The future of Submarine simulations

Cowboy10uk · 04-29-13, 03:45 AM

Guys, all I can say is dont give up. I remember flight sims, going through this about 5 years ago, and while we still don't have loads of sims coming out, the flight sim community is fairly healthy and we now have some stunning sims to choose from, and the future is looking fairly good.

While I agree that it is unlikely we will get any help or intrest from large studios these days, and since Ubisoft own the Silent Hunter name it's a pretty good guess that sadly that sim has sunk without trace.

With the new use of Kickstarter, it is now possible, so long as we have a talented bunch who is willing to make us a good subsim, for it to happen.

I mean, look at the success of Star Citizen, and again that is a genre everyone said was dead, think they are only 50k away from hitting 9 million raised through donations, now that shows the power of the people.

Yes we are a niche genre, BUT simmers have never been known for accepting defeat and where there is a will there is a way. I do strongly believe that there is a place for a accurate 100% submarine simulation. The only question is which time period. I believe there would be intrest in any period, so long as the simulation is accurate enough. A full on living and breathing submarine, all switches, doors, hatches etc fully working. Maybe with Multi player crew positions. All with a historical accurate world, correct paint work, radio transmissions etc etc. A lot of work, but certainly nothing that isn't acheivable. Hell our wonderful modders have done a lot of the work to make the world look and feel realistic already.

I for one, would certainly be happy to back something like this on kickstarter. Where there's a will there is a way. While certainly at the moment, we are sinking fast, there is still a hope we can blow those tanks and limp back to port, before coming back out and blowing everyone away.

Cowboy10uk

Cybermat47 · 04-29-13, 04:33 AM

I think that even if subsims die out, they will come back.

Take the BBC TV show Doctor Who, for example. It ran from 1963-1989. It was canned because not many people were interested in it anymore. Then, in 2005, it was bought back by a man who had loved it as a child, and was in a position to bring it back. Someday, I'm sure that the same thing will happen with subsims.

Don't give up hope. In most cases it's all we have.

raymond6751 · 05-25-13, 03:42 AM

[quote]
Originally Posted by Heinrich Liebe

Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI!

Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope!

And this is why: I Build my own simulator

Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge. [quote]

I can see this is a work of love. Congratulations! Every subsimmers dream is to have a physical control system like that. We just can dream. Few could afford to purchase that much hardware.

You have taken on a huge challenge, my friend. I wish you all the best with it.

Takeda Shingen · 04-29-13, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboy10uk

With the new use of Kickstarter, it is now possible, so long as we have a talented bunch who is willing to make us a good subsim, for it to happen.

And that will be the key for the future. A Kickstarter project is the most likely prospect for a future submarine simulation. For those of us that don't code, like myself, it will be our job to be ready to support those type of projects with money.

EDIT: Some notable examples of Kickstarter success:

Wasteland 2 --

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/

Xenonauts --

http://www.xenonauts.com/

Skullgirls --

http://skullgirls.com/

There's three refined, high quality, and in the case of Skullgirls, tangible products that were crowd funded on Kickstarter. If they can do it, well you know the rest.....

Julhelm · 04-29-13, 12:21 PM

Xenonauts is probably the most reasonable meter of graphic/feature fidelity that can be expected from a kickstarter subsim. Anything approaching SH let alone surpassing it will not be done on a kickstarter budget alone. inXile for instance who ran the very successful Wasteland 2 and Torment kickstarters is still an established studio with other investors. Chris Roberts also has other investors involved outside of kickstarter.

So far we haven't seen any sims on kickstarter and I think in part this is because the sim community is known for having some very high (too high?) expectations on what they want from a sim. Personally I think the current hardcore sim model that focuses on systems fidelity only is flawed and I would not support such a kickstarter.

McBeck · 05-02-13, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

And that will be the key for the future. A Kickstarter project is the most likely prospect for a future submarine simulation. For those of us that don't code, like myself, it will be our job to be ready to support those type of projects with money.

EDIT: Some notable examples of Kickstarter success:

Wasteland 2 --

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/

Xenonauts --

http://www.xenonauts.com/

Skullgirls --

http://skullgirls.com/

There's three refined, high quality, and in the case of Skullgirls, tangible products that were crowd funded on Kickstarter. If they can do it, well you know the rest.....

You miss Star Citizen from those. Its a space sim. They have raised 9.000.000 USD so far!

http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/

Mr Quatro · 05-02-13, 03:17 PM

I would like to see a modern Sub Command with lots of time to play on normal time or quick time if you could slew like on FSX, but the future
is surely not for your normal to higher intelligent players.

The future is lunch or on a commuter train going home to unwind or a doctor's visit or a passenger terminal or runway delay.

The future is mobil and touch screen and ugh consoles

Windows 8 touch screen is begging for a good sub sim game to just touch and the target becomes id'd with CIC being notified of your
intentions to fire upon a known or unknown target.
Scoring system would be like bowling with misses counting against you.

Employees love to surf and shop and even post in forums lol

So why not a quick way to relax?

Heinrich Liebe · 05-02-13, 04:06 PM

Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI!

Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope!

And this is why: I Build my own simulator

Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge.

Here is my first video about the project:

http://www.ubootsimulator.de
Website is in German. Translation follows ...

Sorry for my bad english...

Lars

makman94 · 05-03-13, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heinrich Liebe

Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI!

Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope!

And this is why: I Build my own simulator

Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge.

Here is my first video about the project:

http://www.ubootsimulator.de
Website is in German. Translation follows ...

Sorry for my bad english...

Lars

hello there Heinrich Liebe ,

i am very impressed with your project and i am looking forward see it growing up

good programmers are exactly the guys that are needed for a real simulator at first place so as i saw your post only possitive hopes comes in my mind that we may see a real good sim some day

congratulations Heinrich Liebe , you are doing amazing things there

ps: if you need any help that i can be usefull ,drop me a pm

Subnuts · 05-04-13, 04:28 PM

Let me go off-topic for a moment and describe a weird dream I had last night.

So I load up Silent Hunter 6 for the first time. The big selling-point of this sim is that the player can control any crew member from a first-person perspective. So, the first thing I do is walk down to the engine room (which is the size of a cathedral and has a stone texture in the overhead, but never mind) and click on one of my mechanics. For some reason the screen starts flashing red, my guy starts groaning in pain, and my hit points are rapidly declining. He drops dead right there, so I select the other mechanic, and the exact same thing happens.

Right after the second mechanic dies, my boat loses all of it's diesel fuel in about 10 seconds, and a screen pops up saying that my submarine is stranded at sea and everyone onboard has died. What happened is that part of my mechanic's character models were colliding with the diesel engines, which only affected them when I was in their first-person view. The diesels ground up their hands when I selected them, causing enormous amounts of damage to the engines themselves. When the second mechanic was killed, my diesel hit points dropped to zero, and both exploded, making all the fuel leak out of the boat.

I think my dream was telling me that in the future, game developers need to be cautious during play-testing. Or that somebody besides Ubisoft should make subsims. Something like that.

Nexus7 · 05-18-13, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heinrich Liebe

Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI!

Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope!

And this is why: I Build my own simulator

Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge.

Here is my first video about the project:

http://www.ubootsimulator.de
Website is in German. Translation follows ...

Sorry for my bad english...

Lars

I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E

Sartoris · 05-19-13, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus7

I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E

I agree, very interesting! Perhaps you should consider using Kickstarter? I know I would back such a fascinating project!

flag4 · 05-21-13, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heinrich Liebe

Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI!

Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope!

And this is why: I Build my own simulator

Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge.

Here is my first video about the project:

http://www.ubootsimulator.de
Website is in German. Translation follows ...

Sorry for my bad english...

Lars

incredible. the DREAM begins - keep on dreaming! I understood very little yet was captivated by it!
I whish you every success

thebeasle · 05-24-13, 05:02 PM

This is going to take one or a handful of highly motivated individuals to make a new subsim game.

I don't see how buying the Silent Hunter IP or source code or hiring an existing studio makes any sense. What are you going to do? Say donate to my kickstarter and once I get all this money I will negotiate on your behalf?

I disagree that the sim market is dead. Look at the success of Minecraft, X-Plane, and Kerbal Space Program. Yes, Call of Duty fans outnumber us, but part of being an older group is that we also have more money. X-Plane 10 is $70 plus shipping which I gladly paid. It's a great sim.

It's just going to take a talented programmer with a great vision for a new subsim game to run a successful kickstarter campaign. I'm not a programmer so I'm not going to do it, but I hope someone else does.

04-29-13, 04:33 AM	#2
Cybermat47 Willing Webfooted Beast Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 5,408 Downloads: 300 Uploads: 23	I think that even if subsims die out, they will come back. Take the BBC TV show Doctor Who, for example. It ran from 1963-1989. It was canned because not many people were interested in it anymore. Then, in 2005, it was bought back by a man who had loved it as a child, and was in a position to bring it back. Someday, I'm sure that the same thing will happen with subsims. Don't give up hope. In most cases it's all we have. __________________ Historical TWoS Gameplay Guide: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2572620 Historical FotRSU Gameplay Guide: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho....php?p=2713394

05-25-13, 03:42 AM	#3
raymond6751 Admirable Mike Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 1,338 Downloads: 421 Uploads: 0	wow [quote] Originally Posted by Heinrich Liebe Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI! Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope! And this is why: I Build my own simulator Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge. [quote] I can see this is a work of love. Congratulations! Every subsimmers dream is to have a physical control system like that. We just can dream. Few could afford to purchase that much hardware. You have taken on a huge challenge, my friend. I wish you all the best with it. __________________ Game Designer: Close The Atlantic - World War Three https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/...orld-war-three

05-02-13, 04:06 PM	#8
Heinrich Liebe Swabbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	Ubisoft's SHO? No thanks UBI! Successor of Dangerous Waters? I have no hope! And this is why: I Build my own simulator Title of the Project: Submarine Simulator - The challenge. Here is my first video about the project: http://www.ubootsimulator.de Website is in German. Translation follows ... Sorry for my bad english... Lars Last edited by Heinrich Liebe; 05-03-13 at 05:47 AM.

05-04-13, 04:28 PM	#10
Subnuts The Old Man Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,658 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Let me go off-topic for a moment and describe a weird dream I had last night. So I load up Silent Hunter 6 for the first time. The big selling-point of this sim is that the player can control any crew member from a first-person perspective. So, the first thing I do is walk down to the engine room (which is the size of a cathedral and has a stone texture in the overhead, but never mind) and click on one of my mechanics. For some reason the screen starts flashing red, my guy starts groaning in pain, and my hit points are rapidly declining. He drops dead right there, so I select the other mechanic, and the exact same thing happens. Right after the second mechanic dies, my boat loses all of it's diesel fuel in about 10 seconds, and a screen pops up saying that my submarine is stranded at sea and everyone onboard has died. What happened is that part of my mechanic's character models were colliding with the diesel engines, which only affected them when I was in their first-person view. The diesels ground up their hands when I selected them, causing enormous amounts of damage to the engines themselves. When the second mechanic was killed, my diesel hit points dropped to zero, and both exploded, making all the fuel leak out of the boat. I think my dream was telling me that in the future, game developers need to be cautious during play-testing. Or that somebody besides Ubisoft should make subsims. Something like that. __________________ My Amazon.com reviews

05-24-13, 05:02 PM	#14
thebeasle Watch Join Date: May 2011 Location: USA Posts: 26 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 1	This is going to take one or a handful of highly motivated individuals to make a new subsim game. I don't see how buying the Silent Hunter IP or source code or hiring an existing studio makes any sense. What are you going to do? Say donate to my kickstarter and once I get all this money I will negotiate on your behalf? I disagree that the sim market is dead. Look at the success of Minecraft, X-Plane, and Kerbal Space Program. Yes, Call of Duty fans outnumber us, but part of being an older group is that we also have more money. X-Plane 10 is $70 plus shipping which I gladly paid. It's a great sim. It's just going to take a talented programmer with a great vision for a new subsim game to run a successful kickstarter campaign. I'm not a programmer so I'm not going to do it, but I hope someone else does. __________________ -

04-29-13, 03:45 AM	#1
Cowboy10uk Watch Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 17 Downloads: 13 Uploads: 0	Guys, all I can say is dont give up. I remember flight sims, going through this about 5 years ago, and while we still don't have loads of sims coming out, the flight sim community is fairly healthy and we now have some stunning sims to choose from, and the future is looking fairly good. While I agree that it is unlikely we will get any help or intrest from large studios these days, and since Ubisoft own the Silent Hunter name it's a pretty good guess that sadly that sim has sunk without trace. With the new use of Kickstarter, it is now possible, so long as we have a talented bunch who is willing to make us a good subsim, for it to happen. I mean, look at the success of Star Citizen, and again that is a genre everyone said was dead, think they are only 50k away from hitting 9 million raised through donations, now that shows the power of the people. Yes we are a niche genre, BUT simmers have never been known for accepting defeat and where there is a will there is a way. I do strongly believe that there is a place for a accurate 100% submarine simulation. The only question is which time period. I believe there would be intrest in any period, so long as the simulation is accurate enough. A full on living and breathing submarine, all switches, doors, hatches etc fully working. Maybe with Multi player crew positions. All with a historical accurate world, correct paint work, radio transmissions etc etc. A lot of work, but certainly nothing that isn't acheivable. Hell our wonderful modders have done a lot of the work to make the world look and feel realistic already. I for one, would certainly be happy to back something like this on kickstarter. Where there's a will there is a way. While certainly at the moment, we are sinking fast, there is still a hope we can blow those tanks and limp back to port, before coming back out and blowing everyone away. Cowboy10uk

04-29-13, 12:21 PM	#5
Julhelm Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The Icy North Posts: 693 Downloads: 189 Uploads: 0	Xenonauts is probably the most reasonable meter of graphic/feature fidelity that can be expected from a kickstarter subsim. Anything approaching SH let alone surpassing it will not be done on a kickstarter budget alone. inXile for instance who ran the very successful Wasteland 2 and Torment kickstarters is still an established studio with other investors. Chris Roberts also has other investors involved outside of kickstarter. So far we haven't seen any sims on kickstarter and I think in part this is because the sim community is known for having some very high (too high?) expectations on what they want from a sim. Personally I think the current hardcore sim model that focuses on systems fidelity only is flawed and I would not support such a kickstarter.

05-02-13, 03:17 PM	#7
Mr Quatro Navy Seal Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 6,772 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I would like to see a modern Sub Command with lots of time to play on normal time or quick time if you could slew like on FSX, but the future is surely not for your normal to higher intelligent players. The future is lunch or on a commuter train going home to unwind or a doctor's visit or a passenger terminal or runway delay. The future is mobil and touch screen and ugh consoles Windows 8 touch screen is begging for a good sub sim game to just touch and the target becomes id'd with CIC being notified of your intentions to fire upon a known or unknown target. Scoring system would be like bowling with misses counting against you. Employees love to surf and shop and even post in forums lol So why not a quick way to relax?