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Old 01-04-20, 04:34 AM   #12
Amiral Crapaud
Electrician's Mate
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
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Ah! Well.

let me start with two things
- First, the main pre-alpha video which actually wasn't posted in the topic. It introduces a certain number of technical characteristics for the game and the engine both. I advise anyone to have a look at it first, it might already start to give you a more precise idea of what the game is about what it can do.





- Besides, I will admit that the contents aren't not the easiest to navigate, but our website actually contains a lot of info regarding what Task Force Admiral is - and to a certain extent, what was asked has been answered over there already. If you people have some time on your hands, please make sure to check it & read, among other things, the FAQ section


https://drydockdreams.games/
https://drydockdreams.games/about-th...ked-questions/


Now, about the questions proper
- Release in 2021 ?
Yeah, that's for sure, can't go beyond that! We have a life, some of us have a job, but more importantly, we can't have this development go on forever. The whole point of keeping the focus tight was to make it happen in a plausible time in order to progress to the next stage with a solid product in our hands.

- Only US side or also Japanese or even more nationalities (UK, ....)?
Only US for now - reasons for this are detailed in the FAQ (see below). It is a step by step process of all the contents (units, game modes, etc...). Some of the work needed for the next stage is always brewing in the previous one - naturally, in the case of the IJN, we will have the ships made already, and we will be able to focus on the specifics of recreating its specifics. Same with the RN in the volume after the next one.



Quote:
Q: Why only single-player, and why the US Side only?

TL/DR A: For multiplayer and the Japanese side, unfortunately you might want to wait for Volume 2 if we want Task Force Admiral Volume 1 to happen at all.


A: Developing a game is a heartbreaking process like no other. As you might see somewhere else on this very website, we are a very small team, and outside of our Lead Dev’s personal experience this is our first game. We want to make it right and proper, and we forced ourselves into humility when it came to set our objectives.


This is the heartbreaking part. We had to make choices, and none of them will prove popular, but this is the price to pay to ensure that we will eventually deliver a game, and hopefully a good game at that. As a first step, single player was the obvious way to go, as a first technical step most appealing to the larger part of the audience. Multiplayer will come in a future release (hopefully as early as Volume 2) and we are already laying the key ground work needed for the tech. Indeed, we plan to provide Volume 1 with a full replay function and a save-game system, which besides their obvious added value are also a first step in the direction of an actual multiplayer module.


Besides, we decided to stick to the US Navy first for this attempt after much thought given to the fruits of our research and the quality of our production value. Works such as Kaigun or Shattered Sword have thoroughly demonstrated that Japanese and American naval tradition and carrier procedures differ dramatically, and we couldn’t just ignore this and go generic – it is not in the spirit of our game. We do plan on recording hundreds of voice lines for our game, each and every scenario will be researched in depth, and we made sure that your own forces would follow actual US procedures and doctrine whenever possible. In short, considering our small team and other constraints, we could guarantee a good level of presentation and authenticity for the USN, but we would simply fall short of our aims if we were to promise the same for the Imperial Japanese Navy at this point. This game is designed along the lines of a love letter to American carriers – as romantic as we French are, it certainly would not feel right to write the same love letter to two different individuals at the same time, would it? ^^


We are not the kind who enjoy making fake promises. We hope that, in time, you will understand the purpose of these hard choices we had to make in this starting phase, and that in doing so, the quality of your gaming experience was the one and only matter we had in mind.
- Campaign, scenarii and quick battle?
Please allow me to quote our FAQ once more if it's ok:


Quote:
Q: Why is there no campaign mode planned?

A: We have plans for a campaign system for Volume 2, but right now we wish to focus on the core mechanics of the game, and get the historical scenarios right. Eventually this will be our tribute to the genre and to the men and women who served, which has to come first. Same story again: working on too many different game modes would just guarantee that we don’t get any of them right. We will have to stick to our roadmap for now, but rest assured that we are fully aware of the untouched potential in regard to our tech and the theater itself.
Around 30 scenarios (conservative estimate) will be available at release. They will consist roughly of 1/3 historical, 1/3 variant & 1/3 hypothetical.


- From just 1941 to 1945?
Actually only from Dec 1941 (Wake) to February 1943 (Operation Ke). There again, it's a matter of staying focused. We will expand from there later on.


- Submarines? (this is Subsim)
As targets (and as a threat), yes certainly. Japanese submarines sank 2 CVs and damaged Saratoga twice at that time, we cannot make a CV task force command and not take them into account. US Submarines might be around, but they will be outside your command scope - as they should.

As you can see below, torpedoes will get the same detailed treatment as any other combat ordinance in our game.




Hope these few details will quench your thirst for now
Have a great weekend everyone!
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