A downloadable game

the big pond is a chill game for Panic's Playdate console. Sail a small sailboat around the course and try for the best time.

The way the sailboat moves is physically simulating to how a real sailboat would sail! Control the angle of the sail and be aware of the direction of where the wind is coming from to sail as quickly as possible.

How to play

Follow the course checkpoints in the order as it is drawn on the map.

Controls

D-pad controls the sailboat's direction
the crank controls the trim of the sail (crank forward to bring the sail in and backward to loosen it)
Ⓑ brings up the map

How to install

sideload it on your Playdate device at https://play.date/account/sideload
play it in the Playdate simulator if you don't have a real device, you can download it at https://play.date/dev/

🪚 The game is still in development and the current state can be considered an alpha version.

Known issues:

bad performance and stutters
the screen can go blank in some cases when turned right into the wind (menu -> restart if that happens)

Roadmap:

improve performance
add more courses
overall polish

More information

Status	In development
Author	okacat
Genre	Simulation, Racing
Made with	Playdate, Aseprite, Blender
Tags	3D, Playdate, Relaxing, Sailing, Singleplayer

Download

the-big-pong-alpha02.pdx.zip 17 MB

Comments

Kapten Haddock232 days ago

Hello! I just downloaded this as Im super excited to try some sailing game with the Playdate, the crank really will work well for rudder and handle the winsch for different sail!!

Howerver when I try to start the game it say that its not supported on the playdate latest version

okacat230 days ago

Hi! Thanks for letting me know, I’ve uploaded a new version now that should work on the latest Playdate.

Kapten Haddock229 days ago

Thx for the update! This is exactly the game I wanted fo the playdate! :)
Are you still working on it? Or taking this sailing idea any further?

If I can give some feedback.

I would like to see that the pressing the D-pad it should only give you access to different aspects of the boat,

example, if I hold down on the D-pad I get access to controll the rudder with the crank.
If I hold left on d-pad I get access to controll the Jib,
If i hold right I get access to controll the mainsail.

In that way it gets more of a realistic feeling that you are alone in the little boat and use your two hands to do different manouvers. :)

Also, is there any more courses? I only have the triangle?

okacat224 days ago

Thanks for the feedback, those are good ideas, would make for a fun game!

My current plan though is to keep the controls as is and optimize the performance a bit, as it’s running slow, and also add more courses. So far triangle is the only one yeah.