Two whaling games in development

[Homo eructus]

Not really pirate games per se, but there are two promising naval indie games about whale hunting that I'd like to share.

Nnatucket (Picaresque Studio) is a strategy seafaring game set around the 1820s, heavily inspired by Moby Dick (it can be considered kind of a sequel, as you can play as Ismael if you so choose). You have to hire and manage a crew with different specialisations, upgrade your ship and of course sail around the world in pursuit of whales to fill your hold with precious oil, all while fending off pirates and dealing with different events that pop up during your voyage. It has a tabletop-like combat system for both whale hunting and pirate-fighting, with card decks and dice. It's already in its closed beta phase and will be releasing shortly, one would expect.

This next one, on the other hand is still very early in development, I discovered it today precisely through Picaresque's twitter account.

The Whaler (Trym Studios) has a very different approach. It aims to be a first person simulation of whale hunting in the 17th-18th century with elements of sailing, crafting and trading, with a fully explorable and customizable ship. Some of the planned features:

- Delegate crew orders like scrubbing deck, repairs, upgrades, crafting and so on.
- Carve whale art for selling when you make port or just to show of to other players online.
- Trade whale oil and other goods for the best price at port. Earn money for upgrades, new ships, new crew member specialists like doctors. Expand your business.
- Meet other players to trade goods and rumours of whale or other spottings.
- Engange in an action phased hunt for the whale.
- Do some fishing to get more resources or just try to catch all of the different fish for your collections.
- Survive the storms.
- Customization of the ship: Captains Cabin etc.
- Ability to Craft items and tools.

As I say, still very early in development, they will go on Kickstarter next year.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Cool, mate!

I do believe I heard of Nantucket before, bit completely forgot about it again.
And that second one is definitely news to me.

 

[Homo eructus]

Nantucket devs follow PiratesAhoy!'s twitter so they definitely have heard of us!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Nantucket devs follow PiratesAhoy!'s twitter so they definitely have heard of us!

Hey, that's cool! Didn't even know that.

In the meantime, I moved your post so it will display on the PA! main page.
Seems like a better place, no?

 

[Homo eructus]

By the way, you can ask for access to Nantucket's beta shooting them an email. They don't seem to be very picky with the selection, they've accepted me

 

[Homo eructus]

'Tis good. I've spent six hours playing just today.

 

[Keel-haul Kelley]

Both look great. Definatly going to follow The Whaler. Going whaling was my favorite part of AC Black Flag.

Has whaling in NH ever been considered? I think build mod 13 was the last version I ever played, and it was some years ago as I lost my copy of potc, but I think I remember seeing sharks and tortise swimming around.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Has whaling in NH ever been considered?

Not really, no. I can't think of any way that the current game engine could support it.
There are animals in the game, but they're purely graphical and there is no interaction with them.

I think build mod 13 was the last version I ever played, and it was some years ago as I lost my copy of potc

Ouch, you're very much behind the times then! There are workarounds for lost copies of games, though.

I think I remember seeing sharks and tortise swimming around.

Sharks, yes. Tortoise, no.

 

[Homo eructus]

Nantucket is out today, BTW with a 10% release discount.

Save 10% on Nantucket on Steam