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Flex!

Sorry for the non posting of stuff.I been at the mercy of allergies and other events so production became pretty slow. On the POSITIVE side, level 1-1 ready for testing! The level its self is done... it's just a bunch of details to iron out. I like it so far, and hopefully its stronger with the new additions which I'll tell you about next time >_o.

I'll leave you with Chico now...

 

Mushin Update 4: Those good 'ol days...

Sweet Fish Odyssey, as I mentioned in my earlier posts, is a shoot 'em up about  memories. I'm not going to beat you over the head with this theme, it's there the moment you start the game. The shades of pale green blacks,and whites is , at least to you old farts out there, reminiscent of the lovely Gameboy classic.

 It was an era growing up that had so many clear memories I can recall. It always broke the boredom of being dragged clothes shopping with my mom. I can beat Mario Land and Megaman 1 blind folded(I can't even beat 2 bosses now...I'm gettin' old dude!!!) . Just the music its self puts me back to days of sleepovers with friends, or when a older kid told me how to beat a Megaman 1 boss at recess. When Splatter House 3 had me freaking out all day, my cousin let me play Kirby just to calm down.

Gameboy and games in general, have always been a time of connecting with others, family, and new friends. Which also lead into new friends sharing new things and becoming closer to one another because of that Nintendo ice breaker. The distinction of "gamer" never existed to me cause every one was playing(even my parents), so I never identified with it, and I still don't.

Yeah, having the art done this way is pandering to nostalgia to a degree, but it serves another purpose when you finally see the ending...,even if you missed out on the pale green Game boy era.

Odyssey Update 3: Don't Wake The Dragon....

3 stages are roughed out so far. They vary quite a bit, yeah? Each level, 5 levels total, is going to have 2 sections the player travels through, with a mid boss and end boss respectively. The idea is to have each sub-stages present it's unique challenge for the player to figure out, overcome and segue into the next unique challenge. I say unique because no element , aside some universal ones i.e poisons shots ect., will be repeated. Every stage is a new challenge, instead of building on the difficulty of the same challenge. Hoping to integrate that same philosophy that Rocket Knight Adventures uses of one and done level design.

So the next few weeks I'll be in effects and animation mode. The dragon awakes!

he's the Black Dragon btw       

Odyssey Update 2: Levels and Mechanics...sweet sweet mechanics!

Things here are moving at a steady pace, granted I've been working nearly 40+ hours at the paying job, I've cooked up a good amount of content in-between. Not as much as I                                                   like but hey, that's what days off are for.

                                                                            Look at them floaty green trees

     Level 1-1 has been completed gameplay wise, with a few tweaks need here and there( mainly all the appealing stuff like animations and sound...but that's coming later.). This level is a simple eat everything and shoot enemies on sight. This isn't only an intro to the eating mechanics but it also shows what shots you have and how they are useful. It's also a good place to practice savoring, as it will make many situations A LOT easier to handle down the road. Level 1-2 is up but needs more fleshing out so I'm moving on to level 2-1. 2-1 introduces poison enemies and shots. Poison, when eaten by Golden Aura catfish, stops the player from shooting and eating for a short time.

Since the GA catfish eats anything it can fit into it's gullet, the player has to use the spit out technique. Tapping the savor button as GA catfish is eating prevents him from eating indiscriminately and forces him to spit out all objects he ate. So the player must be mindful of what to eat in the next levels to come.

As things are going I should have an alpha build somewhere around May for you guys to try. Do all that you can to break/exploit the rules, you silly rebels.

Odyssey Update 1

Firsts things first lets talk about what Sweet Fish Odyssey is.

Sweet Fish Odyssey started back  around 2010-11 as Lunch Time , my first attempt at a "big" project. You were a hungry but determined parakeet  named Chico who fishes up the most coveted and tasty fish, the Golden Aura Catfish. As Chico escapes with his prize, other starving foes try to snatch his meal from him. Chico, against overwhelming odds discovers that the Golden Aura Catfish not only eat enemies, but uses that energy to shoot them down.

 Originally, I intended only to be three levels, the mid boss, end boss formula,you know real simple and straight forward. I wanted a limited color palette in order to challenge my self artistically and have an excuse to use old school Game Boy  colors I'm fond of. Game play wise

I worked on it for about 2 months till it just ran out of steam. At the time, I never did much as far as pre-production. I just wanted a loose set of mechanics in order to play it as quickly as possible. Doing it this way however made the levels too random and hobbled together.Sort of everything and the kitchen sink type of approach. I liked the core of Lunch Time a lot, the eating of enemies as a power up for different shots, but as a whole the game was too bare bones and lacked a stronger vision to latch on to. Which is why it lost creative energy really quickly.

Thinking on this, I took some time to actually study other games, movies, books, you know actually go outside for once. This made me look at the core in a different light. Not only did core changed , Lunch Time finally has a new title, 10 levels, and a theme to give the art style more meaning.

Memories are the theme.I'll get into the story another day... But today lets look at the Sweet Fish's basic mechanics.

The Basics :

 This is the Golden Aura Catfish,(a rough sprite of him). He's curious, jubilant, and kinda dopey. He will eat anything smaller than it's mouth. Eating creates energy which allows you to shoot.

Hunger Level (Hlv)
Enemies, bullets, ect. that you eat will be added to your Hunger level meter. The more that Catfish eats, the more Hlv meter you gain, the more actions that become available. You have to keep him fed though, Golden Aura Catfish burns calories very quickly! If you don't eat for a while, Hlv meter slowly diminishes. You can't shoot if you have no meter.

SHOOTING:
There are 3 Hunger levels that determine which shots can be used.
            Normal shot                   EXShot
LV 1:   Straight Bullet --->         Machine Gun Shot
LV 2:   Y Shots         --->          Sun Shot
LV 3:   Nova Burst    --->         Nova Flare

These shots are available as long as you have enough Hlv meter.

There are also other shots called EXshots that are a powered up version of that shot.You can gain EXshots by SAVORING eaten enemies and bullets.

Savoring

While eating, press and hold the savor button to savor one or a group of eaten enemies during the catfish's eating animation to Savor them. Savoring , depending on the enemy or bullets, slowly eats the enemy, in which you cannot attack until the enemy is completely eaten. Releasing the savor button BEFORE savoring is complete will force Golden Aura Catfish to spit out his meal, so you'll gain no Hlv meter.

Once you savor an enemy, you'll gain the ability to shoot EXshots for a moment, depending on how many enemies you eat and savor in succession. This is EX mode. In EX mode your Hunger meter stops going down ,shots are more powerful and you gain a score bonus.

In the next post I'll go over other advanced skills and other tricks you can do with your Hlv meter. And if time permits a playable build may surface too, if i'm not too distracted*crosses fingers*

Later!  ^___^  /

Droppin' a Log :D

Starting strong... as always.

Hey people, this is Mushin, a dev-log for games I'm making. Every week I'll pull back the curtain, just a peek, to expose what I'm working on. So stay tuned folks , there's tons more to come so lets get to it!

Current Project

Sweet Fish Odyssey         Genre: Shoot 'em up                       Target Platforms: Steam, Ouya