ll study after the Playdate release if the interest from the community is there. If I port it to computers however, it won’t be just a straight port. I would adapt it to take advantage of the more powerful platform but keeping the art direction in line.

FLUTEN!

Thank you very much! The game is still early in development. I don’t know when it will be released yet. 

Thank you for the link. I didn’t know that game. The idea is to stick to the representation of a physical map, where trajectories are always straight. Keep in mind that a turn is 10 minutes, so at the scale of the map, a trajectory covers several kilometers, so even a course change would only show a tiny arc over a fraction of the entire line, which would be straight for the most part.

Yes I mentioned in a previous log how the Playdate seems a counterintuitive choice. But sometimes you got to follow your instincts. We’ll see how this all turns out :)

You’re very welcome. Please don’t hesitate to keep sharing your thoughts. 

Thank you!

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.

Quite a lot to unpack. Thank you for taking the time of giving such detailed feedback and suggestions.

The curved lines, like you said yourself, wouldn’t make much sense in the context of the map, and I’m afraid that this would generate confusion (even though it would look nice).

I think the Echolot confirmation works well as it is. Your suggestion is sound, but I feel that sometimes it’s best to stick to the simplest system that most people are familiar with, unless you have a very specific reason not to.  I also think that the window is a more elegant way to present the text.

You’re right about the numbers. They do offer certainty. I mentioned this as a reason to explain why they’re so popular in many games. But that’s precisely why I don’t think it’s right for what I want to do. One of the major themes of U-boat warfare is the tension; and this tension comes in great part from never having any certainty about anything. If you think of real life U-boat combat, there was never any way of knowing what were the chances of hitting, or being detected. Captains only knew what worked in their favor, and what worked against them, and their appreciation improved over time, with experience. That’s what I would like the game to convey. I had a similar experience with Silent Service, but I think that the struggle came from the game not communicating well the parameters that went into the resolution of any situation. Games were different back then. It was a do or die philosophy, with very poor quality of life. Atlantic ‘41 will be a modern game, that (hopefully), gently introduces the player to all the concepts needed to succeed, and conveys clearly all the variables. But I want the player to learn the impact of these variables with experience, like a real captain would do. The advantage being that you have the luxury of starting the war over as many times as you want. I realize that it’s a risky and challenging bet, and that it asks more investment from the player, but I believe in the idea, and I hope that there’s enough patient players out there that are willing to get their asses kicked a few times. ;)

It’s coming in a few days. Christmas break didn’t help. 

So kind of you to say this. Thank you :)

Just when I thought the whole concept couldn’t become any cooler, in a vintage 8-bit kind of way, now the martians babble like adorable Speak and Spells . So appropriate. You’re killing me.

Thank you for the kind support and pointing out the mistake. I will fix this promptly.

As for German, yes I badly need of a proof reader/translator so since you kindly volunteer I eill put you down for beta testing and when the time comes you can help with the German text if you want.

I can’t think of a better way to start the new year than reading a kind supportive post for the game. Thank you!

Actually, I did look into it and it's fixed. Now the text is revealed as the dialogue box open. It doesn't give you much more time to read, but it looks a lot cleaner.

Thank you. I’m glad that you enjoy it.

Thank you! But Lucas Pope will absolutely beat me to it, both in terms of release time, and quality :)

Thanks :)

Yes this is absolutely a performance issue. Displaying text real time is horrendously slow on Playdate, so every text box is pre rendered between turns. I could make some real time masking trickery but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort, considering how fast the dialogue box appears anyway. However I agree that it would feel better if the text didn’t pop all at once at the end. Thank you for the feedback. I’ll look  into it. 

Thank you!

Thank you. Funny you should mention this because I am myself a recovering addict from music GAS. I’m sure that you know what this means. Anyway, avoiding menu diving is something that I always have in mind making the UX for Atlantic ‘41. The Playdate is an interesting challenge with only 2 buttons.  But if you look at games like Advance Wars on GBA or the impressive creative flow of the Dirtywave M8  (once you get past the initial confusion), there’s no shortage of good examples to follow.

Yes! I apologize for the delay. Travel to France and other things delayed the update but it’s coming this week. I will go over the tactical chart almost fully implemented.

Thank you!

Thank you! You’re right. In spite of being a Playdate game, Atlantic ‘41 will play like an early 90’s computer game, with strong influences from board games and tabletop wargames. 

Thank you for the feedback. Silhouettes are getting ahead in the poll, which is fine, since it’s quicker to do.

I haven’t seen this game. I don’t play as often as I’d like. The thing with “physical” UI is that they can be overwhelming. On the tiny Playdate screen it’s a concern, so I have to find a balance. I’m still refining the controls in the tactical chart at the moment, counting the button presses to activate a command :)

Thank you. It seems like the preferred opinion at the moment. 

I stand corrected. I many have read this about Silent Service 2, which was quite more complex. But still I think that you can measure the workload. When the game reaches beta I’ll most likely post a call for testers here so you’ll be welcome to try the game.

Thank you for your support and taking the time to sign up just for that! I’ll keep your suggestions in mind. Don’t worry I don’t plan to price the game unreasonably ;)

Thank you! I have to be honest though. The game won’t release this year. That much is certain. It’s of a larger scope than say, Silent Service, which took around 18 months to develop by a team of several people working full time, and I make Atlantic ‘41 all by myself on my spare time. I don’t want to delay the game more than necessary but I also want to make every effort so that it doesn’t disappoint in the end.

Thank you so much :) Very glad that you like it!