Sea Traders

[randomnovice]

Hello everyone,

This is a pirate/sea trading game I've been working on.
The game using keyboard controls and is designed to be run on a desktop/laptop.
(I haven't looked into other methods of controlling yet.)

There's still lots to do but here are the features so far:
- A huge, random map to explore
- Different types of islands with unique features
- Dynamic weather and sound that adjusts to the wind strength
- Carry cargo and make money buying and selling goods
- Hire crew members, look after their health and morale
- Autosaves when docking at islands, continue next time

Planned features for the future:
- Complete bounty hunter missions
- Earn naval officer ranks
- Gamble in taverns
- Achievements
- Earn a reputation

Let me know if you enjoy playing the demo so far!

[Hydrogen Maniac]

This is really impressive and fun, good job!

I'm looking forward to where you're going with this, the world could always do with more pirate games. My only issue with the game is how travelling from island to island isn't very engaging while also being something you spend quite a lot of time doing. The players ship moves quite slow even when moving in the same direction as the wind and unless you're in the mood to opportunistically sink some poor ship that you pass by while travelling you're basically just moving in a straight line to you're destination. I think placing the distance from the player to the map marker on the hud might help alleviate the issue somewhat since that would give the player a better sense of approaching their destination.

I also really like the audio and the pirate-y atmosphere it gives the game, although some sea shanties wouldn't go amiss

[randomnovice]

Thanks for the great feedback.

Nice idea for the "distance to target" marker, easy addition to incorporate so will get on that!

I also agree on the ship speed. I'm trying to find the right balance for ship speed, game clock speed, wind strength and distance between islands, as they are all somewhat inter-related (it's unrealistic to make 10 crossings per day, the wind should affect the boat at mid-strengths and it should completely obliterate you if you get caught in a fierce storm!). I think I've found a better balance on the next edition which I'll upload to the original post.

I have also added an autosave feature on the current edition, which happens when you go ashore an island.

I need to play around with the AI as it's still crashing into islands/ships occasionally at the moment and also too darn accurate when it has you in its sights!

If you come across any public domain sea shanties let me know!

Edit: Attached new version to this post as having issues with attaching to original post

[darkfrei]

Cannot start on android.

Error

main.lua:62: Cannot create cursor: That operation is not supported


Traceback

[C]: in function 'newCursor'
main.lua:62: in function 'load'
main.lua:24: in function <main.lua:10>
[C]: in function 'xpcall'
[C]: in function 'xpcall'

[randomnovice]

Hi darkfrei,
Thanks for giving it a look. I've edited my original post to explain that the game makes use of keyboard controls and is currently designed for desktop/laptop. I may look into other control methods later but that is some way down the line.

[Hydrogen Maniac]

I think I've found a better balance on the next edition

Feels way better now, and the autosave works well too!

[nameless tee]

I like what I've seen of the game so far

Nitpicks:
After some very poor purchasing decisions and getting wrecked by pirates I started a new game and encountered this crash:

Code: Select all

$ love Sea\ Traders\ v2.love 
[ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to set real-time priority for thread: Operation not permitted (1)
[ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to set real-time priority for thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Placed 200 out of 200 islands.
Placed 200 out of 200 islands.
Error: main.lua:1284: bad argument #1 to 'printf' (string expected, got nil)
stack traceback:
	[string "boot.lua"]:777: in function <[string "boot.lua"]:773>
	[C]: in function 'printf'
	main.lua:1284: in function 'drawshadowtext'
	main.lua:1624: in function 'drawmap'
	main.lua:1362: in function <main.lua:1361>
	main.lua:1259: in function 'draw'
	main.lua:40: in function <main.lua:10>
	[C]: in function 'xpcall'
	[string "boot.lua"]:793: in function <[string "boot.lua"]:780>
	[C]: in function 'xpcall'

Also having the cannons on "z" and "x" is a bit awkward on a german keyboard because the positions of "y" and "z" are swapped. This happens with a lot of games.

[randomnovice]

Thanks for the bug spot. I've realised what that was! Fixed for next update.

I'll add the ability to reassign keys to the list too, to come down the line.