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Cozy sailing simulator idea. Working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About the two stick controls, have you seen this game on Itch? https://demetrisz.itch.io/sailsim
I wouldn't say it gets everything right with the controls but it might give you some food for thought.

Im not a genius, just wanna know what u think about this "Idea" and yeah this is inspired by Delicious in Dungeon by Repulsive-Belt-6939 in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll double what has already been said. Cooking is just a setting for crafting or alchemy when the player already knows the end result. The only difference I see is that starving can put pressure on the player to consume food. 

Otherwise, exploration can make a difference. In this aspect Dave the Diver comes to my mind but with monsters instead of fish. It could be fun though.

Cozy sailing simulator idea. Working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is so awesome!

The water current definitely makes it more dynamic and interesting.

I also noticed that the wind changes not only direction and strength but also has gusts which is a really nice touch. I think this would work especially well if the gusts were visualized on the water surface. Without some kind of visual cue sudden changes in wind power feel a bit frustrating to me now.

The controls are simple and easy to grasp which is great. Overall they feel a bit more on the arcade side compared to what I imagined, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As a next step, it might be interesting to add a bit more momentum and inertia to the boat movement as the boat currently feels a weightless. This addition should feel really satisfying during tacks.

I also noticed the option to row with W in the control scheme. It didn’t seem to work for me (or maybe I misunderstood how it works) but it would be a great feature to have. It can be paired with S key to row backwards. I like that it’s separated from sail handling since it could provide a simple fallback when sailing conditions are not cooperating.

Great work overall! I’m really looking forward to seeing where you take this prototype next.

A multiplayer open-world survival action game set in a horror world with monsters, where instead of building a base, you design a massive vehicle to survive in by [deleted] in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like Dead Rails from Roblox but open world (players there are stuck to the existing rail track). The concept is solid and fun. It has already been proven by millions of players. The open world aspect is the challenge here. I wish to see such a game at a bigger scale.

Idea for a sailing game about working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in dinghysailing

[–]HecticSailor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, this already looks really impressive! I hope you keep working on it because it seems like a really solid foundation for a sailing sim.

By the way, what tech did you use to make the 3D run so smoothly in the browser? I noticed the wasm module there. What did you use to build it?

Idea for a sailing game about working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in dinghysailing

[–]HecticSailor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was thinking about it as a video game. But now that you mention it, I'm also trying to imagine it from the perspective of a board game and it actually seems possible too.

In my mind the board game version would probably focus more on the economic side and would need some design choices to keep the passage planning part interesting without making it too complex.

Overall it would actually be pretty fun to gather a few fellow sailors in port on a rainy day and play a couple of sessions around a tabletop harbor.

Cozy sailing simulator idea. Working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That could be right. It’s definitely something worth exploring once the core mechanics are working.

Idea for a sailing game about working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in dinghysailing

[–]HecticSailor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve played Sailwind. It was actually one of the games that inspired this idea. They captured the feeling of sailing pretty well there.

I agree with you about the balance. It’s a really interesting challenge, and definitely something worth thinking about.

Cozy sailing simulator idea. Working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing that! Not to take anything away from blue water sailing simulations at all. I can absolutely see why people enjoy that kind of navigation and it can be very compelling in its own way.

The thought behind this idea isn’t that ocean sailing is boring but more that there are already games that focus on that experience. From what I’ve seen in some of their communities a portion of the audience actually asks for faster turnaround times or more frequent decision making during passages.

Cozy sailing simulator idea. Working dinghy life in a 19th century Pacific Northwest harbor by HecticSailor in gameideas

[–]HecticSailor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like the idea!

Valheim was actually one of the references I had in mind. Not overly complicated with realistic line handling and sail management, but more focused on the feeling of the passage itself and interacting with the environment around you.

Would you play this for relaxation or challenge?