MORSE News

Hey folks!



I'm so excited for you all to get to finally try the game, I hope you enjoy it!

Download it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1976900/MORSE_Demo/

Here's some footage of the demo being shown off last night with the telegraph and glowing LED rope:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I would ask if you could be patient with the project if there are any major issues, I've put a lot of time into making this the best demo but there's always the chance bugs slip under the radar, I'll try to get any issues fixed ASAP. You can share bugs, suggestions or feedback in the community forums.

I'm wanting to refine the game ahead of Steam Next Fest, so if you find any more remaining bugs, tweaks or suggestions, you can fill out the survey here!

I'll do another follow up soon on the last few additions/changes I've made to the game next week, such as the new shell type and expert mode, but for now, have a great weekend and .... .- .--. .--. -.-- / -- --- .-. ... .. -. --. !

Hey folks,

MORSE now has support for various telegraph keys such as Iambic, Sideswipers and Semi-auto keys!

This means the game can be played in a variety of new ways that reflect different inputs of various telegraphs or you can you one further and integrate telegraph keys into your setup! Here is me operating the "Sideswiper" mode with an Iambic key.

Here are the different types:
+ Straight Key - The classic, the intended way to play MORSE. Single input, hold for dot, tap for dash.
+ Iambic Key - A dual paddle, used by a lot of modern telegraphists. Tap one paddle for dash, tap the other for dot. Squeeze for both.
+ Sideswiper - A single paddle with an unusual input, move your hand back and forth to tap either side of the paddle to enter alternating dots and dashes. Designed to lower risk of glass arm.
+ Semi-Automatic - A single paddle, dots on one side, dashes on the other. Holding the key on the dot side will output a constant feed of dots, dashes are entered with tapping.

I should be clear that whilst getting to wire up a real telegraph with the game is certainly appealing, it isn't a requirement. Each of these alternate control schemes can be operated with a mouse, keyboard or configuration of inputs on the Steamdeck.

Having said that, I'm so stoked for people to give this a whirl, curious to see how people adapt their desktops/games controllers to operate the game and the variety of telegraphs people use. At some point I'll be doing a stream of the game with the various telegraphs, stay tuned for that!  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I've also created a dedicated menu where the player can pick and choose between different types of
telegraphs and set the difficulty, I'm very happy with how it looks.



The emblem on the right used for the difficulty is an adaption of the traditional Royal Navy Emblem for telegraphists during WW1.

Progress wise, I'm generally reaching a point where there's not much more to do before just putting the demo out for people to try. I'll be trying to make the demo available at least a week before Next Fest for some last minute playtesting so stay tuned for that!

More updates soon, .-

Hello folks,

Big news: MORSE is going to be demoing in Steam Next Fest! I'm so stoked for people to finally get their hands on the project after all this time.

With that in mind, I've been polishing up the demo and adding some last minute features that really enhance the game:

+ Ammo rate scale: To add extra incentive to accuracy, I've added a tiny scale in the bottom left corner of the screen that increases each time an enemy hit is chained. Doing that consistently will fill the scale, which speeds up ammo supply. Missing a ship with artillery or letting mines get blown up will reduce it to zero. I really like this feature as previously competent players would be stuck waiting for ammo to fill in, but now their accuracy is rewarded with more ammo. The bit that's immensely satisfying is it's unlocked a whole new depth to deciding when to kill enemies. Let me explain:

Previously players would just sit on the far side of the map and just shoot enemies the moment they spawned, but now because of the ammo scale there's incentive to leave ships alive longer so you can chain them together and see your next target when you fire on the next ship.

For example, lets say you're on the furthest right on the map, an enemy spawns, you kill it immediately. No other enemies have spawned yet/moved in range so you don't get intel of their positions. This means you have to guess where the next ship will spawn, risking breaking your ammo chain if you miss.



Instead, waiting till the enemy ship has moved across a grid space or two (but still short of your mines) means when you do fire on it, the muzzle flash reveals the next target. So in theory, as long as they're in range you'll most likely be able to spot your next target, continuing the chain. You can also use slow, heavily armoured ships as a spot to intermittently hit to reveal the surrounding area without breaking that combo.

I've used this very effectively to max out the scale, it feels suddenly like there's a lot more depth to enemy selection rather than shooting everything that moves.

+ Credits page: Rather than just an "About" popup, I've added a dedicated credits page for the game where you can see little ships passing in the background.
+ Deck of unlocks: With the in game about page now redundant, I've switched that out for a "Deck" page that displays all the upgrades you've unlocked so far in your run with some extra detail of what each card does. Hopefully helps players optimise their runs a little more!



+ A solid buff of polish: I've cleaned up a lot of the UI which has made a big difference to the feel of play. I also added a little closing screen listing some of the features the game will have on launch.

I'm going to submit the demo to Valve this week, fingers crossed everything goes smoothly so it launches on time! Stay tuned for more soon.

Hello Folks!

MORSE is finally coming to Steam, I've gotten around to getting the game in a playable state on PC, more than anything I'm just so excited to get the game out the door and finished. Been a long, long project, it's a different beast to what I planned along the way but still very happy with what I've produced.

I managed to get the game working on Steamdeck this evening, it looked real sharp on the platform and after some tinkering with the Steamdeck control layouts managed to get inputs working on the platform. Most notably was using the capacitive touch on the analog stick with some haptic feedback to mimic a telegraph key! Uses the trigger to fire as well, check out the video below of it in action:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you all for your patience and your kind words of support in the community, it's incredibly sweet to see good will still there after the number of setbacks for the project. The demo for the project should be releasing in the next month so stay tuned for that!

Hello folks!

Thanks for your patience and your continued interest, couple of updates on the project:

So the most major update to the project is that the Playdate version of the game is really blossoming, not only have I got the game running smoothly on the platform with most of the core functionality integrated, but I've also built a custom peripheral to house the console itself whilst I'm playing the game that turns the crank into a telegraph key! Here's the footage:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The post I shared on Twitter proper blew up which was incredibly exciting (Playdate themselves even shared the game) and it's really bought the otherwise exclusive experience of the antique physical installation of the project into people's pockets.

With that in mind, my focus for the game is prioritising development of the Playdate version. The Steam version is still coming, just that Playdate is a far better initial fit for MORSE (perfect arguably); The scope/expectations for the platform are significantly smaller, there's less competition due to technical barriers/hardware access, through developing for the platform is teaching me the language Lua and most importantly to me, it allows me to experiment with the prospect of mass distribution of alt-ctrl experiences. If the game does well on Playdate, Steam is the natural next platform to bring the game to.



Despite this change, I'll still be posting updates about the project here as there will certainly be design decisions that translate to the Steam version (I don't intend for the game to deviate massively from its counterpart) and I'll be updating the Steam page to reflect the current aesthetic/form of the project and retiring the Unity version.

Thanks again and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

.-