Carrier Command 2 News

Dear Players,

We are now accepting sign ups for an upcoming Steam Playtest of Carrier Command 2!

To join this playtest, simply go to the Carrier Command 2 store page and click "Request Access". The playtest is free to everyone and you can sign up now!

The Playtest for Carrier Command 2 will involve a limited number of players having access to Carrier Command 2. Access will be done in rounds, with each round lasting a few days or a long weekend. Each round will feature more of the game than previous rounds!

We expect to start the first round of live playtesting in a couple of weeks.



For this playtest, we are trying out the new in-built Steam Playtest feature here on Steam. Anyone can sign up, and all players are treated equally. Players are selected at random from the pool of signups.

Depending on the quantity of applications, it may not be possible to give access to all players who requested it. We will see how it goes, carefully considering player feedback, and will communicate our plans to you.



We are running these playtests to show you what the game is, why Carrier Command 2 is so special and unique an experience, and get feedback from players on what you think of the game! This is a huge milestone and we are really excited to share everything we have been working so hard on.

We can't wait! Sign up now.

Much love
The Carrier Command 2 Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss the sound track of Carrier Command 2, it's inspirations and development. We are also sharing a preview of some of the music to help describe the sound of the game.

Turn your speakers up and check out the music preview here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The direction of Carrier Command 2 is to mix the scope and precision of modern gaming with the creativity and pioneering spirit of the original game, and to celebrate the golden era of 1980s gaming. Many parts of the art style make reference to this, with low poly graphics and pixel art. In terms of music, we want to achieve a similar reflection of this era of gaming.

We are inspired by many well executed films and TV shows such as Tron Legacy and Stranger Things which capture the zeitgeist of an age gone by, in a way that captures the feeling of nostalgia and an appreciation of the styles of the era.

We are also inspired by original works of the 1980s, particularly of Ridley Scotts 1982 classic, Bladerunner. The sound track created by Vangelis creates a unique identity and brilliantly supports the incredible visual visual design that tells the story of their neo-noir world.

The Carrier Command 2 sound track is created by Chris Randle and Jon Daou, two brilliant composers who we have been working with for over 7 years and 5 games. Previously, they had produced a short 36 second main theme and soundscape for a small text based game we had developed called True Legacy. We loved working together in this style and had been waiting years for a new opportunity to take that style further.

Their sound track for Carrier Command 2 comprises of a main theme, 3 in game tracks (each with 3 layers corresponding to a state of alertness) and a boss fight theme. They are also working to produce an album version, designed for listening as music rather than integrated into a game, where the music is designed to loop and change procedurally.



Sound and music is such an important part of the experience of playing a game, so we have been very excited about developing this, and pushing this aspect as far as we can. A huge thank you to Chris and Jon who have wildly surpassed our expectations yet again.

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the music and direction of the game. Let us know in the comments!

In the mean time, development is going very well and we are working on final features that we are really passionate about. We are hoping to make some new exciting announcements soon! Until then...

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we announce naval warfare in Carrier Command 2.

Across the archipelago, the enemy have a small fleet of corvettes and gunboats that guard the highest value islands. While these ships only guard a small number of islands, they are very dangerous. These ships are armed with a subset of the same armaments you carry on your carrier.



While it may be possible to sometimes approach an island undetected and deploy ground forces while avoiding a naval conflict, it is often prudent to eliminate the enemy naval force before landing. This can be achieved through several means, such as the same armaments that you already have versus ground targets such as cruise missiles, naval artillery cannon, guns, rockets, precision bombs, but also the new carrier launched and air launched torpedoes.



Torpedo combat is inspired by classic Microprose title, Red Storm Rising, and also the well-crafted spiritual successor Cold Waters. Torpedoes are launched with a compass bearing and arming timer. Once the arming timer becomes active, the torpedo switches from cruise to search mode, and actively searches for sonar targets. Once a target is locked, the torpedo steers towards the target to close the distance and maintain lock.

Torpedoes are displayed on the vehicle control screen including their position history to show their progress and tracking behaviour.

As well as offensive torpedoes, your carrier and some enemy ships are equipped with decoys and noisemakers. Decoys are another type of torpedo that emit a strong signature, which other torpedoes are likely to lock on to. Noisemakers simply generate a huge amount of sonar interference in order to blind sonar tracking capabilities and disrupt a sonar lock.



Fighting these ships is hugely engaging, but also serves as great practice for when you finally fight the enemy carrier, and everything is being played for.

We have been having a great time developing and playing with the new naval combat and cannot wait to share more with you.

Please let us know if there is anything particular you would like to know more about, as well as your thoughts and feedback on naval combat.

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss the main menu! OK, this doesn't sound that exciting at first, but the main menu actually reveals several important pieces of information about the game.

The main menu is in the form of a first person cockpit, with several interactable screens. Each screen represents a sub-menu - game, options, quit, and others that you would normally find on a game menu. In Carrier Command 2, they are not arranged in 2D UI elements, but placed in MFD style screens.

From the offset, we want to introduce players to the physical interactions and literalism of interfacing with CC2. Settings and controls are not hidden deep in sub-menus, but displayed across an array of screens facing the player. Each screen and station has an essential function and your environment is alive, deep, and highly detailed.

So, what are the screens?

The Game Menu



The central console is the main game menu. This is where you go to play the game. New, Load, Multiplayer, etc. There are some sub-menus to this screen where you can also select custom game options, etc. and we may show these in a future post!

The Options Menu



CC2 is a PC game for Steam, so all the usual graphics settings and options that are expected are here. I am sure some of you will study these graphics settings for clues about other elements of the game!

The Character Creation Menu



Yes, you can create your own character in CC2! You can define your gender, skin tone, hair colour and styles. This is all reflected in game in your appearance in multiplayer.

The Language Menu



Multi-language support! The list of languages shown is based on which countries and languages were popular with Stormworks. This isn't a final list and is subject to change, so we can't promise all these languages will be in the final list. We will keep you updated!

The Quit Menu



As tempting it was to put the quit button on an ejection handle, we thought it would be most consistent and correct to place this on an MFD, complete with brief credits and quit confirmation.

As for the elephant in the room; yes, this cockpit is travelling through space at faster-than-light speed. CC2 is true to the narrative of the original game, and the lore of the Gaea Universe. More on this will be announced in an upcoming spotlight!

We hope this weeks spotlight gives some useful insight and info into CC2, and a bit more context on what to expect from the game.

We have loads more to share in upcoming posts, so please let us know what you want to hear about next.

Development is almost feature complete and we are almost ready for larger scale play testing. Do you think we should invite some players to help test?

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss the damage control station and power management system in Carrier Command 2.

In the original game, vehicles could receive damage to a specific component of a vehicle that would effect the behaviour of that vehicle in a specific way. In the remake, we have designed main carrier damage in a similar way, so that the carrier takes damage (by weapons, collision, etc) at a specific location. For example, a hit to the tower could disable radar, while damage to a specific CIWS would disable that turret.

The damage status of the carrier is displayed on a screen on the bridge, showing the health of the various sub-systems, as well as the overall health of the hull. While the hull health is the critical health bar that ultimately decides if your carrier is destroyed, damage to sub-systems can leave you exposed and vulnerable.



Damage can be repaired, but it takes time and costs power (both of which are likely under short supply if you are under attack). Sub-systems will only work when fully repaired.

Power is a valuable commodity in Carrier Command 2. The main power unit on the carrier is responsible for supplying all systems, including propulsion. Just having a system active has a small power cost, and while it is possible to power all systems at once, it ultimately leaves less power available for propulsion. Turning systems off to get a little more speed may seem attractive, but may leave you radar blind or vulnerable to missile attack. Likewise, to fortify with full battle-readiness, the manoeuvring speed will be limited.

While not the first example of a power system, my favourite example is the 1997 Lucasarts game, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter. In this game, you could balance your power between weapons, shields, and engines, and continually rebalance as your desired play style changed. It was possible to leave power at the default state, but you could express your play style and optimize your ship by tweaking the power balance as you saw fit. Carrier Command 2 aims to achieve a similar balance. It isn't something that new players need worry about, but the player can choose to optimize the ship for it's current role and strategy, or just turn systems off to quickly repair the most important damaged systems.



We hope you find this post interesting, and we have plenty more to share in coming weeks. There are some particular elements in the game (such as procedural world generation, weather simulation, AI and pathfinding) that I really want to share, but they probably deserve a video, and we are so busy getting the last parts of the game finished. I expect we will find the time for videos around release.

As always, we look forward to your thoughts and feedback. Let us know what you think and what you want to hear about next!

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers