Gjøa

Single-player real-time sailing simulation  prototype based on the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on the sloop Gjøa

You sail and explore the uncharted icy waters of the Northwest Passage. Decide your course, when to use your sails and when to use your engine (consuming your limited fuel) avoiding to be trapped by the moving ice. Find your way in the passage without a map.

Brief description of the mechanics:

- The player controls a small ship to cross a map simulating the Northwest Passage i.e. a sea lane through the Arctic Ocean. There is no map available, so it's similar to a maze. The only clear fact is that west side of the map and the compass direction is available.

- The ship can be propelled by sail, by the engine or both. The player controls the rudder, the trim of the sail (i.e. direction), can set or furl them, shut on/off the engine and control the throttle. It's necessary to find a balance: movement with the engine is simple to control, but the fuel is limited. The sails allow to save fuel, but need more interaction and the speed is dependent from the wind direction (the ship cannot sail against the wind) The wind direction is indicated by the flag on the mast. The sail controls react currently immediately (set/furl, change angle) so players can see the influence of the actions on the speed (displayed in the UI) and learn to optimize.

- Apart from the land, there is drifting ice in the way of the player. Hitting the ice doesn't damage the ship (yet) but makes the sailing more difficult. A collision slows the ship down and can deviate it's course. In the worst case the ship can be trapped and it's necessary to rely on the engine.

- All the control are UI on the screen (no key control, except Escape to exit) so currently the player uses only mouse

The story of the Gjoa and captain Amundsen can be very inspiring for an indie developer. The small sloop and crew succeeded where the mighty Royal Navy had failed previously with a bigger expedition of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus (see TV Series "The Terror"). A parallel can be seen with indie developers succeeding where big AAA studios fail ;)

Still in prototype phase with simple UI & graphics. Currently also a test-bench for tools and algorithms before using them in my long-term project "The Weather Gage" (see The Weather Gage by Aidedecamp (itch.io))

By the way, if you are in Olso please visit the Fram Museum and see the real ship. I really recommend that museum

CONTROLS:

All control functions are displayed as UI on screen and are activated with the mouse.

- Slider for the rudder

- Sliders to trim the yards

- Toggles to set/furl the sails

- Toggles to turn on/off and reverse

- Slider to control the engine throttle

- Toggle to display/hide the compass

Please give me some quick feedback what you think about the controls