Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter News

Lead designer Artur Salwarowski plays Destroyer: the U-boat hunter demo for an hour, answering your questions about the game, new demo functionalities, as well as the further development of Destroyer.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken part in our steam playtest. We are about to close it, as we are preparing to roll out a new demo for you to enjoy!

October is upon us and Steam Next Fest is just around the corner. As you know, we have already released the first playable version earlier this year through steam playtest. It met with a lot of praise and we received a lot of quality feedback from the naval warfare and subsim community. Now, we are getting ready to release a new version at Steam Next Fest in October.

[h2]And here’s what the new demo brings to the table:[/h2]

• 7 new language versions

We believe that Steam Next Fest could help us reach a lot of new players, and so we have translated the game into 7 new languages (text only), including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Polish. We hope that this will facilitate onboarding for non-English speakers and introduce many new fans of the genre to the game.

• Improved AI
  

We have applied a few tweaks here and there and we hope that you will welcome the small improvements. The U-boat is now a little easier to control and suppress, but, on the other hand, should be able to surprise you with a few new tricks!

• Easier onboarding for new players: automatic plotting and targeting

We believe this can be a game-changer for anyone who is totally new to navigation and target motion analysis. Those functions can now be automated, so you can feel more like a captain, with the CIC doing all the dirty work for you. This can, of course, be switched on and off in the pause menu, so everyone can determine their preferred level of automation.



The same applies to depth charge targeting: the speed and depth can be set by your recorder officer, so the only thing you will need to do is to adjust the transparent plotter bar angle and press ‘fire’ at the right time. The TRR is one of the more tricky parts of the game, but can help you A LOT with your accuracy, provided you set it right - this feature does exactly that for you!

• Relative bearings

The feature that was most requested by naval warfare veterans is here! You can now switch between true and relative bearings not only on the sonar console, but also with the gun director and lookouts. Again, you have full control over how you wish to play, so feel free to configure everything to your liking.

• New audio reports

Your lookouts can now spot torpedo wakes, sonar will report on torpedoes in the water, the gunner will confirm hits on target, and more. While not game-changing, we hope these new lines will make the audio part more complete.

• Destroyer and U-boat physics

While there wasn’t enough time to address this issue in full, we have nevertheless managed to slightly improve such characteristics as acceleration and deceleration, turning, inertia, and so on. There is still a lot of work ahead of us in this regard, and even more in terms of the visual presentation of water effects, but we didn’t want to leave this issue unaddressed, and so we hope you will find the small fixes satisfactory.

• New camera options and hotkeys

A lot of players requested a free look mode for all stations, as well as an external view. You can find both of the above in the new version. We have also started introducing hotkeys, so you can change between stations by pressing keys from 1 to 6.

More features like this will be added as the game matures and we can focus more on improving overall user experience. There are a few other features that we hoped we could deliver (such as various depth charge patterns, improved audio report queueing, and U-boat AI), but there wasn’t enough time to test them fully. Rest assured, however, that we are working on them and that they will make their way into the game.

[h3]See you at Steam Next Fest![/h3]

With all that said, please make sure to try our new demo at the October edition of Steam Next Fest. Tell your friends, give it a try, and, most importantly, let us know what you think about it!

Thank you!
Iron Wolf Studio

Support us and follow:
FB, Discord, Twitter, Reddit, WWW, Subsim

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272010/Destroyer_The_UBoat_Hunter/

While we are busy working on implementing a lot of improvements (you can check them here: click!) to our Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter demo to deliver it to the Steam Festival in October we still have an announcement to make.

[h2]Our new project![/h2]

If you combine Wolfenstein vibe with Duke Nukem humour you will get... American Commando! A first-person shooter portraying an alternative history of World War II in retro style. The demo is planned for this year!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Please check out the trailer for American Commando and let us know what you think! Also, don’t forget to add our new game to your Steam wishlist!

Stay tuned!
Iron Wolf Studio

Support us and follow:
Discord, Twitter, Facebook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605420/American_Commando/

First, many thanks to everyone who has participated in the playtest so far. The response has been great, you've given us a lot of valuable feedback, we've thoroughly checked everything (even if we didn't manage to write back every time, rest assured that your posts have been noticed) and we take it all into account!

We have just finished processing demo feedback and have completed the task list for the team!

[h2]Here's what we are working on right now:[/h2]

:anchor: free camera look for all stations

:anchor: switching between stations via hotkeys

:anchor: improved 'Crest' water effects

:anchor: new messages from sonar, e.g. 'sounds of torpedo tube outer doors opening'

:anchor: new messages from lookouts, e.g. 'torpedo in the water'

:anchor: all inconsistencies between text and audio to be fixed

:anchor: relative bearing for sonar, lookouts and gun director

:anchor: improved destroyer and U-boat physics

:anchor: text localization in multiple languages

:anchor: auto-plot for DRT & OSC

:anchor: pencil functionaity for DRT (drawing a constant line from the center of the light bug)

:anchor: selective eraser for DRT / OSC

:anchor: automatic TRR settings

:anchor: 'game settings' menu in the pause menu, allowing to pick and choose which of the extra cameras and automations you wish to use

:anchor: collision warning (ship siren and message from the lookouts)

:anchor: various DRT user experience improvements (bigger clicking box for drawing Xs and more)

:anchor: pattern selection for depth charge drops

:anchor: external camera

:anchor: hot keys for steering and speed control

:anchor: improved audio report queueing and selective muting

:anchor: text window improvements (bigger, improved scrolling, various colors for different stations, etc.)

:anchor: destroyer camouflage selection (still to be confirmed)

:anchor: sailor models in all stations (still to be confirmed)

[h3]Important![/h3]

This list is not complete due to some things we have yet to keep secret. Also, bear in mind that not everything will be implemented before the next version of the demo. However, we feel that these are the things that were mentioned most often, and we plan to improve them in the nearest future.

Join our Discord to be the first to get updates and information on the game development. Thank you again for your involvement!

Stay tuned!
Iron Wolf Studio

Support us and follow:
FB, Discord, Twitter, Reddit, WWW, Subsim

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272010/Destroyer_The_UBoat_Hunter/

TGIF for two reasons. First, the weekend is close! Second, we have the fifth episode of our game tutorial for you! This time we will focus on Gun Director and Lookouts:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Gun Director houses the optics of the main gun battery and is used to make some damage to surfaced u-boats, but that's not all. Let's focus on the many options at your disposal.

[h2]Feedback![/h2]

We are still collecting feedback! Please post it under the demo announcement and on our Discord, where we answer your questions.

Please stay tuned for more updates!
Iron Wolf Studio

Support us and follow:
FB, Discord, Twitter, Reddit, WWW, Subsim

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272010/Destroyer_The_UBoat_Hunter/