🎣⚓ ALL FISHERMEN ABOARD!!! ⚓🎣

Ahoy again, fellow deckhands! As we sail further into the development seas, our humble fishing game is starting to look more and more like a reel catch! This week, the waters got a whole lot more immersive with sound and RFX now splashing into the mix — swooshes, splashes, and the occasional plonk as lines hit the sea. Our scene is also getting some love, with fresh dressing and visual polish making the world feel less like a sketchy dockside bar and more like a vibrant fishing paradise.

That being said... not all voyages go smoothly. During our latest round of feedback, disaster struck — the game broke like a cheap oar in stormy waters. Bugs swarmed the deck, systems went overboard, and we had to bail water with buckets made of duct tape and prayer. But fear not! After some frantic patching, bug squashing, and one particularly emotional staring contest with a crashing build, we’re back on course and ready to cast off once more.

Now that the storm has passed, it’s smoother sailing ahead. Thoughts and prayers it remains that way as the distant shores of the rumored Finish Line lands glisten in the distance. Spirits are high, the game loop is tighter, and with each wave, our little project is feeling more alive. 

So hoist the anchor, steady the rudder, and let's take a peek at the treasures the sea has offered us this week — may the bugs stay sunk and the catch be legendary! 🐟🔥

Art

Can you feel the passion?!

This week we made the main title screen and the UI for the buttons of the main screen so you can be greeted with beautiful art when you boot up the game! Other than one of the little fishermen players can choose to control while playing our game, there are now options to play the game, look at the controls as well as quit.

We also filled up the scene more (more on this below!) by making props (also more on this below!) such as a wooden crane, and to fill up the water and islands with more green we made foliage such as little plants, grass, ivy that will climb the rocks and seaweed for under the water to make the scene feel more alive and add more color variation overall.

Updates and upgrades to be found in the waters

As mentioned above, this week we focused a lot on set dressing in the art department. The scene has now several more assets to break it up visually and bring together the docks-like feel of the game. There is the crane, buoys, lifebuoys, an anchor that slipped our fingers for the moment and isn't as fabulous as the rest but will soon get there!

We also spent some time fixing the shading on certain materials as the shadows weren't shadowing all that nicely.

I am positive you can tell which one got yassified here:) And while we are on the topic of fixing and improving, the HUD has gotten a small updated to indicate both fish caught and points earned. The fishing mini games also received some minor glow ups, mostly to aid in functionality. But if you want to see just how much of a facelift they received I am afraid you will have (not really, I'd hope if you're this far down reading this you'd actually be down to)  to try them out for yourself, fisherman!

Yeeeeees, it's all coming together :3 part two electric boogaloo

Once more, as mentioned above, this week we did a lot of the general coming together of the scene. Placement of meshes, weight scattering of foliage, finishing shader graphs and textures that were in half finished states. Some player feedback elements like music and the such have now also been made and will improve the player experience by a lot!

Coding

Cranking up the fun factor!

This week we worked on RFX, both on RFX management and spawning. Effects like water splashing or confetti are important for player feedback and are now setup in the scene. We also improved movement (pesky thing has been throwing hands since day one! But our programmers are throwing even more hands back, don't fret). Now the bug where the character can't immediately rotate to the opposite direction is solved! Animations are now more clear. We made it possible to convert from physics mode to animations. Leaving the production sprint 2 we ended up creating robust systems for future changes and implementing a lot of player feedback.

Yassifying done right!

This week we improved the mini games by giving them a whole new look. We also updated the HUD, by adding a special new visual indicator for the amount of fish a player currently has as well as a new indicator for how many points the player has. We Implemented a controls card which can be shown at the start of the game, so people can get to know what controls they may use. We also gave our square fishing spots a makeover, and now they actually look like some nice fish swimming around, waiting to be caught!

The game is starting to game!

This week we added sound to the game, allowing for use of short SFX and longer music chunks. Now there is a music chunk playing for every scene that is present in the game, meaning the starting screen, the actual game and the ending scene all have their unique music! Fun!! Our power-up logic has also been improved upon, allowing for only one to be present at the available spot.

Future plans!!

• Polish this child of ours to hell and back and then some!!!

With steady hands and a full net, until next time fellow fishermen!