Game Mechanics Fishing?

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!!!
Thanks David! I think I'll try out your idea of the darkened background and white squares instead - I think that will look a lot nicer!

Thank you once again for your suggestions - I don't expect the player to wait 5 minutes - I'll probably put a min max timer between say 10/20 seconds and 2 minutes would be suffice. Although, I do really like the idea of a seeking game as such; with the added hidden achievements. That will definitely be implemented into the game, thank you very much!

I think I am done for either a few hours or the day now, I've been working on it since about 8am (I think) and it's now nearly 6pm :D

I can't wait to get back to this either later (maybe later now I think about it) or tomorrow :D

Thank you all for your kind words today and suggestions / feedback - it's awesome to have pretty much instant feedback!

I'm hoping tomorrow I will be able to provide you guys a playable alpha version (we'll call it alpha).. I also need to come up with a name for it, if you have any suggestions - you know what to do!
 
Game name ideas:

Reel Fishermen (or Fisherman)
Reel Fishing
Rod 'n' Reel
Fishing Getaway

And of course: Master Baiter. :p (kidding, of course!)
"Master Baiter" made me laugh :D

Thank you for the ideas! For some reason I've hit a block trying to think of names; I think I'm more concerned about developing the game than finding a name for it.. :D

Fishing Getaway sounds quite nice and relaxing - fits the theme.. That's definitely in the top picks so far!
 

woods

Member
GRAND master baiter for the win!
for real tho..
Fishing Getaway seems a nice fit.. relaxing and simple, yet has an "aire of elegance" to it
 
So I've also thought of a few extra names, with the help of my fiancée.

  • The Catch -- this is a contender
  • Fishaway -- this is a contender
  • Gone Fishing -- this is a contender
  • Size Matters
  • I'm A Hooker On The Weekends

and an extra one, you can guess who this one came from:

"Men and fish are alike, they both get into trouble when they open their mouth"
 
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gone fishin'
featuring NOT Joe and Gus and their boat
New title idea:

Fish on!

(Gone Fishin' is my favorite on your list.)
I guess Gone Fishing is currently the front runner; I'll have to see if there's actually any copyright issues in using that name.. not even sure how that works, so that's fun!

Also little update:

Fixed the camera! May have took a while and a refreshing YouTube video to remind me how cameras work.

I can't believe how much this game is progressing :D

Also @David Richard - I understand what you mean about the fish book now, I could have it as a if you have caught it, you can now learn more about the species; including their weight ranges, favourite bait etc, in addition to the achievement screen. I thought about it last night! I'll implement that :)

So currently, I'm working on the tutorial system and the quest / challenge system - which is actually really fun!

This will continuously be worked on throughout the development and the games future - as there's never enough challenges and rewards to be had! :D
The same goes for the achievements - they will be continuously expanded upon throughout the development and post-release.

--I'll plan this now so I can be organised later--

If you would like to test the game, please send me a PM with the title "Fish Test" and so I can send it to you all at the same time (hopefully later today, but there are no promises, I want the test / early alpha version to be fun and playable). I'd like to do it this way so I don't end up sending the game to test to people who may be following along and/or posting, but don't actually want to test the game yet! :D
 
less than a month and already at playtesting #1 ....this sir is truly impressive ;o)
definitely looking forward to it!
Thanks! I guess that's what happens if I really focus and put my mind to it - the passion for fishing also helps quite a lot too :D

I'm also looking forward to you guys testing it, along with me playing it instead of coding and testing!

Changed the bite rate again to be between 4 seconds and 30 seconds. It was way too long at 10s - 2 minutes!

We have a name! Although it's none of the ones suggested above..

It's....

The Fishery

So I've added 3 beginner tutorials so far - one in the rm_home when you first start and 2 (followed by each other) in the first lake.

I've also amended the bite timer to be between 10 seconds and 2 minutes.

What I need to do next is:

  • Improve the current GUI for the computer, travel and achievement screen.
  • Add more bait variations
  • Add wildlife to the lake map (I really want to add this as it'd bring the lake alive)
  • Continue adding sounds
  • Add the fish book - this will be quite a lengthy WIP as I want to get the specific details of each fish species correct - this will most probably not be in the current test / alpha version
  • Add a sound for when you have caught a fish - this is the most important and first on the list.. but for some reason I put it at the bottom..
 

woods

Member
WUT THE ....FISHERY IS THIS?!
i like it ;o)


Add wildlife to the lake map ...a little ambiance goes a long way.. definitely want to have crickets and frogs and bugs and such milling about.. brings life and atmosphere for sure.

yea when i read up to 2min timer for the bite.. i was thinkin ouch... 30sec sounds alot better ;o) most gamers are twitchy...errrr not patient at best ;o)

fish book ..its all about the details ... take your time. this will be a huge target for all those fishing hounds out there.. accuracy is the biggest friend you have in this one.
(a couple olskool rpg games i played years ago... ashen empires/runescape and that era... i about lost my shet when i read "lumberjacking skill" ;o) come on now.. not every backwoods sticks guy wears a red flannel, but thats definitely NOT what that skill is called ... hahhaa)










sound for when you have caught a fish - this is the most important and first on the list.. but for some reason I put it at the bottom..
(simple enough.. too long to read so you scroll to the bottom and BAM important info for you to NOT miss ;o))
 
WUT THE ....FISHERY IS THIS?!
i like it ;o)


Add wildlife to the lake map ...a little ambiance goes a long way.. definitely want to have crickets and frogs and bugs and such milling about.. brings life and atmosphere for sure.

yea when i read up to 2min timer for the bite.. i was thinkin ouch... 30sec sounds alot better ;o) most gamers are twitchy...errrr not patient at best ;o)

fish book ..its all about the details ... take your time. this will be a huge target for all those fishing hounds out there.. accuracy is the biggest friend you have in this one.
(a couple olskool rpg games i played years ago... ashen empires/runescape and that era... i about lost my shet when i read "lumberjacking skill" ;o) come on now.. not every backwoods sticks guy wears a red flannel, but thats definitely NOT what that skill is called ... hahhaa)










sound for when you have caught a fish - this is the most important and first on the list.. but for some reason I put it at the bottom..
(simple enough.. too long to read so you scroll to the bottom and BAM important info for you to NOT miss ;o))

Yeah I was sat here waiting and thinking this is taking too long, so now the max is 30 seconds which I think is decent - it's using a random function to get between 4 seconds and 30 and I think the timing is good now!

Wildlife is the next step - the tutorial is sort of done, it could do with a clean up, but other than that it works perfectly.

Time to find some wildlife sprites, then I think it could be good to test!

If you guys know of any good sprite packs which include wildlife such as birds, swans, frogs, geese etc, please let me know! Struggling to find some at the moment.

Nevermind - found one!

THANK GOD FOR BACKUPS

I just accidentally deleted the obj_player..

Going to be using Paths for the wildlife AI - never used them before but after reading the manual, they seem super simple!
 
So a screenshot of the new added swan, please do not try and hook the swans.
Also a little preview of the tutorial quest window; as mentioned it needs work

1599313265514.png

IMPORTANT UPDATE

With the addition of wildlife (currently only 2, will be adding more throughout the day), I think this game is ready enough to be cast into it's testing / alpha phase! If you would like to test the game, please send me a PM with the title "The Fishery Test" and I will send you a download key for a private itch.io game page.

I will include in the PM more information on the game, what to expect and what I would personally like feedback on (but don't feel obliged to only provide feedback for that, if you find a bug or would like to see something improved / added then let me know!).

The version I will provide will be regularly updated and changed.
 
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first catch of the day!

View attachment 34133


you are going places bru... keep it up!
Nice! A 6lb tench to start the day is not a bad way to go!

Can I just take a second to thank everybody for their awesome and honest feedback! I'm already squashing the bugs you guys have found along with some (okay.. a lot) of graphical / textural errors!

Like mentioned before - if you would like to test The Fishery, please send me a PM titled "The Fishery Test" and I'll get back to you ASAP with a copy to try :)

We're currently up to v0.021 and I'm working on v0.03 as we speak :)

Currently fixed:

ALL OF THE COLLISION ISSUES -- including getting stuck in the home map @David Richard
- you can no longer walk out of the map to the right of the car park
Shadows on the side of the house -- I never knew you all liked your shadows so much :D
Float not landing in certain parts of the lake @woods
Collision issues with the birds and the island / banks + collisions with each other
Being able to unequip your rod if you've casted - NO MORE!
Added an exit / escape menu
Changed the crow sound in the home map with another birdsong
Fixed the float from flying off if you just click RMB
Added missed bite indication

Current working on:

Collision issues with the birds
Collision issues with birds on birds (haha)
Adding a "missed bite" indication
Replacing the crow sound in the home map to a nice gentle birdsong

Adding an exit / escape menu
Adding more birds / wildlife (once the collision is fixed)
Adding more variation and textures to the water
When you press "1" if casted, you can press "1" again and walk away whilst the float is in the water. I did disable this before but thought I broke something else at the same time (which I didn't) - so I will disable this again for v0.03! (Thanks @Kerv )
GUI improvements with the computer screen and the achievement screen

"Fisherydex" -- @woods I wonder if that will cause any copyright issues, as that is an awesome name for the fish book :D

First catch of the day for me..

1599375978747.png
 

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HayManMarc

Member
I don't know what happened, but I stopped getting notifications for this thread and missed a bunch of updates, darnit! I think I'm caught up now, mostly.
 
Update v0.03 is now live to the testers.

The changelog is as follows:

- Fixed collision issues in both maps
- Fixed collision issues with the swans and ducks
- Fixed being able to stop fishing whilst you had casted
- Added a "fish got away" when you miss a bite / bite is unsuccessful
- Fixed the bait system - when you would run out of bait, on the next cast it would display another bait and the amount as -1. This no longer happens - luckily I don't think anyone noticed! You are now alerted when you are out of bait and to change bait.
- Fixed shadows on the home map
- Added an exit screen
- Fixed the float from flying off the screen if you only click RMB
- Adjusted the distance that you can cast (from 50 to 20)
- Fixed an issue where the game would crash when catching a specimen eel
- Updated the GUI for the bait selection menu
- Improved the AI of the swans and ducks
- Replaced the sound of crows in the home map to a birdsong
- Added textures to the water and changed the frames that the bubbles begin from
- You keep your rod equipped after catching a fish @David Richard

Any bugs you may find, let me know and I will update accordingly!

The plan for v0.04 is:
  • Add more fish species
  • Add more bait
  • Add more wildlife and sounds
  • Improve the levelling system (give a reason to level; such as requirements of travelling, purchasing bait etc)
  • Add a lot more achievements, including hidden ones
  • Work on the GUI for the achievement menu, computer menu and the bait menu
One thing I will be working on which may or may not be available in v0.04 is:
  • Add variations of the rod, float, character, house and the car (based on levels, achievements etc)


UPDATE (16:22)

Just added 2 new baits and a new fish species! Instead of me telling you, you guys can guess! I'll give you a few hints: they are a predator, they're slimy and they can be HUGE.

Along with that, I've added restrictions to the two new baits - they cannot be purchased until you hit level 5. In addition to this, the new fish can only be caught on one of the new baits (Fish slice).

I'm currently going to try and rework the achievement and statistics menu, as I am really not happy with it.
 
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Good morning! So I've been working on a few things for the past 2 hours (early start today I guess!)

Currently I have:
  • Fixed a few UI issues
  • Changed the bite rate (again!)
  • Adding new achievements and reworking the achievement / statistics UI
  • Making a header for itch.io.. or I guess the logo in general

For me to be happy releasing v0.04 I need to fully rework the achievement and statistics menu along with adding more fish. So I'd say, expect v0.04 today, but there are no promises!
 
Little update guys:

So it's only 9:50am and I've managed to do A LOT in the past 5-6 hours.. well I think it's A LOT!

We now have a start screen - it is not another room, but utilising the overlay feature in The Fishery. I have added 2 new wildlife - both rabbits. They roam on the outskirts of the lake outside of the fence boundary. They add quite a nice touch and feel to the game, to see things moving in the corner of your eye whilst fishing.

I have also randomised the distance in which they roam before they decide to turn to another direction and distance - I have done this for all of the wildlife.

I have decreased the bite timer - it works a lot better now, thank you @David Richard for pointing that out.

I have and still currently am improving the achievement and statistics menu. In addition to this, I am adding A LOAD of achievements including some hidden mystery ones. I'm also planning to add challenges into the game (say, catch "20 common carp in this one visit to the lake" or "catch 5 rare tench" - these will provide XP and money, along with (soon) additional features, such as different colour floats, cars etc.

I have fixed a bug (which none of you pointed out luckily) that if you purchase in the shop, you were able to do so even if you were in negative numbers. Now, you can only buy an item if you have the required amount; else you will be shown a "You need money" when you hover over the item.

I've also changed the computer overlay slightly, by adding a grey background to the item slots.

I have decreased the amount of XP required to level up, along with fully implementing the xp progression at the bottom of your screen - no one had reached level 10, but if you did, despite the required XP per level going up, it would not display it on screen; now that is no longer an issue!

In addition to all of what I had done this morning, yesterday I had added a new species of fish (no one has still tried to guess) along with 2 new baits which are under a minimum level requirement. The fish I added can only be caught on one of the new baits.

My aim for today is to get this achievement menu fully completed, or at least to a better standard than it was, along with adding hidden achievements and their rewards. I already have a notification object set up ready for when you complete an achievement.

Along with this, I want to start adding more fish in. The only problem are the sprites - I'm either editing a pack I already have (which takes time, as I want the fish to look accurate as possible) or trying to find them elsewhere. As you may have noticed, the current sprite for the Common Carp, Mirror Carp and Grass Carp are all the same; when the variation of those species have very different looks.

So yeah - the progress is going really well and I can't wait to upload V0.04 for you guys when I've finished! It will most probably be today, it's quite nice to get at least one update out per day depending on what I'm doing during the day along with what I'm doing with The Fishery (such as what I'm working on with it etc).

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day! :)
 
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Well guys I've been updating a changelog and whatnot over on the itch.io page along with other things.

Currently we're up to V0.042 - I had to do some little bug fixes thanks to the testing feedback!

Currently working on v0.05 - I'm adding more fish species - more achievements and improving the current achievements. I will also be creating a Discord server which will hopefully be up in an hour or two! :D
 
I got to say, you've inspired me to step away from my migraine inducing RPG (dream)project for the moment to work on a new simple harvest game. I have a friend who loves games in the same vein as Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley etc. Maybe I will surprise them with one of my own. By the way, I'm very strict on myself about using my own created assets(Sounds are ok if limited). Even clones I make I just look off of tilesets and manually create them. It's improved my pixel art skills tremendously!
 
I got to say, you've inspired me to step away from my migraine inducing RPG (dream)project for the moment to work on a new simple harvest game. I have a friend who loves games in the same vein as Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley etc. Maybe I will surprise them with one of my own. By the way, I'm very strict on myself about using my own created assets(Sounds are ok if limited). Even clones I make I just look off of tilesets and manually create them. It's improved my pixel art skills tremendously!
I think that's awesome? :D

I've created sprites for all of the baits currently and I now edit sprites for the fish (as I have an asset pack, but it doesn't include all of the fish I'd like in the game) and use the asset pack(s) as templates and references. You can definitely tell I've "hand made" all of the bait sprites that's for sure :D

I'm very happy I started off with a simple checklist / to-do list everyday for The Fishery and that I didn't try anything too complex at the beginning (aside from the actual fishing mechanic). Now I have a solid foundation which I can and am continuously adding to!

Although - I would not have been able to get this far without the feedback, suggestions and support from the forum community!

EDIT:

Let me know how your harvest game goes, I'd love to check it out!
 
I think that's awesome? :D

I've created sprites for all of the baits currently and I now edit sprites for the fish (as I have an asset pack, but it doesn't include all of the fish I'd like in the game) and use the asset pack(s) as templates and references. You can definitely tell I've "hand made" all of the bait sprites that's for sure :D

I'm very happy I started off with a simple checklist / to-do list everyday for The Fishery and that I didn't try anything too complex at the beginning (aside from the actual fishing mechanic). Now I have a solid foundation which I can and am continuously adding to!

Although - I would not have been able to get this far without the feedback, suggestions and support from the forum community!

EDIT:

Let me know how your harvest game goes, I'd love to check it out!
Day 1 and I've got a lot of placeholder tiles in a test room. I've just completed work on my grid movement set up and it works great!

Next I'll probably add a day night cycle. Then farming mechanics as I decide on my crops and create the appropriate sprites for them. They both rely on alarms/timers so I'll try to kill two birds with one stone.
 

HayManMarc

Member
Day 1 and I've got a lot of placeholder tiles in a test room. I've just completed work on my grid movement set up and it works great!

Next I'll probably add a day night cycle. Then farming mechanics as I decide on my crops and create the appropriate sprites for them. They both rely on alarms/timers so I'll try to kill two birds with one stone.
@I am error - its nice that you have stuff going on in your project, but you should refrain from posting about it here as it is considered rude to highjack someone else's post. Best to start your own post. You can always converse in PM (if its okay with the other party), or through status messages. -- Good luck with your project!
 
Little update!

So currently The Fishery is now v0.06 over on Itch.io available for download! The little changelong is posted below in the spoiler (as it's quite lengthy).

Fixed or added:

All of the wildlife collision issues - they may stop at boundaries for a little bit, but they will not get stuck. If they do, I'm adding a hunting function into The Fishery.

Fixed the rabbits being able to run around the map and walk on water. They are now bound to their grass area.

Fixed (hopefully!) any issue of the game crashing when catching a fish.

Added 3 new species of fish; Pike, Perch and Zander - all with their corresponding weight and bait preferences.

Improved the current UI screen for travelling; added travel cost(s).

UI improvements (tutorials no longer show through the start screen)

Added an auto-save after level up.

Added a few more unlockable achievements.

Added an optional float camera - you can toggle this off and on using the "C" key when fishing.
-- Fixed a bug where the float camera would cause a crash after you've caught a fish
-- Fixed a bug where you weren't able to toggle between the float camera and player camera (not currently updated as I literally just done this, will be uploaded later)

Also feel free to join the Discord and you can follow along with all of the updates there too, along with other stuff (and just chatting!).

If you are checking this constantly; I am updating it every day (although maybe not posting it here) as I have the itch.io page live along with the discord and a private conversation with the current testers who are receiving the changelogs. I will try to remember to also post it here - but having a few outlets becomes difficult to remember where I have and have not posted it :D

Thanks for reading - if you've had time to play The Fishery I'd love to hear your feedback and I hope you had an awesome time trying it out!
 
A little update:

Currently working on updating and improving all of the GUI features - including the constant player HUD.
I will post a screenshot once I've got something going with it :D

Along with this, I'm going to be adding variations to the float, car and other items which will change, or are able to change once you unlock certain achievements and levels.

So I guess today is an interface overhaul.. The problem is, is that I hadn't really updated much if any of the player HUD since beginning the project as I was a lot more concerned about getting the foundations of the game built; now they are, I am able to focus on more aesthetical changes and improvements to The Fishery!
 
UPDATE!

Just to let you all know - I haven't abandoned anyone watching this thread - I've been very busy the past few days not only with real life stuff, but also computer issues along with developing V0.1 of The Fishery! I have been posting the devlogs over on Itch along with in my Discord. If you guys want to join the discord feel free to, you'll get constant updates on The Fishery along with other stuff.

So as I mentioned; I've been busy updating it to v0.1 and I'll post a (sort of) changelog here:

- Removed and replaced ALL of the water graphics (THANK YOU @David Richard)
- Changed the chances on catching a common, uncommon, rare and specimen
- Added in graphical animations for trees and grass
- Improved the overall player HUD
- Improved the achievements overlay screen
- Improved the travel overlay screen and added travel costs
- Added "life" when the player walks
- Added different catches and catch rates when you are fishing in a shallow area and a deep area
- Added more achievements
- Added more sounds (when opening the computer etc)
- Redesigned the home map
- Fixed the rabbit collision and animation
- Fixed the duck and swan collisions
- Fixed the caught "0" or crash when caught fish
- Fixed any player collision issues
- Adjusted the cast distance back to 20, instead of 10
- and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting but I seriously need to start writing this stuff down

If you guys would like to join the Discord you're more than welcome to. The invite is: https://discord.gg/7zPhSAP
If you guys would also like to follow the progress or even try a demo (the live version is v0.07) then head to: https://careywhite98.itch.io/the-fishery
 
So The Fishery has come a LONG WAY since the start of this thread and I have you guys to thank for that!

I won't stop updating it here, but I've been a bit busy with real life stuff and posting elsewhere (such as on the Discord and on the Itch.io page).

SOME HUGE NEWS:

THE FISHERY is now available on STEAM! Please check it out here and also add it to your wishlist if you'd like to!

 
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