A Fishermans Friendly Island Builder

rustycrow 2019-10-07 13:34

I cant rate the game since i didn't participate in this LD but i can at least leave a a comment on your game my friend :frog: .

I can definitely see a lot of potential in a game where the player builds them self up from fishing / gathering, expanding your civ and gear as you go along. I hope you keep this idea in the back of your mind and expand on it some day.

As for the game in its current state, you already know what the problem is based on the desc so no point in repeating it, but i didn't get any bugs in my play through(Not anything i noticed at least).

The visuals where fitting (top down pixel art), if you do continue with this idea keep the art style.

As for your take on the Theme, it was a pretty cool twist(build a civilization from nothing). I wish you had more time to create the full picture.

You have a solid idea for a game here, and with art style that really compliments that idea. But the idea is to big for a LD. I think you learned a lot of valuable lessons in this LD and i hope to see you use them in the next LD.

Good work on your LD enter my friend :clap::frog:

kazatan 2019-10-07 16:15

I like how you've expanded on the City Builder genre by forcing you to take an action to even have ground to build your city on. I think that is very in keeping with the Theme.

I liked how you could hook the flotsam with other captured flotsam. That made a nice little mechanic of trying to hook at an angle to capture more than one piece at the time.

It would have been nice if there was more of the floating stuff! I know the game isn't complete yet but it feels like this part of the game could have been sped up a lot if the initial rate of grass and wood was higher.

A good base for a game, I think.

maxdmg 2019-10-07 20:00

I dig a fishing game with actual progression. Although at first I found the fishing to be frusturating and difficult to aim, I soon realized the difficulty was perfect. Eventually I got the feel for the targeting and timing. I really appreciate how suprisingly deep fishing games like yours can be. Also the amount of depth there was to the variation of the island was really cool. I was a bit worried it would all be sand but as soon as I saw green I was hooked for more. The animation for casting the hook was top notch as well!

Honestly I would not change anything with the fishing system and how the collisions are working as they currently feel great once you get used to them. The two things I really wish this had were, being able to reel in quicker as a missed shot really took a temporal toll. Also the last thing which really wasn't within in the scope of the jam would just be more flotsam variations. Overall though, loved this idea! Solid art, solid gameplay loop, and solid progression fitting perfectly into the theme.

lombax 2019-10-08 13:49

@rustycrow @kazatan @maxdmg tyvm for the feedback.

ye the fishing part of the game, needs abit more love. cuz its kind of the main mechanic/feature of the game in stage 1 of the island builder. so ill keep the feedback in mind when i come back to this project. tyvm. :clap: :frog: :clap: :dog:

kirbloid 2019-10-08 16:21

Building up an island to also fish on/from is a really fun concept. It does nail the theme in that I feel like I'm not starting with anything, but quickly as you get used to the controls you really start to feel like you could be building up a whole adventure.

dock-frankenstein 2019-10-08 18:09

Wow, I actually had fun playing a ludum dare game! The only problem that I encountered is that sometimes my fishing rod doesn't pick up an item and I have to wait for it to retract. Very fun game.

shabbyrtist 2019-10-08 20:30

It's all very boring. the fact that the rod is returned so long is torture. without sounds and music, it all doubles.

lombax 2019-10-08 20:40

@kirbloid @franciszek-pyrc @shabbyrtist tyvm for the feedback.

ye, the fishing part needs some improvements. it was literaly made in the last hour. ty for the feedback thought, ill have to do something to make it less of a torture, like other ppl mentioned xD. tyty.

nachtwitch 2019-10-08 21:23

Very cool, and very different from the other entries, 10/10 for uniqueness my man

whysudo 2019-10-08 21:36

Nice game, very interesting gameplay, but i can't see any final target in this game. However, i've enjoyed it.

lombax 2019-10-08 21:58

@nachtwitch @whysudo tyvm for your feedback.

and ye the only goal for this little game, was to fully create your entire island. towards the end i wanted to add some dialogue telling the player what to do, but other elements of the game were needed quite badly, so i had to just forget making it. and just add it later, when i start to work on this again. tyty.

gerugames 2019-10-08 23:15

I like the concept of having to literally build a city from the ground up. It was pretty fun. My only real complaints is the fishing itself a lot of times it visually looks like I should have caught what I'm fishing for but I didn't reel it in. Also how slow the line comes back is a pain. Everything else is pretty great though.

lombax 2019-10-08 23:30

@gerugames tyvm for the feedback.

yes, i noticed that when i tested it myself right before i had to stop. time just flew by at the end so didnt have time to fix it. but tyty.

patvanmackelberg 2019-10-08 23:52

Unique take on the theme, great submission :D

pincushion 2019-10-09 01:30

The game was pretty fun for about 5 mins. I liked that the fishing was just a little challenging. If it had the other elements you were going for, it would have been fun for a while longer. You also did a good job with the art.

jimbly 2019-10-09 04:09

Would be much simpler to just link directly to your download instead of a git repo? https://github.com/Lombax94/LudumDare45_TheGame/raw/master/LD%2045%20_%20The%20Game.zip

Saves us all some clicks!

jimbly 2019-10-09 04:27

Well, I managed to hook enough stuff to build four blocks of land before getting bored. Once I managed to snag *two* leaves at once, it was really exciting. I couldn't ever really figure out the collision on the fishing lure - was warned, but it was still really frustrating. I really liked the guy and his run animation! Also really like the idea of building up an island by fishing stuff floating by.

kuro 2019-10-09 07:04

A few suggestions: - change directional keys for WASD - the game gets repetitive VERY fast. I'd increase the speed of debris generation, their movement, and speed of the fishing hook for this volume of gameplay mechanics. The fact it takes an hour to finish it doesn't mean your game has an hour of gameplay. - add some "you won" at the end...?

I did a fork on your GitHub so I could play around a bit, and actually built the whole island - it would take an hour otherwise, a time I would not be willing to spend. I suspect the charm of builder/survival games lies in the size of their loop, and this one is not big enough.

Despite the criticism, I like your work - your game is the first one I ever downloaded the source for, since I really wanted to finish playing it. The graphics is cute, and this idea could maybe go somewhere - I think this type of game is still trending.

corrade 2019-10-09 07:43

A really neat way of incorporating skill into a usually RNG-based activity. It would've been nice to see the controls in-game, as well as a more achievable end (as compared to filling up the entire screen). Though I understand what you said about time constraints.

I think it would've been cool if the rod's range was determined by how long the player held down LMB before releasing to cast. The current fishing mechanic seems to be a great foundation for something quite engaging.

hcursino 2019-10-09 08:09

Building the island was so tedious, my god! This allowed me to experience some new emotions, like this once I unintentionally managed to hook two leaves and one wood at the same time and I never felt happier in my life. But brother! Don't even get me started on the rage of missing a throw and having to wait 5 hours for the like to get back to you. As you said, it could use some polishing and I believe I would enjoy it if fully developed. Good job.

lombax 2019-10-09 09:50

tyvm for the feedback.

@pincushion ye true. its currently missing something major that enhances the plyers experience, so back to the drawingboard. :mag: :mag:

@jimbly tyvm for telling me about that link. i havent used git that much so wasnt aware that i could link to it directly. and yes that fishing lure have a special spell that tricks the mind into thinking it hit the floating stuff.

@kuro tyvm for the pointers. and the way i made this was not realy thought about that well and the code got realy realy messy towards the end, im currently working on cleaning it up abit and find some easier ways of making the island. but tyty. :dog: :dog:

@corrade ahh nice idea, ill write that down right away :D :dog: :dog: tyty.

@hcursino tyty, well the tedious part need some work. i dont want it to feel tedious but at the same time needed to take a step back and fish for resources. maybe only fish for mainly food, and wood and leafs less and less as they get stuck on your island as it get bigger. but im not sure yet on how i will tackle this problem.

tyvm for all the constructive feedback. i learned some new stuff and got some new ideas so tyvm everyone that have commented.

randomnine 2019-10-09 12:21

The fishing mechanic is great! I like the depth in getting the timing right and trying to hook multiple things as they float on past. It's simple but works really well.

danilo-freire 2019-10-11 15:14

Please upload a web or mac build so more people can play, give feedbacks and rate! :D

lombax 2019-10-11 15:20

@danilo-freire uhm, ill look into it. im not quite sure how to do that yet. but ill definitely do that for the next ludum dare.

tort60091 2019-10-11 15:57

I like it, tiny but cute )

dominas 2019-10-11 16:24

Very good looking game. Fishing could have been faster or reel-in speed could be controlled. Sounds like you've overscoped, but what came out of it is pretty decent, don't beat yourself up!

drtizzle 2019-10-11 17:21

This is cool! A simple concept, but hard to master. I definitely needs some tweaking, but I already had a lot of fun! It would've been nice if the reeling in was a bit faster, and maybe there could be a bit faster leaf spawning.

I know you didn't have time, but maybe it would be nice to have different types of wood/leafs, that are worth more but are harder to catch (or something like that).

I love how the character Naruto-runs :smile:

Well done!

chuchugeralt 2019-10-11 17:50

The idea reminds me of an old mario party game where you had to fish chests and peals. It was a little bit frustrating to fish for the stuff, because they where so small. But I liked the idea that you couldn't build the island to the items, so you cant make it easier.

lombax 2019-10-11 21:44

@tort60091 @dominas @drtizzle @chuchugeralt tyvm for the feedback :D

@dominas overscoping is sadly a problem im working on, I WANT IT ALL MUAHAHAHA... so when i look around on other games from ludumdare i see how simple i can make games which are just as good as games that have abit more meat on them.

and ye, the fishing is a problem that alot have mentioned, and ty for the ideas for improving it.

stefanie-leitch 2019-10-12 00:03

Pretty fun, it was real tough to catch anything, not necessarily a bad thing but reeling things in was also slow sometimes, which made it hurt to miss.

pkenney 2019-10-12 00:47

I DID IT!!

My game also turned out half-finished this LD, so I decided to dig into this one a bit and set my own goal: Combos.

It was pretty easy to get a wood-wood combo, but my real goal was to get a wood-leaf combo catch.

And after a while, I was able to do it, here it is:

CCCOMBO.png

It was a pretty long cast, almost to the corner of the screen, but I've shown it here reeled in on land so you can clearly see it was a combo.

So I had fun with this! Can't rip out a ton of stars on a not-so-finished entry, but knowing what it was going in, I found some fun.

The casting mechanic was a cool idea, and the tempo of the action made it just barely hard enough. It was the right level of difficulty to create a chill fishing mood. Nice start!

(Edit: I want to second the suggestion about that the controls should be on WASD and not on arrows. Arrows are fine alone, but arrows+mouse is not the right way to go imo)

lombax 2019-10-12 02:02

@stefanie-leitch tyvm for the feedback

@pkenney hehe gj. next is triple combo :O (not sure if its possible). but ye... im not quite sure why i used arrows instead of wasd. when i play other games that use arrows i just yell to myself whhhyyyyyy. and i just did it in my own game...... oh well.....

sorlok 2019-10-12 02:26

The concept is cool; I wish the line didn't auto-reel in though. Good take on the theme!

guckstift 2019-10-13 23:33

Well, weird game, but somehow fun to play :) I always wondered how much of resources I need to build another piece of island.

marcin-j 2019-10-14 19:22

Enjoyable game with nice pixel art. It really really really needs sounds and chill music so player can enjoy themselves for a longer period of time.

afendar 2019-10-21 18:34

For a participation compo, it is already a good beginning. Congratulations to you anyway. The concept is simple but it is a good base to add other things.