Dear Fans,
Dear Followers,
Old & new,
Welcome to this Easter dev diary for Task Force Admiral.
Sorry for having made ourselves scarce over the Steam store & our own very website for so long. I would like to give you a satisfying, simple answer to that, but it is a complicated matter. If you don’t care much for devteam babbling and came for the update proper, please jump to the part beyond the next one to get in the thick of it. Otherwise, here are a few introductory words.
Short Intermission: of Steam & our Communication Conundrums
We have not been deaf to the remarks made on the Steam general discussion boards. Yes, we have not posted much lately - but it does not mean that we were inactive, nor uninterested in maintaining the link. We simply had to make some choices.
As a small team - remember, there’s basically four of us – rest assured that we are working hard to deliver this game, and would love nothing more than to share our progress with the greater number. What is certain is that in order to reach our life goals, we all have to focus on our tasks at hand in spite of everything happening around us. Over the last few months, illness & fate have taken loved ones away, and with no exception we all experienced bad news – all of which crippled us emotionally, a feeling I am sure too many of you have experienced over the course of the last two years. Yet, fear not, for we have carried on.
None of these events proved life-threatening for the project proper, the progress of which remains unaffected overall. Nevertheless, you will certainly understand that some of us would rather use the extra time outside of what we devote to development & design to spend a few moments with the family in these trying times, or take care of important issues which cannot wait. In that regard, if we were to sacrifice something, we’d rather give up on extended communication rather than game progress proper, I think we can all agree on that. A call had to be made. It was made.
Those who follow us on social media will know that we still managed to maintain a good pace over there, with weekly updates on Twitter, Facebook & Youtube (check the community tab for the dope!). In order to maintain a proper presence on Steam – which obviously matters as it is the main public vitrine for our game, but also the most time-consuming one – we will from now on do our best to provide you with monthly updates. These will elaborate on the weekly updates already posted elsewhere, along with some new bites of good stuff. The same will apply to our website-based dev blog (which is in dire need of a new look, by the way). As we are nearing our own internal playtest, we need to put the history of our progress somewhere where it can be easily assessed and remembered, and our Steam community page seems to be the right spot for that, as eventually players will come to knock on that one door. I still remain hopeful that Steam will at some point introduce social-minded functions which will allow developers to expand less time and sweat to post even the smallest update, but we’re not quite there yet.
Anyway, to inaugurate this new monthly rendezvous here, are a few selected nuggets from the last few months. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride!
In-Game Videos in TFA - Historical Research in the Service of a Treasured Legacy
This month, we're offering a sneak peek of the prototyping work accomplished so far in regard of our in-game videos.
Although these videos certainly do not replace a proper modern interactive tutorial (these are planned too, worry not), we thought that it would be too bad to claim the name of Microprose and yet not pay homage to this classic feature of the late 1990s. Ladies & Gentlemen, allow us to introduce you to the first chapter of our Naval Academy module Know Your Ships: The Destroyers.
TFA is being designed in the tradition of the combat simulations and wargames of the 1990s, a time when developers would not shy away from expanding the lore of their work so as to strengthen the credibility of their game. Needless to say, our own inspiration is not coming from nowhere, and in this we're standing on the shoulders of giants, at least by the standards of our niche.
SSI's Fighting Steel IJN campaign intro video (2000) - hosted by Jeff Baker's Youtube Channel
Obviously back in the day, simpler graphics also meant that all this content was much-needed food for the imagination, but these thick manuals, narratives and spec listings of all sorts did leave a mark in the minds of the people of our generation (aka the 30-40s crowd). When the multimedia age emerged in the mid-1990s, games started to feature more generous video and audio contents, as the new supports which were the CD-ROM and then the DVD allowed for more leeway in that department. Games like M1 Tank Platoon 2 or Fighting Steel for instance would include a series of videos with the dual purpose of being both a source of entertainment and a learning tool in an age when interactive tutorials were not the norm just yet.
Microprose's M1 Tank Platoon 2's training videos (1998) - hosted by Adam Piskorski's Youtube Channel
Those were the days, when extra contents were seen as a welcome addition to existing means of instruction. Nothing was too good, indeed, when it came to provide the player with the much needed background and awareness he/she needed as to make sure not to look too silly once in command.
To make it happen, we had to design a fully integrated video player which should allow us to play these videos with subtitles in your own language. Full English voice-over is a guarantee - as for commentaries in other languages on the other hand, we'll see how far we can get before release. Can't promise anything, but fingers are crossed!
Another perk of the in-game video system is that it will allow us to let our imagination run wild when it comes to the in-game briefings. Not only will these be detailed as thoroughly as possible so as to provide you all the important keys to understanding the overall tactical & strategic picture, but you will also be able, as custom scenario designers, to provide your own creations with the amount of multimedia contents you will deem necessary. A few months ago, we delivered the community with an early prototype which outlines the level of research & historicity we want to adopt as a hallmark of our values. Allow us to post that one here once more for the posterity!
This one is showcasing the "long" Coral Sea scenario, which will take a few days of in-game time to complete. It begins before TF-17 strike against Tulagi, and will end with the success or the failure of the Japanese landing at Port Moresby.
Although there's nothing special on the technical side of things, we tried to innovate in regard of how the information is constructed & delivered. We went through actual archives & well-known reference books so as to try to provide the player with a realistic yet exhaustive level of intel contents. Doing so, we also tried to provide as much context as possible so that you don't need to be an actual WW2 PTO buff to understand the stakes. One of our inspirations were the briefings you had in Silent Hunter 4, others might see DNA from Silent Service 2 too!
These video sequences will be strengthened by a full text-based briefing which will contain all the details the player needs to accomplish the mission. Hopefully, it should work whether you are new to the topic or a very old Pacific hand, with Shattered Sword, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral or Neptune's Inferno as a bedside companion!
The Tactical View and the Fleet Board - New Ideas to Visualize Old Needs
Task Force Admiral will ship with a few interesting gameplay features you might not have seen before, at least under this guise. Features related to formations & the tactical map were detailed in our interview with Tim Stone over at the Tally Ho Corner, home of the holy Flare Path (see you at "M" for Miniature interview). Don’t hesitate to check it out! I will simply quote myself:
THC: Which aspects of Task Force Admiral are consuming the most developmental man hours at present?
The Producer: The formation system and the maneuvering AI that goes along with it has consumed a big chunk of our development power over the last two months. I think it’s a cardinal sin that in 2021 most naval games still have AI ships bumping into each other on a regular basis. I do understand that these things happen, but it shouldn’t be such a common occurrence when it’s broad daylight, everybody is in view, and nobody is actually being engaged. The men manning these ships were drilled for a reason, and drilled well. Collisions shall remain mostly a combat-induced occurrence or I will simply not deem the game to be functional. If my robot vacuum can avoid a chair in real life, my pixel boats should be able to find their way on the open seas! (...)
Besides, we are not giving up on the standards of our genre, as we do have a map interface already readily available for strategic moves and actions, but we needed something more easily relatable to the 3D world for hands-on moments such as air attacks or surface engagements. We ended up going for a system not unlike that in the Homeworld series with the so-called “sensors view”: a 3D tactical view which can be instantly summoned with a key stroke. So far trials have been going pretty well. It allows players to visualize altitude and distance more easily, it can be readily turned into a 2D-like view for traditionalists, and it provides the necessary background to use our cool smaller miniatures, which will make the in-game tactical map look like your average Fletcher Pratt-inspired living room.
We will go back in details to these functions over the course of the next few months, as new content is being added, fleshing them out somewhat. It is a relief, though, that it starts to look more and more like a real game rather than a tech demo. You can certainly take a breath now, we're on the right track!
The Art of Task Force Admiral - Giving Loading Screens their Old Glory Back!
Finally, Julien our 2D artist has been very busy over the last few months. A number of his fine artworks were published on our social media platforms. For today, we will focus on the main event, which was Julien’s rendition of Enterprise’s sortie from Pearl Harbor on December 9th 1941, following her nightly pit stop while Battleship Row was still burning in the background, giving the scene a rather gloomy look.
I can say that the team is truly blessed to count Julien as one of its pillars. Specialized and talented artists are not easy to come by and to combine. We are in the opinion indeed (French bias?) that art is really too important to be left in the hands of amateurs. How many times have you seen your favorite ship or aircraft on screen or on paper put in an awkward setting, paired with improbable or even anachronistic fellow models, with little to no concern shown for proportions, realism and overall credibility? To be honest, as of late, we have sometimes seen waifu-related art pay a better homage to the ships, the aircraft and the men we are trying to depict in TFA, than some games supposedly entirely about them. When you know that all it takes is a little bit of research, whether it is about the right sources or the right talents, it is a sad feeling indeed.
The amount of detail Julien went for in this scene is mesmerizing, whether it is about the appearance of Pearl Harbor that morning or that of Enterprise, which very specifically that day had not released her scouting, bombing and torpedo squadrons ashore. There was tension in the air indeed, as Enterprise had narrowly escaped the attention of the Japanese carrier force two days earlier. Her airgroup had suffered a lot, her SBDs being engaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor proper by Japanese aircraft, while her fighter squadron had fallen victim to friendly fire later in the darkness of the evening, as they approached NAS Ford Island. When she finally entered the port, her usual berth was unreachable, obstructed by the heavily damaged USS California. Moreover, there was no desire to linger and complicated maneuvers were prohibited: exceptionally, she would go around and drop anchor on the opposite side of Ford Island, where she would be attended by the oiler Neosho, of future dramatic Coral Sea fame. There would be no port call for the crew of Enterprise, as everybody was in a hurry to look for the supplies she would need for her next deployment – a job which usually would take several days in peacetime. To add to the overall feeling of despair, Neosho was inexplicably late to the rendezvous.
When she finally set sail in the morning of December 9, Enterprise had her fuel tanks filled up, her bomb bays full, her aircraft ready, as she embarked on her first actual war cruise. The “Galloping Ghost, off the Hawaiian Coast” was starting a war in which few would predict then she was to become the most decorated American warship of all times.
Talking about the glorious Yorktown sisters, let us not forget that yesterday was April 18, the 80th anniversary of the famed Doolittle raid. If you like Julien's work, let's post this one again, which celebrated the operation in most satisfying fashion indeed.
If you like this depiction of the blue lady and her valorous army fliers and might want them to grace your virtual desktop, click here to download the full resolution!
Here, it should be enough for today! If you liked what you've just read and you'd like to know more, don't hesitate to express your support by wishlisting Task Force Admiral. We're not quite sure yet when Enterprise, Hornet and their sisters will be ready, but we'll make sure to let you know when the moment will come for them - and for you - to join the Pacific Fleet!
Happy Easters to you all, and take good care!
The Task Force Admiral team.
