“Oh yes, somebody is remaking Harpoon!”
That was pretty much the reaction we received from the honoured guests at the Paradox Convention in New York this past January. We were there for the official announcement of Naval War: Arctic Circle, due for release a whopping full year into the future. Although we had a “playable” hidden away on our laptops that was showed off only to those who begged, bribed, or asked nicely, it left a few things to be desired. We mostly showed off unit model renders and a few scenic clips of warships at sunset (a modern take on the Norwegian kitsch classic “Moose in sunset”).
In game marketing, assets are king, and showing actual gameplay is the king of kings. Two dudes chatting away are unlikely to get a lot of attention amidst all the shiny medieval knights and zany wizards. Yet Naval War did excite a lot of people, and we received quite a bit of attention.
Why?
Because controlling aircraft carriers, blowing up massive warships, and launching armadas of mighty warplanes is the ****.
And, since the revered Harpoon and the not-so-revered Fleet Command, modern naval combat has not exactly overcrowded the field of strategy games in recent years.
In developing the game, we are in the process of finding out why. All those challenges that probably made many other developers scrap their plans and instead create yet another original take on the zombie apocalypse are ones that we have to confront head-on.
