Being an island is not that hard, look:


(recommended to read, didn't have the time to add info on the game)

Arrow keys: moves selection, the island, the petting hand and the yeeted shark

space: confirm selection

escape: escape

the kwishy button (k): confirm the escape and also oh yeah shake those leaves

How to pet: move the hand with the arrow keys, try to stay on the shark for maximum petting potential

How to properly yeet the shark: Once the shark is thrown, adjust it by holding the up or down arrow keys (the island is a bit bad at aiming)


there is no objective. Remember, you're an island! It's totally not due to me lacking time or anything. Right?

Sadly I lost a good amount of time struggling with the code on unexpected difficulties. I initially intended to have different type of enemies:

- sea creatures, like the shark, that you could capture, and - boats, that would be tough enemies you'd need to prepare for.

If i had more time I would have made just one boat and you'd need to "gather ammo" to make the fight possible, as well as an experience system. The fondation is kinda there, but oh well, that's how game jams are!

might do a post-jam version later though... maybe...



code, visuals, sounds, music...

All me, beach!

(very proud of the music!)

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  • Reaktori
    Lv. 17

    I really like the art and music! Too bad there's not much to do though.

  • Megan
    Lv. 12

    Love the music, I wouldn't have thought of a hard-hitting guitar track like that for a cute game like this but somehow it works. Petting is serious business! I like how cute and unexpected this game is.

  • Kyon
    Lv. 25

    Really cute art, and also really nice music + sound design!! Too bad there wasn't something more but it felt like it could be some sort of weird unique take on a pokemon game.

    Haven't had this much fun yeeting a shark in years!

    I.S.Land
    Submitted

    I.S.Land

  • Allison James
    Patron

    As can always be expected from you, this is drawn very cutely and has great music.

    Not a lot to say about the gameplay but it feels like you knew that - I had a few smiles for a few minutes and that was the long and the short of it 😅

    I liked the unique concept though - it's a shame you didn't have time to go further with it.

  • Henry Haak
    Lv. 41

    I feel very confused. Good music though.

  • Happysquared
    Lv. 15

    Very cute game! Felt I was placed into a fun cartoon world. I love the hand drawn look, the responsive animations when you're zooming around as an island, the extremely adorable sharks! I felt bad whenever I had to yeet them or hit them. I guess I didn't have to... The world de-sea-sed coming up was funn though :D

    I liked imagining the sharks I captured circling the island. The little fins are cute!

    I did feel when I hit the shark, I would have liked something visual that came up quicker. Not necessary jumping straight into the fight scene, but maybe some effects. I thought the music changing to the battle theme was very good, but I did for a second think I got stuck on the shark and couldn't move the first time I did it as I didn't know the battle screen existed. Maybe some kind of zoom in or other thing that accompanies the music would have clued me in more.

    There were other small bits like the shark having negative pets and the difficulty of yeeting. It almost didn't feel like the arrow keys were working until I figured it out. Maybe adding some feedback there too could help with the feel more.

    I enjoyed the variety of options on the battle screen. Definitely wanted to try all of them out. The font and number typeface you used also spruced up the game a lot and it fit really well in there.

    I did notice in the fight scene, patting with the hand also moves the fight menu selection but yeah honestly I'm kinda nitpicking a lot. Those things aren't a big deal and there is always a lack of time in jams.

    I really appreciated the shaking leaves button. It's a lot of fun but I think I'd have liked it on a key that is easier to spam because of how satisfying it was haha.

    I'm excited about the post jam plans you wrote about in the description. I feel you have a really nice foundation to expand so most of my feedback is for really tiny no big deal details. There wasn't really a strict objective but I found myself exploring what I could do and playing around with the island. Think that's a good sign!

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      "I liked imagining the sharks I captured circling the island. " Wanted to have that, but obviously too much for my scope!

      "I did feel when I hit the shark, I would have liked something visual that came up quicker." Yeah I postponed that because I don't know much how to make effects, but now that I think about it, I could have added like a flash and screenshake for a cheap quick effect!

      "I did notice in the fight scene, patting with the hand also moves the fight menu selection but yeah honestly I'm kinda nitpicking a lot." I noticed as well but it's due to how the battle system works, which is restricted to a timer, while this part isn't (it's based on how much petting you got just for being on the shark, as opposed to move the hand, which adds petting on top), so it ends up allowing you to select while petting

      About the yeeting, it was a last hour inclusion! (I mean it was planed, but I only got to activate it and make it work in less than an hour/half hour) I barely got to test it as I mostly corrected the big issues it had and I kinda just went with it as soon as it just seemed to work (as opposed to make it more obvious on how it works)

      In any case thank you for the extended feedback and tanks a lot for playing!

  • dreamcastgh0st
    Lv. 2

    Okay-- there's not a ton here, but what is here is really good. The visuals and music are really nice, and very polished. I like the idea of capturing animals and then using them later in battle, and the mechanics for both of those are pretty sound. That being said, the 'goal' of the game hasn't really been implemented, and so I'm stuck sitting here in a really fun sandbox with not much to do. I would love to see a post-jam expanded version of this!

  • CrashB1111
    Lv. 17

    Fun little game! The cute graphics suited the gameplay really well!

  • Ethan Wake
    Lv. 10

    Absolutely hilarious! I love the silliness of it all. The island controls really smoothly, and the battle system works well. I like that you can pet sharks instead of attacking. XD Great music as well! I'd love to see this expanded post-jam, as I'm really curious what the objective would have been if you hadn't run out of time. Unless you were serious about there being no objective, in which case, kudos! It's fun regardless. :)

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      There would be objectives! At the beginning I planned for you to be able to expand your island and your goal would have been to be big enough to beat the strongest enemy! A shorter term objectives I wanted to add but couldn't, was to have boat enemies (controlled by humans) and your goal would have been to use your sharks to kill it!

      Thank you for playing and giving your feedback! =>

  • Fajpaj
    Lv. 5

    Fun little game. Loved the music. I totally see where youre going with this!

  • Chris
    Patron

    I was really hoping for more yeeting

  • Luke No Further
    Lv. 14

    Hahaha really appreciated the dedicated 'make the trees wibble' button. I like a button that's just for fun, I remember playing Rayman 1 and getting the run power and not being able to use the 'Rayman just pulls a face' button any more. That was sad. Games are for fun and the more buttons that you're allowed to press are fun to press, the better, right???

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yes! Initially I implemented it to test the jiggle (that happens when you stop moving) and left it there cause it felt cool. I usually do that with all jiggle mechanics cause it's always cool to have! I really wish games nowadays would have more of these "useless but fun" functions. Like Luigi calling out Mario in Luigi's Mansion!

      Thank you for your comment and playing! =]

  • Quentin Van Deutekom
    Lv. 7

    The art and music were so great! I might be a little bit envious of your island art! I enjoyed capturing sharks, I enjoyed ramming and yeeting them too. The gameplay loop was pretty straightforward altough Im still not sure exactly how the yeet mechanic helped, but I'm glad it was there

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yeeting a shark does a more significant damage than a normal ram, and one shots them in a critical!

      Thank you for playing and leaving a feedback :>

  • NotLexa
    Lv. 1

    This game is kinda boring. Although the art and music is ultragood, the gameplay is just boring. But that's a funny concept tho!

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      I mean, it's a jam game, can't always make those exciting when you spend too much time struggling with the code :p For what it's worth I do think the game is not that bad, it almost only ended up only being one attack, as the petting and yeeting was only added towards the last hour!

      In any case thank you for spending the time to play and give a feedback :)

  • whatthesamuel
    Lv. 4

    I liked the artstyle! I don't get what yeeting the shark does? It would be much better if you could pet and capture the sharks, but fight other creatures with the sharks.

    Nice game!

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Fighting other things with the shark was planned! Sadly didn't get the time to implement more enemies.

      Yeeting the shark basically throws it! You then control it to land on the other shark!

      Thank you for the feedback and for playing!

  • scottgoldsmith
    Lv. 10

    Gorgeous artwork, would love to see this fleshed out after if you can surmount the coding problems.

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      I mean, the thing I wanted to code in, maybe I'll just ditch it out if I ever continue working on it!

      Also thank you :) Thanks for writing and playing!

  • 2102
    Patron

    For what's there, it's well done. More can definitely be done with this project. The music and mechanics were nice, it would be great if there was more though. But, that can be said for pretty much all jam games.

  • singleshot
    Lv. 43

    Played your game on stream, now I need them feed backs, heres a link if you want to watch it again https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1091776398?t=14m40s

    I go to say its was a fun kinda show case game. it would have beeen nice to have a goal, but its also how a fun sandbox game loop to it.

    and turn base rpg where you are an island is pretty funny. and I did enjoy tossing that shark in to orbit btw lol

    Ruin Rise
    Submitted

    Ruin Rise

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yep I do hope that for the few it shows the game still gives out something! :)

      Thank you for spending time playing it and feedbacking!

  • baku
    Patron

    I didn't quite get what you had in mind when you were describing this in discord, but I see the vision now XD

    Shame you had coding problems, bet this would've been really cool had it been more finished. That's not to say what's here isn't cool! It looks and sounds great. Love that battle music. The artstyle is super charming, and I love that the text fits the cute art (in terms of word choices and such, like yeeting sharks instead of throwing them). So I think it's a very good proof of concept.

    Thematically I like that you can befriend the enemy animals, and would've been able to use them against boats. Nature teaming up against humanity :D

    Also this game is proof that more games in general need jiggle physics ;D

  • kris24
    Patron

    No it's not a complete game but the sense of style and just overall quality is amazing, particularly for a jam game. The wordplay made me chuckle. EDIT: And the music was probably my favorite part, particularly the transition to the shark encounters.

  • Tydecon Games
    Patron

    You have a very distinct style in everything you do and I remember you saying in discord during the jam how you weren't so pleased with this project, but you totally should be, your style is cute and works with everything you've made and this is the sandbox/foundation of a fun game, great entry! :)

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      I mean, I didn't really think i'd be able to get the main mechanics down (ramming was already done, but petting and yeeting weren't; the petting was added about 1-2h before the deadline while the yeeting in the last hour!

      It was close, but the game still lacks an objective;

      So I'm okay with the result, could have been a lot worse!

      Thank you for spending the time to play and feedback!

  • Ivanbje
    Patron

    It was a joyful experience and I adore the art, it has so much personality. The music was a bop as well. I usually went for petting the sharks, I did fight a few of them, but in the end I got the petting down to a way where I always managed to pet them enough to capture them in one round, not taking any damage. Will definitely come back if you do a post jam version with the boat and stuff.

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yeah the balancing was a last minute, I tried to make it so that the petting wouldn't be too easy but it's still possible to do it in one petting session; I wanted it to be slightly easier than just ramming;

      the post jam version would have allowed for more decision as petting doesn't get xp while killing does

      Thank you for playing and feedbacking!

  • Funny cat Lord
    Lv. 8

    Island and shark-kind have fought for millenia. As the last island, it is your job to decide the fate of the world... do you perpetuate the eternal conflict, or do you unite island and shark-kind once for all? --At least that's the story I managed to come up with.

    I know there were a lot of issues during development making it so that you can't finish the game, but what is there is both wacky and adorable. I have personally opted to be a shark-pacifist, petting my enemies into submission. I've enjoyed the time I spent in the game even if it wasn't that much.

    Any criticism I could and would give would most likely be addressed if the game hadn't ran into development issues, so the only real thing I can comment on is that gamemaker's audio compression wouldn't cut down on audio quality too much and could reduce the file size by 20-ish megabytes.. but file size is nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

    Final Verdict: The game is pretty pog. If there ever will be a post-jam version, I'm looking forward to it!

    EDIT: forgot to mention the most important thing, the sharks are very cute

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yeah I did my best to get the main mechanics down and I think I got kinda where I could have in the situation!

      As for the compression, I didn't know what was the better option so I just let the default choices, felt faster that way cause there are many files (there are 10 different water sound effects for when the island moves)

      Sharks thank you for the feedback and for playing the game!

  • Om Rane
    Lv. 3

    The artstyle is very cute and appealing. Love all the little animations (The trees swaying when you move). I would've loved to see the completed version too! it would definitely make things more interesting.

    One feedback I had to give is that sometimes during the fights its not clear if the enemy has attacked you since the shark never does ram into the island physically. Some form of visual indication would've helped me understand if i've been attacked

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Hello! I am rather confused by what you mean by the shark not physically ramming into the island. I never got any bug where the sharo wouldn't ram into the island, as it does the same as the island (same code) It also spits out a number when you attack/get attacked

      So i assume this is not a normal behaviour, it's likely to be a bug i was unaware of! The shark should always ram to you once you've done an action. I'm curious for the reason cause i never had that issue :/

      Also yeah the finished version would have human enemies (boats), and the goal would be to use the sharks for xp/ammo and use them to beat the boats

      In any case thank you for your feedback and for playing! :)

      • Om Rane
        Lv. 3

        The shark bit was a feeback my partner asked me to pass on. She doesn't play games that much and ended up missing the telegraphs of the numbers popping up and the fact the shark didn't actually "touch" the island physically threw her off I think.

        Personally I had no problem recognizing those telegraphs so not a bug on your part!

  • Jaspo
    Lv. 16

    Cute little game that fits the theme well, good art and sound, hard to lose though, and the ending is a bit buggy.

    • Kwis
      Lv. 67
      Kwis Developer of To be an Island

      2yrs ago

      Yep, didn't get to finish! I did my best to try to avoid making it too easy but the balancing was a last minute balancing (i did that 5 minutes before the end of the jam lol) and I didn't want to make it too hard, that way i'm sure the player can do some stuff before dying. If i had 5 more minutes i would have capped the health regeneration, that way the player cannot wait to get to full life! I also made the petting a bit too easy, as it's possible to capture it in one petting session iirc

      But i mean, jam games right :)

      By the ending I assume you mean the game over; yes unfortunately I had to prioritize many other things so it's there but I didn't get the time to test it more (when i made the game over feature, it would work everytime and then suddenly it started bugging a bit, i was out of time at that point). I'm just happy you can still have a game over though, i didn't think i'd be able to have a "working" version cause i had so much left to do hours before the end!

      Thank you for playing and for the feedback! :)

      • Jaspo
        Lv. 16

        For sure! By buggy I meant at the end (lose) screen, its simply an overlay and the game continues in the background...in fact if you end the current fight that's in the background, it'll kick you back into the game with negative health, which will then regenerate. Yes, yes, game jams. We ran out of time with ours as well, though it was mainly just the audio that suffered majorly as a result.