Introducing TASK FORCE ADMIRAL Vol.1: American Carrier Battles

[Redwolf]

Looking good.

[JasonPratt]

AURORAS CONFIRMED IN GAME!!   

Or considering the latitude, maybe that can be a time portal to the early 1980s. 

More seriously, I do like the Christmas decorations on the carrier for the postcard. Hopefully modders will get on that pronto next winter! 

The other gameplay shots are drooly as usual, and I'm always glad to hear of progress toward release -- or even in just design progress generally. No point releasing half-baked! As Davy Crockett used to say, "First make it awesome, then go ahead." (paraphrased)

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

So much want!

[The_Admiral]

Hi everyone

Getting close. Kickstarter planned for early next week along with the Demo (if it ends up going through that darn Steam validation process one day). Until then, a few screenshots from the testers & the CCs playing around the build!

Cheers

[Destraex]

Not a fan of the "human" story element artwork. I have never liked blurred crayon stylisations like this in general. It's just a strain for the eye to look at it's for half a second. They look like poorly exposed photographs from old school cameras that used wind up film. I'd prefer in game screenshots to these "impressionist" portraits.

The screenshots further down of the actual game look good though. The deck fire looks a little impressionist, but effects screenshots always have a good chance of looking horrible because they are in still form.

[Jarhead0331]

I love everything about how this title is looking. The maps, the charts, the briefings, the plotting systems, the art, etc. The demo can't get into our hands soon enough. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Needs more pin-up girls!

[The_Admiral]

Not a fan of the "human" story element artwork. I have never liked blurred crayon stylisations like this in general. It's just a strain for the eye to look at it's for half a second. They look like poorly exposed photographs from old school cameras that used wind up film. I'd prefer in game screenshots to these "impressionist" portraits.

The screenshots further down of the actual game look good though. The deck fire looks a little impressionist, but effects screenshots always have a good chance of looking horrible because they are in still form.

Well there's still room for improvement on the FX, but it's like everything - gotta go with something at some point if you wanna release some day. On the technical side though, these FX are first & foremost designed so as to give a good feel in every single angle - that's in opposition to the usual practice of using basic billboard explosions that might actually be flat once you rotate the camera, or might rotate along with these. We're pretty proud of the water columns for instance - these are, with no modesty involved, pretty cool to look at and convincing. The rest will improve as we go along.

As for the static 2D scenes, I needed backgrounds for victory conditions. We actually have 9 situations possible (any combination of a Strategic & a Tactical victory/draw/defeat), and wanted to stick with the Microprose tradition of these painted backgrounds in the Pacific Series (Task Force 1942 & 1942:The Pacific Air War). They are easy to customize though, so if you wanna add any sort of other background you can simply replace the files with anything you like, no worries. 

Needs more pin-up girls!

I am sorry SDR, the job position was already filled by Taffy. You might have to ask Gusington's authorization for the next round, he's the one calling the shots, obviously. As you know, he's been very busy lately touring the country in search for new talent and he's very demanding.

Still, Taffy sends her love.

[Toonces]

I'm with Jarhead.  This is looking fantastic, and that demo can't get out soon enough!  This is likely to be the dream game for me.

[steve58]

Strategy & Wargaming Demo Preview article

https://strategyandwargaming.com/2025/02/09/task-force-admiral-demo-exclusive-early-preview/

[Sir Slash]

Nice article. Thanks Steve. 

[The_Admiral]

Hi Guys!

It's live.
The Demo below:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1281220/Task_Force_Admiral__Vol1_American_Carrier_Battles/

And the Kickstarter below:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/microprose/task-force-admiral-limited-first-team-physical-edition/

Sorry, been totally overwhelmed by work over the last two hours, so it's coming a bit late, but there's still plenty of everything as far as backers are concerned ;)

Take care & thanks to all those who have stayed around for the journey!

Cheers :)

[Tripoli]

Looks like you already blew past your Kickstarter goal, Admiral!  Congratulations!

[The_Admiral]

Thank you Tripoli for still being around ^^

Sent you a mail earlier today, not sure you're still using the same address... So if you did not get it do tell me ;)

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Installed it this morning.  I'm still getting familiar with the interface but I'm loving what I'm seeing so far.  Great job, admiral and team!