PING

by picttarge

co-authored: @antanites

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.38

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.94

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.03

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.56

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.30

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.12

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.38

Submarine warfare has never been so much fun!
With sonars and torpedos!
Stealthy options are available.

* Solo game option as a tutorial with procedural map to get used to the controls.
* Multiplayer game automatically hosted on a remote server (ensure game config options at startup says Host: "remote")

Gameplay tips:

* Tell your friends! Get them to join too!
* SPACE to perform a sonar scan to see what echoes back off the rocks
* You may detect enemy submarines (in red). They may have seen the effects of your sonar sweep.
* Sonar will not pick up enemy submarines hiding behind rocks. But their sonar may give them away!
* ARROW keys to step-increase power in certain directions. Use solo game to get used to this.
* F key to fire a torpedo in the direction you're facing.
* LEFT SHIFT to kill all power.
* R to respawn if dead (if necessary)

* Watch out for the backwash from a torpedo explosion
* Don't collide with the rocks/walls or you'll damage the hull
* Try and turn/reverse/shoot back to avoid enemy torpedoes!

Running:

For Windows:
* Unzip ping-1.0.2-winx86-64.zip
* In the ping folder run ping.exe

For Linux:
* Unzip ping-1.0.1-linux64.zip
* In the ping folder run the ping executable

For JAR file only (all platforms)
* Java 21 or higher
* Download ping-1.0.0.jar
* java -jar ping-1.0.0.jar

Credits:

* First version uploaded has placeholder credits. Oops!

* Programming, network programming, blood sweat and tears - Antanites and picttarge

* SFX: underwater ambience by akemov – https://freesound.org/s/255597/ – License: Attribution 4.0

* SFX: others freesound.org CC0

Comments7

stayawayfrommeow23 Apr 2026, 16:07

I didn’t have anyone to play with, unfortunately, but I still had a good chunk of fun swimming around and figuring out the controls. I liked that there’s some inertia to every move, so you have to plan your maneuvers ahead of time. The shockwave knocking you back was a surprise discovery. But why can’t you blow up rocks though? Wouldn’t that be fun while also countering opponents who hide behind them nonstop?

ImNotVegan3 May 2026, 08:34

I really liked the minimalist wireframe aesthetic! The 'vector line' style gives the game a cool retro-tech vibe that fits the submarine setting perfectly. The sonar/scanning mechanic is a great way to interpret the 'Signal' theme.

My main feedback is regarding the multiplayer mode: I tried to jump in, but the world felt a bit empty and I couldn't find any obstacles or other players. It would be great to have some AI enemies or more visual feedback when scanning in that mode. Also, adding some more detail to the submarine and obstacles while keeping the line-art style could really elevate the look. Great technical effort on trying to implement multiplayer!

Mersaries3 May 2026, 08:43

The graphics and gameplay are interesting. Unfortunately, I started the game alone and had no one to play with. Therefore, I would like some simple test targets/ships in a single-player game.

Ty Victorson4 May 2026, 02:01

Like the others I didn't have anyone to play with, but I really liked the movement and the UI looked great I was really impressed with the sonar system and think that you could easily turn this into a great single player game given some levels and AI to fight with a little story to go with!