I mean this has really been the most common question I’ve asked myself during the initial design process because I’m so torn between which one will create the experience I want.
Yes, the ‘fishing’ experience has been shown in both 2D and 3D before, and both give me that sense of achievement that I have caught something amazing and wonderous. However with the added mechanics and the idea of creating a world with a sense of wonder, I dabble in the idea of creating a 3D game.
I know that a 2D sidescroller would not work in this scenario because the game does not lend itself well to small or restricted worlds; I would be limited to a linear space.
Fishing in stardew valley can become extremely boring and repetitive with no new places to fish once the whole map is explored. Their mechanics also depend on the time of day or weather within the game instead of exploration.
However a top-down 2D game would work for this particular experience as players would still be able to explore and find new areas; keeping that sense of wonder throughout the game. However top-down 2D does limit what the player can experience with the mechanics of the game.
A primary example of interesting top-down fishing is stardew valley; they create different fishing spots which make the player curious as to what they could catch in each place.
With a 3D game the player would be able to experience fishing in a more dynamic world and embrace the adventure of going underwater.
The ideas I’ve had for mechanics lend themselves well to 3D perspectives such as third or first person. Third person perspective will allow the player to have a better connection to the character, but maybe switching to first person in more specific areas might create a better gameplay experience for the player; I want them to SEE the fish and feel like they are in the moment.
Below is an example of how Zelda: Twilight princess changes the player’s perspective when they enter fishing mode, allowing the player to see more of the water and letting the fishing rod become the center of attention.
Perspective change when fishing.
In order to progress from these thoughts the next stage would be to create a first and third person prototype and experiment with potentially switching between the two. This will come in another blog soon!
Worldbuilding will play a very large part in allowing the player to feel a sense of wonder and discovery. I want the player to feel like they are finding the coolest fishing spot, hidden away on a mountain or in a forest.
So for this to work I came up with the idea of creating ‘waypoints’ that the player can find. These would be in the form of a statue or an engraved rock. This way the player can explore wherever they want, but they will still feel a sense of progression and reward within the game.
After looking into the history of fishing I discovered that lots of settlements built/carved statues of river gods in order to bring luck to their fishing.
The Image shown on the left is a Lepenski Vir sculpture that was found on what is believed to be their settlement. The sculpture dates back to 7000BC and carved from round sandstone cobbles found on the river banks. Many fish like features can be noticed in these sculptures which is why it is suggested to have a connection with the river gods. These sculptures have also been found to have reminants of red pigments on them.
The idea behind having these sculptures is that the player will offer them fish in return for progression. The statue will reward the player with a new way to fish. These fishing methods may also allow the player to travel to places that they couldn’t before.
So for example if there is a fast flowing river with no bridge, the statue could offer the player a bear transformation, which will allow them to do salmon catching, but also cross the river too.
The statue could also offer tools like boats which could allow the player to journey out futher to sea, but also try trawl fishing and open the opportunity to catching more exotic ocean fish.
Sketches of statues and ideas of how the player could give them the fish.
Fishing statue sketches.Sketch showing where the fish could be placed on the statues in order to unlock a new tool.
The last statue (On the right) could be potentially useful in giving the player a clue as to what particular fish they may need to catch as the fish shape can be outlined on the statues body.
A bowl infront of the statue may give the indication that the player needs to give the statue multiple fish in order to progress.
Guiding the player while giving them freedom…
Statues giving the player progressive tools will allow me to section off parts of the map that the player may be extremely curious about. However I still want the player to feel freedom within the world, so they should be able to navigate the whole area in whatever way they choose to, with some key pinicle points outlining the narrative progression of the world.
Below are some key points that include areas that are hard to traverse, and how they can be traversed with the player offering fish to the statues in return for tools:
A rapid river (Bear Transform Mechanic)
Out into the ocean (Boat tool)
High up in the trees/on a cliff (Bird Transform Mechanic)
Deep underwater (A Fish/Gill Transform Mechanic)
Another sense of progression will be with fish, different tools will allow different methods of fishing. This should engage the player into finding more fish as they gain more tools from the statues. These tools will not allow for the player to travel further or traverse tricky terrain, but they will enable the player to find a more diverse range of fish to give to the statues.
Below are some ideas for potential tools.
Spear (Spearfishing)
Fishing Rod (Angling)
Lure (Fly Fishing)
Net (Rock Pooling)
Harpoon (Harpoon fishing, Upgrade to the Spear)
Explosives (Blast Fishing)
Big Boat Net (Trawling)
These tools will have to be refined and explained more in another blog, but for now it gives me a good idea as to what I could include in the world and how I could build the world to go hand-in-hand with the mechanics.
So, I need to do some research because quite honestly, I know nothing about fishing in real life. All my fish knowledge comes from games and I don’t know how true half of it is.
Below I will outline some fishing based research questions to give myself a starting point.
What types of fishing are there?
Is there special equipment for catching fish?
What types of fish are there?
Which fish are the most common?
Where are different types of fish found?
What fish survive in which climates and why?
Why do fish exist?
How many fish are there?
Are there any good/sacred fishing spots around the world? Why are they sacred?
I also have some technical questions I need to research
Is multiplayer feasible? How does one go about this?
Take a look at Unreal engine
And a few other design questions I’m asking:
2D or 3D?
Top down? First person? Third person?
Realistic or Unrealistic? (Honestly probably unrealistic, I like a good bit of fantasy and artistic looking games)
So the whole reason I’m creating an RPG fishing game is because I spent most of my life doing the fishing part of whatever game I was playing, be that; Zelda Twilight Princess, Terraria, Animal Crossing, Wii Play, Minecraft, Stardew Valley etc.
I spent hours, literally hours fishing in Twilight Princess. Why? Because it was relaxing, I felt like I was achieving something when I caught a cool fish, I liked exploring in the boat, finding new fishing spots hidden on the map, and I liked being able to swim in the water and see the fish because they were pretty and interesting. I also loved the expression on Links little face when he caught a big fish and was like *UWU* smiles, it was so cute and wholesome.
More recently I had these same feelings while fishing in stardew valley. Although the whole game is relaxing, the fishing element pleased me the most and I got really excited when I caught something cool.
Across all these games I’ve enjoyed seeing different mechanics for fishing, especially finding something cool just by chance from fishing in some random spot at a random time of day. Its just the idea of having no clue what you’re gonna fish up that day.
I never really cared about what the fish were used for (with the exception of terraria because their ‘fish based’ weapons are cool) and I think this is what really made the fishing relaxing for me. There was no reason to fish, I just wanted to.
Thinking more about this, the whole experience I get while fishing in games is a sense of unfound mystery and wonder. I also often get this feeling while out on photography walks when I find weird coloured mushrooms or strange plants.
Essential experience: The feeling of wonder through chance of finding something interesting.
So as a new years resolution I would finally like to start making my very own game, without prompt from education or anyone else.
I want to make my RPG fishing game.
It’s an idea that has been sat around in my little “ideas” sketchbook for so long, and it keeps popping back into my head everytime I think about anything.
Well what exactly does “make this game” imply I hear you ask?
Here is a rough goals list:
Create an essential experience for this RPG fishing game.
Research fishing IN DEPTH, I wanna know every fishing method the world has to offer.
Depict core mechanics and gameplay loop.
Write an interesting story.
Create an intresting and explorable world.
Make a fun, cute, and “want to play” main character.
Hopefully by the end of 2020 I aim to have a few working prototypes of the game as well as a demo for people to play.
I would also like to keep this blog updated at least once a week in order to see some progress. I think sharing my creations is the best way to motivate myself to make something at the moment.
So here’s a late “To 2020” post!
Hopefully you find my fishing game blog fun, amusing and somewhat insane.
Here is a pic of a fish to start off this wonderful journey:
RPG Fishing Game 