Itch.io 32 Bit Game Jam Entry
A couple of programmer friends asked me to join the 32-Bit Game Jam with them to do the 3D side of things. The 2 themes given by the Jam creators were Ocean and Another World. I wrote a small Game Design Document for a Lovecraftian-style fishing game recently, it lined up perfectly so I pitched it to them, they liked it and we went with it.
I was responsible for the overall game design and majority of art.
The game came 2nd overall out of 138 entries and 1st for graphics and was featured on the itch.io youtube channel.
You can play the game here (it’s strongly recommended you use a controller)
https://bronxtaco.itch.io/the-deep-ones
I am aware of the similarities to the popular game Dredge but believe it or not, no one on the team had previously seen Dredge. It didn’t release until after the development of our game jam. The original game design document I did was done 4 years before and was pretty much just a blank page that said “Cthulhu fishing game” and was actually meant to be 2D but one of the programmers wanted to work on his 3D skills so we switched to 3D and through various other evolutions and suggestions from everyone in the team, the game morphed into something extremely close to Dredge. Dredge is an amazing game and I have talked to the team and the members that have seen our game love it and I couldn’t be more happy that we accidentally ended up making a budget version of such a great game. (This gets brought up so often I figured I would address it.)
The gameplay involves traversing a misty body of water, fishing for strange fish. Players will need to sell their catches to the Shopkeeper who will then provide them with upgrades for their ship, allowing them to catch more difficult fish. Players will also need to prepare themselves with consumable upgrades before attempting to catch more difficult fish as the mechanics take more skill the more powerful the fish. Using consumables and passive upgrades allows for an easier time the harder things get.
Players can unlock new zones within the map by finding quest items for the shop keeper. These new zones also contain new fish. A log book was added to promote a collector mentality, giving some depth to the gameplay.