In 'Smithy of the Fishy', you play as a good ol' fish with legs whose objective is to collect as much treasure as possible — but many hazards in these randomly generated dungeons stand in your path.

Controls: WASD - Movement, Space - Select on menus, Esc - Back on menus

DISCLAIMER: Due to a corrupted save file, we are sorry to say that the uploaded build of this game is pretty buggy, and not totally complete. There is a significantly more polished version at https://lazyeye.itch.io/smithy-of-the-fishy, feel free to have some fishy fun with it, but please do not use it in your consideration for voting here. Thank you!

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  • Cajoled
    Lv. 20

    What a juicy little game!

    I love both the art style and the music! And the randomly generated dungeon is impressive! It's too bad it's unfinished.

    I definitely want to play the updated version to see what you did with it!

    Edit: And you clearly went above and beyond with the theme ;)

  • LD Smith
    Lv. 9

    It was really fun collecting the treasure. Getting hit reminded me of Sonic. I was impressed with how many jewels could be displayed and moving around on the screen at one time. I was able to find the exit, but it seems like there wasn't much after that. I couldn't figure out the upgrades, but maybe that was fixed in the post-compo version.

  • Veralos
    Lv. 38

    Bugs aside, this a really polished feeling and enjoyable game. It's nice walking around and collecting all the gems. The gem's effects and the way they burst out of chests make them quite satisfying to collect. I like the limited time limit and the risk/reward aspect it brings to the game. The random generation is also neat.

    The presentation is similarly high quality. All the sprites look nice and have a load of personality. The interface elements look good and feel smooth. The music is great and sound effects are suitable and enjoyable to hear.

    Unfortunately the core of the game seems to be broken. The upgrade menu doesn't display properly and I'm not even sure the upgrades work when you buy them. The end of the level star meter is also weird as it seems to fill up to the same amount regardless of how much stuff you collected. Also, one time a chest spawned on me at the level start and I couldn't move. It's a shame about these issues because without the element of collecting and upgrading the rest feels a bit pointless.

    Regardless, it's a cool game and I like what you were going for.

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Thank you very much! Bugs aside, we're so glad you liked it. If you would like to play a more stable version the way we intended, our post jam release is linked in our description here.

  • Josh K.
    Lv. 14

    Good game Uhh what we need a name? team! (love that team name btw lol) If you'd like to see our reactions, and rating feel free to check out our play through video. You're game is about 0:43:27 in. https://youtu.be/pQicLfNroyI

    Web Surfer
    Submitted

    Web Surfer

  • Kwis
    Lv. 67
    • It looks and feels pretty cool! Everything has the right amount of feedback! It doesn't feel too much/too little.

    • The sound design is pretty nice! It feels and sounds right. The voices specifically are super cool! but...

    • Obviously, the shop is broken, but also confusing. I like the star thing but... yeah xD

    • Wall collisions are weird. There are visible walls but you're on top of them. Also when you go behind it, it acts as a collision all the way (instead of letting your character go behind it, like depth would suggest)

    • The sun, once it reached the end, probably wonders for his purpose as he kept wandering past that point. To the point of reaching the side of the screen. But it's a feature, not a bug

    Now what the game lacks to me is a direction I feel like the MVP is missing. We're collecting gems, but what for? You guys really created a nice world and it feels satisfying while the visuals have that kind of "sticker" feel to it, but there is not much to do in it. I mean, you probably know that already, time constraint and stuff. I feel like the game doesn't aknowledges enough the concept of countdown. I would have wished the countdown to have more impact or be more central. Although I love that it triggers some kind of funny boss! He felt very right and wasn't that much of an issue to deal with while also being dangerous. Would have been nice if it went further or more in depth though.

    That said, I don't feel like it misses that much! We can feel much work was put into it.

    Now, I would have liked a bit more investment on this page! The description is small and doesn't give justice to your work. A bit of text, lore stuff (even if there is none), personal notes, and most of all, screenshots! As it is, I don't think the description page is inviting enough. The game is not finished, but is still great! Give it justice! Also, you should add the itch.io page in there (with a disclaimer to invite to play first here for ratings), as apparently you got one. :)

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Thank you so much for the in depth feedback Kwis, we really appreciate it. I totally agree with all of your points and they are all something we are discussing for how we could improve in the future if we develop this further. We also went ahead and added the itch link to the page. Thank you again Kwis!!

  • Adrien Dittrick
    Lv. 11

    Cool and cute game! The music was really nice, the effects were great! Had some kind of doubt when using the upgrade system though, maybe a bug.

  • Jupiter Hadley
    Lv. 13

    Lovely graphics, fun to lose gems! I included it in my GM48: Countdown compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/VfuoLEtGa74

  • Ramkey
    Lv. 2

    Very polished game. It felt so good collecting the coins altho they didn't have that much of a purpose in this build. Guess they have their use in the full game

  • Fin_Nolimit
    Lv. 6

    I was pleasantly surprised at how satisfying it was to collect (and see those gems) I am very much looking forward to playing the polished version. Thanks for all that you do in the Gamemaker Dev community!

    Tidder
    Submitted

    Tidder

  • Fachewachewa
    Patron

    Very good, effects and sound, but also very broken :(

    I went to the upgrade menu at the start and it showed two other "start" options??? Then I exited the level but no matter how much I clicked on "ok", the "done" textbox always came back.

    Generally, you really shouldn't use the default textbox, and for the exit, just make us leave the level, no need for confirmation (it seems you can't say "no" anyway).

    Boyard
    Submitted

    Boyard

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Yeah, we were very sorry to have to release with so many bugs, we released a post jam update on itch that we're proud of. I'm glad you enjoyed some aspects of it though! Thank you for your feedback :)

  • Ajmal Rizni
    Lv. 8

    What a beautiful game! I love the mix of pixel art and lighting. It sounds great too. It's a shame that you weren't able to complete it in the weekend but kudos for making that clear on the itch.io page. I'm looking forward to seeing progress on it as you develop it further. Good luck!

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Thank you so much Ajmal! Really appreciate the kind words, and of course, it must be mentioned that we all loved your game as well! :D

  • var MP;
    Lv. 3

    I really liked the art style, of course!

    I'm intrigued as to where the game was going and I'm really sorry you had that crash as it was obviously headed towards glory. Where can I follow up with development?

  • Mors
    Lv. 2

    I really enjoyed it despite it being very unfinished. I feel like you guys can turn this into something really special with enough time!

  • kbjwes77
    Lv. 19

    Unfinished but that's okay. What really turned out great though is the game feel, the art, and the MUSIC. You should really continue working on this. Hope you feel the same way!

    Time's Up
    Submitted

    Time's Up

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Thank you so much! We definitely feel the same way, and are going to discuss our plans for it moving forward very soon! Thank you so much for your feedback.

  • Lord_404
    Lv. 4

    I don't know if i can review the game correctly it is kinda broken when the sun thing gets to the end nothing happens. then if you go to the exit a default gamemaker textbox pops up and says done. if you press enter you can get back to the shop but after then the game softlocks.

    Good art, good sounds, unfinished game.

    EXPLOTRIP
    Submitted

    EXPLOTRIP

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Yeah, we had a pretty nasty crash right before the deadline that forced us to revert to an unfinished version. I'm glad you enjoyed the art and sounds! We hope to make a much better version in the future. I appreciate your feedback!

  • Wyatt S
    Lv. 4

    im gonna be honest, the game is generally fun, but confusingly unstable

    if spike traps on the floor dont work your basically invincible the menu is oddly confusing the sun at the top just kind of floats off the screen theres basically no game mechanic of the theme once you hit the exit door it soft-locks you into a wiered window and there's generally no way to get around the game

    on the other hand, though

    the art and effect are amazing the sound quality is good and the feeling of collecting all the loot feels good

    so if you ask me, it just kind of looks like you tried too hard and couldnt finish the whole thing but a decent game none the less!

    The Timing
    Submitted

    The Timing

    • lazyeye
      Lv. 4
      lazyeye Coder of Smithy of the Fishy

      6yrs ago

      Hey, thank you for the feedback! Totally agree with your points. We really wish we had more time to fix up some bugs, sadly we lost a lot of fixes to a crash. But overall you're right! Our scope was massive and we added a ton of polish in places that needed some more bug fixin. I'm glad you enjoyed it none the less, and thanks for leaving such thoughtful feedback!

The First 47 Hours Were Dreamlike

As many jams prove to be, this GM48 was a huge learning experience for me. I enjoyed this jam a lot. I am very proud of our game. But I also am not satisfied with how it ended, and the result we are now presenting to people. What could have been an incredible game turned out to only be somewhat good in my book, due to a simple matter of instability.

Saying "I don't think we're gonna make it" to Ben was extraordinarily hard. There was just minutes left in the jam. We were furiously fixing bugs. Right when we got it perfect, GM hard crashed, and we somehow lost an hour's worth of fixes. With no time left, I had to upload what we had -- an unfinished game.

And it's a shame, because BenStar and Failpositive kicked ass on this project. We have countless sprites, most animated, that are just gorgeous. The level of polish and juice in the entire thing is absurd. We have 5 whole original tracks on the soundtrack, and the sound effects were baller. Though it's hard to blame myself for a crash like the one we had, I definitely feel responsible for the outcome of the stability, and there was a lot I could have done better.

This isn't to say that the experience wasn't positive though. I gained a lot out of this project, mainly that this team really works well together. And looking back, if you ignore the stability concerns, I think this game is really awesome. Super fun. I am confident that if further developed, stabilized, and beefed up, we could have a seriously awesome game on our hands, and I really can't wait to explore those options more.

Overall? Not the jam I expected, but the one I needed. No matter where your skills lie, no matter what your team looks like, you can always find invaluable lessons to take away from a game jam, and GM48 is one of the most incredible, accepting, and well managed jams out there.

I wish everyone the best of luck with their games! Thanks for reading my rambling :)

Result

Disqualified

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