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TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

tinywind.io

101–110 of 204 posts

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#101

This is a lot of fun! I’ve been wanting to learn how to make pixel games like this myself. Any tips, resources you’d recommend ?

I’m also relatively new here so we’re learning on the fly. I’ve been heavily activate in pixel art subreddits early on for feedback and advice especially on the procedural generation. I’ve also found some great cheap pixel assets to get started from itch.io.

Good luck on your pixel adventures, love to see what you build!

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#102

Did you get this idea from the barebones Sid Meiers Pirates battle clone that hit the frontpage a few days ago? :)

Haha no it’s a funny story.

I’ve been building this since early May with active captains through the last month. I randomly noticed traffic from hacker news a few days ago, turns out somebody had linked tinywind in the comments there. Love to see other people in the space!

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a flattering comparison! I’ve gotten so many requests for an auto sail trim I might have to add it in, there definitely is a bit of learning curve to battling with the wind

a middle approach could be a trainer mode where you can say your desired direction of travel and the game gives you a suggestion of heading + trim. think like the driving line in racing sims, it doesn't brake for you but it helps you develop intuition of what to do when. a oldtimey map line drawn on the ocean to show where when to tack at what angle would be so nice. especially for the longer hops between islands.

This is an amazing idea, definitely going to explore this! It could even prompt you to cut upwind and dive ships effectively, there could be a lot of depth here

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#105
post #51

This is awesome! To offer some constructive feedback: the wind direction could be clearer. More particles flowing across the waters! Especially when the direction is changing. Looking up at the wind teller is unintuitive, even for this old sailor who understands where it comes from. I also didn't always feel like it mattered which direction I angled my sails, only how much I angled them. Like I could angle them for a…

i'd suggest a big flag on the main mast of each ship so its super clear what direction wind you are sailing into :)

When I learned to sail, this is where we were taught to look: the small flag on the top of the mast.

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#106
Good vibes, free things stand out. The direction of wind seems inverted. North wind is wind blowing from north to south. Also, when going into irons, the speed should drop to zero, or become negative given the sail configuration. And turns are impossible without speed.

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#107

sails perpendicular to the wind for full power? my sailing experience is dated, but that does not seem to be right to me. Don't they want a lower angle of attack? is this a specific of square sails? maybe I am not getting it in the docs Still, very fun!

I’m not a sailor at all my I just demo’d this for my dad who is. He had similar feedback I need to sit down and do a sailing mechanics audit to find a good balance between arcade/realism, I think a beam reach is supposed to be faster than downwind. But my angle of attacks could be more accurate especially for upwind sailing? Here’s currently how tinywind does it if anyone’s curious: https://tinywind.io/wiki/sailing#p…

Have a look at these [1] polar diagrams for tall sailing ships. The radial distance from the center is the theoretical boat speed and the angle is the direction that the wind is hitting the boat, with zero on the nose and 180 from the stern. Each plotted line is the boat speed for a given wind speed. They show how the square-rigged ships can't sail upwind any closer than 55 degrees or so and are fastest on a broad reach (wind from just back of the side). You can also see how longer boats are generally faster, but a smaller boat with triangle sails ("Bermuda rigged") could easily get away from a big square-rigged ship by heading more upwind.

[1] https://forum.zegluj.net/download/file.php?id=23628&mode=vie...

Re: TinyWind: A pixel pirate sailing game with real wind physics (380k+ kms sailed)

#109

This is probably PEBCAK, but I can't figure out how to capture an island

You have to gain some gold first by killing ships, then once you have 3 you can sail to the island and a button pops up to capture it. Took me a bit to figure it out too. Also once you've captured an island, you can lower your sails there to heal!
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