Why are there no new "decent" sailing ship video games coming out?

Simple. There is no anticipated market for such games that would justify the development costs.

Video game development is a business. No one in the major video game business is going to think "hey, there hasn't been a xxx game out in a long time, let's do one!".

One would have to do a market study and determine that there is a sufficient probability that a minimum number of people will buy (not pirate) the software in order to not only cover the development and distribution costs but also make a profit.

While there will be a limited number of people interested in such a game, and I include myself in that group, I doubt there is enough interest to justify the costs.

Youre probably right, but how can roller-coaster sims, and train sims get deveoped?

You would have to think that naval warfare has more fans than a rollercoaster.

Just came across this in one of my occasional trawls of the internet for age of sail type games.

My heart leapt when I saw it, but its a board game :(

http://www.aresgames.eu/546

Still looks interesting.

I would kill for a good sailing ship game. Not just Trafalgar type stuff but triremes imagine playing the battles of Lepanto or Salamis!!! :arrgh!:

id love to see more sailing styles, not just full, battle and furled sails. Id like to be able to set EVERY sail on a man'o;war, and if a spar carries away because ive too much sail on during high wind, so be it.

a campaign, exploring, fighting, escorting - mapping, oh, why why oh why is there none like that.

I like the idea of an "Age of Sail" themed naval sim, but the very nature of that sim would include one gripe that would be a bit of a pain.

First Mate: "Sir! The Enemy has the Weather Gauge!"
:damn::damn::damn::damn:

He who has the Weather Gauge has a profound advantage. :)

Dont know how good this is - but looks like Triremes to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTW8...eature=related

If they complete this, it will be all we're hoping for and more...

http://www.piratesahoy.net/categorie...-the-seas.131/

Check out the concept renders and the sailcontrol screens - im drooling at this. SH3 and Shogun Total War are the only things that ever came close.

http://www.moddb.com/games/hearts-of-oak

Check these out!

http://www.moddb.com/games/hearts-of...unset#imagebox

http://www.moddb.com/games/hearts-of...ncept#imagebox

http://www.moddb.com/games/hearts-of...ncept#imagebox

Wow. Finally.

starting to look good. Hope they can finish it soon

I think they have plans for an alpha release in the next year...spread the word - this is too important to let fail!

greetings submariners!

i'm bix, i'm new to the forum, and i also have been craving an accurate sim from the age of sail. i have played a bunch of them, from total war to pirates of the burning sea, and i'm never quite satisfied with how they work.

so i've been making my own. yup i'm a bona fide game programmer. i believe i will have it to alpha version by october, and on the shelf by christmas 2013. i'm looking for folks willing to put a bit of time into the first beta test at the end of may. yup you heard right, the end of this may, 2013.

if nobody minds, i'll start posting some screens to this thread. initially, i am not concentrating too heavily on the visuals. i have a decent water shader, and a collection of ships of various types. they are a bit "toon" like and fairly low-poly because i want to have a ton of them on the screen. i am focusing on game-play first and foremost - accurate (within reason) physics and what i hope you all find to be a highly clever AI opponent. at this point it is primarily a tactical game, i hope to bring in strategic/campaign play once the core combat mechanic is perfected.

the game is written entirely in high performance c++, and will be released simultaneously for windows, mac, ipad, and android. the mobile versions will be the same exact game, just with fewer ships and reduced graphical quality. it will also initially support two player head-to-head over a LAN. once the first version is actually on the shelf, i'll do a kickstarter to try to raise funds to build an internet head-to-head version, and expand the game to include campaign maps, with all the goodies like leader boards, awards, ship refitting/upgrading, etc...

i have been working on this for about 8 months (part-timeish) and i'm looking forward to hearing your feedback. i'm not sure the best approach for contacting me regarding the beta. do i start a new thread? for now perhaps an initial show of hands in this thread will do, and i'll take recommendations from you all how to best proceed - i'm a programmer, not a businessman. perhaps why i was dumb enough to do this in the first place.

best regards,

Bix Klima de Sa