CONCEPT STAGE: If you are one of those who love naval games and sim, this will be right up your alley.

A whaling company "Simulation" game sett in the 17th-18th century. Almost Everything happens on the ship, and as a captain you will deal with all the tasks from that time. The ship will be really detailed with alot for the player to do, and of course there is also the trading and business aspect of the game model.

As the player, you can expect to:

- Make moral decision when some of your crew members are sick. Will you throw them overboard to save the rest, or spend extra resources to care him back to health.

- Delegate crew orders like scrubbing deck, repairs, upgrades, crafting and so on.

- Take part manually in the above.

- Arrange social nights with shantees and ale to boost morale.

- Carve whale art for selling when you make port or just to show of to other players online.

- Trade whale oil and other goods for the best price at port. Earn money for upgrades, new ships, new crew member specialists like doctors. Expand your business.

- Meet other players to trade goods and rumours of whale or other spottings.

- Play dice and other games with the crew members.

.- Engange in an action phased hunt for the whale, with a slow motion ability to make the kill.

- Do some fishing to get more resources or just try to catch all of the different fish for your collections.

- Surive the storms, while you delegate orders to minimize the damage.

- Explore everything the ship has to offer.

Concept Artist: Roland Lucaciu has been hired to do all illustrations and designs for this project. Previously he has done work on Empathy: Path of Whispers which is another very atmospheric game on steam today, this made him perfect for my vision of this game. The art will come sporadicly during these next few weeks.

You can read and follow up here as well.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-whaler-working-title

Obviously not a first person shooter, to fast on the "trigger" finger there. ;)

While i for one might enjoy the game, reading "whaling company sim" immediately brought images of PETA rioting through your offices... all like "what's next, seal-clubbing-sim??!?"
Make sure you reflect at least a little doubt about whaling, maybe have the crew members get a moral-crisis from time to time. Killing whales probably shouldn't sound like too much fun.

But as i said, i probably would enjoy such a game. Even without whaling.

While i for one might enjoy the game, reading "whaling company sim" immediately brought images of PETA rioting through your offices... all like "what's next, seal-clubbing-sim??!?"
Make sure you reflect at least a little doubt about whaling, maybe have the crew members get a moral-crisis from time to time. Killing whales probably shouldn't sound like too much fun.

But as i said, i probably would enjoy such a game. Even without whaling.

Hi ninnghazad,

Whale hunting was also very fun in AC: Black flag and I can`t recall them getting any trouble for it? It is a part of history of that time, maybe in some way it will help shed some light on whats going on today? and I can guarantee you there are worse games coming regarding moral`s, there is an FPS game coming out of Canada that is make some headlines I think. But you do make a great point, so thank you for that.

Regarding the crew members getting a moral-crisis, I think thats a great idea. I`m sure some of them did, currently i`m reading a book about it so I expect to see some there.

Maybe the whale hunting can be an option that you can automate it, in case the player finds it uncomfortable and just wants to take part of the trading and business/sailing model of it. This is why its very crucial for me to have this in the concept stage longer then intended.

Some of the concept art illustration is coming these next few days, and will come sporadicly until we start the concept design. I`m excited to show you and to receive your feedback. :)

Thanks again!

I`ve decided to show you one of the illustrations made by the concept artist Roland, this is a !!WIP!!

The rest of the illustrations are done later this week, before we start on the last 10 to show you. After that, the work starts on the Concept art design itself.

A consultant has been contacted who has extencive experience in one of the leading games today, specially on twitch, its always on top 3. Hopefully this talk will end in a good working relationship to make sure the project always stays on track. ,I`ts very important for me that this game is done properly and good enough for all of us to enjoy!

There is alot of good and great ideas on the board and I`m so excited keep you updated every step of the way.

Sometime after the summer I hope there will be a great prototype for you to test out.

When the game design starts, it will be shown in batches with updated on what comes next, so you have something to look forward to.

Remember to follow and check out http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-whaler-working-title for updates as well.

Throw a follow on twitter to for even more news: https://twitter.com/trym_studios