The state of the Whale

Lot of things going on "behind the scenes", but here is the state of the whale as of now.

Update

Oculus Rift support, new cockpit model, some terrain features and dust particles. Controls are sluggish, but we are getting there.

Oculus ready!

Just wanted to pop in and say that I just piloted a gun-equipped whale in virtual reality. 

The all-important Scale.

I want to see images like this when my game is done. Only, the whale I have showed you is at the absolute bottom of the scale. I want to see the player getting dwarfed by gigantic sea creatures. A mile-long broadside of blubber and endless rows of cannons gliding past you. Ancient sea monsters rising up from the deep and swallowing your whaleship whole.

All kinds of armed Sea animals, from one-man scouts to mobile animal fortresses. SCALE. Remember how freespace made a big thing about the huge ships compared to your tiny spaceship? Just like that.

This would also open up for multiplayer whaleships, which would be incredibly cool, to just be responsible for one turret on a swimming fortress, or specialized positions like navigation or torpedo stations.

Environment sketch

I want the environment to be colourful and exaggerated, and did a quick sketch to capture the mood.

Underwater Ballistics

Ive been reading up on underwater ballistics, since I am leaning towards making Cetaceans a violent game after all. A really exciting subject, best summarized in this Wired article:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/underwater_guns

I never knew underwater ballistics were this developed or even this viable. I get a lot of ideas how to apply this real-life science to my game:

Stiletto-type Rounds:

Could be the corresponding machine gun, medium firing rate, medium accuracy, medium range. All round-weapon. Weapon similar to vickers machine gun?

Gyrojet :

Fast and long range cluster of self-propelled projectiles, poor accuracy, long range. Imagine the rocket swarms from the Mech Warrior games. Square weapon with a lot of vents, like the original gyrojet guns. Rename to Hydrojet because water themed and cooler?

Speargun:

The "sniper rifle". Long range, high accuracy, low firing rate. Not entirely corresponding to reality, but somehow what you associate to a speargun.

Cavitating rounds:

The "gauss gun" or cannon. Heavy hitter with long reload time and a spectacular trail.

UWJet weapon:

The "laser". Continuous bright stream of heated particles, leaving a fizzing trail of bubbles behind. Cannon could be a nozzle-like contraption with lot of cables and heated parts.

I imagine these to be the "primary" weapons, the cannons, while torpedoes and the like would be "secondary" weapons, in short supply.

Whale target mockup

A quick paintover to help me visualise the final look of the main whale vehicle.