December 13th-16th 2013 :: Theme: You Only Get One
[ Real World Gatherings | Ludum Deals | Warmup Weekend ]
When playing Fish Go Blub you only get one button to control the character (hint: try rhythmically holding then releasing a key). You avoid obstacles and collect stars as you steer a fish around a series of increasingly challenging aquatic levels.
I used libgdx & eclipse, Paint.net, bfxr, Autotracker.py, Audacity, Gimp, and Caustics Generator
The typeface is 'Big Bottom Cartoon Normal' by Karen B. Jones
With more time I would have created a user-friendly level editor to publish along with the game, made a nicer transition between levels / when restarting, sourced better music (no offence to the people behind autotracker.py - it's a great tool, but ... yeah - the game cries out for better music), I'd re-do the fish animation from scratch, improve the collision detection code, make the rendering more efficient, add bubble particle effects and ambient sounds, add some variety to the grass and stone paving tiles, add floating lilies (just as eye-candy), and with a lot more time I would have made a longer series of levels with a less punishing learning curve! I'd also like to see the online high scores working on the Android and gwt releases.
Thanks for reading :)
P.S. A note to other theme voters: I had a lot of fun with this Ludum Dare - as always! But can we PLEASE try to avoid 'scope limiting' themes next time?! "Minimalism" (like "Minimalist" a few years before), "Tiny World", "10 Seconds", "You Only Get One" ... sure there are varied and interesting ways to interpret these themes, but nevertheless I feel the pattern is getting boring! Where are the themes like "gigantic" or "endless journey" or "decades go by" and so on? Or for that matter, where are the other 99% of themes which have nothing to do with scope? All of the 2013 themes have been 'little themes', we're like a stuck record! Maybe it's because people are scared that they will only be able to create a 'little game' over the course of the weekend? But that's sort of the point and there's no need to blunt the theme because of it! Anyway, I don't want to end on a downer; like I say Ludum Dare is always a lot of fun - it's a brilliant and engaging event with a great community behind it. Thanks everyone :D
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 78% |
| #259 | Innovation | 3.27 |
| #268 | Overall | 3.29 |
| #285 | Audio | 2.92 |
| #351 | Humor | 2.59 |
| #365 | Fun | 3.05 |
| #398 | Mood | 2.91 |
| #409 | Theme | 3.05 |
| #436 | Graphics | 3.05 |
Comments
Good job, and I agree with you 100% with the recent themes (I only entered this week end, but I4ve been watching colleagues on LD for years).
I genuinely cannot tell if I find the controls infuriating or pleasantly different
I genuinely love the controls, it was frustrating at first but once you've got your head around them it really helps to make you feel like a fish... dunno why... :P
Good work!
Fine game, controls are sadly kinda annoying. But nontheless a nice game.
To you theme note, I kinda liked the previous theme since a good theme has to be restrictive. Nobody is forced to create a small game out of it. This time nobody stops you from creating a massive RPG about the journey to find the ONE, like seven seasons of HIMYM. Just my humble opinion, though.
PS: Please give the Android build a nice name :)
Yes, the controls seem a bit weird. But after tryng out a bit, it's really nice. Graphics are nice, but there isn't a great variety (beach levels, river levels would have been interesting.)
Very nice that you've been able to keep the app so small.worked perfectly on my phone.
It looks very polished and the game mechanic isn't annoying(I expected that difficult steering would be).
I agree with the music. Something nice and polished would go better with the game, but I'm still impressed.
Although I agree with your thoughts about the theme I have no idea what to do about it. It's a majority vote (and actually I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with, it challenged me even more to think outside the box).
And you're game is still very good :)
Great idea. The controls are SO difficult, I guess I have more resprect for fish now :D
Nice game, it's hard to control the fish at first, the levels are nice too. Great game! :)
Levels cleared: 3/6. I played it on Windows - smooth and beautiful. I think you should give the fish some HP instead of letting it die instantly.
Really enjoyed the controls! I also couldn't stop playing, despite being hung up on level 3.
Gaaah that stupid level 3. I gave up after like 50 tries. Few times i just died right in front of the last star. This is ridiculous.
Though a nice job. The music is cute, the graphics are fine, the game feels okay, it's just soooo frustrating when you keep dying.
Agreed about level 3 (or 4?), it's a huge difficulty wall. Can't stop trying... but also, can't pass it.
Really like the use of the theme. Good entry.
First time I have problems with controls, but... Great job! Controls is different, and it's good. The game sucked me ;p
Android version is cool too ;)
And Android gameplay is better than PC ( just touch screen, and fish will go ) :>
And I agree Your note about Ludum Dare ;)
Really good! I like the idea and it's a solid implementation.
This was really fun! Good amount of challenge, although it definitely scaled up a bit abruptly (that last level was incredibly difficult). Nice graphics, nice audio - everything felt really polished. The Android version of this really works well, the controls are incredibly responsive.
Nice game!
Please take a look at the highscore table! The deathcounter does not reset, wher you play again after submiting your score! That made my last run the worst, while it would be the best :( Well, I wont pull the rating down for that ;)
In my first playthrough I have spent quite some time in the seaurchin labyrinth. Therefor I found the background extremely iritating after some time. I began to see only a combination of sharp and blurry rings... Maybe a slower playback of the animation and/or some variation would help with that.
Besides that, I really enjoyed the game! The graphics are nice (when you don't stare at the BG too long;)) and the sound is quite fitting. The gameplay was a bit tricky at first, because the controlsheme needs a little bit of practice, but afterwards its challenging and fun.
Great work! Keep it on :)
Oops! Sorry about that, I've now edited the scores database by hand to show your correct position at the top of the highscores table :)
Enjoyed the one control mechanic once I got the hang of it. The water graphics were well done, are they voronoi patterns? Good game overall.
I love one-button games, and yours is pretty well-made! It's a simple mechanic, but with a bit more polish and flair you could probably churn out a full game around it.
Nice game. The background music is a bit cheesy, but still very catchy... After the third level it started getting hard ;)
Simple but clever concept very nicely executed. I strongly disagree with your opinion about "minimalist" themes though. I think you're interpreting the themes to literal, because (to me) your examples for "bigger" themes do not imply bigger scope of the actual game design and vice versa.
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At first I couldn't get how to control the fish, but after I got it it got really cool :) Good job