Atlantic '41

Devlog

• Death by a Thousand Shells
  December 17, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  I’ve had a strange few months; a rather long trip abroad, personal stuff, and annoying code maintenance and clean up stalled the project. It’s nothing unusual, happened on long projects, and this... Continue reading

  
• Next devlog a bit delayed
  October 13, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  I just wanted to leave a quick note to let you guys know that I must delay the new devlog for about a month, as I’m about to travel outside the country. I apologize for those who were hoping to read... Continue reading

  
• First Blood
  August 28, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  Last time I left you halfway through the implementation of the diving sequence, which is now complete, at least in its basic structural form. It can go through an entire dive, with the Chief doing the... Continue reading

  
• Peril or Salvation
  July 12, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  Among the few U-boat games I played, I don’t remember any that made diving an essential part of the gameplay. Let me rephrase that. I mean that U-boat simulations generally consider successful under... Continue reading

  
• An Important Milestone
  May 23, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  We’ve reached an exciting moment in the development of Atlantic ’41. This update will develop how I implemented the interactive part of the TDC, allowing the player to manage torpedo tubes, and is... Continue reading

  
• Building The Torpedo Data Computer, And What I Learned From The Battle of Helm's Deep
  April 01, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  We’re now down to the last two major building blocks comprising the combat gameplay: the torpedo data computer (TDC), allowing the player to set up attacks, and the end of turn sequence, which close... Continue reading

  
• Under the Hood
  February 09, 2024 by StephanRewind

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  I would lie if I said that I didn’t slack a bit during the Christmas break. Still, I progressed on the tactical chart, and on my understanding of where I think the game should go. A few nasty bugs n... Continue reading

  
• Tactical Chart Deep Dive
  December 08, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  I’d like to focus this update on the implementation of the tactical chart. These past few weeks made me appreciate important aspects relative to the translation of the mock-up into an effective expe... Continue reading

  
• Building The Engagement Loop (Part three)
  September 29, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  I spent these past few weeks between the implementation of the tactical chart and the Torpedo Data Computer mock up. I was glad to leave the exterior views to tackle a different part of the game, but... Continue reading

  
• The Sound of Silence
  August 14, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  At this point I have detailed the operation of about half the engagement loop, which is comprised of four steps: the exterior views (either bridge or periscope), the tactical chart, the torpedo data c... Continue reading

  
• Building the Engagement Loop (Part two)
  June 24, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  Among the difficulties of game development, dependencies is a tricky one; how to break down the design and the code into independent units that can work in unison? How to structure the project in a lo... Continue reading

  
• Building the Engagement Loop (Part one)
  May 16, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  The story so far: both the periscope and bridge views work, with ships to be implemented. Encounters will be resolved as a succession of turns, the player assessing the situation and taking action wit... Continue reading

  
• Enemy at Sea
  April 13, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  Quick reminder of the progress at this point: the game has two functional views of the environment outside the submarine: one from standing on the bridge, and the other from the attack periscope. Both... Continue reading

  
• The Midnight Hour
  March 05, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  Sunset palette After the daytime and twilight environments, I had to figure out nighttime, equally important and accounting for close to 50% of the in-game time. However on the Playdate, there are goo... Continue reading

  
• In Time
  January 27, 2023 by StephanRewind

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  The progress so far With the exterior views completed, including weather, I was left with one important task: a visual representation of time. Despite the iconic ASDIC pings and silent runnings made p... Continue reading

  
• Red Sky at Night, Sailors' Delight, Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors Take Warning
  December 19, 2022 by StephanRewind

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  Finally back with a new log. It’s been much more time than I would have liked since last time, so get ready for a long read. Where we left off First, here’s what happened under the hood: sometime... Continue reading

  
• Ups and Downs
  July 04, 2022 by StephanRewind

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  These past few months health issues have impacted development and a long time has passed since the last update. Thankfully my situation has recently improved. I’m now back on track, and committed as... Continue reading

  
• Through The Looking Glass
  April 02, 2022 by StephanRewind

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  It’s been a busy few months since last log. I worked on various aspects of the game design, notes and documents which I will share in the future. But for now let’s focus on tangible progress I mad... Continue reading

  
• The Right Amount of Trouble
  December 19, 2021 by StephanRewind

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  Since last time, I’ve progressed on the submarine overview. Doing so, I stumbled on a bizarre overlook on my part, but what I imagined to be a quick fix took a life of its own. I even decided to ded... Continue reading

  
• Coding Baby Steps
  November 05, 2021 by StephanRewind

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  It’s been a few weeks since the last devlog, and I figured I would write an update as I begin to come out of the conceptual phase. Adapting to high level I was both excited and weary to get back int... Continue reading

  
• Mocking Up The U-Boat Overview
  October 10, 2021 by StephanRewind

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  Learning by Doing Recently, I’ve been thinking about the best way of making the game, maybe more than about the game itself. I could jump straight into prototyping something, anything, but that soun... Continue reading

  
• Atlantic '41 In a Nutshell
  September 16, 2021 by StephanRewind

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  Today I want to go over what drove me to make Atlantic ’41. I write it for anyone interested but also for myself. It’s too easy to lose sight of the original vision when you get knee deep into dev... Continue reading

  
• First Devlog Post!
  August 30, 2021 by StephanRewind

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  #1-bit, #playdate, #simulation, #retrogaming, #wargame, #ww2

  So I‘ll Make a Videogame I propose to make a little videogame for the upcoming Playdate console, and if things go as planned, to make it part of a trilogy. Here I’ll document the development proce... Continue reading