u/straytaoist

As /u/Numerous-Library5530 posted an ace pic of one in flight, here is my attempt at one almost in flight. A lucky shot, too, as I was just trying to get it on the feeder.

Thirteen and a half minutes of video right there. I am not expecting anyone to really watch it all, but it gives an impression of a few bits of the game.

New in this latest build, for those that are interested:
- music! (and reverrrrrrrrb / echooooo in the tunnels)

- sound! (the morning sequence has the dawn chorus, as recorded by me with my field recorder last week, fireworks when a planned route ends, drips, bicycle bells, windlasses, tons more)

- missing sprites! (The diary entry shows an Easter Egg, but the game doesn't, as that is what I have left to do. There are Easter Eggs all over the place.)

- new lock visuals (and it keeps state, so you have to fill appropriately. And remember to close the gate behind you...)

- the shop works, but I forgot to show it here

- moveable bridges

- if Open Street Map had the name for shops, they are in there (as you can see from when I accidentally started _inside_ the Islington Tunnel. And I do not want to do that again, it was a stressful journey irl)

So yeah, playtesting this has been fun. I am sure there are bugs on some canals, but by my reckoning, at full speed, doing the locks, it would take about 35 days solid playtime to traverse the whole thing.

And I might make another post about it soon, but one of the other games on my sideloaded list there hits the Catalog next month :)

How much is that parent feeding it?!

RSPB Fowlmere (who have lapwings now, not seen that before. And they chased off the marsh harrier while I was fumbling to get camera out of bag, so just watched through the bins.)

Goldfinchs are gorgeous. Then again, so are swallows. Just harder to capture them with their speedy ways.

Great Ouse Fen.

Never seen a reed bunting before today. And there were loads. Posing away. I might have taken too many pics. And a sedge warbler! Bonus never-seen-by-me-before! I missed the egret, only caught it after it took off and away.

And I still have the programme from it.

There is also a story about schoolboys gambling on the finals every year, and as a fresh youngester the only two left I could choose were Dennis Taylor to win against Davis. I won sixty four quid in a plastic carrier bag that year. The Upper Sixth boys were not happy.

I was reminded to dig it out and post after seeing someone link William Ulsterman under a thread on Allen.

The Devil's Dyke Round doing their May Day Wandlebury dawn dance.

The full video is too big to add to Reddit, but you can see twelve minutes of footage, recorded using Mirror playing on actual hardware, here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/straytoaster/55225424506/in/datetaken/lightbox/

So, as I was writing the big brother of this, I thought I'd port it to the Playdate. Still fiddling with it, but the entire mechanics are there. I'll list them, becuase everyone loves a bullet-pointed list:

a. The entire canal network of England and Wales (Scotland coming soon). All of it. I took the OpenStreetMap data and munged it (The full video at link shows the map)

b. The roads, bridges, et al are all named correctly :) Even the buildings are kinda correct, again, thankyou to all OSM contributors over the years!

c. (For those who know, the outliers, like the local-to-me Cam Conservators, require a different licence, but won't for this game :)

d. There is interior decoration, shop, and a diary tracing your route

e. There is a route planner, with signs to guide you there

f. Everything works: locks, tunnels, bridges, winding (pronounced winding) holes, mooring, weather, time

g. There are poeple and other boats, too

I need to add music and sound, tidy up and remove some of the more snarky comments from the gongoozlers, probably tidy the graphics in places too.

Here is the rub: I've tested portions of the canal network, but not all of it, as there are thousands of miles of it!

And while testing, I gotta say, the slow running at real speed of the boat is...oddly satistying and relaxing to play. Biased, I know, but even so! It is not a fast paced game (or lifestyle).

As soon as there is music, sound effects, and cleaner sprites (no GenAI was harmed in the making of this, it is my own fingers on my own keyboard, listening to my own swearing) I will throw it out there on itch.