Game Concept

Overview

Working Title: 

The Last Fishing Trip

Concept Statement: 

The fish are taking over! You, a salty old fisherman must fling, fight and fish your way through this fishy collectathon, on a quest to find inner peace on The Last Fishing Trip.

Derived Genres: 

2D Action Adventure, Collectathon, Fishing Sim

Intended Audience:

This game is aimed towards those fans of platformer games like The Messenger and Dead Cells, as well as fishing sims such as Stardew Valley and Dave the Diver. These games offer a combat experience which progressively increases in difficulty over playtime as well as causal collection elements which provide an overarching goal for the player, which is satisfying to complete. The Last Fishing Trip aims to do the same and will likely appeal to those who love a collectathon, fishing minigames, and real time 2D platforming and combat. This first iteration of this game seeks to provide a casual collection experience with some basic combat, platforming, and a fishing minigame.

• Casual / Completionist
• ~13+ (potential for small amounts of gore, and slightly more adult themes than what is suitable for those aged 12 and below).

Concept Creation Process:

The concept for The Last Fishing Trip has emerged from my recent enjoyment playing titles such as Dave the Diver, The Messenger, Dead Cells, Pokémon, and Stardew Valley. While these games are all truly unique in their overall gameplay elements, they come together to inform many of the ideas that I have had for The Last Fishing Trip. For example, the idea of developing a fishing minigame to catch the enemies once they drop below a certain health threshold, is a combination of ideas from the aforementioned games. In addition, these games all involve some collection aspect, whether that be collecting items to expand upon movement opportunities, attacks, or access to areas, or collecting certain items in order to fill out a collectapedia. In my leisure time, I have enjoyed becoming lost in fishing/ocean worlds. I aim to make my own aquatic/seaside biome as beautiful, relaxing, and fun as those which I have previously emersed myself in! (see figure 5 general style inspiration and colour pallet).

Competitive Analysis:

In its amalgamation of 2D action/platforming elements with QuickTime/puzzle fishing minigames, The Last Fisherman will offer a unique experience that no current mainstream/indie game does (to my knowledge). While elements of the game are inspired by other games (e.g., fishing minigame inspired by Stardew Valley (see figure 1), or the fishing rod grapple inspired by The Legend of Zelda/The Messenger (see figure 2), the implementation of these features in a 2D collection driven apocalyptic fish world sets The Last Fisherman apart from other games from which its concept was inspired.

Game Treatment/Concept Images

Backstory:

The fish are taking over! You play as a salty old fisherman (see figure 3) who, in the face of an aquatic apocalypse, decides to embark on one final fishing adventure to complete his lifelong dream of catching every fish! 

Features

Movement/Combat:

• Walking is relatively slow, as to demonstrate the fisherman’s older age (left/right – A/D, strafe – holding shift, jump – W)

• However, when using his fishing rod, the fisherman becomes surprisingly nimble
  • Rod grapple to pull towards walls and enable wall jumping!
  • Rod grapple onto specific items in order to gain a speed boost in mid-air!
  • Attack with the fishing rod as a sword to reduce enemy health! (see figure 4)

 Fish Enemies:

• The world has been afflicted by an onslaught of monsters of the deep. Fish!!! These fish are fierce and will do their best to put an end to you. Manage your health and combat these enemies so they can be either killed or caught.

• Fish Ideas:

• Salmon – flops around
• Crab – slices upwards
• Shark – dash  
• Sword Fish – slices
• Stonefish – insta death on touch
• Puffer fish – paralysis

Fishing:

• When enemy health is below a certain threshold, they can be grappled with the fishing hook to trigger a fishing mini game
•  My aim is to replicate/expand upon the Stardew Valley fishing minigame – Fish and bar (see figure 2)
• Upon minigame failure, the fish is destroyed and lost (try again when you next encounter that fish)
• Upon successful completion of minigame, the fish is caught and added to the collected fish in a collectapedia!

Gotta Catch ‘em all!!

• Initial Implementation Level layout (one level for assignment 3 as a proof of concept)
• Explore the area to find, fight, and catch all of the available fish enemies

Future Ideas:

• Collect items to access different areas (where new fish may be hiding – tutorial level) – the aim of each level is to catch one of each fish in the area.
• Collect all fish in a certain area (including boss fish!)
• Beat and catch the boss at the end of the area to beat the level and unlock a new area!

Concept art: 

Figure 1: Stardew Valley fishing minigame example

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/deathcoldua/art/The-Messenger-Video-Game-using-grappl...

Figure 3 - Salty Old Fisherman Character

Source: Original Pixel Art by Taylor Lewincamp

Figure 4 - Salty Old Fisherman Attacks

source: Original Pixel Art by Taylor Lewincamp

Figure 5 - ideas for colour pallet and original character design inspiration 

source: https://www.deviantart.com/jnkboy/art/Fishing-with-grandpa-493345961