Hey guys, We've been hard at work on our next game, and we think you're going to love it. *** Imagine that you're the Harbor Master at a busy port in the Mediterranean. Ships are coming and going and delivering cargo, and it's YOUR job to direct them in and out of their docks, and make sure they don't collide. The town is depending on the delivered goods to grow and prosper. The more cargo you deliver, the more houses your town flourishes and grows. You are quite powerful around here! If you grow your town enough, your fame will spread far and wide, and your services will be demanded in other port cities all over the world, all with their own geography and special challenges. [Edit - June 4 - Deleted the old screenshots so as not to confuse the newcomers] Features: - 3 types of boats. The speedboats are small and fast, but only deliver one load of cargo. The biggest boats are slow-moving, but deliver four loads of cargo. - Unlockable level maps - Global high scores - Original soundtrack by yours truly *** I've been playing nonstop for the past three days (I'm the current world leader! ), and I think you guys will get addicted to Harbor Master too. We plan to submit at the end of May. Videos, beta, and all sorts of other good stuff coming soon! - Natalia ***** !!! EDIT - May 29 !!! ******* Here's what Harbor Master looks like now: ***** !!! EDIT - June 4 !!! ******* Check out the ICON! Video! Video in HD
My first impressions - looks like an aquatic Flight Control. Hopefully you will make your game suitably different.
We loved Flight Control, and it definitely inspired us. There are many twists to Harbor Master that make it a really cool and different game in its own right: - You have to guide ships in and out of their docks. In Flight Control, when you land your planes, they disappear. In Harbor Master, when you dock a ship, it sits there for a few seconds unloading its cargo. You then need to guide it out in order to free up the dock for the next ship. - Different types of ships are worth different point values. In flight control, all planes are the same. In Harbor Master, bigger ships carry 4 times as much cargo as the little ships. However, the bigger ships are slower. That makes you think about prioritizing - which ones do you want to dock first? - Multiple unlockable level maps. - Your town grows as you deliver more and more cargo.
Yup There's a different soundtrack for every level map, as every level is in a different geographical location. The tropical music was for the Caribbean map.
You guys make some really nice games, so I'll keep my eye on this one! It kinda sounds like a souped-up Flight Control. (that's a good thing )
It sure is a flight control inspired game, but I am sure it will be great, especially since your games have all been amazing. Also, what if you added animals in later levels with an aquarium, where you have to guide the animals away from ships to the aquarium. and allow you to have more than one chance. On flight control, every time I almost reach 100 I don't see one come and make me loose. Seriously, my high score is 98! I would like to see a monetary aspect to set it apart more. Ex: larger ships get you more money and you can spend the money on new ports, power ups, etc. With power ups, make it like, slow-mo, intangible, extra lives, etc.
How will the controls be? This sounds interesting. What will the starting price be? When will it be released? How will you notice your town grow? These are my questions. If it looks good i'll cash in
1) the controls are pretty obvious. draw the line like in flight control 2)dont know 3) end of may 4)the houses will appear. no offence but you really should read the thing as 3 of the four questions were there
Thanks for the kind words! 98 in Flight Control is pretty awesome - I never made it that high! The animals idea is hilarious! I think for now, we'll stick with boats to move around, but the sheep may get mad at you if you let the boats get too close In terms of money, everything is currently done in "cargo units." Before we release, we may or may not change that to money. You also get different rewards based on: - Mastery - Maximum amount of cargo shipped in a session. There are some cool secret rewards for having a really good high score, and of course that's always fun to show off to your friends (mine's 142 on the first level ) - Dedication - Total lifetime cargo shipped. This is actually what determines your town's growth. So even if your highest record is low, if you keep playing, your town will keep growing and you'll keep unlocking stuff. Walsh06 got 'em all right. As far as growing the town, it's not just houses that will appear. There's all sorts of good stuff that will be popping up. If you check my screenshots, you can see that the number of huts and sheep increases in the second one. As far as price, we will probably have an intro price of $0.99, and the price will increase sometime after that.
Hmmm... maybe? I've never played Airport Mania, so you'll have to tell me. There are definitely elements of time management to Harbor Master, however, in that you get to build your little empire the more you play.
Nice, this looks pretty good. I never really got into the time management genre (I'm one of like three people who didn't buy flight control)...but I enjoyed LRS, so I eagerly await more info about this one.
oooooooooo! u should make it that the more cargo you dock, the more money u get. then, with the money u earn, you can but upgrades (faster cargo unloading times, more docks, etc...). Hope you think about it in the next update
Great ideas everyone! We've definitely tinkered with a lot of different game play elements during development, and I think we've come up with a fun set of different landscapes and configurations to start with that everyone will enjoy. One of our initial concepts was to allow the player to add more docks to the map as their port grew in size. However, when we tried it we found that simply adding more docks to a map does not make it easier. It actually makes it harder because there are more things to pay attention to. One thing I really really really want to do with this game is to build an in-game map editor that lets you draw the coast with your finger, place docks anywhere, and control the pacing parameters. If the game does well, this will likely be the first major feature we'll work towards adding. That way everyone can experience being a Harbor Master, and share the glory of their creations with their friends. -Keith
