Play game
Aqua Di Amor's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Playtested this one | #29 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
Ranked from 4 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I was a bit confused what was going on, and then I could only catch a single fish (could be a skill issue, Big the Cat's fishing mini game and I got beef), but I did really like the colors and the character art rocks! Everyone else already put it perfectly but I will say I would love to see a bit more detail like other boats/fishers out on the water or some water ripples and caustics by the shorelines, etc
Interesting game and concept i just couldn't get very far!
Sorry, so right now there's nothing that shows where the fish are you just cast and reel until you get something. We have a plan for fixing that in the next version. Then you're supposed to give the correct fish to the mermaids to go to the next area/form a romance and get an ending.
Alrighty! Looking forward to being able to give some mermaids some fish in the next version!! 👍
I agree with Dragon's Isle Software. I submitted my feedback with the google form. In general, the whole time, I was quite confused about what I was doing and why I couldn't move around/do anything. It could definitely benefit from some clarity. Besides that, the graphics and art are nice, and the mechanics feel fine. I think just an in-depth tutorial/ better UI to make it clearer for the player!
I caught several fish. I gave the first to Lua, and got some item that she said would improve getting stuff for her. I gave the next to the king in the area below, who rejected it and said to fish in the rift for him. I went back to the starting area and tried to go right, but was pushed back. There was something that partly showed at the top left for a short time when this happened, but was not clear. I could not go through the left from the starting area. I fished some more and caught a shark. I gave that to Lua and suddenly she fell in love and the game ended. That felt very abrupt. A jam demo being short is fine, but the story of humans hunted my kind, but one gave me 2 fish and now I'm in love, just didn't work for me.
I restarted while writing this. I did no fishing, and when I tried to go down to the king's area I was pushed back, same as in my previous game when I tried to go to the right, only the thing at the top left was different, and was the item I had gotten from Lua in the first playthrough. Now I understand that it is showing the item needed to unlock the next area. My guess is that I needed to give the king something better, such as the shark, to get his item to unlock the next area. That was not clear from playing and could use with something to tell the player what it means.
While experimenting I clicked on the book at the top right. It could use a bit more of a hover effect to indicate that it is interactable with the mouse. If there are any other clickable things, I did not notice. I tried a few spots, but with clicking also starting the fishing mini-game it was too annoying to do it a lot. I'd also add a mention of the book being clickable to the game page notes on controls. The first time I opened it I missed the tabs for turning pages. I was just starting out and had not moved yet, and I think the look of them just blended into the background to much that I did not see them as tabs, but something that was part of the land behind. I think they could use a bit of tweaking to look a bit more like the book, and less like the land. It would also be nice if you added hover tooltips to the book with details, such as names of things, and maybe other stats or flavor text.
In general, the game could use with a bit of improving of the UI, and intro to the game. It seems like a good start, but I felt a bit lost on what to do and what was interactable, then, before I felt like I understood the game, it was over.
Nice concept and world building! I love the UI of the book and creatures in particular.
I'm not sure if I missed something, but I was only able to catch one fish (the salmon), and then couldn't seem to find any more after giving it to the Palace character. So, if there is more some further direction could be cool.
If you haven't I would suggest looking into Dredge, which makes fishing fun and varied via simple but different minigames for different types of fish.
A few other small things that came to mind:
- The opening text was hard to read as it was justifying while typing out (so words would move). Make sure the text is fixed while typing so reading is possible.
- The camera felt very close (at least for me, it looks better in your screenshot), so I would suggest pulling it back considerably, and making the boat smaller so it takes up less visual space.
- I would also agree with the other commenter that it was unclear how things would develop. So it could be worth making the hook of the game (pun intended) clearer.
Nice early build with strong design and real character!
Please try out my game if you have the time!
Hi, thanks for playing! So you get the item from each mermaid after you have a positive outcome that is needed to get to the next area. And we're working on changing the fishing mechanics.
The graphics, music, and presentation are good.
I feel like this game demo is missing some challenge or conflict that requires me to invest time into getting good at the game.
I would like to have seen something like hunting for fish by chasing a shadow, scaring away a fish if the boat moves too fast, the mermaid requesting a specific fish, etc. Something that requires use of skills like observation, identification, navigating a world from a map in your memory.
Thank you for the feedback! We're working on refining the fishing process some, and as for the mermaids they do actually require specific fish or else they'll get angry and drop your bond level.