MORSE launch, a week on!
[p]Wow, what a whirlwind! I can't believe MORSE has been out for nearly a week, it's been a hectic but pleasant time since launch, listening to people's experiences of playing the game and real sense of relief that the game has gone down well. [/p][p][/p][p]I'm very excited to announce that MORSE has passed 1000 copies sold within the first week! That's a lot of folks learning Morse Code.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p][/p][p]I feel significantly better for some rest in this weekend and a real sense of achievement for getting the game over the line. I'm so glad people are enjoying MORSE, in particular I am absolutely loving the images of different telegraph keys emerging to operate the game. As someone who's spent most of their career teaching people how to build their own game controllers and being creative with simple hardware, seeing the game seeding that kind of creativity around the world really is a dream come true. I'm going to try feature telegraphs made by players in these updates, so stay tuned for more of that. [/p][p][/p][p]![]()
Here's a pair of homebrew telegraphs shared with me online ^[/p][p][/p][p]On that subject, I've created a dedicated thread for folks to share tips on wiring up their telegraphs. I'll be updating the top of the thread with a collection of different homebrew telegraph solutions and adapters, if you have any suggestions please do share them and If you've fashioned your own telegraph (or purchased one) to play the game with, please share those as well![/p][p][/p][h3]Updates so far:[/h3][p]The last week been mostly about getting through launch and stabilising the build, that appears to have been successful, I appreciate the help and patience of those who've decided to play the game so far. Here's the full list of what's been fixed:[/p]
- [p]Mouse issues on platform select: Mouse input was disabled for the platform selection page, that has been re-enabled. I really appreciate folks in the Steam discussions highlighting this issue to me quickly. I've added some supporting text on the platform selection screen explaining what controls to push to control the game at that point.[/p]
- [p]Expert and skirmish unlock fixed: There was a fringe bug that if you closed the game after unlocking these modes (but before the game was saved) it wouldn't restore the unlock on the next load. This has been sorted.
[/p]
- [p]Ability to turn off Morse references: In the previous build, the Morse translations for the letters/numbers were only turned off in expert mode. These can now be fully disabled using H on PC or Y on Steamdeck. I'm very happy with this, particularly playing on Skirmish mode where more unusual letters come up.[/p]
- [p]Collapsible version of helpsheet: Previously, MORSE had no helpsheet in expert mode, which meant on later levels if submarines rows out of view it was hard to tell. Now, the helpsheet isn't gone, it just collapses smalls and displays the characters on either axis. You can also hold H to fully close the helpsheet if you want. I am looking into adding some extra achievements tied to leaving the help sheet closed to encourage folks to try beat the game by memorising the letters rather than relying on the patterns. [/p]
- [p]Fixed the telegraph beep not stopping on the end screen.[/p]
- [p]Minor text correction "Plant 3 mines to start the wave", adjusted to 2.[/p]
- [p]Cloud Save Functionality: I think this one should hopefully be an easy fix, I was in the process of implementing cloud saves ahead of launch but decided it was too risky adding that it without proper testing. [/p]
- [p]Differentiating between Novice and Telegraphist Mode: Currently, the only difference between the modes is one the tutorial being enabled on one and not the other. I'm thinking of making Novice an easier mode to beat so that those familiar with telegraphy but unfamiliar with games don't find the game too punishing on later levels. There'll likely be other adjustments, but the first two that make the most sense is slowing ship speeds down and lowering the number of waves. [/p]
- [p]Improving the tutorial: Whilst the tutorial works for most players, I've had in the feedback a suggestion that the auto-scroll is too fast for reading, so my plan is to integrate the text/images from the tutorials into the manual, so the player can review them at their own pace. I also need to add the option to skip the tutorial if it's already been beaten.[/p]
- [p]Advanced settings menu: To give people more options for calibration, I'll be expanding the main menu settings menu to accommodate more configurations as informed by feedback given so far. Additions include the ability to invert mouse input, setting the in-game telegraph key tone (so players using adapters can use a dedicated sidetone without them clashing) and individual saved settings for each telegraph type. I'm also researching whether I can find a way to differentiate between the two ctrl keys on keyboards as that will unlock vBand support. If you have any other requests or nice to haves settings-wise, please let me know.[/p]