Download the game here, and read about using your boat, tackle and fishing tips here
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Bass Lover
Bass Lover
Bass lover is a fun fishing game where you enter a 3 day fishing tournament to catch the biggest fish. The game is strategic based as opposed to action based: time passes with turns, and success is determined by weather conditions, your lure selection and sometimes a little luck.
Download the game here, and read about using your boat, tackle and fishing tips here
Download the game here, and read about using your boat, tackle and fishing tips here
Re: Bass Lover
Greetings, you are definitely onto something here!
I know very little about fishing, but I love the concept behind your game. The fact that it's turn-based is a very appropriate choice for a laid-back relaxing experience. The fish finder 3000 is a cool touch and the color palette works well.
There are several things that I wish were different:
1.Make it playable entirely with the mouse (including the boat movement)
2.The UI buttons on the bottom right are not very good, please do some research on mystery meat navigation and how to avoid it
3. Show the minimap above the fish finder, would be much more useful there
4.The graphics need work, I like the low-res style, but some of the sprites just look primitive
5. I want to see detailed pictures (preferably procedural) of the catch, including stats! That's my reward for playing, right?
Overall it's a great concept, I think the primary thing you should focus on is guiding players like me who know nothing about fishing. This sort of game is the perfect opportunity to teach people and share your elite fishing knowledge. For example, I have no idea what the difference is between the rods. I know there is a manual but this is a turn-based game, so you can just show me the tips in-game.
Great job, this is one of the most original and complete prototypes that I've played on here.
I know very little about fishing, but I love the concept behind your game. The fact that it's turn-based is a very appropriate choice for a laid-back relaxing experience. The fish finder 3000 is a cool touch and the color palette works well.
There are several things that I wish were different:
1.Make it playable entirely with the mouse (including the boat movement)
2.The UI buttons on the bottom right are not very good, please do some research on mystery meat navigation and how to avoid it
3. Show the minimap above the fish finder, would be much more useful there
4.The graphics need work, I like the low-res style, but some of the sprites just look primitive
5. I want to see detailed pictures (preferably procedural) of the catch, including stats! That's my reward for playing, right?
Overall it's a great concept, I think the primary thing you should focus on is guiding players like me who know nothing about fishing. This sort of game is the perfect opportunity to teach people and share your elite fishing knowledge. For example, I have no idea what the difference is between the rods. I know there is a manual but this is a turn-based game, so you can just show me the tips in-game.
Great job, this is one of the most original and complete prototypes that I've played on here.
Re: Bass Lover
Looks fun, must read up more of your links to understand it (I know less than ivan about fishing) as some of the jargon meant nothing to me. At first glance, I couldn't decide what some of the sprites were until I rammed them! I think the kb controlled boat movement is ok, it might not be immediately obvious how many turns would be used per click if it was mouse controlled (and where would you click for rotate?). Not keen on the blue circle when casting - looks to much like the Windows 'egg timer' (even though I ran it on Linux, I do most gaming on Win 10).
As ivan said, a hint at what each rod/lure does would be nice, rather than having to rtfm
Will give it another blast over the holidays
As ivan said, a hint at what each rod/lure does would be nice, rather than having to rtfm
Will give it another blast over the holidays
Re: Bass Lover
Hey thanks for the feedback
@ivan
1. mouse-movement would be easy to implement, and is a goal so that the game is playable on touch devices. I am thinking a click on open water will automatically turn your boat to the correct angle, or move one tile in the direction you clicked.
2.The UI buttons are horrendous, I agree 100%. I spent 90% of time on the game logic and 10% on the UI. I am thinking of replacing them with a menu-bar like display, along the top of the screen, with text clearly stating their purpose.
3. Show the minimap above the fish finder is a lovely suggestion
4.The graphics need work, 100% agree. I am by no means a graphic artist and am open to improvements at a later time.
5. Pictures and stats are a must and I am spec-ing these out.
@mr_happy
I imagined an in-game "getting started" tutorial and will be working on this in the future. The cast cursor was a 5 second decision and will be changing, and glad you pointed it out.
I am also glad to hear the Linux (AppImage) version ran, I am experimenting with building appimages and overjoyed to hear this.
@ivan
1. mouse-movement would be easy to implement, and is a goal so that the game is playable on touch devices. I am thinking a click on open water will automatically turn your boat to the correct angle, or move one tile in the direction you clicked.
2.The UI buttons are horrendous, I agree 100%. I spent 90% of time on the game logic and 10% on the UI. I am thinking of replacing them with a menu-bar like display, along the top of the screen, with text clearly stating their purpose.
3. Show the minimap above the fish finder is a lovely suggestion
4.The graphics need work, 100% agree. I am by no means a graphic artist and am open to improvements at a later time.
5. Pictures and stats are a must and I am spec-ing these out.
@mr_happy
I imagined an in-game "getting started" tutorial and will be working on this in the future. The cast cursor was a 5 second decision and will be changing, and glad you pointed it out.
I am also glad to hear the Linux (AppImage) version ran, I am experimenting with building appimages and overjoyed to hear this.
Re: Bass Lover
It would be especially good if there is also a paragraph about the kind of fish that was caught, maybe a little bit about its behavior. This would be very useful for teaching the gameplay and also learning about fishing in general.
I think that with a little bit of work in the graphics department, maybe a "fishing shop", "reeling minigame" and a few roguelike elements this could be a great game - possibly a commercial success too. Regarding the user interface: the more things you can convey visually the better, like for example the weather forecast takes up 1/4 of the sidebar. But you can convey what the weather is like by using a few different tilesets (ie. rain, snow, windy, etc).
Re: Bass Lover
I had a go at improving the UI: Changed the look of the buttons and added text on them making their purpose more clear (a la mystery meat navigation). I also created a toggle for switching between the outboard motor and trolling motor.
I also added the mini map on-screen, and reduced the real-estate taken by the weather by only displaying an icon of the weather conditions - the forecast button will open a more detailed weather screen.
Do these changes look like an improvement? I am trying to keep all elements you interact with reasonably large so they are easier to hit with the mouse and (going forward) screen touches.
I also added the mini map on-screen, and reduced the real-estate taken by the weather by only displaying an icon of the weather conditions - the forecast button will open a more detailed weather screen.
Do these changes look like an improvement? I am trying to keep all elements you interact with reasonably large so they are easier to hit with the mouse and (going forward) screen touches.
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Re: Bass Lover
It looks better, but don't worry about it. Good UI takes many iterations, it's nearly impossible to nail it in a couple of updates. Keep up the good work!
Re: Bass Lover
Hi folks. There are a bunch of updates to Bass Lover, the changelog tells all. This includes stats with charts, and music from Eric!
I know the notifications can get in the way when you are near the upper left of the map, I will be looking into that.
Download page
I know the notifications can get in the way when you are near the upper left of the map, I will be looking into that.
Download page
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Re: Bass Lover
Hey, looks better. Good job improving the UI.
Like I said, it's a cool concept, but needs a little bit of work.
First off, you need to either start players with a rod/lure already selected or ask them the choose a rod/lure right away - as it can be a little confusing for new players.
It's a nice game and the UI improvements are a good step forward. My advice is to put your effort on the gameplay. IMO catching fish feels anti-climactic. For comparison, remember picking up an item in the old-school Zeldas? Those games really made you feed like you've earned that item! In this case, I only get a passing notification on the top left of the screen with the weight of the fish. You need something way more exciting like a picture of the fish and a summary of why the fish was caught in each instance. What I'm saying is, I should be able to learn something about real fishing through playing the game.
The soundtrack is OK, to be honest I was expecting to hear some easy-listening guitar rather than dreamy electronic music. In fact, I would have preferred ambient sound effects rather than music - simply because SFX can provide valuable clues/feedback. For example you can convey what the weather is like using ambient SFX. It's fine if you want to have music, but it has to related to the gameplay in some way (ie tracks fading in and out depending on what's happening on screen).
Cheers and keep it up!
PS. Dopefish absolutely needs a cameo!
Like I said, it's a cool concept, but needs a little bit of work.
First off, you need to either start players with a rod/lure already selected or ask them the choose a rod/lure right away - as it can be a little confusing for new players.
It's a nice game and the UI improvements are a good step forward. My advice is to put your effort on the gameplay. IMO catching fish feels anti-climactic. For comparison, remember picking up an item in the old-school Zeldas? Those games really made you feed like you've earned that item! In this case, I only get a passing notification on the top left of the screen with the weight of the fish. You need something way more exciting like a picture of the fish and a summary of why the fish was caught in each instance. What I'm saying is, I should be able to learn something about real fishing through playing the game.
The soundtrack is OK, to be honest I was expecting to hear some easy-listening guitar rather than dreamy electronic music.
In fact, I would have preferred ambient sound effects rather than music - simply because SFX can provide valuable clues/feedback. For example you can convey what the weather is like using ambient SFX. It's fine if you want to have music, but it has to related to the gameplay in some way (ie tracks fading in and out depending on what's happening on screen).Cheers and keep it up!
PS. Dopefish absolutely needs a cameo!
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