Very cute art and music! I really liked that. I also really liked the map at the bottom of the screen. I thought it was a really cool feature. I think there should be more enemies faster though cause the game was pretty easy at the start. And some more obstacles to dodge would make catching the fish feel more challenging. But everything fit together really well! I I also really liked the Quicktime events when the seal catches you. Pretty fun!
Play game
Penguin DIVE!'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Production Velocity | #11 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
| AI Direction & Adaptability | #13 | 3.389 | 3.389 |
| Overall Enjoyment | #13 | 3.278 | 3.278 |
| Theme Fidelity & Creativity | #19 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
The Biggest Challenge
TinCLE can make ALL assets for games!
AI Tools Used
gemini 3.6 flash (high) via Antigravity-IDE, and local Devstral small 2 with my local agents script
Areas Where AI Was Used
Everything except inspiration
Comments
Thank you so much for the thorough and enthusiastic feedback!
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the art, the music, and especially the bottom radar map and seal QTE mechanics!
Your thoughts on early-game difficulty and pacing are spot on. Introducing threats a bit earlier or adding varied hazards/obstacles would definitely make chasing fish much more thrilling from stage one. That’s a fantastic suggestion for refining the difficulty curve.
Really appreciate you taking the time to play and share your thoughts! 🌊🐧✨
Very cute art and music! I really liked that. I also really liked the map at the bottom of the screen. I thought it was a really cool feature. I think there should be more enemies faster though cause the game was pretty easy at the start. And some more obstacles to dodge would make catching the fish feel more challenging. But everything fit together really well!
Submitted
Deep Sea Dating FundI really liked the overall concept and visual style! At first, I thought I was supposed to avoid the fish rather than catch them, so a little more feedback or guidance there might help.
The penguin family theme was really charming!
Submitted
純喫茶ダイヴ - JUNKISSA DIVEThank you for playing and for the great feedback!
Really glad you liked the concept and the penguin family theme! That’s a fantastic point about making it clearer that fish are meant to be caught rather than avoided—adding stronger catch effects and better visual cues is a great takeaway. Thanks a lot for helping improve the game! 🐟🚀
This is a charming game featuring adorable penguins!!!!!
I really love them!!!
I wondered if bumping into the sea lion would give me some kind of advantage, but it turned out to be a penalty. It might be helpful if the sea lion looked a bit more ferocious so players know to avoid it right away.
Submitted
DEEP ARCHIVEThank you so much for the enthusiastic comment and for loving the penguins! 🐧❤️
Your feedback about the seal's visual design is an eye-opener and such a great point. Because the seal looked a bit too cute/friendly, it created unintended confusion about whether it was a bonus or a hazard!
Visual affordance—making sure a predator immediately reads as dangerous at a single glance (perhaps with sharper expressions, menacing eyes, or red warning auras)—is so important for intuitive gameplay. I really appreciate you pointing that out, and I'll definitely redesign the seal's visual cues in future updates!
Thanks again for playing and for helping make the game better! ✨
FINAL SCORE 75900 pts
Saba:152 | Aji:110 | Bri:53 | Maguro:0 | Swordfish:10
I'm not sure how good this score is, but one thing I can say is… I didn't manage to eat a single tuna... 😭 ...Anyway, I really wanted to keep playing through the deep-sea-like scenes for as long as possible, so I put all my points into Stamina💦
As for the volume issue, part of the problem likely lies with the TinCLE engine, which doesn't currently provide an easy way to handle it (though it's not entirely impossible as things stand). I'll make this a higher priority for implementation.
The only drawback is that even after playing through it a few times, it's still unclear what exactly accumulates the points used for upgrades. I really wanted to figure out a strategy…
It was a really fun game. 🙂
Thank you so much for organizing such a great game jam, and especially for playing the game so thoroughly!
Hearing that you tried a pure Stamina build to explore the Abyss as long as possible made me so happy—tuna is indeed an elusive Abyss-exclusive catch with high EXP, so your strategy was spot on!
Regarding the upgrade points, you’ve highlighted a crucial UX flaw: the EXP accumulation from catching fish wasn't visually clear enough, which made strategizing difficult. Making the EXP gauge and gain feedback much more prominent in the HUD is a major lesson I'll carry forward into future updates. Thanks to the advice from game jam participants, I also realized just how crucial the initial explanation is. I took to heart how important it is to clearly convey a character's objective and the conditions for victory—factors that determine whether or not a player will enjoy the game once they start playing.
Building penguin DIVE! with the TinCLE engine was an absolute blast. It's wonderfully lightweight and intuitive to work with in pure C, and I'm really excited to see volume control integrated into future engine releases!
Thank you again for your guidance, the fantastic engine, and your warm encouragement! 🐧✨
Good:
Great job on the game! I really enjoyed the overall experience and thought you did a wonderful job bringing the concept to life.
Room for Improvement:
One thing that could be improved is the in-game explanation. It would have been helpful to have a bit more clarity on which items to collect and exactly how the scoring system works.
Good:
Aside from that, this was an impressive entry. Overall, a very good job!
Good job - Like the game would have liked a bit more explanation in game what to collect and what give point - overall very good job
Submitted
99.8% AI Data-DiverThank you so much for playing and for taking the time to write such thoughtful, structured feedback!
I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed the overall experience and felt the concept came to life well.
Your feedback regarding the in-game explanations is spot on. Clearer onboarding—such as a brief guide on fish types, scoring, and how the EXP system ties into upgrades—would definitely make the initial dive much more intuitive for new players. I really appreciate you pointing that out, and I'll make sure to polish the in-game guides in future updates!
Thanks again for the great advice and kind encouragement! 🐧✨
I really love the artwork—it's intricate and cute.
I liked the sight of the two of them happily eating fish.
Submitted
Mayday: Into the DeepReally charming! The sonar windows at the bottom for spotting what's ahead are a clever touch, and I love that the run feeds into the "Family Meal & Upgrade" screen — feeding the family and spending upgrade points is a lovely way to make BUDDY/family the reason to dive again. The pixel art is gorgeous. My one suggestion: a touch more early tension (fish worth chasing / hazards) in the first dive so the loop grabs you before the upgrade screen. Thanks for the kind words on DEEP, too — keep building!
Submitted
DEEPThank you so much for playing and for the wonderful feedback!
I'm really glad you enjoyed the sonar radar and the family meal loop — connecting the "BUDDY" theme directly to the core progression was one of my main focuses, so hearing that resonates with you means a lot.
Your suggestion about early-game tension is spot on. Adding more immediate hooks or chase-worthy rewards in the very first dive would definitely make the loop much more engaging from the get-go. I’ll definitely take that into account for future updates!
Loved your work on DEEP as well — let's keep building! 🐧✨
Reminded me of the old Flash games when I was a kid! A bit loud though, I had to take off my ear phones! I loved the sonar vision super cool!
Submitted
Below the Crust
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