MORSE Demo Major Update!

The updated demo for MORSE is now available!

For Morse Code week, I've overhauled the demo for MORSE! This adds a year of polish, refinement and features to MORSE, a fresh face to the Steam Summer Next Fest build. On reflection, it's wonderful seeing how far the game has come in the 11 months since, lets run through some of the additions to the demo:

+ Letters on the Y axis: Easily the most common feedback of the demo page was the slowness of entering numbers to move up and down the Y axis. I agree with player sentiment here so I've switched the demo over to having letters to navigate the Y axis as the default. You can fully read up more about the rationale for this in this article here. MORSE - MORSE Update #1: Modifiers, refined tutorial and vertical letters! - Steam News

Steam post image + More in depth manual: The final in game manual is much more expansive, covering topics such as activities in the hobby, national organisations, common phrases and useful websites. Perfect for someone curious about Amateur Radio.

+ Improved tutorials: The tutorials now have animations paired with each section of tutorial text and the printout is placed in a less intrusive location of the user interface.

+ Added Calibration Mode: Speaking of tutorials, the recently added calibration tutorial shows players how to tune their telegraph. They can also practice entering PARIS in Morse Code to get their WPM (words per minute). You can read more about this here: MORSE - Morse Mastery: 3 new training modes in spring update! - Steam News

+ Modifiers for Outreach: Outreach mode is available for enthusiasts to use at rallies or ham fests with features such as the attract mode, instructions on how to get involved with Amateur Radio, automatic reset on idle. You can read more about this here: MORSE - UPDATE FOR OUTREACH: Tailoring MORSE to better support Amateur Radio. - Steam News

+ Extravagant explosions: Courtesy of the skilful hand of Sinclair Strange, MORSE now has some tasty explosion animations to give your artillery extra punch.

+ Plenty of bug fixing and polish! Since the June demo release, MORSE has gone through a lot of playtesting and refinement, so a lot of the previous bugs present in the demo (for example buggy mine placement logic) have been fixed. You can have a look at previous news posts on here as well as my dev log which documented the process of building the game: MORSE - Minimalist strategy game that teaches you the lost skill of telegraphy.

I hope players find this a positive addition and in particular that it aids the efforts of Amateur Radio clubs to bring more people into the fold.

Check out the demo here: MORSE Demo on Steam

Speaking of, I wanted to give some suggestions on how best to use MORSE for outreach in Ham festivals and rallies:

The Basics

For showing MORSE at an event, you'll need a computer, a monitor and a desk and two chairs. MORSE can be demonstrated either with the full game or with the demo, I've specifically designed a "Modifier" to compliment an exhibition setting, such as timed resets, an attract mode and directly promoting amateur radio clubs. If you navigate to Start then look in the bottom left, there's a button labelled "Modifiers", if you scroll through the various modifiers to "Outreach Mode", that should help that process. Look at the animated gif above for a visual guide on how to find the outreach modifier.

Wire up a telegraph!

The number one piece of advice I'd give for installations is to avoid regular games interfaces, such as keyboards or mice to control MORSE with. Using a telegraph key to operate the game with is more novel for those familiar with video games and less intimidating for those unfamiliar with video games. When I showed MORSE at National Hamfest, there were many people that came up to inspect my telegraph collection before even looking at the game! It may be a challenging prospect to wire up a key if you're not familiar with electronics, but venture onto this thread for MORSE and you'll see there's a variety of low cost, simple methods of wiring a key up to a computer. HOW TO GET SET UP WITH A TELEGRAPH! Suggestions, support and showcase. :: MORSE General Discussions

Print out a help sheet

Whilst MORSE does have an expansive tutorial, often at events folks just want to get stuck in, so having a quick explanation to get people started is really useful. Further, having a summary of what to do and someone to hand if they get stuck can help players get over that initial hurdle. Supplementary help sheets showing the Morse alphabet, local clubs and how to get licensed. On the Steam discussions, we have helpsheets in English, French and Korean so far. Steam Community :: :: How to Play MORSE - English

Set up a radio station

Whilst I haven't done this directly myself (yet), I had Iona run a radio station on the MORSE booth a couple of months back for attendees to try out. What's nice with this method is if you've already been made familiar an actual telegraph to play the game with, you can move them over seamlessly using the same interface. Remember of course that if you're planning to let someone transmit, you need someone on the booth with an Amateur Radio License to monitor participants. You could even use the game on a Parks on the Air site (or a similar OTA activity) to add some additional novelty to hunting.

Encourage people to play together

If someone is intimidated by operating a telegraph and artillery, splitting the controls between two people can help lower the difficulty level. For example, if you have someone who is inexperienced with telegraphy or who has accessibility requirements can use the launch button to fire on ships and to verbally call out coordinates whilst the other player focused primarily on Morse Code input.

Work with local schools and museums

Educational organisations I've found are keen to collaborate, particularly using games as a tool to engage younger audiences with hands on enrichment. A perfect example of this is Magnus, who collaborated with his local museum to design and install a custom exhibition of MORSE in their communications section. He also opted for a very durable wooden box to house the installation and the computer, ideal for museum settings. The game went down very well with visiting school groups and Magnus has since been working with his local radio club to make portable units to show around schools. You can read more about his efforts here: MORSE - What have people been building with MORSE? - Steam News

If you have any other questions about using the game for educational outreach, don't hesitate to get in touch. Further, if you spot any hitches or issues with the new demo, reach out here: Feedback/Suggestions/Bugs/Support! :: MORSE General Discussions

That's all for now, if you do use the game to engage local people or have any further questions about Morse Code/Amateur Radio outreach, don't hesitate to get in touch.

73, Alex