Ever wondered what it would be like to be a fish? Of course you have! We all have! Well now you can experience the thrill-a-minute lifestyle of an underwater sea creature!
THE CONCEPT
To travel as far as you can while avoiding an endless array of hooks and other underwater obstacles. Can collect coins along your treacherous journey to use to purchase new colors and types of fish! Some fish may have unique properties!
THE DEVELOPMENT
Oh boy, this has been some project. Started developing it almost 4 years ago now, have been on and off with it since. Ended up taking months off it at a time and so had to restart it multiple times. This is technically version 4 (I think?) But now that I have my life figured out, it is finally time for it to come out of the depths of the sea!
I’ve learned a lot from this project along the way. Made mistakes, found better ways to do things, etc. Until now I can consider myself a “noob” in the art of game development! Version 3 of this project ended up being my senior project for high school graduation. But now I’m committed to bringing it to release and beyond!
All the sprites and sound effects/music were found online and are royalty free (I am not an artist), so that does limit me on what all I can do, but I’ve made it work thus far.
FEEDBACK
I am really interested in feedback as this is my first project and I am still learning Unity and JavaScript/UnityScript. My goal is to make games that are deceptively simple, like Flappy Bird or Crossy Road. I enjoy the challenge and seeing people suffer at my game
Please do let me know of any bugs you find and/or suggestions or general feedback. I am glad to answer any questions you may have!
Decided to release an updated demo once a week instead of doing a major beta release. This way you can play with fresh content every week and be able to see my progress! It’s been a month since I release v1.0 of the demo, so this is an overhaul of changes. Future updates will be a week apart, so don’t expect such an overhaul every week.
Changes Since Last Update:
Achievements scene
Shop scene
Settings scene
Smoother gameplay
Improved spawning of objects in gameplay scene (still improving it)
Countless bug fixes
Known Issues:
Death animation uses wrong sprite (will have this fixed by next update)
Coins may overlap other objects or other coins (working on this)
Some buttons escape their bounds (working on this)
Disabled Functions:
A few buttons are disabled (Ranks (title scene), share buttons (results scene) because they have not been programmed yet (as such, the three corresponding achievements for sharing are not possible)
The secret achievements are disabled to keep them a secret
Full screen is disabled due to not having set up resolution scaling yet
A couple new objects have been added to spawn along the seafloor (adds more variety)
Shop
Will be updating the demo tomorrow (this is not an April Fool’s joke :P). Just found a way to share it more easily. So for now, the previous demo link has been removed and will be replaced with the new one tomorrow.
Had a delay in getting this update due to technical difficulties (ie. Monodevelop issues) and am in the process of switching IDEs. Is more of a partial update since I’m stuck right now until I can resolve the issues I’m having with Notepad++.
Shop scene 95% programmed (12 fish!) (Was my first 1500 line script. Whoo!)
(Hopefully) Fixed bug 2b
More buttons programmed
Further development is halted until I get Notepad++ or new IDE working… Refer to my post here.
Still learning how to use Visual Studio Code, but so far I love it.
Have fully programmed the shop scene (for now) – More programming will come closer to release to allow the purchasing of coins and watching ads for coins
Ground hooks have been removed. I found they weren’t really needed and this also fixes the bug I’ve been having with them.
Added more buttons to the title scene that will be programmed soon: Stats, Promo Code, and Ranks!
Stats: Will show all your game data from the moment you began playing (total distance traveled, total coins collected, global ranking position/percentage, etc.)
Promo Code: Input a code here and unlock special content/bonuses! The idea with this is to have this function in every game I make where maybe once a month, I’ll post a code on the company website to give the players a bonus or new unlockable for a limited time only.
Ranks: Will show the global leaderboards (hopefully not too hard to program…)
From here on out, my main focus will be completing the release checklist, so resolution scaling across all devices, app store requirements, debugging, etc. I will be making a post soon for the checklist that I’ll update as I go through it and I’ll check things off.
Might release a newer demo soon. The original demo link expires in like 2 weeks I think, so I should update it by then. Would help if I knew people actually wanted an updated demo, but the lack of replies is not an incentive to upload a new demo…
As far as the graphics go, I have no money so can’t hire an artist. For future games I will, but right now I’m still looking for work so have to do what I can to make this game happen.
Turns out I didn’t have the IAP programmed right. Through more testing I realized it was only purchasing the highest number of coins. But I officially got it working now.
Fixed the IAP
Started work on the Settings scene (settings button has replaced the promo code button on title scene)
The settings scene will allow Google Play sign in/out, deletion of high scores (all PlayerPrefs), mute music/sounds option, quality settings, and the promo code will be included in there. Will be working on that now.
The settings. Changed Delete to Erase in Delete All Data button, but wasn’t enough to require a new screenshot.
I actually researched Australian slang for this which was fun. I’ll be including a little tutorial when you first play the game which will have more Aussie slang.
The inverted fish have a unique ability… you’ll just have to play to find out
The clear fish is not 100% clear, but it is hard to see during gameplay, which makes it more challenging. But, due to the added challenge, you get the coin multiplier
The rainbow fish has yet to be made. When playing as it, it changes the color of the gameplay scene and of the fish randomly at the start of each play. I plan on modeling it after the rainbow fish in the children’s book Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister. That was my favorite book as a kid.
I plan on also including 1 or 2 hidden rare fish that can only be obtained by unconventional means (ie. Collect 10 coins between the hours of 10:00 am and 11:00 am on the first Friday of a month). I’ll try to make them not be too outrageous.
The watch video button opens a blank panel for now. Will work with that when I program the ads.
I like it, it’s a lot like Jetpack Joyride. It could use a lot more feedback (such as a sound when picking up coins) and some more effects and stuff, but it’s a great start.
Yeah, aren’t much in the way of sound effects right now. Will add some soon. Will have a sound effect for collecting coins, purchasing fish and navigating menus. Thinking of a little death sound too.
I also plan on adding a small firework display or something when you pass your best distance.
As far as the rocket collecting a coin goes, that might have happened. After uploading the demo, I found a bug with the coins where they would teleport off screen when they hit a hook or torpedo. I had it programmed to find a new random location to spawn at if it collides with an object tagged “hazard” which are hooks and torpedoes. But I’ve since fixed the issue by having it not find a new location if it is visible by the camera. And now coins also ignore torpedo collisions.
It’s been a few days, so am posting a mini update.
I’ve done a lot of work with the settings scene. So far, the data, erase data button, close button and all the toggles work. Still need to program the Google Play sign in/out and the promo code (both will come later).
Am now working on the achievements scene and getting ready for the beta release. I hope to have at least 50 achievements. When you complete an achievement, you will be rewarded with some coins to make it worth the effort. Here’s a preview of what I currently have for the achievements scene:
As of now, I only have the distance achievements in place, but will be many, many more.
There will be achievements for collecting coins, owning fish, play time, secrets, and more.
You can tap on an achievement and it will open a panel that shows your progress in completing it (if applicable) and will give you tips on how to achieve it. After completing an achievement, the button color will change and if you tap the button once completed, it will give you a funny congratulatory message or random trivia about the game.
Much more work to be done for this, but I love making achievements
EDIT: Just noticed I forgot to change the Pro Noob value from 50 to 100. Is supposed to be 100.
Just finished the display of the achievements scene. There are a total of 48 achievements, all neatly organized.
To break them down, there are:
9 Distance Achievements
9 Coin Collection Achievements
6 Close Call Achievements
9 Miscellaneous Achievements
15 Secret Achievements
For the next couple days, I will be programming all of them. Then I will be ready for beta release The beta release will have a complete game minus any Google Play content (no sign-in/out, IAP, or ads). But everything else will be fully functional.
Still to come before beta release, there is:
Programming achievements
More sound effects (and possibly more particle effects for fanfare, etc.)
Might revamp the UI
Change some fonts (Luckiest Guy is copyrighted so can’t legally use it)
Program individual fish (currently, you can only play as the default fish)
Expect beta release by May 1 (will replace the demo, since demo link will expire by then)!
It’s taken a few days, but I’ve finally programed all the achievements (even added a few more achievements). There are a total of 51 achievements! I’ve also reworked some of the achievements and changed the scene a lot from the initial preview I showed last week. Also fixed a bug I didn’t know I had until last week in the results scene where coins were not being added properly.
For the beta release, sharing will be disabled, so the 3 corresponding achievements won’t be possible either. And all the secret achievements will be disabled for the beta as well because I want people to find them on their own after release. And again, the Google Play integration will be programmed after the beta release, as that’s all there would really be left to do after beta, but I need to learn how to do all that.
Still a bit more to do before the beta release. Still need to allow the playability of purchased fish and fix some display errors in the achievements scene (some achievement progress indicators aren’t displaying properly).
Change of plans. I was just about to upload the beta when I decided that instead of releasing a beta, I will instead update the demo somewhat regularly (once a week maybe) as I make some good progress. That way you can play the game as it gets developed (and the link expires in 30 days, so is nice to have more frequent updates). I will admit, I rushed it a bit to try to get it out today due to unforeseen complications (didn’t realize programming all the achievements was going to take as long as it did). I was working all day yesterday and today hoping to get it out today, but I just set my expectations too high.
I don’t want the game to be rushed. I’m doing this as a hobby, so there is no need to rush things. I also want to make sure it fits my own standards and is a fun and exciting game.
For now the demo link should expire today or tomorrow, but I will be putting up a new demo very soon!
I do apologize for the inconvenience if some of you were really looking forward to the beta. But this way, you can play an updated version every week that is much more polished!
Is supposed to be 100.