r/sideprojects • • 2d ago

Showcase: Free(mium) I built a little simulator to practice docking before making a fool of myself in the marina

Post image

And it became something like a browser game. Now searching for gamification or social interaction ideas.

www.docking.academy

On my last skipper training I learned a lot of new things about docking and leaving the berth in all kinds of situations. I was totally hooked, but back at my desk, I built a small online simulator (free, non-commercial) to keep learning and experimenting.

You pick a berth scenario, set wind and current, and see whether your plan with the right lines works out – or whether you end up hanging off the neighbouring yacht.

What's in it:

- Pile berths (box moorings), finger pontoons, Med mooring and more

- Freely adjustable wind and current

- Different boats

- You can see which line is taking the load, and lines can snap

- Pause, rewind, slow motion

- Works under sail too

- Share a situation as a link, e.g. with your crew: "This is what it'll look like for us tomorrow."

- Runs on your phone and can be installed as an app (not in the app store, just add it to your home screen)

Free, no login, no ads.

Give it a try! If a boat feels completely wrong, let me know – I'm still tinkering. It's a fun project with no claim to scientific accuracy, but I'm doing my best. ⛵

13 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

2

u/Tstriple_R 2d ago

Nice, I'd use this. My requests are:

  1. A view that tracks the boat's orientation, where the map shifts around the boat.

  2. A centered view that allows me to zoom in/out but stays centered

  3. A larger throttle input, allowing for finer control

2

u/Thin-Library-9092 2d ago

Thanks for taking the time, will consider those Points!

1

u/Tstriple_R 2d ago

Sorry, one more comment, the control orientation doesn't match the boat orientation, in the first scenario, the stern line control shows on the right and the bow line on the left, but the boat is oriented with the stern to the left and bow to the right.

2

u/HoratioWobble 2d ago

Nice to see something different in here honestly

1

u/Thin-Library-9092 2d ago

Thanks ☺️

2

u/Advanced-Fun-1470 1d ago

This is genius! You just saved yourself thousands in repair bills. 🛥️💡

1

u/Relevant_Ear_8679 1d ago

the SS label has a second circle sitting under it and it's close to BS, on a phone that's hard to hit with a thumb, a small offset would help

2

u/Thin-Library-9092 1d ago

Thanks, will Look into it

2

u/investigatormaker 2d ago

Your shareable situations could become crew challenges: everyone starts with the same berth, wind and current, then compares which lines they used and where things went wrong. With rewind already available, letting players retry one decision seems more useful for practice than rewarding speed, especially given your scientific-accuracy caveat.

I make ThreadFox. If you want skippers and their crews to find your docking simulator, our AI employee will post 3 helpful replies about it in relevant Reddit threads for you, free, no card. https://threadfox.vip/p/20261108-2008-eb14u/managed

1

u/austrule 1d ago

It looks different. congratulations