01/10/2003 Interview with John Coogan- author of ShipHunt.
Describe ShipHunt (in no more than 30 words) to people who know nothing about the game.
Can you allow all the following 37 words? "Enemy contact, 500 meters North West bearing 271 degrees. They've spotted us." "BATTLE STATIONS! Fire tubes 1 and 3. Emergency Dive, Right Full Rudder." "DEPTH CHARGES!. This one's gonna be close..." ShipHunt: This time... You're the Submarine!
How many people have been involved in making the game and how long has it taken to produce from start to finish?
One developer, 8 months in development, still not finished (adding requested features continually).
Will you be adding hi-res support in the future and what other improvement plans do you have?
Yes for HiRes! Also; Improved ship graphics with more turning images, control game speed, on-screen sound buttons, more crew messages, Periscope wake processing, additional variables tracked in the mission logs, and soon coming PocketPC release.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved in this project.
I've always been fascinated by Submarines. I've never been in one, but hope to soon! Hunt for Red October and Das Boot are the best movies of all time! I also recommend reading the book Blind Mans Bluff. All ShipHunt information was compiled by reviewing U-Boat Captains Logs and researching some great reference books. The challenges faced by Submarine Captians are captivating to think about. I wanted to pull users into a bit of this amazing reality. I hope ShipHunt accomplishes this in it's own tiny way.
What's the best song you have ever heard?
I'VE ALWAYS WANTED SOMEONE TO ASK ME THIS QUESTION! And it's a Total No-Brainer anyway: The obvious choice is the Absolute BEST Song of All Time...: How Sweet It Is .. sung by James Taylor! Funny, because I'm actually a funk bass playing Jazz fan. <=-O
Besides ShipHunt what is your favourite Palm OS game?
I'm an total fan of the ancient Asteroids arcade game! The best Palm rendition is Reptoids. When I'm not cruisin the depths, I'm wailing through space! And you know, my wife would agree with that 'space' statement. |-)
Do you have plans to make any other games/applications for Palm PDAs?
Ohh yes, several. But that's a secret.
What PDA do you use and why?
Well, after mourning the loss of my PalmIII (dropped down the bsmt stairs, buried in the back yard), I chose a Palm VIIx because my wife is always online and we only have one phone line. I need a way to email her conatantly and the PalmVIIx is the cheapest text email solution out there. Color devices are tugging hard though.
What feature would you most like to see in a future PDA?
I've got an instant reply for this one. I need 4 things: 1. Appointment scheduling with automatic conflict checking, My old Sharp OZ5500 had this. 2. Completed task reporting for time periods (useful for people who have to write status reports). 3. A calculator with an editable paper list view. How come no-one has done this? Most of what we do in calculators is add up lists of numbers anyway! My Sharp OZ5500 had this one too. 4. A loan calculator with a Side-by-Side view of multiple loans... Oh wait, it's been done!!! www.TriLoan.com has a GREAT mortgage calculator! Uhh, written by some John Coogan guy. |-D
What's the best piece of feedback you have received from a customer regarding ShipHunt?
Oooo tough one. Really, they're all so great. Most users report being suprised by how challenging and addictive ShipHunt is. Some excerpts from the DeskTop Generals column at PC_Gamer sum them all up very well: "[ShipHunt] is a remarkably sophisticated, suprisingly addictive submarine-warfare game, which contains more features than I would have thought possible in a Palm-scaled game. ShipHunt shows all the signs of a cult classic in the making, and definitely raises the bar for Palm-platform entertainment."
ShipHunt is available here and should provide you with hours of sea faring fun:) Thanks to John for talking the time to do the interview.