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Lake Ontario: Island Ferry

Bring the ferry into its slip.

Lake Ontario: Island Ferry
Works on phone, tablet and desktop · No download · No account Also at lakeontariogames.com Also on itch.io

What it is

A morning shift at the wheel of the island ferry, across Toronto’s harbour. The page opens on a ferry crossing to the Island in the afternoon, the skyline behind her. Cast off, and the shift begins at the city dock at 8:00: push the throttle up, steer with the helm and follow the course across the harbour to Centre Island, Hanlan’s Point or Ward’s Island, then back, sailing after sailing until the shift ends.

Judged by the number on the gauge

Every landing is judged by the speed on the gauge at the moment her hull meets the fenders: under 1 knot is Soft, up to 2 is Firm, and over 2 is Hard, and a Hard landing holds everyone three minutes while the deckhand checks the slip. More than 10° off the slip’s line is Firm at best. The gauge shows the speed live, with its bands drawn on it, and two yellow buoys out from every slip say when to slow.

The board doesn’t wait

Every sailing has its time on the board, and passengers wait on the docks: board them, up to 900 at a time, and count the ones left at the gangway when she’s full. The wind freshens through the morning, and the card at the first dock gives the forecast by the hour, which is the wind you will meet. Sailboats, kayaks, a schooner and water taxis keep to their courses, and the big map draws each one; the airport’s little ferry crosses on its own timetable.

A careful landing always keeps the schedule, and the wind and the traffic are what you were shown. Every shift is sailed by a careful captain before it is offered.

The harbour as it is

In low-poly 3D: the skyline from the water with the city’s own towers, the tower and the stadium among them, and traffic on the waterfront’s streets; the Islands with their beaches and dunes, lagoons and footbridges, cottages, the fairground’s wheel turning, and people walking, cycling and picnicking. Drag the scene to look round her.

Every landing also scores out of 100: how gently she touches, how square she is to the slip, how centred between the wing walls, and whether the sailing left on time; the banner names what cost the most. At the end, the shift’s card: the landing score out of 1,200, sailings on time, landings Soft, Firm and Hard, minutes late, people carried and people left at the gangway, and your best shift, the best landing score.

Captain’s ranks

Every captain starts as Relief Captain, and the ranks open one by one. A shift scoring 900 opens Mate, with stronger wind and gusts; 900 as Mate opens Captain, gustier still with a busier harbour; 925 as Captain opens Senior Captain, with a board a minute tighter at every dock and morning fog that lifts as the hours pass; and 950 as Senior Captain opens Harbour Master: the evening run, from 5:00 into the dark, with a stiff wind off the lake, the city’s windows coming on and lamps on the buoys and the slips. Choose your rank on the first card. The forecast names every gust and when the fog lifts, and the big map sees through it.

Under your rank on the first card is Today’s shift: one shift a day, the same for every captain at your rank, sailed by the careful captain first, with its own best kept for the day. Sail it again to beat your score, and tomorrow brings a new one.

How to play

  • ThrottleDrag the handle on the right edge, or tap a step
  • SteerDrag left or right, bottom left
  • Cast offThe card’s button
  • GangwayThe button at the bottom, after a landing
  • Look round herDrag the scene; pinch to zoom
  • FasterThe button at the bottom, in open water
  • The big mapTap the map in the strip at the top
  • SettingsThe gear, at the end of the strip at the top

SLOW is ringed green on the throttle: slow ahead, the speed to land at. The helm steers from wherever your thumb lands and centres when you let go, and two thumbs work at once. Reset view brings the game’s view back, and the game takes the view back by itself for the landing. Settings holds the sound and its four volumes, and Start the shift again (tap twice); the clock stops while it’s open.

On a desktop, click and drag as you would touch; drag the scene to look round, and the wheel zooms. Or use the keys: Up and Down move the throttle a step, Left and Right steer and the helm centres when you let go, Space or Enter is the card’s button and the gangway, F runs faster in open water, M turns the sound on or off, and Escape closes the big map or Settings.

What isn’t settled yet

It is one player: every other boat in the harbour is the computer’s. A morning shift is six round trips from 8:00, ending at about 11:20, and Harbour Master’s evening run goes from 5:00 to about 8:20. Your best shift at each rank, today’s best and the ranks you have opened live in the browser it’s played in, so clearing the site’s data starts it again. An older phone may struggle, since the harbour draws a great deal; when frames come slowly, the picture steps down by itself, first to fewer pixels, then without the sun’s shadows. There is no gamepad support, the keys can’t be remapped, and it isn’t playable with a screen reader.

Build Log

  1. Build 27

    Today’s shift: one shift a day, the same for every captain at your rank, with its own best for the day. Choose it on the first card, under your rank; sail it again to beat your score, and tomorrow brings a new one.

  2. Build 25

    Harbour Master opens at 950 as Senior Captain: the evening run, from 5:00 into the dark, with a stiff wind off the lake from the south. The light goes as the board runs on, the city’s windows come on, and lamps on the buoys and the slips show the way in.

  3. Build 24

    Senior Captain opens at 925 as Captain. The board allows a minute less at every dock, and the morning starts in fog that lifts as the hours pass. The forecast says how long it will last, and the big map sees through it.

  4. Build 23

    Captain’s ranks. Every captain starts as Relief Captain; a shift scoring 900 opens the Mate’s mornings, with stronger wind and gusts, and 900 as Mate opens the Captain’s, gustier still with a busier harbour. The forecast names every gust, and none blows past it. Choose your rank on the first card.

Earlier builds (4)
  1. Build 22

    Every landing now scores out of 100: how gently she touches, how square she sits to the slip, how centred she is between the wing walls, and whether she left on time. The banner names what cost the most, and the shift’s landing score out of 1,200 is the number to beat.

  2. Build 20

    Long straight runs go quicker now. In open water, tap Faster and the clock runs up to forty times while she holds the heading you gave her. It slows for a boat on a closing course, and at the approach or with land ahead she is yours again at real speed.

  3. Build 19

    Lake Ontario: Island Ferry now plays inside the Lake Ontario app, from lakeontariogames.com, full screen and offline once played. In the app, Settings carries All Lake Ontario games, back to the series page; with a shift under way it takes a second tap, so a shift is never left by accident.

  4. Build 13

    Once the city and the Islands had grown their detail, the harbour became something to look round. A drag on the scene turned the view round the ferry, a pinch or the mouse wheel zoomed, and Reset view brought the game’s view back. The helm and the throttle kept their own touches. On the approach to a slip the game’s camera took the view back by itself, so every landing was judged from the view that shows it.

Credits and licences

Built on three.js, used under the MIT licence with the copyright notice retained in the shipped file. Typefaces are licensed under the SIL Open Font Licence. Cover drawn from the game’s own harbour, skyline and ferry code.

Lake Ontario: Island Ferry is original work by Launchway Games.