European Ship Simulator
The Future Of European Ship Simulator
When claims over the game being “unfinished” arise, I can imagine that you are expecting more content than has been delivered. In response, I can confirm that the game will continue to evolve. The core game is complete. But what comes next is the evolution.
As I’ve stated before, the full release is what we deem a stage where the game is complete enough to release for a second platform (MAC) and to make the mission editor public, I have no intention of stopping work on this game in the near future.
I will be populating a new development board with features that the community can vote for, alongside information on what is currently being developed. Expect this to go live in a few days.
The term Early Access can mean that a project can be in development indefinitely. For us, we are approaching it as a living game where the base game is complete, but we want to evolve for the foreseeable future.
We are starting out small. We have to, as it is impossible for us to reach some of the heights set by other games at this moment in time. This is the foundation of which we can build and improve upon, a comment I have made several times in the forums months and months before releasing as a full release. It’s now our job to prove that we are determined to make this the go to ship simulator.
We are currently working on three major updates that will include among other things, three new ports and three new vessels. I anticipate that by late next week I will share more details on the development.
European Ship Simulator Full Release
Launching as a full game we have included 20 missions, a mission editor and now MAC support. We have to thank everyone who has been involved during the Early Access period and while the game enters a full release, we still intend to support the game post launch with new ships, ports, refinements and will be looking into some of the majorly requested features over the coming months. I’ll be able to share further news of European Ship Simulator in the coming weeks so do stay tuned.
The big content update is the bay of Gibraltar, a particularly massive map with several ports. There are three missions in this port but of course you can create your own and play others with the mission editor (more info below)
But right now, the game is now available in 8 languages including
English
German
Dutch
Spanish
French
Italian
Greek
Polish
Mac users will also be able to get involved in European Ship Simulator too, if you have bought the game previously for PC and have a MAC too, you will be able to play on mac without needing to purchase again.
We are also launching the mission editor today and have created a very in depth guide with instructions on how to create your own missions. It is very technical and we are going to put together a video tutorial soon that may make it easier to follow. But find the first part of our guide here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=393689034
Finally, as a special surprise, we have created an extra ship, a medium cruiser with a couple of extra missions. Here’s a screenshot of the bridge
You can get this ship for free right now by visiting www.euroshipsim.com and following the links to claim a medium cruiser, you’ll get a special code and you’ll enter into the code area of the options menu.
During Early Access we made contact with several officials including nautical universities, navigational officers, captains and more. We are going to be following up with these over the coming months to investigate further improvements to European Ship Simulator.
We’ll be in the forums to answer questions and will be revealing more information about the future of European Ship Simulator soon.
Container Ship Update
Next week, the game will leave early access along with it support for the MAC version and the mission editor. However we are still continuing to work on the game and have a few plans we're going to share with you soon.
UPDATE: LNG Tanker/ New Tugboat Mission
We have also included a new tugboat mission for the game and next week we’ll have another new ship for you to captain.
All the best
European Ship Simulator leaves Early Access Feb 20th 2015
European Ship Simulator will be leaving Early Access on the 20th of February 2015. I’d like to thank many of you for getting involved in helping us with the development. Since the game launched in Early Access we have compiled a massive list of suggestions, have made contact with navigational officers and several maritime universities. We have also received dozens of positive reviews from the community.
On February 20th the game will launch into a full release with the following content:
20 Missions
Eight ships
Six ports
Mission Editor
MAC version
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Dutch Languages
As I’ve said previously in the forums, this is a foundation from which we can build upon and something that I would like to improve over the coming months, maybe years. While the full release definition is the state at which the game will be available as a boxed product in retail stores, my goal is to work on the ship simulator genre for the foreseeable future. We have made some great contacts and it’s now our responsibility to use these and evolve.
Thanks again for being a part of European Ship Simulator.
All the best,
Chris
NEW UPDATE - CRUISE LINER AND MORE
Hello everyone,
Today we have a particularly large update for European Ship Simulator.
First, the large cruise liner will be under your command. Alongside this great vessel will be the port of Hamburg, It does feature a very large industrial area and in the coming weeks expect to see more missions on this new map. It is possibly one of the most populated maps in terms of buildings.
Among these big noticeable updates we have included a few more additions. Water reflections have been altered so that they are not as severely reflective as previously. A save and continue feature has been added for those of you who want to tackle the entire lengthy trip across the English channel but need to turn of the game and wish to continue where you left off.
Finally, we also have added the cinematic camera mode. You can take some great screenshots with this mode, below is a screenshot from the new mode, we’ve just cut off the HUD!
We know it’s been some time since we updated but I hope that you all enjoy this latest update. Please visit the forums to get in touch with us with any suggestions, thoughts or if you happen to come across any issues.
For a quick glimpse at what the new update has to offer, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu-bmjRRbNo
UPDATES COMING SOON
Today we have quite a large announcement to make but firstly we here at Excalibur would like to apologise for the lack of updates recently. After a small break over the Christmas and New Year period we are back developing content and updating the game. We have many updates coming shortly which we believe many of you will enjoy.
First up is a new ship.
The large ocean cruiser will be one of the largest ships in the game. With a highly detailed Interior and an equally impressive exterior, this gorgeous ship will be the ultimate in luxury to captain.
The ship features port and starboard engines which rotate to steer the boat. It also features a forward engine to help turn the boat when at port.
Second on the list is a new updated UI featuring a mission select screen.
We have made some great changes to the Mission Select screen so you will have access to more information on the mission before starting it. This will include; weather, wind speed and direction, local time, starting area and vessel type.
Finally, we would like to introduce to you our Mission Editor.
You can use this tool to create and share your own missions. There will be a variety of aspects which you will have control over. These will range from setting the local time and weather to creating waypoints for AI ships to follow.
NEW UPDATE: SPEEDBOAT ADDED
Today we’re releasing a new update for European Ship Simulator. Players will be able to explore Rostock with the Speedboat.
We will not be able to update the game during the Christmas period, however we will be returning to near weekly releases Early January. From everyone here, we hope you all have a great Christmas and a happy new year.
UPDATE #3 - NEW PORT, NEW MISSION, PREVIEW OF NEW VESSEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZih81ZCxM
In summary, we’d like to thank everyone who has been a part of European Ship Simulator and who has left us positive reviews. I’ve personally replied to every review with feedback and offering assistance. I’ll continue to do this throughout the coming months. The best way to help us advance the game and let more people know about the game is to submit us a review, so if you have not done so and want to help spread the word, a review would be greatly appreciated!
Normally we release updates on Fridays, however this week we’re launching it today. You’ll be able to play a mission in the new port of Rostock where you’ll manoeuvre the bulk carrier during snowy conditions. The update is live now and Steam should automatically download the update.
The video above also previews next week’s update, the Speedboat. This is one of those fast vessels that we just enjoy cruising around. It’s great fun exploring the ports in this so we may have some very basic missions next week without time limits so you can play with the speedboat in more detail.
Thanks again everyone for being a part of this, next week will be the last update before the Christmas period as the staff will be away for the holidays. But when we return on the first week of January we will continue with weekly updates.
UPDATE #2 - New Passenger Ferry Mission
We will share news on next weeks update soon.