GREETINGS, SCIRRA! A bit of time since I've posted here, took some time to grow my dev and art skills as well as working with preparatory year of music college but now i have finally gotten a nice concept which i understand fits my scope for first game project which my brother will be helping me out with. Here goes the dev log for it!
Currently: Working rod casting physics, conceptualizing, and heading towards official look & feel.
The Game (no official name yet)
A meditative and relaxing experience based on catch and release shore fishing. The player finds him/herself in their own little chunk of island in which to cast their rods and simply fish. The principal goal of the game lays on completing your fish journal/log. As you progress better rods & gear will be available which will enhance the experience.
Meditative and Relaxing
We intent to create a pleasant game experience in which to unwind (pun intended) and immerse themselves in. A chill and zenlike game with relaxing visuals and audio. Game elements will also present philosophical and metaphoric aspects.
Stylization and Minimalism
Another core element of the development will be the implementation of minimalism in design to maintain fluent and uninterrupted playing from the start. The artstyle will feature stylized low poly 3D models rendered to sprites, this permits a lot of fluidity for creating assets and building the main features.
Planned Features
Shore Fishing, cast your rod and wait for the bites, set the hook and reel them in.
Personal Island, procedurally generated small chunk of terrain in which to light a fire, rest, and relax.
Day/Night Cycle, different hours of the day, different types of fish. Watch as the days go by and the stars change, spot the high and low tides and take advantage of specific hours for better fishing.
Weather, conditions will affect the difficulty or ease of your catch.
Journal/Log, fill up your fishing log as you keep track of what you've reeled in.
The Catcher's Guild, the all seeing eye of the Catcher's Guild have settled on you. They will reward you for your catches and hard work.
Message in a Bottle, collect meditative phrases, quotes, legendary fables, and sea stories that could float by your island.
Musical instruments, strum, blow, and play sweet notes by the fire as you enjoy your musical side.
The Islands
Islands will take up most of the screen and will be unique to each game, procedurally generated from different terrain, trees, rocks, campfires and wood piers. We are currently deciding on a general look for the type of stylization we want for the 3D models. Some screenshots of the progress below.
Current in-game look, featuring the start of the tackle physics.
Mockups
One of the rod assets
Super stylized Lute
Early Island Speedmodel
------
We are trying to implement just the right amount of features and to keep it under a nice, chill and relaxing minimal style. As a hobbyist developer, with less than two years of experience and 0 games under his belt, I count with limitations towards piecing things up. I have a few things from the bulk of the work which are in my "Worry List", aspects needed but currently puzzle me in terms of making them in C2 so all advice, feedback, and suggestion is highly appreciated.
The Worry List
-Fishing Line, somehow producing the visual feedback from the rod, the bobber, and the hook/lure and for it to be able to extend and be brought back to the reel.
-Character Animations, the game's graphic are currently been modeled in 3D (Blender), exported to sprites as different renders, layered and edited to get the current look. The idea of getting a slick character to move and interact with a fishing rod is kinda getting to my head from time to time.
-Water, for now i'm using C2's water effect on a simple square and stretched through the scene. It has a nice and lovely effect but not sure how to make something more effective which can interact with the bobber fluently.
That's the progress so far,guys!