Well, it's certainly not perfect, but that's why I'm calling it a Beta!
Apart from that (significant?) shortcoming, I've turned my 7-day game jam challenge into a 10-day game jam because apparently that's what I can handle. The following download represents what I was able to to complete in my free time over those 10 days. If the menu looks really thrown together and last minute, that's because it totally is. I'm planning to continue developing this game, however, because I really love the idea and I know it can only get better from here.
Be sure to read the "How To Play" section so you know what you're trying to accomplish (and, you know, how to play). You should read the game's premise below because at the moment, this story is not actually in the game. But as I said, I'll be continuing development and it will definitely be in there once I'm happy with it in the future! My improvement plans include: better art and menus, better visual and sound effects, fewer (no?) bugs, more fun(?), significantly more awesomeness, collectibles and stuff (like game art, desktop art, soundtrack, etc.), Kickstarter/Indiegogo(?), If Kickstarted/Indiegogo-ed (Indiegonegone?) an OSX version(?), More cool things, Etc. (we're also open to suggestions)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it in the meanwhile, because I've put some good effort into making it! ...even though it doesn't look as good as I want it to. But hey! I guess this is officially my first (semi-) completed game as a game developer! So yay Alamantus GameDev!
The_Sea_beta.exe (Fishing Jam Beta) download - 10.4MB (MediaFire)
Direct Download (Please use main mirror instead, if possible.)
Game Story:
The Ocean remembers a time when it ruled the world. Its fish swam free and there was nothing there to harm it. It was a paradise. But one day, land arose from the Ocean's depths and the water levels dropped. Creatures emerged on the land and the cruel things began constructing monstrosities to glide over the Ocean's surface and snatch up its innocent population with lures and nets. The Ocean was gracious at first, allowing the disgusting, dry creatures to use Its precious fish so they, too, could have a chance at surviving on this world. But over time, the horrible land-dwellers got more and more greedy, taking even more fish than they can even use or want, simply casting them aside to rot on the filthy land when they did not want the fish any longer.
Now the Ocean's precious population is dwindling. The dry monsters have gone too far, and the Ocean, with nowhere to turn for help, has taken matters into its own hands.
Game Summary:
You are Sea, the manifestation of the Ocean's beauty and power. The Ocean has created you to exact justice upon the land-dwelling demons by stopping their fish genocide. Using the power of waves, whirlpools, storms, and resurrected ghost ships, stop the filthy land-dwellers from leaving the Ocean empty because of their insatiable greed and work toward the Ocean's wonderful goal of eradicating land from its surface once and for all.
(In "Game Instruction" terms, destroy the boats with waves and whirlpools, make them leave with storms and ghost ships. The bigger the boat, the more fish they take. Meanwhile destroy the islands with waves--to win the Story Mode, destroy all the islands and don't let your fish reach 0! In Survival Mode, you can't destroy the islands, so keep destroying and deterring boats for as long as you can!)
Bugs/Quirks:
There are a lot of them, and I know. I didn't have a chance to kill them, but I will squash them all as I continue development:
- Fish can spawn under islands and get stuck.
- Best Time scores can easily be miscalculated.
- When a ghost ship spooks a boat, it plays the SFX repeatedly until the boat is out of range.
- Many others--Feel free to tell me when you find them, but please try to avoid duplicate alerts.
My Gear: (a.k.a. What I used to make the game)
System: Game Maker Studio
Sound: Audacity, BFXR, Erick Leedberg's music, Wolfram Tones, NatureSoundsFor.me
Art: GIMP, Inkscape, Charas-Project
Original Post:
I want to try a more abstract view of fishing mostly because I've had this idea swimming around in my head for quite some time. Basically, you control/are the sea and it is your responsibility to clean up the oceans of the world as much as you possibly can while at the same time trying to reclaim the planet for the ocean...
It's related to fishing in that you're, like, saving the fish from the fishing industry as the personification of the ocean while at the same time expanding the ocean so the fish have more space to swim on the planet.
So yeah... Should be interesting?
