🎣⚓!!!ALL FISHERMEN ABOARD!!! 🎣⚓

After docking for a much needed rest and recreation over the spring break, the crew is back on deck — well-rested, well-fed, and ready to make waves once again! Our sails are high, our nets untangled, and the salty sea air has never smelled so full of promise (or seaweed)!

This week, we dove back into development with a splash! In the art department, we’ve been reeling in the big fish — adding more prominent assets to our little fishing game, bringing the world to life with more character and charm as well as even more movement than before! As for the code crew, we’ve been busy patching up holes in the hull — applying feedback, adding in those pesky missing features, and polishing what we already have until it shines like a freshly caught mackerel!

It’s been smooth sailing overall — minimal hiccups, no kraken sightings, and not a single team member washed overboard (as of the time of writing this, should someone fall, you know what the code word for help is... hopefully... if not I sure hope the life vests and lifebuoys  are within reach:)). We’re right back on course, and the journey ahead is looking reel promising!

Now then, no need to flounder — let’s cast our eyes below and see what the catch of the week looks like:

Art

I like to move it, move it- also rocks!!!

This week we found some more animations for the player such as a winning dance and sad animation for the losers that will later on be displayed on the end screen of our game. We also rigged and made an animation for the fish, so that it can happily swim around the fishing spots, blissfully unaware of its faith:). Last but not least we sculpted rocks for the background of the level!

Is it a plane? Is it a bird? Nope, it's a fish carcass!

This week we kept up our work on the drop off / hand in point for the fish. Here is where players can bring in their catch to exchange for a point, as such, it is a rather big and a rather important asset so a lot of time needed to be spent on the texturing (and UV unwrapping and packing of course). Everything in the texture is hand painted, we did our best to stick to the rules set by the art bible as far as colors and shapes go as well as keep in mind what the environment in engine looks like to make the asset stand out enough so players notice it and know where to go but not so much that it clashes with everything and creates an eyesore.

Unfortunately the latter is still a work in progress but we're almost at the finish line! 

Kris moment

Tell us what awesome things you've worked on this week!

Coding

Dance monkey dance!

This week we worked on integrating animations into our game. The character can now walk and fish, which makes the game even more fun and engaging! Of course all the animations are corresponding with the events in the game. Otherwise, why would a character fish if he is not in the mini-game? We also adjusted the slope movement a bit, so now the game feels more responsive to the player input. All in all we're hard at work on making the playing experience as fun and as smooth as possible for all fishermen to enjoy! (And for fish to fear:D)

Choose your fighter 👊 🐟

This week we made a setup for the scene transitions for our game. Now when our game is booted up it has a starting screen, a character selection screen, where people can connect and set the amount of players that will be playing (up to 4 people), and then the main scene where they get spawned in to start playing! 

One does not simply throw hands at the HUD (or camera) 👐

This week we reworked the camera, its position angle and filed of view. We also implemented visual representation for certain key factors in our HUD, such as a timer for the rounds, and crowns to indicate the current winning players.

Future plans!!

• Keep on tweaking the texture for the drop off point until it sits well within the level
• Work on the graphics and 2D art for the fishing mini games
• Add in an interact button indicator for when it is possible to fish or hand off a player's catch
• Improve on the starting, player select and ending screens
• Add a flashing screen with the controls of the game

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