Thanks for playing! I have a channel on my Discord that has a running list of suggestions from the community I'd like a full version to have https://discord.gg/feafSea
Hey thanks for asking! I'm currently making a bunch of rapid prototypes to explore different topics and each one will take 5 wks. Because of this, FLF is currently on hold while on focus on those other games. Once I'm finished with all the prototypes I'll choose a winning game to move forward with. If this is the game that ends up winning, I'll be pumping out updates quite frequently. The eta to a full game? I'm not sure because I haven't actually done that before. I imagine it'll take several months though as a solo dev.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
I feel like there needs to be at least one more line-length modifier. And the 'red' stage of the line isn't long enough for me to meaningfully use that 'extra damage' perk. But as short as the line is in general, it's hard to use the fishermen on multiple fish. I mean, it still makes single fish take more damage, but I'd have liked to fish a larger area, especially as I was going to max everything out (gave up on maxing out fishermen, but got everything else to max)
You're right about that, there's been some discussion on a line durability system to replace the length-limit. It should be a little less frustrating in the end and allow more use of the max range perk. And yea, I agree on the bigger line length overall. I think a full version of the game would allow you to have much longer lines and bigger stats in general. Thanks for the feedback!
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Love the developer interaction. Given the #1 feedback seems to be "more," maybe try creating some artificially high catch goals for each fish, or maybe adding in a dozen new fish (even if lower quality) without perks beyond awards or medals for catching them?
Heh I appreciate you looking back to put out some more unique feedback, it does help :) I considered the high catch goals and I think it's a good idea in most cases. The only reason I'm holding off is to focus on new prototypes (I have one coming out in ~2 wks), so I didn't want to give too much false hope. If you didn't already catch it in other comments, after a few prototypes I'll be looking at each one's feedback to determine which one to flesh out. It could very well be this game, and if it is then I can finally satisfy all the appetites.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
I was confused of the collecting X fish for uprgradex2 feauture, thinking the loaded value of the fish was the price for the upgrade. I think a trophy to click would have made me less confused =)
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
This is a very relaxing fun game. My one criticism is that I wish there was some music to go along with the game. Just some nice slow quiet relaxing music in the background just to add some more depth to the experience. Also some general ambient noises. These few additions can really help push the game much further.
Thanks for that feedback! I hope to have different biomes in a full version that act as different stages basically. I'd like to go a fantasy route so maybe the 3rd biome you're fishing in a volcano. It would be cool to switch the music over as you traverse the world, so that when you hit the lava area you hear.........less relaxing music :)
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Really good game, I haven't used really used Kongregate because I can never find good new games. Thanks for the pleasant change.
Thanks that makes me glad :) I do find Kong a great place for innovative games if you're willing to hunt a bit for them. Devs tend to take more risks and is the reason I'm here.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Nice prototype. Looking forward to seeing more from you. 1 thing I really dislike is fish hiding inside barriers/walls. I do like the collection/bonus concept.
Thanks for the feedback! The collection aspect used for core progression was one of the main things I wanted to test out with this prototype. I hope to find ways to make the fish-barrier interaction less frustrating. A quick fix someone mentioned would be to have buoys instead so that it at least visually looked consistent.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
real nice game, i'm looking for future updates, and the adding of new mechanics. There's room for creativity honestly
Thank you! Yea I've played a lot of fishing games but have really craved more of a fantasy setting. It really does open up a lot of possibilities I haven't seen elsewhere.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
This game is like Frantic Frigates, but it's easier and instead of being Jack Sparrow, you are a 21st century fisherboat contributing to overfishing. Aaaanyway, I probably shouldn't think about this too much. But at least this game takes my mind off of Coronavirus.
oooo fantastic reference! I played this a long time ago and forgot about it. I appreciate you bringing it up, if I do a full version of FLF I'll be looking at more similar games and ARPGs for further ideas.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Well done, you've got a hell of start here! I enjoyed what you have. I liked that collecting certain fish x number of times gave certain improvements, gave for a bit of strategy/direction about what to do. Also, the squirmyness of the bass + the ability of fish to get out of reach (like real fish) was neat. Just gotta keep moving forward: more fish, which means more area, and dress up the grey boundaries (docks, lil mounds of dirt with a few trees, etc)!
Thanks! I was playing with the concept of having satisfying perks for reaching achievement level and I'm glad you saw there's a few paths you can take to tackle problems ahead. I definitely would like to improve this concept future and appreciate your encouragement. And yea, that gang of shrimp........surprise!
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
I absolutely LOVE THIS GAME!!!! It's legit so fun! It's just fishing but simple. Maxed the level, caught 100 of each fish, maxed the upgrades for the shop, and currently joining the discord. Can't wait until they release more for this game :D
Really appreciate that and I'm glad I hit the spot for your gaming tastes :) I built this to fill a gaming need I had myself and I hope to continue it in the future.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Very nice game. Took me a bit to realize what I should be doing but that is me. Fishing was never my thing. I did catch a chair once but it was behind me when I cast. The game is not challenging but requires a bit of skill and a bigger (faster) boat. Control is easy which is good as those fish turn on a dime. Graphics are simple but anything more would overwhelm the game. As has been said before, more levels/challenges would be nice. Maybe some sharks that pop up for a feeding frenzy if the school gets too big. You'll have to "run away!!" from them or risk your boat. Or there could be one big large fish, old hickory, that is part legend, part reality the shows from time to time but you need to be the best to land him or he'll sink you. Good job. 5/5
Really appreciate it! That's definitely along the lines of where I'd like to go. You're right the controls are simple and I'd like to keep it that way while just introducing more movement and dodging challenges. I may have to make a chair boss in your honor cuz that's a funny story :)
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Nice game, but it's possible for aggressive fish to spawn directly under your boat, causing you to take instant and unavoidable damage as a result. This can possibly lead to unfair deaths while at low health.
That's a fair point. Lemme put something on the task list for having the enemies fade in as they spawn. Thanks for pointing that out, I think someone mentioned it earlier but I forgot about it.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Good concept but sound could Improve a lot the monotony of the game. I found myself exited at first then just wanted to get all the 100fish to tell myself I finished the game instead of the begin, where I wanted to explore it.
Also, why Shrimps are dangerous? Have you seen them? They are peaceful, they can even get in your mouth to clean it. You can change that to Salmon or tuna as they are predators
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
There's a lot of flashing with turning and movement, which could set off epilepsy.
For the gameplay itself, I found this enjoyable. Unfortunately, the flashing started a migraine within about 10 minutes.
Ah, interesting and good to know. An earlier version actually had some camera motion so that would've been worse for you. I will pay attention to this issue in future versions.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Firefox: "Your browser does not support any of the required graphics(behind K logo). Chrome: waits endlessly with K logo in front.
Really sorry about this. I am tied up on some other things so the best answer I can give right now is that I'll try to do a graphics revamp the next time around on this game and pray it works. I really don't know what's causing that!
You're not alone. The levels were intended to unlock new zones and features over time but.......I don't have much of that. In the future it would gate mechanics and unlock access to things.
Heh yea I've been a little diplomatic on that front but yea tbh I don't mind holding off on sound because you can always change out the sound on a game, but it's hard to change the core of a game once it's set.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Nice game so far, good working mechanic and upgrade system. Hope to find more content in the future!
One idea for the prototype: Add a boss fish, perhaps flashing from blue (swimming away fast) to red (attaking you) with lot of life to get use of all the upgrades in the end.
That's an interesting concept. One thing I had realized lately was that the current system offers something unique in ARPGs, where the red mobs pose a combat challenge but the blue ones will pose dexterity or speed challenges (especially new species in the future). Having some with phases will give me even more flexibility in the challenge, where like you said, you have combat phases but then you need to keep up with it running away otherwise it'd heal.
Yes truly a commentary on the state of overfishing in the real world :). Yea for this version of the game I don't have any harder zones to funnel players into so the best advice I can give is to do routes around the map and go for different species.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Turn this into a space shooter with metroidvania elements, as you absorb tech from destroied enemy ships and gain access to new weapons, dodges and areas.
You're not the first person to mention that theme and that'd be a neat variation of this game. That would be megaman-esque where you're just powering up from all your downed foes. I don't think I'd go that direction with this current game but something to think about in the future.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Great game so far! I wish the game would pause when you open up the upgrade menu. I got attacked by some swordfish when I thought I was safe.
Yep that's something I want to rework in the future. I don't want to make the player completely safe because there could be some safezone abuse you could do to some enemies. Thanks for letting me know though, all the feedback on this tells me it's high priority.
Thank you! I'm currently working on a few other prototypes first, but afterwards if this is still the game people are most interesting in, I'll be working on it :)
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Lovely game, but it needs a story and more than just fishing. I am sure you will continue with this so you should know you are in the correct way!
Yea I hadn't initially thought of a story, but after seeing all the feedback for the game and thinking more about what a full version would be like, I've been thinking about the story more. I'm definitely thinking something along the lines of Earth now being a water world and having to survive that........for some reason. Thanks for playing!
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
NICE CONCEPT BUT MAKE FISH SPAwn a bit more frequently and create the selling area a place that fish cant enter and make it a full game it would be fun to play
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
The crew mutinied as the fish began to spoil and water became scarce. I locked myself away behind a thick bulkhead, cursing my decision to keep going. The beating on the door eventually stopped, as the crew turned on each other. Then, all was silent. I emerged to a scene of brutality, guilt-ridden yet thankful to still be alive. Everyone was dead, but by hiding I had only postponed the inevitable. Within days, as I lay there gasping for air due to dehydration, my mind wandered to a realization that I had no memory of my existence before the fishing facility. Who was I? Blackness.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
I awoke on board the ship once again, the crew inexplicably alive and reeling in fish as if the past few days had never happened. As if programmed, I resumed command but could not escape the feeling something wasn't right. Once again, I questioned my existence. I surveyed the walls that enclosed the facility, looking for the gaps that let me escape this place before. They were gone. Someone had filled them in. What is this place? I feel there is a greater intelligence here, silently watching me, controlling me, manipulating me. It doesn't feel malevolent, but yet it doesn't feel necessarily sympathetic. Surely there is more to my life than fishing. What am I?
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
So for me, these are always a nice concept because they're great time killers and can be prime chill out gaming. However as you stated in another comment, the actual fishing mechanic in these games can get stale - 100% agree. So to see your execution for this type of game is such a breath of fresh air. It still ticks the original topics but you now have such an amazing canvas to incorporate more of that RPG / Action vision that would fit the game. Examples I can think of are obviously more fish with more 'advanced' ones having a trait like the swordfish having charge - Could do Octopus with ink blots ETC. You could add onto your idea of bullet hell concepts with the big baddies of the sea / bodies of water (Kraken, Loch Ness, Moby D---, Leviathan, Giant turtle ETC). Honestly if you do pursue this after your development on incremental games then I genuinely feel this could be a hit concept that brings a nice change to fishing games.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my previous comments, saves me some time and I'm glad you can see where I'm coming from. You got some great ideas here, I didn't even think about ink blots. That would go so well if you say, paired up an octopus with some other hostile fish so now you have to deal with your screen being blocked out like Mario Kart. I like where you're going with this and really appreciated the encouragement. As you know, I'll be looking at each prototype's feedback to see which one to move forward with so your review really helps!
Yea I did err on the easy side for now. It's good to see where players lie here so I can tune the difficulty better in the future. I do plan to have much more challenges in a full version not just via fish, but environmental hazards.
Under rating threshold (hideshow)
Considering it's in its very early stage of development, it was a ton of fun! Interesting mechanics, nicely thought out. The only two things I'd point out are:
1. The levels don't impact the game in any way, which is completely fine considering the game's a prototype and will have more content added.
2. The milestones on the types of fish (which I really like, really nice reward system) seem kinda grind-y going from 25 to 100. Maybe you could put in an additional achievement at 50 to keep the momentum going.
All in all, a great game with great potential!
Yea the levels were there to unlock new zones and features over time but.......I don't really have many features so it's quite vestigial right now. It's a bit of the same answer with #2 as well, where I agree with you but kept it a tad high for lack of content. I suppose these are good issues to have because they will hopefully just be remedied with more time spent on the game. Thanks for the feedback!