Where did the idea for 'The Whaler' come from?
'The idea has been around for about 6 months, and came from the love of naval games. I remembered playing my first naval game in the 90s, I don’t remember the name but you could be a commander on a galleon and you would shoot on other ships lined up next to you. So I was thinking “How cool with it to have a game where you could explore the whole ship and it all felt alive” and it kind of grew from there.'
What's the game about, how do you play it and what makes it special?
'The game is set in the time 17th – 18th century, and it’s a first-person trade sim from the booming of the whaling trade. You will command the ship and do various tasks such as transporting goods from A-B to earn money, hunt different whales for extra profit, craft resources for skinning and upgrade gear, upgrade your captain’s cabin to make it look all neat, open trade routes and discover islands where you can find some extra goods and do crew integration. You will also be challenged with storms and other NPC/Players going after your goods depending on the zone.
What makes it special is that there is not another game like that out there, if you like simulation games like truck driver, silent hunter and naval games, this will appeal to you.
The vertical slice/prototype will have the core gameplay design like ship navigation, crafting, trading and whale hunting. Since this is so ambitious we have to start small and add as we go.'
Who are you and your team?
'It's myself (Tommy) project lead and I do modelling, animation and texturing.
Mike: Who has over 10 years programming experience and worked on games like LOL and Resident evil.
Fab: A freelancer artist who is making the ship for the prototype, has worked on many Hollywood movies such as Narnia 3 (he made the ship).'
What are you using to develop / build the game?
'The prototype will be in Unity.'
How's this going?
'It`s going really good, we are working hard to get the VS out and ready. It’s going to be very powerful so it has to be done right.'
What are your plans for it?
'There are a lot of plans for this game, obviously, I can’t talk about all of it, that would spoil the fun. But the general plan is to get the VS ready and start looking at other funding methods so we can grow it the way we want to.'
What part does music play in the game?
'It plays a huge role, the music from that era is going to set the feel for the game so it must be top notch, this we can go more into when the VS and funding is ready. But we have a lot of options regarding this. There will be a demo of the OST sometime next week with some music.'
Great stuff! Here's a sneak peak of the track:
Is there anything you want to say about the 'Ocean calm' track?
'Luckily Ninichi has been very good to work with, and she works fast. I can totally recommend going to her if you are an indie, its definitely worth it!'
Where can we find out more about the game?
'You can check us out on http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-whaler-working-title and also on Twitter @trym_studios for more information.'
About the author: Ninichi is a game music composer & supporter of indie games. If you need help with the music for your game or project, contact me now to explore how we might work together.
Learn more About me (Ninichi) and check out examples of my game music.
Explore Ninichi's music blog further & follow @ninichimusic
