Game Mechanics Fishing?

Well that was a quick fix, I had the same variable for two different if statements in the same step event (I don't know how else to put it, I'm not the most technically advanced for words when it comes to GMS2 yet).. so while it was checking if the variable was true it would then check if the second variable was true, but the other if statement was doing the same and was cancelling out the first variable. I have no clue if that made any sense!

Either way it's fixed now :D
 
Life + Game Making = Sometimes more complexe than usual

I found pixel-art to be easier than HD arts because you can easily cut-out details and you will still have a beautiful graphic component. It requires a lot less colors too. When 4 pixels can make an eye and you can use the black dot in 4 different directions, your character is easy to animate with very few modifications. Same thing for walking animations. My favorite easy work is Super Mario where his arms are constantly bent, ready to run and moving back and forth while walking. Simple, easy, not complicated and very recognizable. Pixel-art to me is a fun and easy way to make things beautiful without spending hours on details.

Another example of, to my opinion, stupid success, is Minecraft. Seriously? Blocks in Low Definition that are now sold as toyes for Legos and stuffes animals??? Out of a simple concept, a game can be good without too much effort on graphics. All you need is the right idea and the good representation of it, fun for the player.

Don't put yourself in too much pressure, more-over, if you are alone, take the time. A lot of games take years to develop even with a team, so imagine alone. Don't be too eager, stay constant and focussed and achieve simple goals. It's good to have a check list, but it's good to have small goals.

This fishing rod you drew, is great. Very recognizable, simple. And I can assure you that the further you will draw in your game and check on other examples, you will acquire new skills.

I did an icon pack available on deviantart. I was trying to do my own Hard drive and add colors to it:
HardDriveNormal.pngHardDriveWindows.png
I did a Google image search on hard drive icons. I love icons. Icons are the exact representation of what pixel-art should be. A small image that says a lot to the user. So finding an icon for whatever you want to draw gives ideas. Then, you simplify your image. I found out that hard drives have very recognizable screws but also a recognizable shape on top. This weird music-note-styled cover. It had some vents and usually a light to show people that activity is happenning on this thing. I came up with these concepts ehich I love for their simplicity. Of course, not everybody's taste, but still, very acceptible.

I also love to use Paint.Net as my main drawing program. One couls also consider Greefish Icon Editor as it can save in PNG formats and animated GIFS. I learned to draw in layers doing my base image shapes then adding layers to finaly merge them. Here is a brief over view of my next Lost Explorer player head that I started to draw with all layers:
Making a Head.png
As you can see, seperately, it's ugly, but when merged, the effect is good. AND, you will notice that you CAN be ugly when drawing. Like my "Hat Shadow" it covers the entire head but one the Hat is on top, it never showed that I drew a black head for a shadow. You will also learn to use filters that will change how colors reacte to your images. Like the wood planks I drew as an example previously, the walls have a light shade on them. In reality, it's simple white lines I drew using the "Overlay" option for that layer in Paint.Net. In the end, the overlay does not appear white but it appears as a lighter shade of the underlying layers of your picture.

You will also see in my picture that I ommitted the eyes, nose and mouth. The hat acts as a eye cover and the beard and mustach act like the mouth and nose. The "Hat Shadow" limits the light on the face permitting me to ignore certain details which in HD, I would need to take care of. That's the beauty of pixel art. You don't need to be good to make it look good. All you need is to choose the right thing to omit and let the player use it's imagination for the rest.

Continue your hard work and don't rush, be patient and work on your project continuously. That way, you will be happy with your results everyday!

Keep it up!!! Happy drawing and coding :)
 
Life + Game Making = Sometimes more complexe than usual

I found pixel-art to be easier than HD arts because you can easily cut-out details and you will still have a beautiful graphic component. It requires a lot less colors too. When 4 pixels can make an eye and you can use the black dot in 4 different directions, your character is easy to animate with very few modifications. Same thing for walking animations. My favorite easy work is Super Mario where his arms are constantly bent, ready to run and moving back and forth while walking. Simple, easy, not complicated and very recognizable. Pixel-art to me is a fun and easy way to make things beautiful without spending hours on details.

Another example of, to my opinion, stupid success, is Minecraft. Seriously? Blocks in Low Definition that are now sold as toyes for Legos and stuffes animals??? Out of a simple concept, a game can be good without too much effort on graphics. All you need is the right idea and the good representation of it, fun for the player.

Don't put yourself in too much pressure, more-over, if you are alone, take the time. A lot of games take years to develop even with a team, so imagine alone. Don't be too eager, stay constant and focussed and achieve simple goals. It's good to have a check list, but it's good to have small goals.

This fishing rod you drew, is great. Very recognizable, simple. And I can assure you that the further you will draw in your game and check on other examples, you will acquire new skills.

I did an icon pack available on deviantart. I was trying to do my own Hard drive and add colors to it:
View attachment 34001View attachment 34002
I did a Google image search on hard drive icons. I love icons. Icons are the exact representation of what pixel-art should be. A small image that says a lot to the user. So finding an icon for whatever you want to draw gives ideas. Then, you simplify your image. I found out that hard drives have very recognizable screws but also a recognizable shape on top. This weird music-note-styled cover. It had some vents and usually a light to show people that activity is happenning on this thing. I came up with these concepts ehich I love for their simplicity. Of course, not everybody's taste, but still, very acceptible.

I also love to use Paint.Net as my main drawing program. One couls also consider Greefish Icon Editor as it can save in PNG formats and animated GIFS. I learned to draw in layers doing my base image shapes then adding layers to finaly merge them. Here is a brief over view of my next Lost Explorer player head that I started to draw with all layers:
View attachment 34003
As you can see, seperately, it's ugly, but when merged, the effect is good. AND, you will notice that you CAN be ugly when drawing. Like my "Hat Shadow" it covers the entire head but one the Hat is on top, it never showed that I drew a black head for a shadow. You will also learn to use filters that will change how colors reacte to your images. Like the wood planks I drew as an example previously, the walls have a light shade on them. In reality, it's simple white lines I drew using the "Overlay" option for that layer in Paint.Net. In the end, the overlay does not appear white but it appears as a lighter shade of the underlying layers of your picture.

You will also see in my picture that I ommitted the eyes, nose and mouth. The hat acts as a eye cover and the beard and mustach act like the mouth and nose. The "Hat Shadow" limits the light on the face permitting me to ignore certain details which in HD, I would need to take care of. That's the beauty of pixel art. You don't need to be good to make it look good. All you need is to choose the right thing to omit and let the player use it's imagination for the rest.

Continue your hard work and don't rush, be patient and work on your project continuously. That way, you will be happy with your results everyday!

Keep it up!!! Happy drawing and coding :)
What you did with the hard drive icons is similar to what I did for the fishing rod - obviously I know what a fishing rod looks like - but to implement it as a 2d image / pixel-art image is a different story for me, so I had a google and had a few images as a reference to not only see the layout of one in 2d, but all of the different types of shadowing and effects they may have. For example, the fishing rod wouldn't have had the line dropping down if I hadn't done a little research on other 2d fishing rods - as I probably would have kept it as a plain rod; but I think the line dropping down adds an insane amount of life to the fishing rod - for such a little detail!

I thank you once again for all of the help and advice you have provided and still continue to do so, you have a lot of patience!

My to-do list for today remains almost the same as yesterday - minus a couple of things. I'll post another little to-do list here as I brainstorm!

  • Import a character sprite (or create one, we'll see how confident I feel :D)
  • Create / add a float sprite - with a few variations
  • Continue working on both of the current rooms; I also need to add in the "travel" option - which I have pretty much coded, but need add in the car and a room transition / "fake" loading screen (which can show a preview of the map you are heading to, along with maybe the types of fish etc there)
  • Improve the achievements menu
  • Change the bite rates / chances of bites - will also improve the current animation for when a fish bites, as it is currently just a flash; I'll probably make the float start dropping under as I feel like that would be relatively easy to animate and code (as it would basically be just taking bits off the float sprite each frame if bite = true)
So with all that said, let's see if I can some of this done today!

I want to add also, a thank you again to David, woods and anyone else who may be silently following along to this development process! This is definitely the most fun I have had working on a GMS2 project since I started using it a few months ago - I feel like this is finally a project that I am creating and that I want to see working (as I'd love to play it myself).
 
Little update:

Character sprite has been added in with 4-directional movement and I think it looks awesome, I did not make them, however I got them from itch.io (https://vryell.itch.io/tiny-village-pack) and I think it suits the game very well.

Only downside to me using the squares as a template from the start was that I had to recode all of the movement system (which wasn't exactly difficult anyway) for the animated sprite. It's all starting to come together a little now!
 
Well my day changed quite drastically again - I had a lot of other things to get done which took up my time for a good 7 hours+. I did manage to get quite a few things done beforehand such as the addition of sprites, improvement of the achievement menu and other things.

I'm not sure if I'll do anymore tonight, but there should also be a fishing animation pretty soon with the character along with the better room transitions (using the car and then selecting which lake based on level) and improvements of the current overlays / menu.

Also sorry for not a detailed post as usual, I am extremely exhausted and honestly can't be bothered typing much!

Hope you all have a good day / night and I will check in tomorrow morning :D
 
Good morning! Feeling a lot more refreshed today, although my body is exhausted!

I'm going to be continuing from yesterdays to-do list and see what I can get done. I'm in contact with the creator of the character sprites I'm using to make a custom fishing animation - which will be awesome! I'll keep you guys updated with that.
 

woods

Member
man... you're making me look bad bru ;o)
in a good way..

seeing your motivation and progress makes me feel like i'm slackin... i've taken about a week off on my battlemech project... RL gets in the way sometimes ;o)
but thats how i do sometimes.. ill go like mad for 4 or 5 days then have a burnout week.. then right back on it.


i think im gonna have to take a page out of your book and write down a todo list and PACE myself

keep it up
all ahead full capn!
 
man... you're making me look bad bru ;o)
in a good way..

seeing your motivation and progress makes me feel like i'm slackin... i've taken about a week off on my battlemech project... RL gets in the way sometimes ;o)
but thats how i do sometimes.. ill go like mad for 4 or 5 days then have a burnout week.. then right back on it.


i think im gonna have to take a page out of your book and write down a todo list and PACE myself

keep it up
all ahead full capn!
Don't feel bad! Everyone has their ways of working and I sometimes (a lot of the times) do the same as you, I may work 12-15 hours a day for like 2-3 days and get burnt out and lose all motivation. I'm currently still working a decent amount of time per day on this, but as I've started to do this to-do list and pacing myself, I'm not getting burnt out at all as I know what I have to do and what I have done - it keeps my motivation high! Plus it helps that fishing is my main hobby, so it feels really fun to be making a game about it!

Just to add - I've now added the travel menu which is great - it needs a lot of graphical work but the actual functions of it work perfectly!

I've also improved upon the current rm_home and it's starting to come together nicely, it could do with some small improvements such as some life effects and whatnot - but for now, it will do!

Next up is to work on the level system (xp system is in place, just need to do some math to do the levels) and also to continue working on the first lake!
 

woods

Member
oh dont get me wrong bru... i dont feel bad at all.
outshining me for sure ;o)

im just saying your doing a great job!
im loving it
 
Well another good update! I've managed to get the float now to sink / bob instead of flashing to indicate a bite (that was more of a placeholder).

It's now a lot more realistic in my eyes and I can now adjust the bite time depending on the location and fish etc.

Like I keep saying, it all seems to be coming together a lot better!
 
A little update:

I have managed to do a majority of the first lake (Carol's Lake) - I plan to add some more animated features to it, the water is currently animated where it hits the bank. I'm going to add bubbles of activity of fish and whatnot and hopefully find some smaller animals to buzz about and provide some environmental ambience.

Currently working on a main menu overlay in-game and I just reminded myself by saying that, that I need to actually make a main menu screen instead of loading right into the game.. but I'm not sure; maybe it'll be a unique aspect of loading straight into the game, and using the home as the main menu screen (such as viewing your stats, saving, loading, customizing your character).

I like that idea actually.

NO MAIN MENU / STARTING MENU!

It will all be accessible in game. I'd also like to add a credits, which I will add by creating an interactive object (similar to that of the desk to view your achievements / statistics) to view the credits.
 
Another little update:

Save and load system is fully working - currently I've got a room start load (if exists) and room end save - so whenever you leave a lake, your progress is saved.
I also have another trigger for the save system, which is and I had the idea from Stardew Valley:

1599055402065.png
 
Another little update:

Save and load system is fully working - currently I've got a room start load (if exists) and room end save - so whenever you leave a lake, your progress is saved.
I also have another trigger for the save system, which is and I had the idea from Stardew Valley:

View attachment 34043
Ooouu! It's starting to look good! I'm very pleased with what I see. A few textures could be polished, but visualy, it's ver nice and calming. I'll try to check more later because I am cooking right now. But I had to see if you had an update and it was worth having a small pause. Good Job!!!
 
Ooouu! It's starting to look good! I'm very pleased with what I see. A few textures could be polished, but visualy, it's ver nice and calming. I'll try to check more later because I am cooking right now. But I had to see if you had an update and it was worth having a small pause. Good Job!!!
Thank you David! I hope you're sending me some of that food :D

I've added small steps at the front of the door now so it doesn't just abruptly go from the gravel / dirt to the wooden floor.

Also another little update:

I've now implemented the level system, currently it stands at (but will change)

Level 0 - 10 -- 500xp per level
Level 11 - 21 -- 1500xp per level
Level 22 - 40 -- 2500xp per level
and level 41 - 150 -- 5000xp per level

The XP is high as the amount you receive from catching a fish can be quite high depending on it's weight and type. It's also relatively easy to catch fish at the moment as I have yet to implement a fish fighting system, but other than that it's coming together nicely!

Carol's lake is making good progress also. I've added all of the lake and some grass parts; as mentioned before I need to animate more in the middle of the lake. I also need to add reeds and lily pads - along with more textures and variations to the environment around the lake.

In addition to the above, I need to improve on the current UI but right now, all of the code and game is functional!


Either tonight or tomorrow there will be a fishing animation (having one custom made) which I will then add into the game.

I've also improved the float sinking animation - however it does need quite a lot more improvement before it is finished - including an actual float sprite :D

Overall, the progress made in the past couple of days, considering the amount of outside distractions I have had, has been awesome :D

Thanks for sticking with me guys and hopefully you'll have a very early version to test and play soon :D
 
A quick update - I've added in the new fishing animations and they look awesome! I've requested one little fix which will either be done later tonight or tomorrow - then I shall show off the new sprites / animations!

I've also been testing the saving of statistics and it all seems to be working well, encoding it is the next thing but if I can remember correctly, that's only an additional line or two of code.
 

woods

Member
looking good bru ;o)
am diggin on the stardew valley inspired theme.. it fits nicely.
definitely like the addition of saving on scene change
 
looking good bru ;o)
am diggin on the stardew valley inspired theme.. it fits nicely.
definitely like the addition of saving on scene change
Thanks woods!

I thought it'd be easier and not impact the player as you'd be in between switching rooms anyway so you wouldn't notice the save, as opposed to having to manually save your progress every time :D

Today I'll be adding a float sprite and improving upon the current coding for it (the bite timing and sinking) along with additions of animations for the first lake. I'll also be adding more texture to the rm_home and updating the overlay screens which are in place.

Then.. I just remembered, I need to add sounds to the game. I always forget about this part. If anyone has any good recommendations for sound packs (free or paid) please let me know! I have a few basic sounds, but I also need some ambient background music to loop and car sounds, water sounds and footsteps (although I think I have footsteps already).

I can't wait to share the game with you guys and actually improve on it more - it's crazy how much fun I'm having making it!

Sure, it was fun when I was following along to full tutorials and seeing the outcome; but it was exactly the same as the tutorial. This time, as my experience has grown in GMS2 over the past few months, I haven't needed to follow a tutorial or guide from start to finish. If anything, I have referred to the manual whenever I've gotten stuck (or to you guys!) as I now understand what I'm reading.

I thought I'd add that little bit as from someone who had NO IDEA how to code in GMS2 and with GML a few months ago to someone who is, I'd say, an intermediate at GML. Yeah, there's things I don't understand fully such as the ds lists and dsmaps (but David has helped me out massively), but I am learning them slowly but surely!

If you told me to begin coding a fishing game from scratch 4 months ago; I would have had a mental breakdown. The fact I have coded my own, original, fishing system (as trust me, when I first had the idea for this project, I searched for a guide!), is awesome and I can't thank you guys enough for providing me with the motivation and knowledge to do this - if it wasn't for the pseudo code at the start, this project would probably not exist today.

If you read that novel, you deserve a copy of the game :D
 

woods

Member
bru... im just a cheerleader off to the side.. you are the one doing all the heavy lifting ;o)

4months... wow that is impressive.... ive been fiddling with game maker studio for about 3 years(off and on) and i am just now able to make a handful of demo/proof of concept type micro games. if i took a long hard try at it, i could prolly flesh something out enough to call it a game. i got a loooong way to go before i could say i am proficient ;o)

one thing i have found out over the past forever.. tutorials are for showing you "how to do something like...." i see many many people out here following along blindly copy/paste and not have a clue about what they just did... whatwe should be doing is watching the tutorial and breaking it down to learn "how/why it works this way" and then make our own code to do what we want.
sooooo so many of us out here, just dont have the fundamentals down, and want to race off and build that epic dream game.


*kicks soapbox*
*grabs pom poms*

props bru!
 
bru... im just a cheerleader off to the side.. you are the one doing all the heavy lifting ;o)

4months... wow that is impressive.... ive been fiddling with game maker studio for about 3 years(off and on) and i am just now able to make a handful of demo/proof of concept type micro games. if i took a long hard try at it, i could prolly flesh something out enough to call it a game. i got a loooong way to go before i could say i am proficient ;o)

one thing i have found out over the past forever.. tutorials are for showing you "how to do something like...." i see many many people out here following along blindly copy/paste and not have a clue about what they just did... whatwe should be doing is watching the tutorial and breaking it down to learn "how/why it works this way" and then make our own code to do what we want.
sooooo so many of us out here, just dont have the fundamentals down, and want to race off and build that epic dream game.


*kicks soapbox*
*grabs pom poms*

props bru!
Yeah I thought I'd really get stuck into GMS2 as my university course doesn't start back up until October, so I thought I'd try and learn what I could and see what happens!

I agree with the tutorials - they are more of a copy and paste video without actually having to do things yourself. I remember the first game I tried to make was a survival looting type game - how that failed so badly. It was literally a copy and paste from the tutorials I had watched; then when I wanted to add things myself, I had no idea how to.

It's all learning at the end of the day and I'm happy now that I am able to code without referring to tutorials or videos, but to the manual and you guys! (apart from the odd explanation video as opposed to a tutorial series). It took a lot of flopped games and errors, along with wanting to uninstall GMS2 numerous times. But now I feel as if I am past the huge learning curve and am able to actually focus on the game I'd love to play and want to make!

I may be doing the heavy lifting, but it means a lot to have the support from all of you guys (from one person to 1 million, it'd be the same!) :D

Thanks for sticking with me and I better get to working on it instead of typing away on here :D
 
The usual daily update:

I've improved the interface of the fish caught screen - it looks MUCH better. I also have the text change colour depending on the rarity of the fish caught.

Other than that, I've been improving rm_home and rm_carols - I've added a lot of environmental aesthetics and I'm currently working on a "computer" interactable object; so you are able to (in the future) buy baits, upgrade your rod and check your balance. I may add a bit of realism in there so that there are goals to work towards, such as paying your rent etc.

I mentioned previously I didn't want a money aspect in game; but if I do not have that, I feel it would lack quite a bit of content. Money will not be a huge factor; as I want the player to be able to relax and fish, as opposed to fishing for money to pay for something else. Money will be easy to gain.

I have yet to add the money into the game, but as it's only a few lines of code I'm not worrying about it too much. What I'd like to get done is, as mentioned, the computer interface - as it adds another layer to the game which I think will be awesome!

I could maybe even add a timer, where if you purchase your bait online, it takes say 10-20 minutes to arrive? Hmm I'll see about that one.. for now I'll get the other stuff done and start adding custom variables after the main functions are working!
 
The caught fish overlay (specimen is the rarest to catch, I wasn't going to post a screen of this yet, but I had to considering I just caught a specimen :D)

1599134699599.png
 
An update:

So I've been working on little fixes and adding some more overlays. As I mentioned, there will not be a main menu; you will be able to access what you would in a main menu throughout your house. The power box you see outside, when you are within distance of it, will display a prompt to press E to access, then you are able to exit (and save) the game that way.

I've also been adding....... SOUNDS!

I am still implementing them, but I thought they are quite important to the game, so I'd get them sorted sooner rather than later.

The player animation for fishing is now complete and looks awesome!

Another few things I've added or changed:
  • The stuff mentioned above
  • Water animations (will add more variations)
  • Improved the float sprite; need to make it A LOT smaller though
  • Added ambient sounds (crows while at rm_home, bird song (which is VERY relaxing!) while at the lake)
  • Colour variations on the text depending on the rarity of the fish
  • The base for accessing a computer in game (for accessing things such as an online shop for bait, checking your balance and also viewing the credits)
  • Fixing the fish variables a little along with editing them
  • Added a load of environmental detail to the first lake - still none of them are animated as of yet, but I will see about adding that soon! If the ambient sounds work well, mixed with the animations on the water, then I will leave the other environmental stuff static as I don't want it to distract from the actual game.
 
Sorry for not giving news on those beautiful updates. I had and will have very busy days as I am trying to reunit my family. We are from different countries and it's not easy at all especially during COVID-19.

I am a VERY visual guy. So I have very high standards visual wise. I saw a game on itch.io. Something called Seedlings if I am not mistaking. Gosh, those graphics are gorgeous. But those are HD graphics. I just noticed a very subtle but yet, very effective way of minimizing graphics while keeping the good looks. When you look at the game, on the surfaces are textures and the further to the center you go, it finishes totally uni-color and dark. It gives a very nice effect while keeping the graphics high quality.

As for pixel-art. I love to take Eagle Island as a reference because of sooo many little details that give life to the game. There's also a little something that adds to the style, it's the terrain that is not perfect squares.

I know you are starting to implement graphics and I see perfect squares everywhere, the same repeated textures. Now that's where we will see where your game will start to look like. Will it look like a past retro game where they had very little computer resource to use different textures, or will it be a modern graphical enhanced games with very divers yet very well done graphics?

Your overlay is perfect and beautiful, if suites your game style. I love the darkened transparent background and even more your darker and still transparent emphasised messages and buttons. That's very well thought.

Yes, I complain about graphics, but if that is the style you chose, then, good, let it be rectangular and repetitive textures. When you look at Final Fantasy on NES and SNES and the same thing for Zelda. The graphics were so-so back then, but wow, was the game play revolutionary to the point of rising Final Fantasy to one of the renowned games up to today. If you have a solid and well coded engine with diversity and nice achievements, good screen transitions and good controls, your game will be be beautiful as it is.

May I just suggest this: Your home is super big compared to your character. Way too big. Unless you plan on letting people customize your home to add trophies and other decorations, I think the home should be smaller. One great things about achievements is that some games show your progression just by the looks of your home. Since you want to keep the shack style, you can opt to make the house grow larger and have more rooms, more place for trophies, fireplace. You know, upgrades. Basically, you dtart with a small shack surrounded by a grassy yard, as you evolve, your house covers more grass area. You could also have a fishing rod display case so we can see the progression from where you started to where you are. Giving players some more than just fish can make them choose what to do depending on their mood during the day: Oh, I feel lazy and don't want to fish, I want to decorate today. Oh, I feel like exploring today, I'll take my car and go see what type of fish I can catch further.

You have done a super great job! Please DO continue. I could also suggest you a fish book where there is a list of shadow fish, the complete list and as you catch the different fish, you discover that fish in your book. And as a user stated earlier, you could gain details on the fish the further you gain experience fishing it which would sho in your fish book. That makes us want to fish a lot. This could also add the possibility of addons or further updates or game packs later where you can add to that fish book and expand without needing to redo a whole new game.

Continue and very nice progression!!!

Sorry if I do not always replay as quick as before but I always check your updates when I can. Keep it up!!!
 

woods

Member
yeah this covid thing has everything in a hard bind for sure.
good luck on gathering everybody back together ;o) hope things go well.

with today's technology, everything is super high definition, (my phone is just as good as my computer.. if not better)
but there is definitely something to be said for the raw simplicity of the retro style art.. like you said, why is link and cloud such HUGE icons ;o)


a list of shadow fish, the complete list and as you catch the different fish, you discover that fish in your book.
gotta catch em all ;o)
no joke here... there are ALOT of us out here with that OCD thing...
completionist/achievement hunting is a HUGE draw. as is upgrades and customization.


my opinion bru.. you are spot on!
keep it up
 
I don't really have anything productive to add beyond what everyone else has already said (the game looks great, by the way), but I just wanted to say that I love your passion for what you're doing and the gratitude you have for those forum members that have provided a lot of input. I'd also like to say that you guys (woods and David Richard) have gone above and beyond to be not only helpful, but supportive and encouraging. It reminds me of why I joined the GMC in the first place.

Well... that got a little more earnest than I thought it would...

Anyways, good luck with this. Your enthusiasm is contagious, and for that alone I hope this is a huge success.
 
Sorry for not giving news on those beautiful updates. I had and will have very busy days as I am trying to reunit my family. We are from different countries and it's not easy at all especially during COVID-19.

I am a VERY visual guy. So I have very high standards visual wise. I saw a game on itch.io. Something called Seedlings if I am not mistaking. Gosh, those graphics are gorgeous. But those are HD graphics. I just noticed a very subtle but yet, very effective way of minimizing graphics while keeping the good looks. When you look at the game, on the surfaces are textures and the further to the center you go, it finishes totally uni-color and dark. It gives a very nice effect while keeping the graphics high quality.

As for pixel-art. I love to take Eagle Island as a reference because of sooo many little details that give life to the game. There's also a little something that adds to the style, it's the terrain that is not perfect squares.

I know you are starting to implement graphics and I see perfect squares everywhere, the same repeated textures. Now that's where we will see where your game will start to look like. Will it look like a past retro game where they had very little computer resource to use different textures, or will it be a modern graphical enhanced games with very divers yet very well done graphics?

Your overlay is perfect and beautiful, if suites your game style. I love the darkened transparent background and even more your darker and still transparent emphasised messages and buttons. That's very well thought.

Yes, I complain about graphics, but if that is the style you chose, then, good, let it be rectangular and repetitive textures. When you look at Final Fantasy on NES and SNES and the same thing for Zelda. The graphics were so-so back then, but wow, was the game play revolutionary to the point of rising Final Fantasy to one of the renowned games up to today. If you have a solid and well coded engine with diversity and nice achievements, good screen transitions and good controls, your game will be be beautiful as it is.

May I just suggest this: Your home is super big compared to your character. Way too big. Unless you plan on letting people customize your home to add trophies and other decorations, I think the home should be smaller. One great things about achievements is that some games show your progression just by the looks of your home. Since you want to keep the shack style, you can opt to make the house grow larger and have more rooms, more place for trophies, fireplace. You know, upgrades. Basically, you dtart with a small shack surrounded by a grassy yard, as you evolve, your house covers more grass area. You could also have a fishing rod display case so we can see the progression from where you started to where you are. Giving players some more than just fish can make them choose what to do depending on their mood during the day: Oh, I feel lazy and don't want to fish, I want to decorate today. Oh, I feel like exploring today, I'll take my car and go see what type of fish I can catch further.

You have done a super great job! Please DO continue. I could also suggest you a fish book where there is a list of shadow fish, the complete list and as you catch the different fish, you discover that fish in your book. And as a user stated earlier, you could gain details on the fish the further you gain experience fishing it which would sho in your fish book. That makes us want to fish a lot. This could also add the possibility of addons or further updates or game packs later where you can add to that fish book and expand without needing to redo a whole new game.

Continue and very nice progression!!!

Sorry if I do not always replay as quick as before but I always check your updates when I can. Keep it up!!!
That is no problem David! Don't ever think you are required to comment to my updates or anything - the fact I know people are reading them alone is a great motivation to me and I don't want anyone to feel any pressure to provide feedback! :)

I actually had the thought of the fish book yesterday - but totally forgot until you just mentioned it. Great minds think alike haha! I will be implementing the fish book - I may even do it today as I really like the idea and you've definitely helped me figure out how I'd do it! I thank you very much.

On a note with the graphics, currently, I am liking the repetition - I think the core gameplay outweighs the graphics. HOWEVER - I really do plan to improve upon them; especially adding more variations and textures - but for now, this isn't my main priority as I want to continue coding some fundamental functions (such as the computer overlay, the book - which I may actually include the credits in, as it may look pretty cool handwritten at the back of the book).

(I've added a little thank you message at the bottom of this post)

yeah this covid thing has everything in a hard bind for sure.
good luck on gathering everybody back together ;o) hope things go well.

with today's technology, everything is super high definition, (my phone is just as good as my computer.. if not better)
but there is definitely something to be said for the raw simplicity of the retro style art.. like you said, why is link and cloud such HUGE icons ;o)




gotta catch em all ;o)
no joke here... there are ALOT of us out here with that OCD thing...
completionist/achievement hunting is a HUGE draw. as is upgrades and customization.


my opinion bru.. you are spot on!
keep it up
"gotta catch em all" that got me :D
I am one of those achievement hunters, hence why I plan to have it as a big part of the game; if not a big part of the game, then I at least want A LOT of achievements for people to go after!

I don't really have anything productive to add beyond what everyone else has already said (the game looks great, by the way), but I just wanted to say that I love your passion for what you're doing and the gratitude you have for those forum members that have provided a lot of input. I'd also like to say that you guys (woods and David Richard) have gone above and beyond to be not only helpful, but supportive and encouraging. It reminds me of why I joined the GMC in the first place.

Well... that got a little more earnest than I thought it would...

Anyways, good luck with this. Your enthusiasm is contagious, and for that alone I hope this is a huge success.
Don't feel like you only need to post something productive - you're always welcome to just chat here too! :)

Thank you very much for your kind words - I'm really glad you enjoy the look of the game!

Without this forum and all of the forum members who have been involved (or just read) this topic, I really don't think this game would be anywhere near where it's at now; or even a project in GMS2!

Thank you again! I do hope that people enjoy this game, whether it is a success or not (to me) is not important (but once again, I really do appreciate such kind and awesome words!) - if another one person enjoys playing this game, then I personally class it as a success :)

NOTE:
I know I always say it - but thank you for your feedback and suggestions, along with your continued support and always kind words! I don't think this game would be where it is without this support, I won't get into it now, but maybe once this game is finished I'll post a small (haha probably will be the length of a novel) blog on how you all have actually impacted not only the game, but my motivation and mental health in such a positive way - as I keep saying, I cannot thank you all enough. Even if you don't comment on this thread, you may like to just read and check up on the progression - I also thank you for sticking with me and following the progression of this game!
 
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A to-do list of today is:

  • Add more fish sprites (this is very important and I keep forgetting to do it)
  • Improve and add textures throughout the current maps
  • Improve the current UI (the achievement menu, needs some more colour)
  • Add a fish book (thanks David!)
  • Begin implementing the computer overlay
  • Add baits and their variables (still figuring out the best way to do this)
  • Improve / add a new float sprite (it's way too big)
  • Continue adding sounds and ambience to the game
  • Maybe see if I can do a driving cutscene to the lake? Not sure.
  • With the travel overlay, it's currently just rectangles and stuff. I'd like to add a sprite of a map, then when you hover over a certain lake you're able to travel there if you meet the requirements (level and fuel costs)
  • REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN AND TAKE BREAKS :D
 

HayManMarc

Member
This was a great read! Such great progression in game dev, including the usage of art! I think you're on the road to success. You should consider yourself very fortunate to be able to dive into a "dream project" so early in your knowledge of programming and then experience such strides of accomplishment. Bravo to you!...for pushing through the learning curve and tackling each new idea with determination, and such passion!

I'd just like to remark at how clean and concise your UI is looking for the player. Informative, yet tidy! And i agree, there's a lot you can do with graphics, including effects ("game juice"), but the simplicity of what you have going is pretty charming.

An old fishing game I played long ago allowed the player to keep any specimen he/she caught in a virtual fish tank back at the cabin, as a sort of a living trophy. Not sure if this idea fits in with what you have in mind, but I thought I'd throw it out there since I liked that feature in that game. I didnt know it then, but now I realize that it's a game design mechanic of "collecting" that can be a compelling factor for the player, much like "achievements" mentioned earlier.

Anyway, I look forward to watching this game progress further and getting a chance to play test it for you someday (hopefully)!

If you're still looking for audio fx, I suggest freesound.com. Sometimes searching for a sound is tricky, but i usually find good stuff there. And for free music, incompetech.com always has something that will fit the bill. And if you're still looking for other helpful resources to help your game devving, check out these forum threads...

A list of stuff gathered for people making jam games:

A list of stuff helpful for making any games (post started by your friend @David Richard):

Keep at it, my friend! You are an inspiration.

(One more thing -- you might consider having this thread moved to the WIP forum, since it's become more of a DevLog than a gamedev question at this point. Any forum moderator can help you with that.)
 
This was a great read! Such great progression in game dev, including the usage of art! I think you're on the road to success. You should consider yourself very fortunate to be able to dive into a "dream project" so early in your knowledge of programming and then experience such strides of accomplishment. Bravo to you!...for pushing through the learning curve and tackling each new idea with determination, and such passion!

I'd just like to remark at how clean and concise your UI is looking for the player. Informative, yet tidy! And i agree, there's a lot you can do with graphics, including effects ("game juice"), but the simplicity of what you have going is pretty charming.

An old fishing game I played long ago allowed the player to keep any specimen he/she caught in a virtual fish tank back at the cabin, as a sort of a living trophy. Not sure if this idea fits in with what you have in mind, but I thought I'd throw it out there since I liked that feature in that game. I didnt know it then, but now I realize that it's a game design mechanic of "collecting" that can be a compelling factor for the player, much like "achievements" mentioned earlier.

Anyway, I look forward to watching this game progress further and getting a chance to play test it for you someday (hopefully)!

If you're still looking for audio fx, I suggest freesound.com. Sometimes searching for a sound is tricky, but i usually find good stuff there. And for free music, incompetech.com always has something that will fit the bill. And if you're still looking for other helpful resources to help your game devving, check out these forum threads...

A list of stuff gathered for people making jam games:

A list of stuff helpful for making any games (post started by your friend @David Richard):

Keep at it, my friend! You are an inspiration.

(One more thing -- you might consider having this thread moved to the WIP forum, since it's become more of a DevLog than a gamedev question at this point. Any forum moderator can help you with that.)
Thank you very much for your kind words! I cannot believe the amount of people who are looking forward to this game; myself included :D

I do like that idea of keeping your specimen catches in a tank - I'll have to think on that and see if it'd work. Otherwise, I just had the thought of adding in the fish book, a page where you are able to see your best catches of each species, that might work well.

I also thank you for the resource links (I'm sure they will definitely come in handy!).

May be a stupid question, how do I contact a moderator? I was thinking that yesterday - as this is no longer an idea but as you said, a huge devlog!

Honestly you all are my motivation and inspiration for wanting to work so hard on this game! Sure, I would still work on it regardless, but with such support and kind words behind me, it feels awesome every time I get to share something new with you all!
 
Little update:

I'm currently working on adding baits into the game, with their variables and how they affect what you catch. Alongside this, I've also been working on the computer overlay - it's nothing too fancy, but I like it!

I want to remind myself and everyone that currently, in game, there is still no fish fight. I'm debating adding this factor as I quite like the instant catch (as you have to wait for the bite regardless, so it's not a throw in and catch).
 

HayManMarc

Member
I just want to remind you to make backups of your game often. After every new feature I add to a project, I export the thing to a new, saved export (yyz file). (For example: save as: my_game_006_trees_added) This will save your sanity when tragedy strikes.
 
I just want to remind you to make backups of your game often. After every new feature I add to a project, I export the thing to a new, saved export (yyz file). This will save your sanity when tragedy strikes.
Exactly what I began to do after I accidentally deleted one of the fundamental objects! (I'm sure it's on the last page somewhere)
 
I GOT THE BAIT SYSTEM WORKING!

Well.. most of it.

I'll list below what is currently completed and what needs to be done to finish the bait system:

Completed:

  • Purchasing of bait (through the computer overlay)
  • The selection of bait while your rod is equipped (press X)
  • The usage of bait
  • You do no have to keep selecting a bait each time you fish - if you have more than 0 of say, bread, you will continue to use it until you have 0. You are able to switch bait if you wanted to.
  • Text UI at the bottom displaying how much bait is left

Need to do (and will finish in the next hour hopefully):

  • Have the bait affect what you will catch (should be pretty simple)
  • Import food sprites
  • Add more bait
  • Add the bait to the bait choose / selection screen (currently only had one (bread) to test it)
  • Include the name of the bait alongside the already completed amount UI
  • Add more bait to the "shop"
 
Quick update on the post above:

  • Added more bait to the selection screen
  • Made it so that, if you have bait, it will display the amount on hover with "You have: "; if you don't have any, it will display on hover "You don't have any "bait name""
  • If you try to click on one where you don't have any; it will not do anything (I will add a sound to indicate this)
  • If you click on a bait which you have, it will then close the menu and you will have equipped that bait which will be visualised down the bottom left of the screen
 
The daily afternoon update..

  • Created sprites for the baits, don't expect much :D
  • You are now unable to cast without equipping a bait!
  • I have added a full money system into the game; including when you catch a fish, the money will increase as the rarity does.
  • Added more sounds
    • Release a fish sound
    • Sell a fish sound
    • Purchase bait
    • Travel using car
    • Casting sound
    • Equipping bait sound
    • Adjusted the sound level of the ambient rm_home sound (was too loud for crows)

Yeah so it's going pretty good! Hopefully in a few hours I will have this bait system fully finished and polished (currently only 4 baits, they will take time as I am creating the sprites for them myself). I will plan to add a restriction on purchasing baits; not only on how many you have, but the level of the player (and of course the balance of the player).

I'll post a screen in a little bit of the new computer overlay; I realised I need to add a bit more colour to it.

I have also just realised, I haven't started work on the fish book yet. I'll also do that as soon as the bait system is finished! I'm hoping it won't take too long as I can use some of my code (or quite a bit actually) from the achievement menu (which I still have yet to fully complete).
 
A little screen of a fish caught screen, this time showing the updated hover (displaying the money earned if sell and the exp)
For some reason my cursor is not visible, but it is in game :D

1599226097326.png
 

woods

Member
very nice!!

quick suggestion tho.. maybe show xp/rewards above release button as well, if any...
this way the player can see the side by side effects of either choice

or is it more like hover over the button to display gains?

either way works really ;o)
 
very nice!!

quick suggestion tho.. maybe show xp/rewards above release button as well, if any...
this way the player can see the side by side effects of either choice

or is it more like hover over the button to display gains?

either way works really ;o)
It's a hover over button - it does the same with the release button but only exp :D
 
Instead of the fish book, for now, I'm going to stick with the achievement screen and change it so that, unless you have caught that species, you don't know what it is!

A little example:

(Species not caught)

????
//no sprite image
0/100

(Species caught)
Common Carp
//sprite image (greyed out)
1/100
 
Well I had to improve the current bait system, I found a bug where if you are fishing with a selected bait, and you then go to change it, you can select the bait you already have and reset it's amount back to what it originally was when you got to the lake. NOT ANYMORE! The bait amounts are checked after every cast and amended accordingly.

Guess what I still haven't done?

....added more fish sprites

There is only 1, or maybe 2, fish without a sprite - so it's not essential at the moment, but I know if I leave it too long, I will most probably forget until one of you guys go "why is the sprite of a Dace my character?" :D
 
What do you guys think about a quest & reward system? I was just thinking of ways of rewarding the player and providing something to work towards which isn't an achievement as such.

It would be staggered such as "Beginner Tutorial"

and then in the top left or right of the screen you would have a progress meter (probably by text) and showing the reward(s), sort of like:

Beginner Tutorial (1)
Catch 7 Common Carp (0/7)
Catch 5 Bream (0/5)
Reward(s)
+ $100
+ 500xp
 

woods

Member
Blue is the colour of the specimen text..
a pretty standard color scheme for most RPGs...
grey uncommon(vendor trash)
white common (low level starter gear)
green (slightly better than things you can buy at the vendor)
blue (rare low-mid tier)
purple (epic)
gold (unique)

or something similar to that ;o)



quests & rewards
give the player incentive to keep going... back to that OCD thing earlier ;o)
that interactive tutorial is a good thing.. short and to the point how to play combined with teh primer for teh questing reward system ....+1 for sure


also am digging the shop online for your bait and such... i see alot of potential with your base screenshot there .. hellyeah
 
a pretty standard color scheme for most RPGs...
grey uncommon(vendor trash)
white common (low level starter gear)
green (slightly better than things you can buy at the vendor)
blue (rare low-mid tier)
purple (epic)
gold (unique)

or something similar to that ;o)



quests & rewards
give the player incentive to keep going... back to that OCD thing earlier ;o)
that interactive tutorial is a good thing.. short and to the point how to play combined with teh primer for teh questing reward system ....+1 for sure


also am digging the shop online for your bait and such... i see alot of potential with your base screenshot there .. hellyeah
Ohhh I see. Damn, I thought you were already working on a wiki haha :D

Yeah - it was only created today so it needs a lot of work, but it's all "hand crafted" and I am not the best at it, so it will do for now :D

I've just finished adding in all of the necessary collisions as I "forgot" to do that. I need to add a few more sounds and I honestly think, aside from UI improvements and the addition of quests / rewards - it'll be ready for you guys to privately test!

I also need to stop the camera from showing the black borders, but I've been doing so much "advanced" stuff, I've forgotten some of the basics now :D
 
So this is what the computer overlay currently looks like, it's a WIP but it works!

Ouuuh! My thoughts on this one is that you should have done the opposite, Darkened background and white bait cubes even if it's to simulate a webpage. As for fish book. It was an idea for the presentation of achievements instead of the current normal overlay screen. It gives a sense of special moment when the screen is not the same for such achievements.

Up to now, I am very pleased and I love to see you get further everyday in your work. I had lots to read, you did a lot since yesterday!

I will suggest a thing for your waiting because waiting in games will make people a bit bored. A good thing is to add achievements for waiting and some side things to do WHILE waiting. For example, sorting your baits box, selling or upgrading other things at home. A little something that does not let the player wait 5 minutes while watching the exact same screen. You could also add a minigame WHILE waiting, a kind of a seeking game where the player can click on a frog or a lillypad that's red instead of green. This could also go into achievements of rare finds, for example a white swan and a black swan swimming on that lake. Make something special out of the waiting time, BUT of course, make the player see that something is pulling on it's rod so he/she can know when's the time to stop looking at something else and concentrate on the fish because he/she could miss it and need to waitagain while wasting another bait.

Very good up to now, continue your fantastic work!!!
 
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