HMS Marulken to become Subsim Project

[nsomnia]

Originally Posted by Zerim

Just don't rule out the possibility of a later DLC release with Cold War-era boomers with similar gameplay

We've got you covered, check back this weekend (Very very late Saturday GMT or Sunday) mail has been shipped out and should be arriving in port anyday now. :

Edit: Just noticed top 100 of 35,500 on indieDB in my siggy, thanks for the publicity Neal & Co!

[StandingCow]

Awesome news! So... question... should we (if we still want to put money toward this game) donate what we kickstarted to subsim or will there be a future pre-order link put up?

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by daft

Firstly, awesome news! I really approve of the new direction!

Secondly, you're moving to Sweden?! Now, I haven't been the most Active member on Subsim, but I've been here for a looooong time now (before my current forum nick namn I had another which I lost the password to), and Subsim and consequently you Neal, have come to mean quite a bit to me throughout the years. So IF you really are moving to Sweden (Stockholm I assume), I insist that I finally get a chance to meet up and buy you a couple of beers.

Yes sir, thank you, looking forward to it. I also plan to visit the U-Boat in Kiel, for research and honor.

Originally Posted by nsomnia

We've got you covered, check back this weekend (Very very late Saturday GMT or Sunday) mail has been shipped out and should be arriving in port anyday now. :

Edit: Just noticed top 100 of 35,500 on indieDB in my siggy, thanks for the publicity Neal & Co!

Outstanding! Please be assured, as my role of Admin with Subsim, I will always back your effort and support you. There is no such thing as too many quality subsims.

Originally Posted by Zerim

So, I downloaded the game ~2 days ago based on a recommendation from some of my friends from Eve Online, so I'd like to chime in and speak as someone who knows very little about submarines and hasn't played a sub game before.
I'm very happy that it's been funded, because what you have at the moment is special. This game has the potential to be quite popular among mainstream gamers (your own Google Analytics may provide insight). At the moment, the game, as incomplete as it is, isn't just some obvious clone of another game, and it provides extremely memorable gameplay for groups of friends, with serious, tense, scary, funny, and enjoyable moments, somewhat similar to Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes or Spaceteam. I'd like to offer a few pointers, though as you've decided to fund development, it's your money, so feel free to disregard them.

1. Mainstream gamers do not care about the submarine type, and they won't care about what's historically accurate (beyond tangible things like armament, instrument quality, or other special equipment). I'm sure ... I have read every bit, thanks --NS

tl;dr- The core gameplay has tons of potential mostly regardless of historicity. Good luck with its development!

Zerim, thanks for taking the time to share your views. They are gold, you are right about the value of appealing to casual gamers. I have always believed that a good sub game should have scalable options and good tutorials where a newbie can pick up the game quickly and enjoy the hell out if it; it should also be able to represent historical and physical reality, and options for that are mandatory. I want the ship models, capabilities and tactics to represent real life, with concessions to game play only as needed.

Thanks also for the other game suggestions, I will investigate them. If a game does it right, then I like to study it for keys to success.

Originally Posted by StandingCow

Awesome news! So... question... should we (if we still want to put money toward this game) donate what we kickstarted to subsim or will there be a future pre-order link put up?

Yes sir, hold on to your $$, when the game is ready, we will put it on Steam.

[nsomnia]

Any plans on releasing more details? Is Subsim/Sweeds on a 50/50 basis or do they have a bit more say knowing how game development works etc?

I understand keeping business CLASS however.

[HawkCZ]

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!

[TheQuack45]

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!

[Zerim]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

I want the ship models, capabilities and tactics to represent real life, with concessions to game play only as needed.

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 (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

[Aktungbby]

Zerim!

[NightFromTheWest12]

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.

[Aktungbby]

NightFromTheWest12!

[Usurpator]

Originally Posted by NightFromTheWest12

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.

Hi!

The current demo will stay up until release

[Usurpator]

Originally Posted by SFCspoonman

Wait, what? Where is this demo?

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

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

From the devs


From the time I started Subsim, back in 1997, I have always dreamed of being part of the production of a multiplayer sub game. When Skvader Studios notified me back in Aug 2015 that they were working on a co-op sub game, I had a look and asked them to keep me posted on its progress. When they sent me the demo, and I had a chance to try it, I was really impressed. No, it's not Silent Hunter 5 (but it isn't finished either), but it had a real charm to it. There were concepts in the game design that appealed to me very much.

I immediately pledged the maximum amount. A few days later I raised the pledge another $100. The Kickstarter campaign rose slowly, too slowly to suit me. I reached out to the devs and offered a proposal; I would fund the development of the game for up to a year, including living expenses, hardware, software, and licenses, if they would agree to switching the base unit to a Type VII U-boat. And I am pleased to report that we came to an agreement.

The new game (name to be announced at a later date) will retain much of its original scope and flavor. We will try to retain the Swedish sub adventure, I am sure we can fit that in as a Special Mission. There will also be other Special Missions with designated objectives. There are some features to be added, others to be polished, but we will be careful not to overreach and jeopardize the project. . We want the game to do what it is made to do and do it very well, even on early release. And that is, to provide co-op and multi-sub dynamic convoy battles in the North Atlantic, Baltic, and North Sea.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. I will be moving to Sweden soon, I hope I can find some Dr Pepper there. I hope we can make this a community effort, your support and interest will be crucial. You've never let me down in the past, I have no doubt we will succeed and this could be the first step to a true U-boat/Escort/Convoy simulation. Wish us luck!

Good hunting!
Onkel Neal
SUBSIM

Well, the news is certainly out there now buddy

Nice one and all the best

[vdr1981]

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

Give this dev team a shovel, they are going to bury SH5.

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...

Looking forward to it...

[wolfofthedeep]

sir neal, I support you and the Swede team all the way..this is great news but as alternatives to steam...please consider IL2-Sturmovik, DCS, Rise of Flight model for sales and updates, I feel it is more personalised for a genre with tens of thousands lovers worldwide