Really glad to hear that the game got funded and that we'll have it here one day. :)

When I first heard about this game, I thought: "Wow, is this like SH but with multiple people in one sub? Awesome!"

We immediately downloaded the demo to try it. That's when I started to be skeptic about the fun that the game could offer. Sure, the idea of controlling the sub with bunch of friends is great. But how long can it last? The full game offered "a campaign". Thing is, it looked more like a number of separated missions which would probably be always the same, so the replay value would be pretty low. The reason why I like Silent Hunter is based primarily on the campaign it offers. You get a sub, massive scale map and almost 6 years of war to play with. In the newest dev update, it was mentioned that the U-Boat version of HMS Marulken will offer dynamic generated missions. Does that mean something like the campaigns in Silent Hunter? Or just the separated missions I mentioned earlier that would just get more randomized? I think there's a big potential in the Silent Hunter type of campaign and in the big variety of its randomized features (weather, day/night cycle, ships that you may come across, etc.) and it would be great at least as one of the playable game modes. But that could be just me..

I also agree about the opinion on difficulty (=realism). Adding the realism settings would be a good benefit, since the casual gamers would be able to play the game, while experienced sub captains would find it a challenge and would enjoy the authenticity and realism.

Another gameplay feature that could be worth thinking about is including proper damage model and repairs of the sub. Imagine a following situation - destroyer attacks you with depth charges and damages the sub. Water starts flooding the interior. Some of the crewmembers must leave their stations to seal the cracks in the hull, repair some of the modules in the sub (engines and such) and perhaps place water pumps to pump out the water. (Or whatever they did IRL). Everything could be done using minigames. On the other hand, I realize that having this mechanic in such a small sub like the one that is currently in the game would be almost impossible.

Other things that I suggest (other than those that were already announced):
• Adding active sonar
• Using sonar to measure depth below keel
• Improving AI of enemy ships (Sometimes it felt really weird in the demo; eg. going 2,5km past a destroyer without him noticing us, and similar events, it just sometimes felt too easy)

(I realize that most of my suggestions is just Ctrl + C from Silent Hunter, since it is the only series I've played so far, sorry about that.)

I wish you the best of luck with the development and I am looking forward to any kind of news!

Welcome aboard!
 

Bold move, Neal. Best wishes for every success with this venture :up:

Really glad to hear about this, I had concerns regarding the potential of the alternate history idea. I'm not sure if I entirely believe if Onkel Neal is serious about the moving to Sweden part, but if that really is the case I want to hear how it goes initially... But anyway I'm happy to hear that Neal is going to be heavily involved with the process going forward, I have high hopes for this project.

Can't wait until the game goes up on Steam so I can get hold of the next build!

I agree there. A more experienced crew should be able to use tactics like hiding behind the noise of a target's engines, or avoiding flipping switches/diving too fast making lots of audible noise that AI could detect, or charging batteries only at night.
What I meant more specifically was concerning the accuracy of, for example, 3D models. If/when you get to modeling e.g. the actual Enigma (which is a bit more complicated than the current decoder), realistic usage would be fun to a point, but I wouldn't spend an entire week perfectly recreating its internal wires and behavior unless I was sure it would add to game play.
Or, if you add a day/night cycle, a 24-hour cycle rarely works well in video games. But again, your call :D

Welcome aboard!
 

An interesting development. I can't wait to see what surfaces.

:Kaleun_Cheers:

This is excellent news and makes commercial sense.

I had no intention of backing the project because I simply don't have an interest in the history of Sweden. If the Kickstarter still existed I would back it like a shot. Just please make a dynamic campaign without map restrictions.

Ever since I have seen this game I kept saying to myself I wish this was set in the uboat war in the Atlantic. I couldn't believe it when I saw this announcement.

Way to go Neal! I can't believe what I'm seeing! I just about did a back flip when I checked my email today.:huh:

I was actually thinking that when the kickstarter inevitably failed we could pull the subsim community together and approach the devs with an offer to try and publish it through subsim with the help and input of this amazing community.

I didn't suggest it because it seamed an outlandish idea...; and here you are going one step further!:Kaleun_Cheers:

Absolutely amazing and massive respect to you! :sunny: :Kaleun_Salute:



:subsim::subsim::subsim::subsim::subsim::subsim::s ubsim::subsim::subsim:

Well, the news is certainly out there now buddy :03:

Nice one and all the best :sunny:

Truly a great news! :up::up::up: Something like this would really be a fulfillment of the dream...

I sincerely hope that they will be able to bury SH3 and 4 as well because even these games are still far away from my vision of a genuine submarine simulation...

I have no doubt that Subsim modding community (including my self) will offer any help and assistance where ever and when ever is necessary...:yep:

Looking forward to it...:up:

Request For Demo.
 

First of all Congrats for your sponsors. I am glad to see that this game will make it to release. Now there is a request I have. Would you be able to allow the demo to stay up until release? I was planning to play it and make it a part of my YouTube Channel and help spread the word about it. That is all I wanted to know. Thanks and have a good one.

Welcome aboard!
 

Hi!

The current demo will stay up until release :)

Missed by that much...
 

I had just discovered this game about 3 hours after it was taken down... Dammit! I want to play now!

Seriously, now I have to wait, but it is with anticipation! :/\\!!



EDIT: Just found it, thank you!

You can download it here: http://hmsmarulken.se/

Welcome back
 

If you do manage to make it "open world" rather than "discrete mission" based, something fundamental will be the world model. Silent Hunter - all of them - use "plate carrée", which badly distorts both distance and direction anywhere but the Equator.

With modern computing power, it should easily be feasible to use a true spheroidal model, but that'll need to be designed in at an early stage. An obvious approach would be to use an Earth-centred physics model, in double-precision, and for rendering, merely translate all objects from that space to a single-precision graphics space centred on the camera. This of course means that ships in the vicinity of southern Australia really will be upside-down in physics space, but since the camera will be as well, it'll look right in the end.

A side benefit of a true spheroidal model is that draw distance decisions are greatly simplified: you draw all the ships and other objects that are above the local horizon from the camera's perspective. So it's no longer necessary to arbitrarily cut things off at a specific distance.

Extending the game world beyond the Baltic Sea also means that all those finicky details about saltwater density, tides and suchlike suddenly become a lot more relevant.

Weather patterns also vary a lot worldwide - perhaps a complete forecast-quality weather model is too much to ask from a small team, but you should at least model the trade winds, average fog and rainfall incidence, and seasonal storm likelihood, for which first-order data is available on ocean pilotage charts. Also, the smaller types of waves (high-frequency components of the Fourier transform) react a whole lot quicker to changes in wind speed and direction than the big swells (low-frequency) do. This would be a big improvement over the abruptly-changing, context-free, completely random weather in Silent Hunter.

If you plan to model torpedo failures realistically, the magnetic detonators were apparently affected by latitude due to the vertical angle of the geomagnetic field. Ambient sea noises, especially biologics and ice cracking, are also region-dependent, while the incidence of suspended silt and/or vegetable matter in some regions has a strong attenuation effect on sonar transmission, making both submarines and escorts almost completely deaf.

The above factors are the sort of thing which add to game depth rather than complexity as seen by the player; this is generally a good thing. How many of them can be done within the new game's format and budget remains to be seen.

I'll tell you right now now very many very easily. In the game industry you fake it till you make it.

Hot D**n Neal!
 

:up:
I'm 100% happy with this news. I too had always dreamed of a multi-player sub. Neal, you are the MAN!

I backed the Kickstarter and I will be eager to be in the front of the line to get the game on Steam and all of its future versions. No mistake, it will live a long life because Onkel Neal and his gang will see to it.

I intend to send my pledge for the Kickstarter to Subsim as a donation. Neal has his hands full, guys, so we can help in this way.

Yay :yeah: