Hey folks! Tune in at 10pm UK (GMT) time for a playthrough of MORSE using a variety of different types of telegraph, including my latest addition, the Semi-Auto key! I'll be chatting about amateur radio, my plans for the game and my recent trip to the biggest amateur radio exhibi
Hey folks!
Tune in at 10pm UK (GMT) time for a playthrough of MORSE using a variety of different types of telegraph, including my latest addition, the Semi-Auto key! I'll be chatting about amateur radio, my plans for the game and my recent trip to the biggest amateur radio exhibition in Europe.
Hey folks, Thought I'd lead with an exciting announcement - MORSE has been selected to feature in the Tiny Teams showcase this week! It's very nice to be considered by the Yogscast Team and in celebration, I'll be hosting a stream of MORSE on the launch day of the showcase, Thurs
Hey folks,
Thought I'd lead with an exciting announcement - MORSE has been selected to feature in the Tiny Teams showcase this week! It's very nice to be considered by the Yogscast Team and in celebration, I'll be hosting a stream of MORSE on the launch day of the showcase, Thursday at 10pm UK time with my various telegraphs, showcasing the different modes and answering questions about the hobby and the project.
The game itself will be 20% off from the 6-13th of August. It'd be great for you to join me for a rag chew Thursday.
Tune in this week to see a variety of projects made by miniscule teams!
Now onto Friedrichshafen, or specifically HAM RADIO 2026! It's roughly a month since I attended the event, as mentioned in my last post with the string of events that followed it's taken till now to catch up (for anyone awaiting a follow up from the event via email thank you for your patience).
The beautiful Lake Constance at sunset.
Friedrichshafen is a beautiful German city overlooking Lake Constance and home to a number of Zeppelin hangars. Whilst some are still in operation, most of them have been turned into conference halls, several of which hosted HAM RADIO 2026, packed with over 10,000 attendees and representatives from across the world. It was honestly such an incredible event, it's the biggest Amateur Radio event I've attended and was a privilege to be invited by Matthias, the educational lead for DARC.
Outside the venue was swelteringly hot, hit 40 degrees that week!
DARC is the national amateur radio organising body for Germany. Within their area MORSE was set up within the 50 Ohm zone, dedicated to lots of exciting and interesting ways of engaging new audiences with amateur radio and named after the German tool for learning the hobby.
MORSE was busy for the majority of the event, lots of folks were hyped for the project.
I was a bit nervous going into the event given the scale of the conference, not speaking German and given the historical context of the game (set in the First World War), but the German team were incredibly welcoming and excited to have MORSE in their area. They went out of their way to make sure we had everything needed and we were taken care of. The MORSE booth was busy the entire event, we had a good range of newcomers all the way through to die-hard telegraphists.
Here are some of my highlights from attending HAM RADIO 2026.
To give thanks, I gifted the DARC team a Teaspoon Telegraph, which they were very happy with.
Completing my telegraph collection
A (somewhat grainy) demonstration of my semi-auto telegraph in action with MORSE.
One of the things I was particularly excited to get my hands on was a Semi-Automatic key! I was determined to get one by the time I left the event and the destination to do that was the flea market, a vast Zeppelin hall filled with equipment and scrap being feverishly sold. I managed to source a Hi-Mound BKK 100, admittedly the one I was sold was in pretty rough shape (which I managed to haggle down the seller on), but the core mechanism works and I've since used it to operate MORSE.
For a very brief summary of how the Semi-Auto key works, it was a predecessor to Iambic Key which has manual entry for dashes but an "Automatic" means of sending dots by twanging a piece of metal with a pendulum on the end of it. This vibrates and makes contact to complete the circuit and send dots at absurdly fast speeds, even the lowest setting was a challenge to grasp. You can watch this video which explains how the Semi-Auto key works and demonstrates the same model of Hi-Mound.
I have wanted to integrate this key type into the game, but didn't want to do so without understanding how it felt to use. What was particularly interesting to discover is because it's just using a mono-jack, the Semi Auto works with the Straight key configuration in-game. Given that revelation, it seems to make sense that the focus for integrating the key in game will be a simulated mode for people who don't have access to one of these exceedingly rare keys.
The HAM RADIO flea market was vast with so much cool stuff to buy.
An unexpected but appreciated encounter!
An unlikely coincidence was meeting Adam Zimmel (W0ZML), from South Dakota. He's a representative from the ARDC (Amateur Radio Digital Communications), a charitable foundation dedicated to enriching ham radio through grants. He's also the president of his local radio club. For the sharp eyed among you, you'll recognise that Adam hails from the same state as Magnus, the teenager who designed a homebrew installation of MORSE for his local museum.
By strange coincidence they're from the same town and Adam works with said museum, so has seen the MORSE unit in person! It was so wonderful listening to him talk about what an impact MORSE has had locally and their ongoing efforts to bring MORSE and Amateur Radio to local schools and museums. Here's how the project recently made an impact at a local event (pictured below):
"We did [MORSE] at this thing called Discover Aviation Day where kids k-12 age kids come to learn about aviation. It was a big hit and the game was under almost constant play. It even got a younger boy and his dad interested (they should be at the next club meeting tomorrow to learn more)"
I sent Adam back with an original print of the Teaspoon Telegraph to give to Magnus as thanks for his ongoing efforts.
Adam's local club SEARC showing MORSE with other amateur radio activities back in South Dakota.
Meeting clubs from around the world!
Marco the rep from Monaco Radio Club TM06RMC was particularly enthusiastic about MORSE!
After my positive experiences working with the RSGB and DARC (and especially hearing the good MORSE did locally in South Dakota), I had a keen interest in meeting ham radio clubs and organisations from across Europe. Thankfully a lot of those reps also had a keen interest in MORSE! I had chance to talk to representatives from Italy, Monaco, Japan, Sweden and many more and it was honestly so lovely getting to learn about national and regional variances of the hobby.
To give an example, each of the exhibition booths tended to have some kind of interesting activity to bring attendees to their booth and the Italian representatives from A.R.I Portogruaro did not disappoint; They had a key to give the MORSE booth a run for it's money: A giant wooden telegraph key that you had to operate with your foot!
Me flabbergasted by the the giant Italian straight key
Bo's advanced homebrew adapter
I was so chuffed to get to try Bo's adapter and his recently purchased tiny homebrew sideswiper.
It's always a treat when I meet enthusiasts that have built their own homebrew setups for operating MORSE, and Bo's contribution was no exception! He'd taken my modded mouse Morse adapter one step further and got a reliable Iambic key adapter working, including integrating a slick mini socket connector. His solution was particularly fun to use with the sideswiper he'd just bought from the flea market, a tiny telegraph unit made from Friedrich (DK6QI), fashioned from a Siemens Relay. You can see Bo's (and Friedrich's!) handiwork below.
An up close view of Friedrich's tiny sideswiper key and Bo's mouse USB adaptor.
Telegraphist Contesters trying MORSE!
Both Megan and John gave very helpful, granular feedback for refining Iambic controls further.
With such a large gathering and the World Radiosport Team Championship just a couple of weeks away, there was naturally going to be a presence of some of the fastest telegraphists in the world at HAM RADIO! It had always been a goal of mine to get seasoned telegraphists to try the game, so it was a treat to see Megan (EI5LA) and John (G4IRN), both avid contesters give MORSE a go. In both cases, they unsurprisingly wanted the ability to operate faster and were very generous with their insight on how to improve the responsiveness and precision of Iambic. I'll hopefully get to catch them again at UK Hamfest to see if it's up to speed then!
Megan giving MORSE a whirl with my Iambic Key.
Maybel and Alexander
Maybel had a lot of fun practicing in the calibration mode improving her Words Per Minute.
One of the sweetest highlights from the event that came in the closing moments of the last day were a family who expressed interest in MORSE, Belgium amateur radio operator Alexander (ON8JA) and his daughter Maybel. She played for almost an hour on the various modes, even when her hands got sore. Afterwards, her and Alexander went around the flea market to get her an Iambic Telegraph, a USB key adapter and returned to buy a copy of the game! We tested that the whole setup worked on her dad's computer and sent her off with a big smile on her face. Very sweet to help Maybel follow in her fathers footsteps into Amateur Radio.
Alexander with the full setup for his daughter to use, double checked for functionality!
All in all it was an incredible time, there's still so much that I didn't have chance to cover (as this article is already huge) but hopefully gives a taster of what a joyful weekend it was. A massive thanks again to the DARC team for pulling everything together and for encouraging us to come along. Many thanks to my partner, who helped with running the booth, marketing and documenting the event, as well as keeping me fed and watered (and cool in the sweltering heat). I'm certainly keen for us to return to next year's event, but in the meantime...
MORSE @ National Hamfest 2026
Finally, I wanted to announce that MORSE will be attending UK National Hamfest again this September! Very excited to be invited again by the Radio Society of Great Britain, looking forward to showcasing the released game with its training modes that went down so well in Europe. You can read about my experience last year here.
That's all for now, thanks for reading through all this and look forward to chatting to some of you on Thursday.
Hey folks! I got back last night from Electromagnetic Field Camp, which marks the end of an incredible 2 months of research, travelling and exhibiting. It was a genuine privilege to work with the DARC team to bring MORSE to Friedrichshafen. I've toured MORSE around Germany, Scotl
Hey folks!
I got back last night from Electromagnetic Field Camp, which marks the end of an incredible 2 months of research, travelling and exhibiting.
It was a genuine privilege to work with the DARC team to bring MORSE to Friedrichshafen.
I've toured MORSE around Germany, Scotland and England and met amateur radio enthusiasts from all around the world. HAM RADIO 2026 was fantastic and I'll be doing a write up soon discussing my highlights from Europe's largest amateur radio event. Massive thanks to Matthias and the DARC team for having the game along and making us feel so welcome.
MORSE was swamped for the majority of the event and well received!
I also successfully built 4 installations, tested them with people living locally with dementia and gave them the opportunity to design games controllers that reflected their interests. A massive thanks to the research team and local partners and of course those who attended the sessions for their contributions and time.
Some of the functional games controllers crafted by people living locally with dementia.
I also showed MORSE at Glasgow Indie Festival and EMF within a week, which were two incredible festivals filled with passionate, creative people. I got to deliver a talk at EMF advocating for designing games for pensioners to an audience of around 300, the talk was recorded so will share when it becomes available for those of you who are interested.
I got to demonstrate my LED watering can controller on stage!
I've had such a wonderful time but it's been a pretty exhausting period (particularly with the heat!), so I'm going to take the rest of the month off to recover and reflect on what I've achieved. Rest assured that I will be back on with MORSE soon with an exciting announcement for the project!
Hey folks! Just a reminder that I'll be attending HAM RADIO at Messe Friedrichshafen with MORSE this week! I've braved blistering heat over the last 3 days of travel to attend the event, arrived in one piece and so stoked for the days to come. 2 taxis, 2 planes, 4 trains, 2 hotel
Hey folks!
Just a reminder that I'll be attending HAM RADIO at Messe Friedrichshafen with MORSE this week! I've braved blistering heat over the last 3 days of travel to attend the event, arrived in one piece and so stoked for the days to come.
2 taxis, 2 planes, 4 trains, 2 hotels and a bus later, we arrived earlier today!
I'll be showing MORSE in the 50 Ohm area of the exhibition, which is hosted by DARC, or Deutschen Amateur-Radio-Club. They're the national organisation for Germany doing amateur radio outreach and advocacy for the hobby, they're a passionate bunch and were incredibly helpful with some last minute hitches with the booth! 50 Ohm itself is a learning platform for learning Amateur Radio, so if you're local and considering getting your license, that's a good place to look!
The red area marks the 50 Ohm section and the crosshair marks roughly where MORSE is!
If you happen to be in attendance, please come say hello! I'll be showing the game with my LED setup and a version of the game tailored for DARC. As a nice coincidence, the Steam Summer Sale overlaps with the event so the game will be 20% off for the event and through till 9th of July.
It's such a dream to get to show the game at this event, for such a long time I didn't think I'd get to finish the game so getting to show the project with national organisations is a real privilege.
I've improved the outreach page layout to include a QR code for easier connection.
Only other update I wanted to give is I successfully delivered my workshops for people living with dementia as part of my local research project, was a joy getting lots of older folks who'd never interacted with games before building controllers out of craft materials and trying out some unusual installations. Had some wonderful interactions and stories and I'll be delivering a talk about my experience at EMF Camp in the next couple of weeks which I believe will be recorded if that's of interest for any of you.
That's all for now! Enjoy your weekend and ... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .. .-. .-..
Hey folks, thank you for your patience the last month in awaiting an update! Got some wonderful things to share this month: MORSE is headed to Friedrichshafen! MORSE is going to be exhibited at the International Amateur Radio Exhibition next month in Friedrichshafen, Germany! It'
Hey folks, thank you for your patience the last month in awaiting an update! Got some wonderful things to share this month:
MORSE is headed to Friedrichshafen!
MORSE is going to be exhibited at the International Amateur Radio Exhibition next month in Friedrichshafen, Germany! It's such a privilege to be collaborating with the Deutschen Amateur-Radio-Club (DARC) for this event, it'll be the biggest amateur radio event the game has reached so far and thrilled to be on the German booth.
Germany has a thriving amateur radio scene, in particular a strong youth outreach programme so I'm looking forward to spending time with Matthias and the team to learn more about their efforts. The event itself last year had over 11,000 attendees, which is the biggest Amateur Radio festival in Europe.
MORSE will be exhibited in Glasgow on July 11th as part of the weekend Indie festival happening in the city, I've also spotted that there's the local Friday ham meetup, so going to reach out to the organisers to see if there's an opportunity for a chance to show the project!
EMF Camp
MORSE will be in the arcade area at Electromagnetic Field Camp in July, I've wanted to attend the event for years now so very hyped to show the project off, particularly given the large contingent of amateur radio enthusiasts that frequent the event. If you're making it along, come and say hello! I'll be stopping by the booth throughout the weekend to wire up different telegraphs for players to try out. I'll also be exhibiting my other installation Glow Golf and doing a talk about my new research project designing play for people living with dementia.
Dementia Research
As some of you may have observed from MORSE's credits, I've been using the success of the game to help support my recent move into dementia research, specifically, designing interactive play (and lots of unusual controllers) for people living with the condition. My interest in this area stems from several places:
- Whilst gaming is commonly perceived as a hobby for the young, gamers are already starting to develop dementia and are even dying of old age. In the next 20 years, a lot more people who dedicated their lives to games will lose the ability to engage with their favourite past-time when they will likely need it most.
- Games have an ability to create a sense of purpose, agency, stimulation and communal connection, all important traits for those living in care homes or in isolated communities. They can even provide respite to chronic pain, common amongst elderly populations.
- Sensory equipment for care homes is cost prohibitive, uses complex tech and is often non-interactive, on that last point that makes it hard to tell if people living with dementia are actually enjoying/engaged with the experience!
Photo from delivering a craft based custom controller workshop at the V&A last year.
- For families/friends visiting people living with dementia, that experience can be quite difficult for both parties if entirely focused around conversation, so providing non-verbal means of play/interaction can give opportunity for bonding and fun.
- There's also a lot of people in older age who've never considered playing games who I'm particularly interested to engage, be that giving them their first experience of games or co-designing alternative controllers that are more approachable.
I've designed 3 installations and a craft workshop format that next month I'm going to be going around local care centres in the area in collaboration with seasoned dementia researchers at Sheffield University. We'll be testing the installations with people living with dementia and then getting participants to design their own games controllers made out of craft materials! I am eager to see how the session is going to be received.
The combination of this dementia research and Friedrichshafen falling on the same month has meant stepping away from development for May and June. I don't however want this to be taken as a signal that the project is abandoned, just that I need time to focus on these important milestones!
With that in mind, Here's what I want to achieve for MORSE over the next 6 months:
- Settings Page Upgrade: Whilst the current settings menu is perfectly functional, I want to add more granular controls/calibration for operators. This would include settings such as being able to isolate/disable the sidetone of the player, dedicated save settings for the different telegraphs and as requested in the feedback/suggestions section, a low contrast mode.
- Re-work of Listening Mode: I want to improve the current setup as it's more mimicking input rather than listening and interpreting the sound. In the planned overhauled version, you'll have letters listed with numbers as coordinates such as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 - Numbered coordinates to move to
I G N O R E - Different letters being sounded
So if the player hears the sound "dit dah dit", they'd enter ..... or 5 to target R.
This gives the player an opportunity to practice numbers and a clear distinction between movement and listening. Let me know if you can think of any other improvements or suggestions on this!
A Vibroplex Semi-Automatic Telegraph and the MORSE stylised design.
- Semi-Auto Telegraph Integration: This is the remaining historical telegraph I would like to integrate into MORSE, it's a peculiar input as dot entry is automatic whilst dash entry is manual, hence the semi-auto labelling. It's relatively similar to Iambic in structure, but I specifically want to have a go with one (or preferably buy!) to get a proper feel for how it operates (Hopefully whilst at Friedrichshafen).
- Build Localisation Infrastructure: I have ambitions long term to get MORSE translated to multiple languages, but first the game needs a structural overhaul in how the game handles text. In a perfect world, the translated text is loaded into a file which populates throughout the game, so I'll need to convert all in-game text to be stored in a list to be easily changed. A lengthy task upfront but one that hopefully makes translation easier.
- A Wider Defensive Arsenal: This is likely the biggest deviation of the original games' mechanics, but one that I'm particularly looking forward to integrating. I want to implement allied ships that help with holding the back line, shooting at approaching enemy ships. I don't want these units to be dominant enough as to detract from player skill/learning, so they won't fire on hidden enemy ships till you've revealed them for targeting. I am open to suggestions from players on what they'd like to see from this new mechanic.
MORSE displayed at Lake County Museum,South Dakota.
- Get MORSE in a second museum: I was so chuffed for the MORSE installation in South Dakota, getting the game exhibited in another museum (long or short term installation) would be wonderful. I have got a couple of sites in mind to approach, but if you're interested, please do get in touch!
- Run a telegraph making workshop: I have another hamfest in the calendar later this year (TBA) that I'm hoping to run a educational session where we'll be building telegraphs out of craft materials such as clothes pegs. I'd then like to formalise this into a classroom activity that can be sent to schools or clubs for outreach.
That's all for now, thank you again for your patience with the project!
Hey folks, The updated demo for MORSE is now available! For Morse Code week, I've overhauled the demo for MORSE! This adds a year of polish, refinement and features to MORSE, a fresh face to the Steam Summer Next Fest build. On reflection, it's wonderful seeing how far the game h
Hey folks,
The updated demo for MORSE is now available!
For Morse Code week, I've overhauled the demo for MORSE! This adds a year of polish, refinement and features to MORSE, a fresh face to the Steam Summer Next Fest build. On reflection, it's wonderful seeing how far the game has come in the 11 months since, lets run through some of the additions to the demo:
+ Letters on the Y axis: Easily the most common feedback of the demo page was the slowness of entering numbers to move up and down the Y axis. I agree with player sentiment here so I've switched the demo over to having letters to navigate the Y axis as the default. You can fully read up more about the rationale for this in this article here. MORSE - MORSE Update #1: Modifiers, refined tutorial and vertical letters! - Steam News
+ More in depth manual: The final in game manual is much more expansive, covering topics such as activities in the hobby, national organisations, common phrases and useful websites. Perfect for someone curious about Amateur Radio.
+ Improved tutorials: The tutorials now have animations paired with each section of tutorial text and the printout is placed in a less intrusive location of the user interface.
+ Added Calibration Mode: Speaking of tutorials, the recently added calibration tutorial shows players how to tune their telegraph. They can also practice entering PARIS in Morse Code to get their WPM (words per minute). You can read more about this here: MORSE - Morse Mastery: 3 new training modes in spring update! - Steam News
+ Extravagant explosions: Courtesy of the skilful hand of Sinclair Strange, MORSE now has some tasty explosion animations to give your artillery extra punch.
+ Plenty of bug fixing and polish! Since the June demo release, MORSE has gone through a lot of playtesting and refinement, so a lot of the previous bugs present in the demo (for example buggy mine placement logic) have been fixed. You can have a look at previous news posts on here as well as my dev log which documented the process of building the game: MORSE - Minimalist strategy game that teaches you the lost skill of telegraphy.
I hope players find this a positive addition and in particular that it aids the efforts of Amateur Radio clubs to bring more people into the fold.
Speaking of, I wanted to give some suggestions on how best to use MORSE for outreach in Ham festivals and rallies:
The Basics
For showing MORSE at an event, you'll need a computer, a monitor and a desk and two chairs. MORSE can be demonstrated either with the full game or with the demo, I've specifically designed a "Modifier" to compliment an exhibition setting, such as timed resets, an attract mode and directly promoting amateur radio clubs. If you navigate to Start then look in the bottom left, there's a button labelled "Modifiers", if you scroll through the various modifiers to "Outreach Mode", that should help that process. Look at the animated gif above for a visual guide on how to find the outreach modifier.
Wire up a telegraph!
The number one piece of advice I'd give for installations is to avoid regular games interfaces, such as keyboards or mice to control MORSE with. Using a telegraph key to operate the game with is more novel for those familiar with video games and less intimidating for those unfamiliar with video games. When I showed MORSE at National Hamfest, there were many people that came up to inspect my telegraph collection before even looking at the game! It may be a challenging prospect to wire up a key if you're not familiar with electronics, but venture onto this thread for MORSE and you'll see there's a variety of low cost, simple methods of wiring a key up to a computer. HOW TO GET SET UP WITH A TELEGRAPH! Suggestions, support and showcase. :: MORSE General Discussions
Print out a help sheet
Whilst MORSE does have an expansive tutorial, often at events folks just want to get stuck in, so having a quick explanation to get people started is really useful. Further, having a summary of what to do and someone to hand if they get stuck can help players get over that initial hurdle. Supplementary help sheets showing the Morse alphabet, local clubs and how to get licensed. On the Steam discussions, we have helpsheets in English, French and Korean so far. Steam Community :: :: How to Play MORSE - English
Set up a radio station
Whilst I haven't done this directly myself (yet), I had Iona run a radio station on the MORSE booth a couple of months back for attendees to try out. What's nice with this method is if you've already been made familiar an actual telegraph to play the game with, you can move them over seamlessly using the same interface. Remember of course that if you're planning to let someone transmit, you need someone on the booth with an Amateur Radio License to monitor participants. You could even use the game on a Parks on the Air site (or a similar OTA activity) to add some additional novelty to hunting.
Encourage people to play together
If someone is intimidated by operating a telegraph and artillery, splitting the controls between two people can help lower the difficulty level. For example, if you have someone who is inexperienced with telegraphy or who has accessibility requirements can use the launch button to fire on ships and to verbally call out coordinates whilst the other player focused primarily on Morse Code input.
Work with local schools and museums
Educational organisations I've found are keen to collaborate, particularly using games as a tool to engage younger audiences with hands on enrichment. A perfect example of this is Magnus, who collaborated with his local museum to design and install a custom exhibition of MORSE in their communications section. He also opted for a very durable wooden box to house the installation and the computer, ideal for museum settings. The game went down very well with visiting school groups and Magnus has since been working with his local radio club to make portable units to show around schools. You can read more about his efforts here: MORSE - What have people been building with MORSE? - Steam News
If you have any other questions about using the game for educational outreach, don't hesitate to get in touch. Further, if you spot any hitches or issues with the new demo, reach out here: Feedback/Suggestions/Bugs/Support! :: MORSE General Discussions
That's all for now, if you do use the game to engage local people or have any further questions about Morse Code/Amateur Radio outreach, don't hesitate to get in touch.
Hey Folks, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE UPDATE (23016634), go straight to 23018551. Thanks for your patience.] As promised, here's the updated build! I've added a couple of small but meaningful changes to MORSE: + Iambic Fixed: There was a subtle but fiddly timing issue with the Iambic ke
Hey Folks,
[UPDATE 29/04/2026: After posting the update, I noticed a save bug due to a conflict with the updated demo logic that wiped player progress in the release build, I fixed the bug in question, just make sure when you're updating, [/b]DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE UPDATE (23016634), go straight to 23018551. Thanks for your patience.]
As promised, here's the updated build! I've added a couple of small but meaningful changes to MORSE:
+ Iambic Fixed: There was a subtle but fiddly timing issue with the Iambic key that has persisted since launch that I've finally managed to solve! Means that Iambic feels much more fluid and reliable. Thank you for your patience in awaiting this fix.
+ Update revisions: The UI update in the last build I had some complaints about one of the notifications displays obscuring the grid, so I've made that integrate more subtly in the game, popping up only when necessary rather than constantly on screen.
+ Tutorial Disabled for Exercises: Under modifiers, there's the option to disable tutorials, in the last update that didn't turn them off for the learning exercises. That way, you can quickly tweak your telegraph or practice without having to see the whole tutorial on each page.
+ Cursor Toggle: In a previous update I added a cursor for players who were using mouse, but when using keyboard you would see the cursor sitting on the screen. When you press keys, the cursor disappears, when you press either mouse button, the cursor appears.
That's all for now, stay tuned for the demo update dropping in the next few hours!
Hey Folks, Today is a very special date for the world of Amateur Radio... Morse Code Day! The 27th of April marks the birthday of Samuel Morse, who alongside Alfred Vail devised the system of dots and dashes that bear his name. More broadly, Morse Code day celebrates how hundreds
Hey Folks,
Today is a very special date for the world of Amateur Radio...
Morse Code Day!
The 27th of April marks the birthday of Samuel Morse, who alongside Alfred Vail devised the system of dots and dashes that bear his name. More broadly, Morse Code day celebrates how hundreds of years on from its inception, Morse Code is still used today to connect people across the globe and provides an approachable entry point to Amateur Radio.
By strange coincidence, it's also my birthday! For the occasion, MORSE is on sale from today till the 10th of May and I have several things lined up this week:
Planned update for MORSE demo - Wednesday
+ This Wednesday I'll be releasing a significant update to the MORSE demo, this includes many features from the full game that will hopefully help the game better serve the Amateur Radio community. There's also a hefty amount of polish and refinement gone in since the previous demo released for Summer Next Fest last year, so to those of you who've previously Wishlisted there's plenty new to sink your teeth into. Alongside the release on the 29th, I'll be sharing suggestions on how to put together an installation for MORSE for exhibition/outreach.
MORSE featured in Radcom!
+ An extremely exciting update to share: MORSE was featured in the May edition of Radcom, the UK Amateur Radio magazine! I really appreciated Ed and the RSGB team for showcasing the project, since the feature I've already been asked to deliver a talk to a local amateur radio club to chat about the project and had interest to show MORSE at rallies later this year. I've also noticed an uptick of people in the Steam discussions asking for a higher WPM limit which I suspect might be an indicator that more Amateur Radio folks are finding the project : )
+ Alongside the demo update, I've added a couple of small but meaningful changes to MORSE that will be published on Wednesday:
Iambic Fixed: There was a subtle but fiddly timing issue with the Iambic key that has persisted since launch that I've finally managed to solve! Means that Iambic feels much more fluid and reliable. Thank you for your patience in awaiting this fix.
Update revisions: The UI update in the last build I had some complaints about one of the notifications displays obscuring the grid, so I've made that integrate more subtly in the game, popping up only when necessary rather than constantly on screen.
Tutorial Disabled for Exercises: Under modifiers, there's the option to disable tutorials, in the last update that didn't turn them off for the learning exercises. That way, you can quickly tweak your telegraph or practice without having to see the whole tutorial on each page.
Watch me play MORSE with my LED telegraph - Friday
+ I'll be doing a Stream of MORSE (finally!) on Friday with my various telegraph keys and my glowing LED rope. Would be great for you to join me! I'm also looking for Amateur Radio Discords to do streams in, had a great time previously doing sessions in VAIL and OARC before, learnt a lot of useful things and I've updated my LED setup since then and bought more telegraphs!
That's all for now, going to switch off and enjoy the rest of my birthday. Check back Wednesday for the new demo and thank you all again for your support over the last 6 months, I'm amazed how quickly time has flown!
Hey folks, Just a very quick update on the MORSE training update: The white transmission frame in the bottom left has been narrowed slightly to take up less space than before. Further, I'm going to look into improving the listening mode to be a higher challenge, which I'll get to
Hey folks,
Just a very quick update on the MORSE training update: The white transmission frame in the bottom left has been narrowed slightly to take up less space than before.
Thanks to Cyan for the suggestions, if anyone has any more feedback, bugs or suggestions feel free to reach out! Hope training is going well so far.
Also just wanted to acknowledge the lovely messages from folks about the update and that MORSE is on the cusp of crossing 100 reviews! Very grateful for all your support.
Hey folks! I am very excited to share the latest update to MORSE, let's get stuck in! A dedicated training mode The number one request for MORSE has been to add a training mode to allow players to pursue mastery of Morse Code. With that, I've created a dedicated suite of educatio
Hey folks!
I am very excited to share the latest update to MORSE, let's get stuck in!
A dedicated training mode
The number one request for MORSE has been to add a training mode to allow players to pursue mastery of Morse Code. With that, I've created a dedicated suite of educational tools in MORSE. This is to allow people to specialise in 3 areas; Calibration, Speed and Listening.
Calibration
This is a dedicated mode that explains and shows in detail how to calibrate your telegraph to your skill level. This is set up for each of the different telegraph types, you tweak your cooldown and dot/dash threshold and can test in-game on beacons to see how your settings handle. There's also a visualiser that shows how your dots and dashes are translating as you adjust in real time.
Another commonly requested feature was being able to calibrate your telegraph in real time and see how your input of dots and dashes change, but I much prefer players getting to have that tactile ritual of tweaking and refining those settings by hand and chose to keep things manual.
A final feature that I'm very happy with for calibration once you've tuned your key: A words per minute speed test. Words per minute in amateur radio is the unit measurement for how quickly you can enter Morse Code. There's also a degree of competition around it, for example the High Speed Telegraphy championships that happen nationally and internationally. The word PARIS is used as a standard to measure WPM against, so you can keep practicing entering that word to gauge your skill. I may add a mode where you can change the word in question to practice entry with different letters, let me know if that's something folks would be interested in! I have plans in the coming months to expand the settings menu to something more granular so there'll likely be some more settings to follow that will be integrated in a similar manner.
Speed
Or more accurately, speed training allows you to practice against enemies approaching from the right, where each kill increases the speed and rate of the enemy advance. This gets extremely frantic when you get above a score of 30 and really lets you hone your skills navigating the grid. If a ship gets by and you've sunk more than one ship, the X Y grid words change, allowing you to try out other letters and words. I'm curious to see how high a score folks can reach!
Listening
The third training mode is a "guess the letter" challenge for identifying the sounds of different letters. A submarine is hidden on the grid, you hear the sound of the letter where the submarine is located e.g. (dit dah dit) then you mimic the sound pattern to locate and destroy the submarine (R). After entering each letter of the word, a new word is chosen, so you can get a wide comprehension of letters.
What I like about all 3 of these exercises is each of them tie to the mechanics of the game seamlessly and strengthen both your proficiency of play and also of the skill. It's worth mentioning that these training tools work with all 3 telegraph types, so feel free to experiment and try each out.
It's great being able to expand MORSE as an educational tool and I am very open to suggestions for different training modes folks would like to see in there or how these training tools could be improved.
Also of note, this is a pretty substantial addition to the game and with that, there comes increased risk of bugs. Please drop any issues you come across here and I'll try to respond promptly and address any problems that may arise.
A spring clean to tidy the UI
A recurring point of feedback for MORSE has been the "ticker tape" notification printout blocking the bottom of the the grid/gameplay. In-keeping with the season, I've refined the placement of the interface to make it less cluttered:
The ticker tape printout has been moved up to the top left.
The "enemies left" tab has been moved to the bottom left of the screen.
The lives have been tucked in the top right.
These 3 changes create a big chunk of screen space along the top for notifications in a non-intrusive manner. An additional benefit allows longer strings of text (nearly double the room), making the tutorials more concise with text in larger clusters. It also fixes the issue of the Morse Output printout being blocked by the ticker tape printout.
One other addition I'm quite happy with is integrating a cursor to the game, which in game displays your dots and dashes (and works with the different telegraph types). This means for folks who are playing with a mouse who have dual monitors they don't accidentally click out of the screen and generally to have another visualisation of dots and dashes and adds a nice design flourish.
My own training journey!
The last thing I wanted to mention that I am proper stoked about is I've officially started training for my foundation Amateur Radio License. Shortly after the game launch, I had a trip to the Cairngorms planned and wanted to rush to get my license in time, but the more I dug through Essex Ham's incredible free course on the fundamentals of UK Amateur Radio, the more I realised these were really fascinating and useful skills to learn for my career doing electronics and hardware. So, I waited till last month to sign up (now that things have calmed down a little) and I am currently halfway through the course. I'm hoping to get my license in the next couple of months so soon I'll potentially have my own callsign and I'll finally get to transmit my first Morse Code, well overdue!
That's all for now, thanks again to everyone who has enjoyed and learned about the project so far, I have some very interesting updates coming down the pipe around outreach that I'm eager to share, so stay tuned for that soon.
Hey Folks, Just a quick update after posting the build yesterday: Fixed the display of an achievement which had the wrong totals associated with it. Whilst fixing the last mentioned bug, based on Seaman Sneed's suggestion, I've added a "ongoing stats" display now so rather than j
Hey Folks,
Just a quick update after posting the build yesterday:
Fixed the display of an achievement which had the wrong totals associated with it.
Whilst fixing the last mentioned bug, based on Seaman Sneed's suggestion, I've added a "ongoing stats" display now so rather than just getting 15/15 after completing an achievement, you'll get the ongoing figure after a second or so delay. This is particularly exciting for "Perfectionist", which now will record your accuracy all the way up to 100%, I am very curious to see if anyone is capable of achieving that!
Fixed a bug which turned off the printout text (got the bool the wrong way around for the minimalist mode).
That's all for now, got some exciting features to work on over the next month, stay tuned for more and let me know if you have any other requests or suggestions!!
Hey folks, Thank you all so much for your patience in awaiting an update to MORSE! It's been a very busy month for me. Now that MORSE is post launch, I've gone back to just me maintaining the game solo which means a slower pace of development (though this does not mean I am not e
Hey folks,
Thank you all so much for your patience in awaiting an update to MORSE! It's been a very busy month for me. Now that MORSE is post launch, I've gone back to just me maintaining the game solo which means a slower pace of development (though this does not mean I am not enthusiastic to continue work on the project).
A massive, massive thank you
First, I wanted to say hello and thank you to everyone who picked up MORSE in the Steam Typing sale, I was taken aback by the swell in interest in the project and am very grateful for your support.
What have I been up to?
My main focus since the new year has been doing more structural groundwork for MORSE to serve as an educational tool for outreach for Amateur Radio throughout 2026 and beyond. That's reflected in this update in a variety of ways. You can listen to me demonstrating and discussing these topics in this video: MORSE Update: VBand, Ham Radio Outreach Mode and Minimalist Mode! - YouTube
VBand Support: It's finally here!
This is by far the most requested feature for MORSE and after some wrestling with the engine, I have successfully solved the issue of the two ctrl buttons not registering as separate inputs. With thanks to folks on the Stencyl Discord and my own perseverance, you can bind the Left and Right ctrl buttons separately, meaning Vband can be used out of the box without any adjustments/plug ins. I personally don't have a Vband adapter so can't say for sure, so please let me know if it works!
I really really appreciate those who've waited, I'm excited that this may help more people get keys wired up and connect the game to one of the go-to adapters in Ham Radio.
Fog of war/Line of sight indicator
The latest version of MORSE now has a clear line that indicates where ships will become visible. When showing the game at expos, players will often just stare at the blank map not really understanding when or why enemies become visible. By having an explicit line that shows where they become visible, that hopefully makes things clearer.
MORSE Modifier: Minimalist Mode
This has been another requested feature, most recently by player Luniya, who highlighted that the UI blocks a lot of vertical space of the grid which is critical on later levels. They wished the UI could be hidden to create more visual space.
In response, I've added a Minimalist Modifier which cuts out the Morse Code interface along the bottom, freeing up that space to sight ships further down the screen. I really love this new feature for two reasons:
- If you as a player have reached a level of proficiency at MORSE as to not need this UI, that gives you an edge in gameplay in having a wider sightline for enemies, similar to the help sheet that can be collapsed once you've memorised the Morse letters for a wider field of view.
- Within Amateur Radio, it is widely considered more effective to learn Morse Code through sound rather than visuals (and that visual learning can actually slow/incorrectly teach the process) so this provides a non-visual version of Morse input for those keen to learn though audio only and opens up the game to more people.
Investigating this also made me realise as well that the red flash for the dot/dash indicator wasn't correctly synchronising with the beeps, therefore potentially confusing players, should now be much more snappy and visually responsive.
MORSE Modifier: Outreach Mode:
This is a pretty straightforward addition to the project but hopefully has some useful cultural impact: This is a modifier of MORSE that tailors the game to be suitable for exhibition, it's what I use when I show the game off at events. it includes the following functions:
- Timed reset/Button reset: If the game is left idle for too long, it resets back to the main menu and defaults to straight key, Novice Mode and Campaign. Holding both the launch and Morse key for 5 seconds resets the game, which is useful if someone wants to navigate back to the start without having to use the mouse/keyboard.
- Lower number of waves: When I was testing the game in Strasbourg a lot of people were struggling to last to wave 10, so providing a more achievable target that also lowers the chance of someone hogging the game. With museums, this is commonly described as a pinch point, where realistically you don't want a museum interaction to last more than 2 minutes lest it create congestion. 6 waves is definitely longer than that, but still a comfortable amount to see the elements of the project.
- Attract Mode: When the game is left idle for a prolonged period, it resets and if left on the main menu goes into attract mode, where enemy ships cross the map under the hail of artillery and background sounds of dots and dashes. I'm particularly happy with this because of...
In game promotion of local Amateur Radio & Random Bazar:
As part of the Outreach mode, I now have dedicated pages for encouraging people to find their local amateur radio group: This is a developing feature, but currently upon either beating/losing the demo or watching the attract mode, a message displays encouraging players to find their local club via the IARU. Right now it's a little clunky in that it's a lot of text on screen, but where it'll become more elegant is working directly with Amateur Radio clubs, where I can provide them with a tailored version of the project.
Case in point, MORSE is currently exhibiting in Strasbourg for 3 weeks as part of Random Bazar, a festival filled with strange and wonderful Alt Ctrl games installations. As part of that, I have added on-screen promotions for local and national Amateur Radio communities, namely Strasbourg club REF67 and the French National Society Réseau des Émetteurs Français. I've reached out to both organisations to put it on their radar and hopefully REF67 get chance to visit whilst the game visits the city and failing that, the project hopefully sends potential local amateur radio enthusiasts their direction.
I'll likely be doing a writeup for delivering the project in Strasbourg in the coming month, I am very excited for MORSE to be there and am grateful to Henri and the team for hosting the game! Find out the details of the event below if you fancy visiting it over the next month. The setup they provided for MORSE is absolutely wonderful: Festival 2026 – Random Bazar
Localised "Cheat Sheets":
Finally, connected to MORSE's use as a tool for outreach, a number of community members contacted me about a "Cheat sheet" to onboard players quickly with the project in communal, arcade or educational settings. In response, I've put together a help sheet in English and French, I'll be hopefully expanding this help sheet to more languages in the coming months as the game tours more international events and reaches more clubs around the world. The French translation in the middle was used at Random Bazar and proved effective in giving French residents a language tether to engage with the project for those unfamiliar with English. Steam user Alpha has also very kindly translated this sheet to Korean, which I really appreciated.
That's all for now, thank you all again for your posts over the last month, I enjoy reading and responding to them. Do let me know if there's any other future ways I can tailor the project or if your club is interested in a custom demo for local outreach.
Hey folks, With MORSE launched and a new year beginning, I thought I'd start 2026 off sharing a different perspective; Highlighting the amazing projects you've been building inspired by the project! Iona (UK) First, I want to talk about Iona, an amateur radio enthusiast based in
Hey folks,
With MORSE launched and a new year beginning, I thought I'd start 2026 off sharing a different perspective; Highlighting the amazing projects you've been building inspired by the project!
Iona (UK)
First, I want to talk about Iona, an amateur radio enthusiast based in the UK, who shared her Arduino tutorial on coding a telegraph USB adapter.
This was personally very helpful to me as I have a couple of R4 Minimas that I had lying around gathering dust that I was able to wire up without issue using her guide. I actually sent my completed telegraph setup for exhibition at Good Game Fest!
What made this even better was because Iona was based in London, she very kindly offered to cover the MORSE booth at the event (as I was unavailable to attend).
She even set up a radio station on the booth (pictured above) which I was completely blindsided and delighted by! Once I've got my license, I'd love to make a radio setup a booth staple so that players can translate their learned knowledge of Morse Code directly to radio.
Contacting her to approve the draft of this post, she mentioned that the experience and exhibiting MORSE has inspired her to delve further into electronic prototyping with ESP32's. A huge thanks to Iona again for all her help, excited to see what she comes up with next!
Next, we have this absolutely incredible 3D printed Iambic key design from TimeDiver997!
When I first saw this, I was honestly gobsmacked by the sophistication of this design and its inner workings. When I was exhibiting MORSE at EGX in Birmingham late November I kept showing this controller to every person who played the game! Just look at that engineering.
Matching filament to the game palette and including MORSE iconography was a really nice touch as well. Amazing work.
Finally, we go stateside for an especially wonderful story.
Last year Magnus, a teenager from South Dakota reached out about a homebrew installation he'd built to operate MORSE, that he had some very interesting plans for.
His installation consisted of a wired telegraph, launch button and computer housed within a wooden briefcase. It was tested initially with his local ham radio club (pictured above showing older hams waiting for their turn to play) before the setup was installed in the communication section of the local county museum.
Here's Magnus describing in his own words how the opening went:
"I have been told that the museum loves the box. On the first day, a group of 30 kids attended and loved the setup so much that they had to turn it off to keep the kids on their tour. My club president even learned a bit of Morse code from it."
As the cherry on top, Magnus also shared a document featuring an in depth discussion of the code and hardware of the project. As an educator this was such a treat to read (his wiring solutions were much neater than mine are). In his last email, he mentioned plans to make more installations with his radio club for further outreach regionally.
There was also an interest from the local school/museums for a short curriculum to accompany the installation (A request I've had from other institutions), which I'll be drafting and publishing in the coming months.
I fully endorse Magnus for his efforts and hope that he inspires others to craft installations of the game for their local museums and clubs. If you follow in his footsteps, please get in touch as I'd love to hear about it.
The fact that all 3 of these solutions were realised BEFORE we announced the Teaspoon Telegraph was a pleasant surprise. It shows the breadth of creative expression can be fostered when the question of how control your game is left open to interpretation.
There's so many other similar innovations that I'm looking forward to sharing in future posts, if you've developed something inspired by the project, please share it on the Steam Discussions and reach out! I'd love the forums to function as a library, both showcasing and documenting alternative controllers for use with the game and more broadly amateur radio.
That's all for now, thanks to everyone who bought MORSE over the Steam Sale and continue to support the project.
Hey folks, Just thought I'd sneak in just one more small update in 2025 that's fitting for the end of the imminent end of year festivities: EXPLOSIONS! I commissioned my good friend and talented pixel artist Sinclair Strange to do a bunch of VFX for the project, overhauling the e
Hey folks,
Just thought I'd sneak in just one more small update in 2025 that's fitting for the end of the imminent end of year festivities:
EXPLOSIONS!
I commissioned my good friend and talented pixel artist Sinclair Strange to do a bunch of VFX for the project, overhauling the explosions in MORSE. Instead of featuring just a static circle (and basic water animation), explosions now have a bunch of animated variations, splash variants have been added (with more to come) and smoke clouds emerge from the blast. The smoke and water plumes also have variance of frame rate, which creates a bit more dynamism.
I'm very happy with how they've turned out, the new VFX brings more spectacle to combat with explosions visually packing more punch. It's even more cathartic blowing up cruisers.
Bug-wise, I fixed an issue of duplicated letters on one axis (K) on one of the later levels, (thanks to those who helped me track it down) and I've added some more entries to the manual, looking forward to populating this further next year.
Just wanted to give one more signoff before the New Year to thank everyone who's supported MORSE so far, I'm hyped for what 2026 will bring for myself and the project and I'm eager to share some of the new features coming down the pipe!
Hey Folks! Thank you for your patience in awaiting updates on MORSE, I've taken the last few weeks to rest after launch. I have much to share. MORSE is currently on discount at 20% for the Steam Winter Sale If you've been waiting, now is the time to get it for yourself or as a la
Hey Folks!
Thank you for your patience in awaiting updates on MORSE, I've taken the last few weeks to rest after launch. I have much to share.
MORSE is currently on discount at 20% for the Steam Winter Sale
If you've been waiting, now is the time to get it for yourself or as a last minute Christmas gift (possibly with a telegraph key) for a loved one curious about amateur radio.
New! Dedicated Easy Mode
Novice Mode is now 5 waves shorter than the standard campaign (reaching 7 vertical rows).
The trickier blackout mode and the larger U-Boat are saved for Telegraphist and Expert.
I think this creates a nicer flow to the difficulty, with Telegraphist having partial blackout and Expert having full, unbroken blackout. This should hopefully make MORSE more approachable to folks less familiar with video games. Modifiers can also set all ships to be visible and move slower).
New! Steam Cloud Support
MORSE now has Steam Cloud Support for PC and Steamdeck, thanks for your patience whilst this feature was added, clearing this roadblock should make updates easier.
Introducing... The Teaspoon Telegraph!
One of my most cherished outcomes from MORSE over the last month has been seeing the incredible homebrew telegraphs many of you have been contributing, as an educator it's such a joy to see all these different innovations and experiments manifest.
That's why I am so excited to announce the Teaspoon Telegraph, a beautiful 3D printed telegraph designed by my producer and good friend David Hayward, featuring a metal teaspoon at it's heart. It blend of traditional telegraphy, industrial manufacturing and modern, amateur fabrication.
David has lovingly crafted and documented extensively how to print, assemble and care for your own. The print and guide together are truly a staggering achievement and a perfect pairing for MORSE.
As an installation designer, I've long dreamed of finding a way for independent artists to distribute "Alternative Controllers" in a way that isn't massively wasteful or cost prohibitive. We hope the Teaspoon Telegraph will encourage more people to engage with engineering and electronics, foster interest in tactile, interactive design, create an affordable yet stylish telegraph design which is customisable (I am very excited to see custom designs with various novelty teaspoons) and for it to exist as a cultural artefact that permeates ham radio and far outlasts the legacy of MORSE.
The best part? The 3D files and instructions are entirely free to download and print.
Consider it an early Christmas present to the Amateur Radio Community and a heartfelt thank you to those who've supported MORSE so far.
+ Overhaul of Modifiers: Now only some modifiers disable achievements.
+ Letters are now the default for the Y axis (instead of numbers).
+ Added a modifier to turn off tutorials (requested).
+ Added a modifier to enable using Morse to fire with = (-...-), so the game can be entirely controlled fully with a telegraph. (requested)
+ Telegraphist starts with 2 rows unlocked rather than one (requested).
+ Death Flash Improvement: The screen flash on losing a life now reveals the silhouettes of hidden ships (pictured above).
+ Fixed issue around Y row not spawning in (reported bug)
+ Achievement graphics display fixed.
This is the last major update before the end of the year, other than bug fixing for the new update.
I'm very proud to have finished MORSE before the end of the year and I'm so excited for what is to come.
Thanks again and to sign off, I want to share the footage from MORSE at EGX with the words of Ross Keniston (pictured above) of the Finger Guns podcast with some very nice words about the project when he saw it at the event. This is particularly poignant because his grandfather who was proficient in telegraphy used to write him Christmas cards in Morse Code.
Hey folks, Just a small but important patch for two things: + Fixed the issue that a number of people had on the last update where the row wouldn't load in. + Cloud Saving: Took me a while to troubleshoot it, but Cloud Saving should now be working on both PC and Steamdeck, thank
Hey folks,
Just a small but important patch for two things: + Fixed the issue that a number of people had on the last update where the row wouldn't load in. + Cloud Saving: Took me a while to troubleshoot it, but Cloud Saving should now be working on both PC and Steamdeck, thank you for your patience in me sorting it out, please let me know if you encounter any issues.
That's all for now, larger announcement coming soon!
Hello folks, First and foremost, wanted to apologise again for the cancellation of the MORSE stream on Sunday, thankfully my laptop appears to have recovered, I've got new components on their way so hopefully in the clear! MORSE is going to be on the road the next two weeks, show
Hello folks,
First and foremost, wanted to apologise again for the cancellation of the MORSE stream on Sunday, thankfully my laptop appears to have recovered, I've got new components on their way so hopefully in the clear!
MORSE is going to be on the road the next two weeks, showcased in three different events:
EGX aka MCM Birmingham is going to be including MORSE as part of the Rezzed Zone with help from Game Republic, a fantastic organisation supporting developers in the north of England. Really looking forward to showcasing the project, I'll have MORSE set up with my glowing telegraph this coming weekend, so should be good fun finally showing the game at launch! I'll be having a revolving selection of keys on display each day, so make sure to swing by for a different play style each day.
Good Game Dev Fest is a day event in London focused around industry speakers, installations and games on the 29th of November, 4-10pm. Happy for MORSE to be included in this collection, alas it falls on the same weekend as MCM so I'll be getting some help to run the booth in my absence with a telegraph I've shipped down for the event, more details to follow on that front.
Playtopia is an indie game and immersive art festival hosted in Cape Town on the 5th-6th of December. Whilst I sadly can't attend in person, I'm hoping to send a telegraph to play the game with. I'm actually looking for folks involved in ham radio/the game who might be interested in helping exhibit the project at the event, please get in touch in the comments if you're interested!
As part of these events, I'm going to be adding a modifier to the game to make the game easier to exhibit at events, such as an auto-timer, quick reset button and instructions in the tutorial relevant to operating with a telegraph. This ties into lovely development that I'll be sharing next week, so stay tuned for that.
Feature in Addict Magazine!
Finally, I wanted to highlight an exciting development! MORSE got a two page feature in Addict Magazine, sharing a cover with Prince of Persia's designer, Jordan Mencher. Whilst a small feature on the front page, it's the first time that's happened in my career which I'm was humbled to have happen and getting it in print there's something really special about it. Was lovely chatting to Paul and really appreciated him taking the time to check out the project. Whilst the game is a modern game, the use of hardware pre-dating the game industry for input really drew him in. We had a broader chat about my career making weird games controllers. If you're interested in a copy, you can grab that here: https://www.addict.media/pixel-addict/pixel-addict-magazine
That's all for now, thanks again for your interest in the project, it's been so wonderful seeing the response from the community and seeing it nudge people down the path of amateur radio, hoping in the new year to grow that outreach and help more people into the hobby.
Hopefully meet some of you this weekend! Remember to bring your telegraph keys if you fancy playing the game with your own telegraph, I have support for Sideswipers, Iabmic and Straight key.
Hey folks, Responding through the backup account, had a mishap today whilst setting up for the stream where i shorted my laptop port which sent my laptop into emergency shutdown. I appear to have gotten it out of that state but it’s out of action for 24 hours and to order the rep
Hey folks,
Responding through the backup account, had a mishap today whilst setting up for the stream where i shorted my laptop port which sent my laptop into emergency shutdown. I appear to have gotten it out of that state but it’s out of action for 24 hours and to order the replacement ports could take up to a week to arrive.
Obviously I’m disappointed that the Stream didn’t go ahead, would have messaged sooner but i’ve been scrambling to make sure my laptop (and MORSE) is safe.
Hope you understand, apologies again for the mishap and the lack of communication, I’ll let you know when the next one is.
Hey folks! So this patch ended up being a lot bigger than expected, got some fun stuff implemented. Lets dig in: + Tutorial update: I've had a number of people express frustration with missing information in the in-game tutorial, so now, all the text of the tutorial has now been
Hey folks!
So this patch ended up being a lot bigger than expected, got some fun stuff implemented. Lets dig in:
+ Tutorial update: I've had a number of people express frustration with missing information in the in-game tutorial, so now, all the text of the tutorial has now been implemented into the manual. Additionally, at any point during the tutorial you can press the ? key (PC) or the back/select button (Steamdeck) to view what was just shared and scroll through the surrounding tutorials. In time I want to add a little ? button that flashes in the corner when something new appears which shows the appropriate page in the manual, but this should do for now!
+ Game modifiers: This additional page that can be found on the new "Modifiers" menu, accessed via the bottom left of the screen (pictured above). Modifiers offer variants to the conventional game, be that additional challenges such as "No Peeking" (Helpsheet locked) and accessibility options such as "Drop Anchor" (ships 50% speed) or "Lights On" (All ships visible).
These modifiers disable achievements when active, the primary reason for this is they're new features and experiments that need time for testing with players before fully integrating in the final game. Further, the speed and visibility modifiers function as accessibility options, which is an area that I am actively looking to expand.
I would like your input on how you find the current modifiers and what other ones you'd be interested in or accessible features to help make the game suit your needs, please let me know in the Steam discussions.
Of the new modifiers added, there is one in particular that I'm very excited to share with you...
+ S.O.S Mode: Words on both axes was something I explored previously, but this proved troublesome, as the possibility of clashing letters was very high (without a massive pool of isograms, which is harder to vet). Instead, I've used a scramble of unused letters (letters not used the x axis isogram) to fill the Y grid and it honestly feels really satisfying to operate, possibly more-so than the original number based solution.
Navigation feels quicker as vertical movement doesn't require 5 inputs to change row (which helps a lot speed-wise with the later missions) and the variance of input length adds tactical depth to mine placement. I'll be doing a proper writeup about how it changes play once I've had some rest.
For a demonstration of the speeds you can now reach with letter mode, here's a video of me managing to hold off an 8 row naval assault with the S.O.S modifier active!
+ Your Telegraph type, difficulty and mode have been added to the end state, means folks who are wanting to do speed runs/accuracy runs can have the receipts of what run they're doing.
+ Telegraph carrying on beeping on the end screen/menu fixed. Thanks to those who waited a bit longer for this, I was intending to push this out quickly but got drawn into the vertical letters update!
As a disclaimer, upon updating the game, it appears that ongoing, saved playthroughs may break (the Y axis may be empty on load). Sadly, I don't currently have an immediate fix for this other than restarting your run, I hope the offer of these additional features will take the edge off any loss of progress and provide assurance that I am doing the best I can to support the game through my first Steam launch. Please let me know if you come across any more bugs via this form and in the forums.
With the above in mind, my priority next for MORSE is getting cloud save working and then digging through the rest of that list mentioned in the previous post. thank you for your patience and let me know what you think of the new modifiers!
The beautiful Lake Constance at sunset.
Outside the venue was swelteringly hot, hit 40 degrees that week!
MORSE was busy for the majority of the event, lots of folks were hyped for the project.
To give thanks, I gifted the DARC team a Teaspoon Telegraph, which they were very happy with. 
A (somewhat grainy) demonstration of my semi-auto telegraph in action with MORSE.
The HAM RADIO flea market was vast with so much cool stuff to buy.
Adam's local club 
Marco the rep from Monaco Radio Club TM06RMC was particularly enthusiastic about MORSE!
I was so chuffed to get to try Bo's adapter and his recently purchased tiny homebrew sideswiper.
An up close view of Friedrich's tiny sideswiper key and Bo's mouse USB adaptor.
Both Megan and John gave very helpful, granular feedback for refining Iambic controls further. 
Megan giving MORSE a whirl with my Iambic Key.
Maybel had a lot of fun practicing in the calibration mode improving her Words Per Minute.
Alexander with the full setup for his daughter to use, double checked for functionality! 
MORSE was swamped for the majority of the event and well received!
Some of the functional games controllers crafted by people living locally with dementia.
I got to demonstrate my LED watering can controller on stage!
The red area marks the 50 Ohm section and the crosshair marks roughly where MORSE is! 
I've improved the outreach page layout to include a QR code for easier connection.
Glasgow Indie Games Festival
EMF Camp
Dementia Research
Photo from delivering a craft based custom controller workshop at the V&A last year.
MORSE Roadmap
A Vibroplex Semi-Automatic Telegraph and the MORSE stylised design.
MORSE displayed at Lake County Museum, South Dakota.
+ More in depth manual: The final in game manual is much more expansive, covering topics such as activities in the hobby, national organisations, common phrases and useful websites. Perfect for someone curious about Amateur Radio.
You can get the publication here: 
