Fishy Business

Summary

Fishy Business was a group project created for a game development class using the Gamemaker engine. The project aimed to simulate a professional studio environment, complete with deadlines, regular check-ins, peer evaluations, design documentation, and marketing. As the group leader and gameplay programmer, I played a pivotal role in bringing the project to life. A snapshot of the project can be found on our itch.io page.

Gameplay

Fishy Business is a lively fishing game in which the player can freely explore, fish, sell their catches, and buy new gear. Starting in the "overworld", players explore a small lake area where they can fish and interact with Fisher Frog to sell and buy new gear. Players can upgrade thier rod to increase the likelihood of catching rarer fish, improve their line control tension easier, and by using better bait to raise fish bite rate. Each fish is unique, with its own rarity and value—the rarer the fish, the more valuable it is to sell.

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Implemented Features

Name Description
Functional UI Intuitive UI for navigating menus and in-game controls.
Overworld The game is divided into two separate gameplay areas. An "overworld" for exploration, inventory management, and shopping, and a minigame that offers a fun gameplay loop for catching fish.
Fishing Gameplay Mechanics for rod casting, line reeling, and catching fish. Features fish rarity, rod animations, a tension meter for reeling, and fish AI.
Inventory System Modular Minecraft-like system for equipping, swapping, organizing, and selling items, as well as managing fish catches.
Special Fish Behavior Unique fish behaviors that influence swim speed, lure caution, and unique tension difficulty.
Shop A shop where players can purchase and add items to their inventory.
Custom Artwork Original tileset artwork and level design created using, Aseprite, a pixel art software.
Music and Sound Sounds found off free websites and mixed.