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[ArenMook]

Hey fellow indie game devs and players!

Seeing as I seem to have a lot of energy to work on a new game I've recently started, I figured I'd make a post about it here to see what kind of feedback I can get. Maybe I'll even finish it for once!

The Concept

I got the idea playing Sid Meier's Pirates. I loved the visual style -- bright, vibrant, cheerful. I enjoyed the exploration and the ship combat... But I also found a lot to be strange (all governors trying to pimp their daughters? dancing mini-games? boring sword fights?), and other parts of the game that didn't quite fit or were not developed to their fullest potential (strategic city combat, demand / supply in cities, only one map to play on, etc). I figured, hey, why not take a part of it, and make a game out of it?

Trading, for example... What game had trading done right? Transport Tycoon comes to mind as one!

And so I present you, THS (working title, short for Tales of the High Seas).

In short, the game will be about building your own trade empire, connecting towns to each other via trade routes and sending ships to ferry goods from one place to another, which will earn you money and allow you to expand your trade network.

Nightly Builds: http://www.nextrevision.com/ths/ (needs the Unity plugin installed)

Dev Blog: http://blog.nextrevision.com/

Some things the alpha will have:

• Fixed pre-generated map with pre-placed towns.
• Ability to establish trade routes and assign ships to those trade routes.
• Ships incur a maintenance cost, but supplying necessary resources will earn money for the player.
• Some limited form of piracy (pirates damage trade routes' income, but upgrading ships to more powerful ones or placing guard towers along the path reduces the piracy).

As you see, it's fairly simple, and a bit on the boring side. But here's what I want to have for the beta:

• Ability to save progress (it's kind of a big one, I know!)
• Towns will grow as the players keep them supplied and their production and demand will increase.
• Fully procedurally generated maps for a unique game experience each play-through.
• Pirates will be more than just statistics! Pirate ships will roam the seas and blockade the trade routes, prompting swift action or loss of profits.
• Multiplayer! Players can play competitively as different companies, or cooperatively, sharing the same resources and managing the same company, allowing them to build one massive trade empire.
• Different climate zones: play in the caribbean, the middle east, the great white north, or anywhere in between.

Some other would-be-cool features:

• Some form of AI to compete against (as an option).
• Versus mode. Ability for players to take control of pirates for the fun of it!
• Land caravans allowing the player to carry goods across land, not just the sea.

Do you have any suggestions or comments? I'm all ears!  

[Chaz]

That looks really pretty. Will there be battles against other rivalling seafarers?

[ArenMook]

Thanks! There won't be any combat in the alpha, but for beta I would want to get something in. As to what kind of combat it will be -- whether it will be similar to Pirates, or just automated (stat-based) -- time will tell. I want to have the trading part of the game working and fleshed out before I begin on any kind of combat, and by then it will hopefully be clear which approach will work best!

[radioact1ve]

You definitely got the look going. Very colorful and beautiful. Initially it's a little hard to figure out what I was doing. Could just be me being very tired and never playing pirates before. I'll give it another shot some other time, hopefully I can be a little more helpful then. 

[ArenMook]

Thanks! Don't worry, you weren't that tired. There isn't much there in terms of actual gameplay just yet. I started this project about two weeks ago and am spending my evenings on it. I'm slowly adding features one by one. I made the post as a commitment of sorts to what I want to accomplish in the coming weeks/months. Currently the game... is not yet there. Just graphics.

[tzachs]

Well, the conept seems cool and the visuals are stunning!

The one thing that's missing to me from your descriptions, is how will the game challenge the player (in single-player).
You mentioned the pirates, but I don't think that's enough, if it will be only one element it will get repetitive soon.
For this reason, I suggest:
1. AI to compete against as a must, not a would-be-cool feature.
2. Thinking up of some more obstacles standing in your way (like weather conditions, consumer revolt, inflation, etc).
3. Giving challenges for the player to complete (like supply trades to a specific city).
4. Is there a way to win the game? If not, there should be, with the option to continue building your empire after you win if you want...
5. Maybe some sort of online highscores.

[ArenMook]

Thanks, those are some good suggestions. The way I plan on making the game challenge the player is by changing supply/demand as the game progresses. Some profitable routes will gradually make less and less profit, others will start making more goods and require more ships to carry them across. Weather conditions are a good idea. I was also thinking of adding a deep sea / shallow sea element -- some smaller ships would suffer a (movement speed?) penalty while moving through deeper waters. Placing guard towers along the trade route will keep it protected from pirates, but their high maintenance cost will likely eat away at the income.

Online high scores are a good idea. Perhaps something that ranks companies on efficiency, number of goods transported per year, highest income per year, etc.

Winning the game... Hmm. You're right saying that there should be a way to 'win' the game, even if it's a soft win, civ style, that allows you to continue playing. Hard to define an "end" for a game like this though. Perhaps time-based? Highest amount of money at the end of X hours of gameplay? Could tie into the high scores.

[ArenMook]

Bumping the post as there is now actual gameplay.

[eobet]

Not to rain on your parade... but have you by any chance ever played Port Royale 1 or 2?

They're pretty close to what you are describing.

Also, they are derived from Patrician (1, 2, 3, with 4 coming out soon) and except for the Piracy theme, they're exactly what you are describing.

Still, this looks good! Indie alternatives are always welcome. I haven't tried it though, because I do not have (or desire) the Unity plug-in.

EDIT: If I'm to be a bit constructive, I'm not sure if your game allows for more than one ship, but Port Royale and Patrician do, and when you get far enough, what happens in those games is that you spend 90% of your time looking at the overview map so you can see how your ships travel from town to town and auto-trade along the routes you've set up... and unfortunately, the developers of those games spend 90% of their efforts on the city views (admittedly where you start out)... so the game gets boring once money starts rolling in... just something to be aware of!

Also, if your game does not allow for more than one ship, I recommend that you look at Elite and Privateer for inspiration. Those game series did pretty much every damn thing right when it came to trading!

EDIT: You mention Transport Tycoon... imo, what makes the economies in TTD (and Settlers 2 is close enough as well) interesting is that the world is constantly changing at quite a rapid pace.

[ArenMook]

Thanks, I appreciate honest comments!

I haven't heard of Port Royale, but looking at it it seems to be set in the caribbean again, just like Sid Meier's Pirates. Port Royale even seems to have sword fights carried over from Pirates? In a trade game? Seems strange to me, but I'd have to play it to judge it properly.

Patrician I've seen before, and it seemed to me like the developers of that game weren't quite sure where they were taking the game. Not enough effort has been put into gameplay elements that actually matter.

There will indeed be many different ships in THS -- I currently have 10 unique ship models, I just didn't put them yet. They will all have different stats, price, and upkeep cost, and they won't be available right away. Some ships will be locked out due to inadequate town size (towns must grow first), others -- due to town type itself. Norse style towns won't be able to offer persian style ships, for example.

I agree that a part of TTD's appeal is the changing economy and the timeline that unlocks new vehicles to use. Some industries improve their production, others go under, and it's up to the player to keep an eye on that and make proper adjustments. I try to aim for the same kind of elements in THS. There must be a sense of growth to the world -- and the player's actions will be the catalyst for it.