Introducing TASK FORCE ADMIRAL Vol.1: American Carrier Battles

[Gusington]

There'll be a physical edition?!

[acctingman]

This game looks absolutely amazing, but my guess is it's going to be out of my league. I sense that it's going to have a very high learning curve and at my age and lack of attention span, I doubt this would a good purchase for me. Stunning game though.

[The_Admiral]

There'll be a physical edition?!

Well, the end screen here as in the last video were specifically & sneakingly designed so as to elicit this sort of response among those who might still have a thing for them big box  ^-^
Personally, considering the amount of art we have already produced, our commitment to a fat manual design around classic MPS early 90s lines and the relative easiness of making cool goodies in this day and age, I'd say not having a physical edition would be quite a waste. Especially as a part of a kickstarter campaign that would have its own merit in terms of communication, which would be a sound move at some point when the gameplay loop is more complete.

my guess is it's going to be out of my league.

But is it really though? I mean, is that the impression you get from that slice of gameplay? I am interested in hearing more from this.
To put the things simply, accessibility game design-wise was made along the lines of a game like Task Force 1942 - it is my reference in terms of complexity considering I learned playing it when I was 9, couldn't speak English, and enjoyed yet the support of a good manual in my own tongue.
In that regard I shape the intuitiveness of our design on that reference, while I do believe it is also somewhat easier to comprehend than a game like Carrier at Wars, all things considered, thanks to the lesser amount of elements that needs to be abstracted thanks to the 3D world, simulation-based paradigm we're going for. I'd say the level of complexity we are on track to deliver remains relatively mundane compared to what a mind has to process nowadays to play Hearts of Iron (let alone Victoria) efficiently. Doesn't require the speed you'd need for an actual RTS either - and everything is pausable, and active during the pause, so breath is not really an issue :P
So if you find anything overwhelming or way too complicated don't hesitate to tell us - not sure we can solve that, but it's always good to know for the future  O0

[Gusington]

Sweetness. I would definitely purchase a physical edition with phat manual  :D

[tanqtonic]

This game looks absolutely amazing, but my guess is it's going to be out of my league. I sense that it's going to have a very high learning curve and at my age and lack of attention span, I doubt this would a good purchase for me. Stunning game though.

peeve of mine -- a high learning that is a curve means one with a high slope.   That is the learn rate is high.

A low slope learning curve means it is hard to pick up.

Example:

          /
         /
        /      high learning curve (more learned                                             ======/                low learning curve (less learned per unit time)
^   /                                      per unit time)                           =======/
|   /                                                                          =====/
amount learned    time ->


(apologies for the ASCII art attempt at a graph)

[Destraex]

Ok. There's a steam update incoming, but I don't feel like making you wait too long for the meat proper (nah, I meant the meat of the update Gus, not yours) so, there you go. A longer showcase that starts to look like a game, for a change :)

Cheers!

Do you intend to have crew on the Aircraft Carrier or other ships moving around the deck.
I was kind of thinking of the supercarrier in DCS putting crew in that controlled the deck and made it kinda like top gun or tora tora tora... i.e. alive.
I remember SES Jutland also had crew manning the guns etc. World of Warships I think had some and defo War Thunder. I know they are not the same games or even genres. But hey... points of difference. Especially if their is not that much player interaction to begin with. Should be easier. Gotta feeel the moral and spirit of the troops if you know what I mean. Maybe they could shout and cheer when moral is good.

[The_Admiral]

Sweetness. I would definitely purchase a physical edition with phat manual  :D

Thank you my kind Sir.
Now that's one customer in the bag I guess, just gotta write that darn manual. And make that darn game ^^

[The_Admiral]

Ok. There's a steam update incoming, but I don't feel like making you wait too long for the meat proper (nah, I meant the meat of the update Gus, not yours) so, there you go. A longer showcase that starts to look like a game, for a change :)

Cheers!

Do you intend to have crew on the Aircraft Carrier or other ships moving around the deck.
I was kind of thinking of the supercarrier in DCS putting crew in that controlled the deck and made it kinda like top gun or tora tora tora... i.e. alive.
I remember SES Jutland also had crew manning the guns etc. World of Warships I think had some and defo War Thunder. I know they are not the same games or even genres. But hey... points of difference. Especially if their is not that much player interaction to begin with. Should be easier. Gotta feeel the moral and spirit of the troops if you know what I mean. Maybe they could shout and cheer when moral is good.

I hear you Des! But I don't quite get why everybody left & right seem to think that adding small guys moving around has to be an easy thing. There's a good reason why people don't even make Wargames in 3D, the same goes for the small people - they take time to model & animate, that's energy that can be mobilized in a larger team that has an in-house animator, but because a hamper in a team like ours with a single dev. If it ever comes, it will come when the game is ready, not before that. I mean, just look at how long it takes ED to come up with a supercarrier and you'll have your answer in regard of absolute workload ^^
Coming up with something akin Battlestations, but with more... Logical paths for the crew (that is stuff that makes sense when they move around the deck) is our goal ultimately, but it's a discussion for another time (as a kickstarter goal for the physical edition for instance, that fits the bill)

[Destraex]

I get it, don't worry. It's hard to do ship crew. A few pixels high and trying to make them as high fidelity as the much higher polygon count aircraft they are beside etc. Most games use sprites to do crew. Remember Age of Saile 2 Privateers Bounty? Believe it or not one of the main reasons I liked that game was looking at the little guys running around on the deck. Same with Ultimate Admiral Age of sail and further back, ancient art of war at sea. Same with the game Naval Action.

I imagine carriers with full crews on the deck and BBs with thousands of little guys manning the AA guns. You just don't see that, you always see lifeless empty decks in most games. Probably because it's hard to do well and not many dev crews can do it. But I really think it's worth it to see that human element. That famous photo of the listing carrier with hundreds of men on deck also comes to mind. We won't see that or DDs picking up survivors to transfer to another carrier as a gameplay element?

I mean because of the way this game works most animations are canned and need little interaction by the player that a first person sim like DCS would need?
You could kinda stylise crew like AOE IV building animations?

See the gold outlines of people. They move around in a kind of time lapse animation while the building is built.


I mean most of peoples time will be spent looking at the carrier right?

[The_Admiral]

I get it, don't worry. It's hard to do ship crew. A few pixels high and trying to make them as high fidelity as the much higher polygon count aircraft they are beside etc. Most games use sprites to do crew. Remember Age of Saile 2 Privateers Bounty? Believe it or not one of the main reasons I liked that game was looking at the little guys running around on the deck. Same with Ultimate Admiral Age of sail and further back, ancient art of war at sea. Same with the game Naval Action.

Haha, reading from that I think I haven't made my point clear about how hard it is - not for matters of pure craftship, but in regard of pouring the amount of resources they call for for the little amount of gameplay they bring (that is, none, as you said it youself).
Making crewmen for a few hundred polygons isn't the hard part. They will obviously be nowhere close to the level of fidelity of the ships & aircraft - but it's fine, even the level of detail of those you see in Carrier Deck would be enough I'd say. I have some of them ready already after some tests - that is, in a static role around artillery pieces, mainly.
The issue is providing them with a skeleton. Then draw paths for them on each ship. Then animate the skeleton. Then create triggers for the skeletons (aka when some are needed to push or launch a plane). Then make sure that avoidance works so as never have them cross the path of aircraft being moved around, even though they would phase through them - but contribute to kill immersion while doing so.

As for the little function they bring to gameplay, this can be achieved easily enough with limited objects (small guys in rafts, like Silent Hunter does it, and like we have shown already with the dinghy for air rescue) so it's independent from the atmospheric kind of "little guys". I know they all look like "little guys" but from a game design perspective they are different objects, which will answer to different laws in the world (some being here for the looks, the others as graphical trigger of a gameplay function)

That's why my 3D artist ain't working further on crewmen as long as there's still an aircraft or a ship to model, and that mustering the skill & funding resources necessary to animating them won't happen before there's a single gameplay-related function or secondary yet hardly time & funding consuming cosmetic left to implement before them. They are high on the list of extra cosmetics, but it is still far off in terms of work pipeline. I am happy for all these other games which got them right, but we ain't Relic, ED or even Game-labs.

[Destraex]

I get it, don't worry. It's hard to do ship crew. A few pixels high and trying to make them as high fidelity as the much higher polygon count aircraft they are beside etc. Most games use sprites to do crew. Remember Age of Saile 2 Privateers Bounty? Believe it or not one of the main reasons I liked that game was looking at the little guys running around on the deck. Same with Ultimate Admiral Age of sail and further back, ancient art of war at sea. Same with the game Naval Action.

Haha, reading from that I think I haven't made my point clear about how hard it is - not for matters of pure craftship, but in regard of pouring the amount of resources they call for for the little amount of gameplay they bring (that is, none, as you said it youself).
Making crewmen for a few hundred polygons isn't the hard part. They will obviously be nowhere close to the level of fidelity of the ships & aircraft - but it's fine, even the level of detail of those you see in Carrier Deck would be enough I'd say. I have some of them ready already after some tests - that is, in a static role around artillery pieces, mainly.
The issue is providing them with a skeleton. Then draw paths for them on each ship. Then animate the skeleton. Then create triggers for the skeletons (aka when some are needed to push or launch a plane). Then make sure that avoidance works so as never have them cross the path of aircraft being moved around, even though they would phase through them - but contribute to kill immersion while doing so.

As for the little function they bring to gameplay, this can be achieved easily enough with limited objects (small guys in rafts, like Silent Hunter does it, and like we have shown already with the dinghy for air rescue) so it's independent from the atmospheric kind of "little guys". I know they all look like "little guys" but from a game design perspective they are different objects, which will answer to different laws in the world (some being here for the looks, the others as graphical trigger of a gameplay function)

That's why my 3D artist ain't working further on crewmen as long as there's still an aircraft or a ship to model, and that mustering the skill & funding resources necessary to animating them won't happen before there's a single gameplay-related function or secondary yet hardly time & funding consuming cosmetic left to implement before them. They are high on the list of extra cosmetics, but it is still far off in terms of work pipeline. I am happy for all these other games which got them right, but we ain't Relic, ED or even Game-labs.

Thanks for the explanation. But I did get you the first time. I am though just that keen to see my little pilots rush out and board their aircraft. Or run for cover etc.
I just waaaaant it. Because even though you do not think it adds to gameplay in a mechanical way. I don't think you can underestimate the value of character and personal touches. I think it's what a lot of companies get wrong. Obviously you have to get the bread and butter ship models out first.
I really hope though that you get to it at some point. What is the pay off for playing this game? Sinking enemy ships? I can do that in Battleship by putting tokens in a hole on a plastic wall. Location C3 please. Remove that featureless plastic carrier. Ok ok. Now I am being facetious. After all,  nobody is going to zoom in and look at the ship models in detail during operations.

You had me though when you said "my 3D artist" and I realised their is only one of them!

P.S. Please read the above with a more postive and excited for the game voice. Not a harsh critic kinda voice. It's not meant to denigrate what is already a really nice looking game. It's just me wanting to see things I have not seen in a game before. ww2 carrier strategy game with a fully functional centre of the game... the carrier and its operations.  I guess I need to go watch tora tora tora or the latest midway again to get that fix :)

[The_Admiral]

No worries Des, no offense taken of course. Great to have you aboard. I just hope we won't let you down, considering your high hopes 

In other news: the trailer from a few weeks ago was remastered with a new voice over & some extra trivia + some sweet additional gameplay at the end. Cheers! :P

[The_Admiral]

Hi there gentlemen  O:-)
Another video for your entertainment. It's long, but we added some cute pictures, it helps in regard of enduring my babbling 

[MOS:96B2P]

No worries Des, no offense taken of course. Great to have you aboard. I just hope we won't let you down, considering your high hopes 

In other news: the trailer from a few weeks ago was remastered with a new voice over & some extra trivia + some sweet additional gameplay at the end. Cheers! :P

A lot of work has been put into this and it shows.  Looking forward to it.

[FarAway Sooner]

Wow, that is very impressive.  I like the voice acting, too.  He seems like a credible "voice from 1942" without being over-the-top.