Show HN: Sail a historical full-rigged ship in real global weather
thapen.itch.ioThis is a simulator of a frigate from about 1800. It has realistic physics, tuned to match historical performance. The UI is based around commands given in period naval language. Rather than use the current weather, it has a full year's weather data (for 1980 - taken from https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html). This allows the weather to change realistically under time acceleration.
To learn the basics of handling a square-rigged ship, start the "Harbour" scenario, click on the instructions button at the bottom left, and follow the instructions to try to get out of Portsmouth harbour.
To go for a long sail, start the "The World" scenario. Open the map, control+click anywhere on it to move there; control+click on the compass at the bottom left to turn the ship to that heading; then activate travel acceleration at the bottom right.
It's a simulator more than a game - think MS flight simulator. There's no sinking, but you can lose sails or spars in high winds. It's windows only.
This was released a couple of years ago, but this is an updated version from the end of January. See the devlog (https://thapen.itch.io/painted-ocean/devlog) for the changes. You can also find some discussions there on historical sailing performance numbers. This is a perfect use case for VR, specifically crappy VR, motion sickness is now a feature We apparently share the same humor :) As an ex charter sailing yacht skipper and VR developer, this comment made my morning! I've always been interested in sailing. I'm from Illinois. I once went to Jamaica and sailed a small catamaran for several hours on a protected bay and had great fun. For years afterwards I was reading sailing textbooks and dreaming about it, but given my location, I don't want to put money into it I've played some sailing games and had fun, but they weren't simulations. I've never tried a sailing simulator. This one looks great, and I'll try it out, if I can make it run on Linux. (I notice you say that it's Windows-only, I take that as a challenge) Since you've said elsewhere in the thread that you want to sail solo, I might also suggest getting into windsurfing. A windsurfer is a solo craft and smaller and more portable than a sailboat (no trailer required, just a roof rack), and can be used in smaller and shallower lakes. Especially if you're interested in the mechanics and physics of sailing, windsurfing is great for that, since you manipulate the sail manually and use it to do everything, including steering (no rudder). I've been sailing since the age of 10, and teaching it since the age of 18 (on a volunteer basis, not as a career); I'm now 36. I didn't grows up near the coast here in the UK so a lot of my early years were spent sailing on lakes - it's worth seeing if you have options like this near you. It's not a terribly expensive sport to get started with; you certainly don't need your own boat! The wind off Chicago is some of the best in the US for sailing. its cold, but its great. In fact, we have produced some of the most competitive small boat sailors in the world, and have even hosted big boat stuff like the americas cup. I used to be a race coach for small boat sailing - happy to give lessons If you want to go sailing this summer, Id be more than happy to show you how! You might be interested in sailing on such a ship irl then: https://www.gotheborg.se/ My main interest is in doing it solo, I don't think I'd enjoy it nearly as much with other people around. While this does look interesting, it doesn't appeal to me in the same way I remember reading Robert Manry's Tinkerbelle[1] as a child, and ever since have had something of a fascination with the idea of sailing solo; although at my now-fairly-advanced age I accept that I'm going to keep my ambitions severely in check. For what it's worth, I sail and the average other sailboat I meet is sailed solo by an older guy. A small to medium coastal cruiser/overnighter type seems to be the sweet spot, can be easier to single-hand than many kinds of dinghy, cheaper and with easier boat handling than big cruisers and less to go wrong. So it may not be Atlantic crossing but I hope you get some sailing in. Thanks for taking the time to add an encouraging comment. There are trailerable mini cruisers, especially in the trimaran space. Example (of many) https://corsairmarine.com/used-boat/2015-corsair-dash-750-mk... You can bring it home, bring it on lakes, or bring it on the east coast and sails to the Bahamas. Whatever rocks your boat, literally! Don't know much about Illinois, but there are lakes up there I've heard, surely there are sailing clubs, etc for the summer. I have a small (14 foot) two-hull dinghy thing I bought maybe 38 years ago that I need to get out again on one of the lakes or bays here south of Sydney , Australia. Illinois boarders a small inland sea named "Lake Michigan" (58000 km^2) that is great for sailing and often has regattas. check out laser sailing So tempting! Advise anyone considering this not to skip the “who should apply” info. Not the love boat! > I notice you say that it's Windows-only, I take that as a challenge It runs under WINE with no issues > but given my location, I don't want to put money into it You made me a bit curious, why not? Illinois seems to have sailing opportunities in many places, and with a good drysuit or wetsuit even dinghy sailing in colder climates is fine. And if you still do not fancy swimming, there are small keelboats you can handle on your own relatively easily. (Take your time to learn in easy winds and preferably a teacher of some sort, though) I'm also interested in running it on Linux, would be great if the game officially supported running in Wine. > I've always been interested in sailing. I'm from Illinois. Almost a haiku! Lake sailing is out of the question? You can probably get a small dinghy or hobie cat for free (you'll need to do work on it). Or join a yacht club on a lake and make friends :) Yep, I grew up sailing, and learning on a tiny boat is pretty much ideal. It responds quickly, and that helps you get a good feel for things. Then gradually work your way up. And those big Illinois lakes probably have yacht clubs with regattas, which is where you really learn to sail well. And it's great fun; there's a lot of strategy involved in racing, I'd feel like I was captain of the Enterprise fighting the Klingons. When you get the hang of what the wind is up to despite your boat's forward velocity based on what it feels like and the look of the waves and breakers etc. Just like an aircraft, you need to consider three axes of rotation - nominally: roll, pitch and yaw and three vectors for direction of travel. Then you need to worry about propulsion. An aircraft provides its own farts. A sailing boat flies or is pushed or a combination of those. A Bermuda rig - two triangles one in front and one behind the mast, basically "flies". The front sail - the "jib" provides some lift and also steadies the airflow over the main sail. A square rig - think Santa Maria, HMS Victory, Vasa etc generally rely on being pushed. They will probably also have staysails with very complicated names and the like that work in the same way as jibs. Also gaff rigs, Arab dhows, Junk rigs and more ways of using the wind. In the end the helm needs to feel the wind and work out what to do with it - that's why the ship's wheel on sailing vessels is not enclosed (that would be insane). In two clicks I had it running with Wine. Not a problem. The world's biggest lake is right next to you! The Caspian Sea? People also make and race small RC sailboats Having been an actual professional tallship sailor in another life, I can somewhat guarantee the lack of buckling knees, seasickness, need to go aloft (climb the mast), and sleep in cramped quarters will make the virtual experience slightly more approachable. These effects only last for about 48 hours. Pure joy after that. This is really cool! I'm a few books into the Aubry/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien (highly recommended! The movie Master & Commander is based on them). This should help to get a better feel for the ships and the battles! I’ve loved this series for many years - highly recommended. If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with ship terminology I’d suggest not getting too hung up on understanding exactly what bit of the ship he’s talking about. There’s lots of great historical detail - but O’Brian also tells a fabulous story. Yes, those books were one of the main inspirations for making this, and a lot of stuff in them made more sense after working on it. >Master & Commander I had no idea I would enjoy this film as much as I did. Highly recommend to all explorer and adventurous types. I'm wondering if the game requires you to know all the sail names. That could be a big impediment to doing things in it! It certainly adds some difficulty in even reading those books. It does! But having the simulation right there helps you learn them. I had two main questions to answer when making this. First, how does ship physics work anyway; second, what is an appropriate UI that feels like being an officer ordering a couple of hundred people around? I previously worked on a flight sim, where it's appropriate to move a joystick, or a mouse, and have the plane respond straight away. I think that would feel wrong here - it would make the ship feel like a toy. A benefit of the technical language is that it helps convey the idea that the ship is a big, complicated machine, with all the parts worked by people. It's also fun to see the strange words. So I decided to lean in to technical language and verbal commands. I was starting to work with git, and thought about using a command-line UI for the game; but I went with something inspired by the menus and hotkeys of old roguelikes. I'm reading the Aubrey-Maturin books and found this sail diagram quite helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/AubreyMaturinSeries/comments/j3vn05... For reading this 21 book series it's worth investing into one more book with background information. I can recommend Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World (Hardcover) Lots of valuable information, lots of illustrations and schematics and photos. Also recommend A Sea of Words, which is a lexicon of the nautical terminology from the books. I’m on book three and this is incredibly useful. The level of detail in the books is insane. I also reallllly liked the Russell Crowe movie, and wish they had made more. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun as hell, and the napoleonic wars provide so much material for sequels. they are making another one! This is the series that first showed me that the Kindle's built-in dictionary simply omits obscure words. I wonder why. It can't take that much storage space even for a very comprehensive dictionary. If you enjoyed that series you might also enjoy the Otto Prohaska series by John Biggins. It's about a submarine captain in WWI, so doesn't touch on sailing too much (well the 4th book does), but similar maritime themes. Probably the best series of novels I've read. It's only on hacker news that I could find recommendations for historic naval fiction! Yes! I've read and reread them many, many times. There's nothing more comforting to me than picking up one of those books. I've never actually finished the series, I don't think I'll ever be read for the ending. Nice!
I dreamt about making exactly this for years, also after reading Patrick O'Brien. Learned some 3D modeling, tried a few game engines, thought a lot about water rendering and bought a very nice book: "Seamanship in the Age of Sail". But I always got distracted by other interests.
Will try it for sure. The seamanship book was a reference for a lot of this. For anyone interested in a sailing adventure on a real tall ship in real "real global weather", I can heartily recommend booking a journey on the Oosterschelde (https://www.dutchtallship.com/oosterschelde/). I did a 5 day trip last summer and it was a unique, fun, physical, and educational experience. Or alternatively, if you happen to be in western Europe, on the replica of a frigate from 1703 the Shtandart - also a bit cheaper than the Oosterschelde (https://www.shtandart.eu/). also a bit cheaper is the Alexander von Humbolt 2: https://alex-2.de/ they have especially discounted prices for youth (14 to 25) and even offer stipends for youth from low income families. Sweet! I finished the Hornblower series late last year and couldn't find anything like this. Can't wait to try it! This looks awesome. Will definitely try it out. Also, does anyone remember Empire Total War from back around 2011? One of my favorite games of all time despite its millions of issues. This brought back some fond memories of high school, getting back from class and running back home to battle some 18th century French warships… Something I have been wishing for: a game where pre-GPS-based navigation is a (possibly, the) major mechanic. Yes! Absolutely! I’ve wanted a Polynesian voyaging game for ages, and I’ve always imagined the navigation would be integral, as it was sometimes more impressive than the actual journey IMO Nice big ship simulator. However if you're interested in a good realistic sailing sim for something smaller then a ship of the line, check out the eSail Sailing Simulator on Steam. It's quite good and rather fun with very nice tutorials. https://store.steampowered.com/app/794860/eSail_Sailing_Simu... Fun! Out of curiosity, is it possible to tack with a square rig, or do you always have to jibe? I've tried all kinds of strategies, including dropping all sails at 11 knots, and I just can't make it through irons. You can tack, but usually you can't do it just with the rudder. As you are turning towards the wind, keep the topsail braced up (and loosen the headsails). You need to be able to turn far enough into the wind for the topsail to be aback. After that the wind blowing on the topsail should, hopefully, be enough to push you around the rest of the way; you might come to a stop, or be making sternway, but you should eventually go round through the wind. Edit: the tutorial level, getting out of harbour, is practice for this. Ok. Had to read Harland's Seamanship in the Age of Sailing to figure it out. She's a "dull" one -- unable to tack without making sternway, which definitely is not a compliment. But many ships apparently could not tack without making sternway, so this not an inaccurate part of the simulation. Applying all the tips and tricks in Seamanship, I can now at least get her head to wind before losing leeway. (Quite a few sail adjustments). Wearing is easy enough (a 270 degree jibing turn). So I'm off to see if I can "boxhaul" her to change tacks. :-) I've always been curious on most efficient points of sail, and the envelope for tall ships like this. Would love to contribute! Looks very neat. If you aren't going to work on it again, then perhaps you would consider publishing the source code also? This reminds me of Naval Action: https://store.steampowered.com/app/311310/Naval_Action/ Looks great! I had a very similar idea but with a sloop, I look forward to playing this. Loved this, finally remembered how to tack the thing from a trip on Morgenster I'm glad you liked it. I'd be happy to know about anything from its behaviour that feels badly off from a real tall ship. I lost some hours to it. No I wouldn't say anything's terribly off, I do remember tacking being more possibly without making sternway. The ship turns slowly but should pick up some momentum once you're hard over, backing the headsails should help it go through the wind. Very cool idea. Can't wait to try. the download doesn't seem to work on firefox, even with all adblockers disabled ah, it wasn't firefox, but apparently itch.io doesn't like the country i am in. it worked with a proxy I love this! I were a [Chinese|Russian] agent tasked with how to steal credentials from as many large western companies as possible, this is how I would do it. "It's probably safe to run that .exe" Software distribution surely has risks, any reason this jumps out as especially risky to you? I think there was a typo in the title.
Shouldn’t that read “Watch animated TV and click buttons in the comfort of your home”