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[ArenMook]

Hey guys, I think it's time I made a post about a game I've been working on since before this year's GDC: Windward.

My idea was, what happens if you mix Sid Meier's Pirates style ship sailing and combat with Terraria style procedurally generated world and the ability to play co-op multiplayer with your friends? Hopefully something fun!

With this thought in mind I started working on a game prototype, starting with a skirmish gameplay mode where you play 4 vs 4 and have capturable objectives that generate victory points. It ended up being a pretty good "feel test" of the game's mechanics. I've added mouse, keyboard, and 360 controller support (also iPad touch-based controls, but can't see those in the web build!), capturable respawn points, guard towers, and lastly -- AI.

I'd really appreciate some feedback on what I have so far. You can play the latest build here:

http://www.tasharen.com/windward/

[Tynan]

Hi ArenMook. Nice to see you diversifying from just NGUI.

Unfortunately, I don't think this game design works very well. You're correct in that you've created a feel test - it's just that the test results are that the feel is pretty terrible.

Controlling the ship is slow and sluggish. There's nothing you can do about this - it's embedded in the fiction. Circling round and round targets feels boring, pointless, and predictable. It's palpably frustrating trying to turn around or get unstuck from a coastline.

These are the reasons why ship combat games have never worked well. They don't work well in the later Total War games, for example.

I think there is a way you could save this game, but you'd have to change it into another kind of product. It would have to become a sort of role playing strategy exploration game. Sid's Pirates worked because of all the interesting narrative interactions and minigames there were, not because of circling around targets waiting for your cannons to slowly grind them down.

Alternatively, you could try to explore some sort of magic/spell/special ability driven team strategic game design a la LoL. In this idea, it's all about deploying the right abilities in the right order and maneuvering on the strategic map. Micro-level tactical maneuver is de-emphasized because it doesn't feel good in this kind of game.

Your Terraria analogy doesn't really work. Terraria and Minecraft are fascinating because of how their simple block engines allow the construction of complex, fascinating structures and tunnel systems. This game supports no such construction system, and I don't really see how it could.

My friendly design recommendation: scrap it or seriously rethink it.

It's not a bad thing. I scrapped a Unity prototype that took me a month and I'm glad for it because I'm working on something now that works much better. Happens to all of us.

Cheers,
Ty

[ArenMook]

Thanks for the honest thoughts. The mention of Terraria was not about building mechanics. To be honest building was boring to me in that game. What fascinated me was the procedural terrain generation and the ability to join your friend's world and fight alongside them for a while, keeping all the loot with you when you leave. That's what I will aim to achieve.

And nope, I'm not going to ditch the project even if everyone hates it. Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of abandoning games at the prototype stage. I find the game fun, and maybe one or two people will find it fun as well, and that's all good. In the end, if the game doesn't do well, I'll just put up its source code on the asset store. It's a pretty good example of how to use NGUI right now if nothing else.

I'll keep at it.

[pandit]

Very nice graphics of course!
And the ship controls are very good, it's fun to move around. Otherwise, the gameplay is a bit basic, you should add some more mechanics.

[Hijinkz]

Actually, I really liked the game. The theme is fresh, the ships control great and I enjoyed combat with other ships. Here is the one thing I would have liked to see: A clearer tutorial. I admit it, I skipped a lot of the tutorial the first time I played. It was text heavy past the first screen that explained the controls and was really helpful in how the information was laid out. I went back and re-read it to understand better but I felt the "in-game" tone made it a bit wordy.

[ArenMook]

Thanks for the feedback!

@pandit: I certainly will make it more interesting. What you see right now are basically "auto-attacks". I'll add special abilities that you will need to activate by pressing a key. "Take Cover" for example -- take 30% less damage for the next 2 seconds, 5 second cooldown. Something along those lines.

@Hijinkz: I've gone through the tutorials and made them a lot less "wordy", as you put it.

[Tynan]

This was a worthwhile design article on tutorials:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/165359/GDC_2012_10_tutorial_tips_from_Plants_vs_Zombies_creator_George_Fan.php

[zoq]

I found this very enjoyable. I played as a guest and found the game to be quite easy even with the starter noob ship - I won 100% of 1:1 battles and even a few 2:1 by just sailing behind the opponent and staying there.

Repair mechanics were a bit unclear, i.e. where I need to be to get my ship repaired. Close enough to a dock wasn't apparently enough, had to be close enough in a specific direction.

[ArenMook]

Yup, tactics play a big role in combat. Getting behind or ahead of the ship where he can't retaliate grants you a pretty big advantage. Just standing there auto-attacking generally won't guarantee victory. If you're also traveling quick enough, you can fire your cannons on one side of the ship, then turn quickly, firing cannons on the other. It's a little bit faster than waiting for a reload and makes a pretty good opener.

Good point about the docks, and that goes for all capturable objectives, really. I'll make it more obvious.

[ArenMook]

Alright, I can use some more feedback.

I've improved the gameplay, added skills, experience, leveling system, talent system, sounds, explosions, and the graphics are a fair bit better now.

I'll have to decide whether to pursue multiplayer or procedurally generated single-player world next.

http://www.tasharen.com/windward/



More pics for those who just want to look rather than play: http://www.tasharen.com/forum/index.php?topic=373.0

[ArenMook]

No feedback at all? Sad :/

[allen]

saw this posted on uhh RPS or some site, indie games blog maybe. I'll give it a try when it's not so late. I really loved pirates and a procedurally generated one sounds pretty cool.

oh, and don't feel too sad about the lack of feedback. seeing as how you've been here for almost a year and a half and only posted very brief feedback on two games.