Jonah

Making games sometimes


I want to make something more out of this game.

I think I'll add a relaxing mode all about catching fish, with a bunch of different types and little ID cards for each. It might be a bit of work but I find the fishing to be pretty fun, so maybe there's something there.

The standard mode definitely needs some balance, and that should be easy enough to dial in. I have an idea to make different difficulties with different maps, as well as a bigger map with multiple fishing points for the relaxing mode.

If I wanted to get some more systems rolling there's some potential for a longer gameplay loop with survival mechanics. I initially wanted to have a day/night cycle and a health bar that depletes but those ideas never went anywhere. Not sure if it's worth it though.

Unlike other games I've made, I'm left with a distinct feeling that what's here is just good enough for another pass to build it up. With other jam games, I am usually fine wiping my hands clean and calling them done. This little bird... Speaks to me.


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in reply to @Jonah's post:

I've been thinking about this and haven't had time to write down a response. There are a few aspects of the game I don't fully understand, and there's a lot of things I wondered about potentially being true. In a game like this, what is wonderful is the quiet puzzle box feelings of trying everything because you're not not sure what works. That makes the vibes really shine.

So rather than give design feedback I'll just mention some things I ✨wondered✨ about:

I wasn't sure about the difference between sacrificing the fish or consuming it. My guess was that sacrificing the fish would weaken the boss while consuming would strengthen yourself but I wasn't really able to verify this.

The idol also seemed to have a different color each run (or each time you enter the graveyard?) and so I wondered if maybe only sacrificing fish that were the appropriate color would have different benefit.

I was somewhat obsessed with the fly friend. Maybe it's all the Spyro I've played, but I kept expecting the fly to do something or change somehow or message some success or action.

I couldn't nail down what causes the boss the spawn. It could very well just be number of times fished but it felt fairly random. I kept going back into the graveyard to look and see if there were any signifiers about when the boss would arrive. Some sort of foreboding messaging with limited ability to manipulate the arrival would be very neat.

On a technical note, I wondered if perhaps there is a framerate difference in the fishing minigame? I played on a 144hz monitor and then I played on a 60hz monitor at work and the timing felt wildly different between the two places. I could very well just be bad though!

Thank you so much, Brianna! This feedback is a whole meal for thought, I greatly appreciate it. Your instincts are right on, which is heartening since the game has no instruction and much is left intentionally vague.

You are correct on the eating/offering mechanic. The aura of the idol is a forecast for what stat will be the boss' strongest, attack/defense/speed. You can lower any stats of the boss regardless of the color.

Noted on more feedback from the fly. The only thing the fly does is move randomly and dictate the rings of light/shadow surrounding the player. There's definitely potential to add more, maybe something fun mechanically even.

Each fish you catch raises the probability of catching the boss fish. Each catch rolls a number 1-50, and if a normal fish is caught it brings the threshold down by one. So the max number of fish you could catch is 50 (the first fish will always be out of range so you can't catch the boss on the first try), though it is highly unlikely. I felt like even hinting at the pond only having 50 fish would be too much info, but I imagine some players would give up after catching 10 or so and consider that the whole game. In one of my recent tests I did manage to catch the boss on the second fishing attempt, which is amusing, but goes to show how finicky probability can be. The balance of the fish catching and stat changing needs tuning, but I do feel like the current version of the game has a little bit of that inspiring inscrutability. I could probably write a whole essay on that feeling, but trying to make a game based on it is surprisingly difficult.

Regarding framerate, were you playing in browser or with the executable? I don't know GameMaker well enough to know how either version may be affected by display settings, but the game should be locked at 60 and the fishing needle should move every other frame to feel like 30. I'm curious if one felt better or more satisfying than the other.

I really like your idea of having different fish types with stat cards for them. It makes me think of Animal Crossing where I'm always trying to catch the first of every type so I can give them to the museum before catching subsequent ones to display or sell.

Thinking back on the concept of making the boss spawn more deliberate there could be something there. If sacrificing certain fish types has different effects on the nature of the boss and how close they are to appear. It's a fun idea to play with!

I played both times on the web browser, I don't have a lot of data on the feel between the two computers. Could be anything form framerate to chrome-input-latency. The joys of gamedev.