Sim:WTF
<video id="z6JRQauZvis" height="373" width="640" desc="Demo, August 2016" frame="true"/> With the Fleet will be a massively-multiplayer naval simulation with a first-person perspective set in the period 1890-1925. It is under active development and is currently in a demonstrable prototype form.
I would like to collaborate with talented 3D artists who are familiar with Unity3D.
What is the Status?
I can demonstrate multiple player- and AI-actuated sailors walking the deck of a destroyer, using literal representations of the equipment on board and conversing via VOIP and speech recognition. That alone makes this unique. This networked experience occurs on an architecture designed to permit large scale battles with a thousand players across a hundred ships. It can run on Windows and MacOS, with other platforms being possible.
Anyone who feels they might be able to contribute artwork, coding, or other expertise are welcome to inquire to join a playtest. I have no doubt you'd sign on.
Design Principles
These are my general beliefs. They generally repudiate the design patterns of every other naval game. While most are flexible, but they guide my decision-making.
- each player is a sailor, not a ship
- you have a role – not every player is a peer
- you see from your sailor's eyes, not from a voyeuristic ship-orbiting camera
- there will be little neon of "HUDs"
- you will feel like you belong to a "band of brothers"
- you will learn something
- the pace will be slow – the action will be momentous
- submarines and aircraft are ancillary to the real fun
Bragging Points
There is a lot in place.
- a global game is possible. Ship positions are handled as 64 bit floating point values.
- Super-scalable design: Ships are clients to the World, and Players are clients to their Ship.
- Voice-over-IP is built in, and essential. The player-sailors near you hear you – voicepipes and telephones to come.
- Speech recognition allows you to speak in expressive fashion to AI sailors.
See Also
- Developer's Blog
- Youtube Playlist of Development videos
- Videos of Fleet Action Imminent, the "prequel"
- Slack for people developing Naval sims on Unity3D
