Seawolves Digital Edition is Ready!

By Kodiak

Finally, my first new Commodore 64 game, Seawolves (digital edition, PAL only), is ready.

Feedback from play-testers has been very positive, with the consensus being that the gameplay is a very enjoyable trip back in time to the golden age of the Commodore 64.

You can, of course, jump straight into it without reading the detailed manual, but to "get" the game, you really have to dive into the manual!

Seawolves: Main Features

• 8 unique levels, each consisting of 3 timed rounds.
• 4 game modes: 1 Player, 2 Player, Wingman Mode and AI Rival Mode (in which the CPU takes rather selfish control of a second sub).
• Fast-paced gameplay styled on classic 1980s arcade machines.
• The player is not allocated X number of lives, but rather, must attain the objectives of meeting the kill quota each round, minimising collateral damage to civilian vessels, ensuring the player's sub does not succumb to enemy action, and, in 2 Player Mode and AI Rival Mode, avoiding losing all 3 rounds within any given level
• Damage to the player sub can be repaired via periodic rendezvous events with friendly helicopter's dropping off repai kits.
• Real-time water warping and wave effects, because real-time is sometimes easier than pre-drawn GFX and because it has become a demo scene motif in recent years.
• Real-time torpedo rendering effects, using an unusual programming trick!

Screenshots of Seawolves in Action!

Seawolves in Action: The Ice Level!

The Manual

You might be thinking that Seawolves looks like a pretty straightforward game, and yes, while it is true that it is instantly playable, you will nevertheless really have to read the 22-page manual to get the most out of it.

You can download the manual (PDF format) now, to see if this game is your kind of caper!

BastichB's Review

Axel Folly's Gameplay Video

How to Purchase Seawolves

To receive the digital edition of Seawolves, kindly make a donation of at least £4.99 and I can then send a download link to you by email (NOTE: if it doesn't arrive right away, that's because I am away from my email, asleep, walking in the countryside, etc.).

The game took many long hours to code and drained a lot of life force out of me (that's middle-aged coder syndrome for you!), but it has been developed to a very high technical standard, using some demo scene tricks and unusual coding methods to hopefully extract the very best submarine action game possible out of the C64, so I am very confident you will not just enjoy the game, but see the value in it!

Where is my Download Link?

If you have paid for the game but so far have not received any emails from me and think I am ignoring you, the issue is either (a) that you have some wonky spam settings on your email filters or (b) I am having an internet access issue (this has been a problem of late, but I am working on it).

Sales Levels & Piracy Note... Implications for PARALLAXIAN

I totally understand why sceners share wares with their mates, but there is already a low level of incentive due to the small size of the scene for developers like me to make games.

None of us - gamers or devs - are penniless teenagers any more and I'm not exactly ripping anyone off with the purchase price, so I would ask you to kindly desist from sharing the game with anyone else.

And obviously, I am assessing the success of this game with a view to my plans for Parallaxian.... I hope you understand my point of view, because so far sales of Seawolves have been far less than my already low expectations for it, despite all the amazingly postive reactions to the game and consequently, all my C64 projects now hang in the balance.

Patches Note

With over 30K lines of code amounting to a vast number of potential points of failure, I tested Seawolves to the n^th degree and probably spent over 90% of development time debugging.

It was sent to play testers (including those who also happen to crack games) in the hope that any flaws I missed would be noted.

Yet, despite all those efforts, I still managed to release it with some flaws that only came to light afterwards, warranting a patch.

And after the patch was released, I noticed a few more imperfections that will require a second patch, so those of you with the game's download link should visit that page again to check for the next patch.

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