Phat Fishes by tentacode

[raw]
made by tentacode for LD35 (JAM)
Phat Fishes is a game about fishes that are phat. It's in their genes (find more about Tetraodontidae in Wikipedia).

tl;dr
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It"s a couch multiplayer arena game up to 4 fishes. Just push the other fishes into dangerous stuff (the crabs, the mines and the deadly jellyfish) while avoiding the dangerous stuff yourself.

Controls
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Arrows to move your fish, action button to toggle bigger / smaller size. Bigger mean you can bounce other fishes a lot, it's also very slow but can be handy to slowdown / play defensive.

Player 1 : a/q, s, d, z/w, action : e
Player 2 : left, right, up, down arrows, action : right alt key
Player 3 : j, k, l, i, action : o
Player 4 : f, g, h, t, action : y
Pause : escape / tab

Default input can be remapped but the helper text in game will NOT be updated accordingly.

Gameplay
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Each player has three hearts, last player alive wins duh.

Scenario
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Four fishes from an underwater suburb fight for approval, only to find that in the end, only friendship prevails. THE END. MICHAEL BAY EXPLOSIONS.

Settings
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You can change the player names in the options, as well as toggle the music on / off. You can pause the game by pressing escape or tab.

About the theme
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Well, fishes can change their shape, but more importantly PHAT FISHES IS AN ANAGRAM FOR SHAPESHIFT!!!

Post mortem
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I was aiming for the compo so I did everything myself and by the compo rules but I was out of time so I'm submitting in the jam instead. Sources are availables on GitHub.

EDIT 1 : added windows build and updated the link to the mac build that was not public *facepalm*
EDIT 2 : added webgl specific build!
EDIT 3 : fixed wrong input on qwerty keyboard

Ratings

Coolness 98% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.36 424
Audio(Jam) 3.33 301
Fun(Jam) 3.54 199
Graphics(Jam) 3.63 370
Humor(Jam) 3.69 83
Innovation(Jam) 3.07 525
Mood(Jam) 3.26 419
Theme(Jam) 2.72 925

Feedback

ragnarolis
19. Apr 2016 路 14:45 UTC
Nice game. I couldn't quite figure out what I was supposed to do. Loved the graphics though
Leon M枚hring
19. Apr 2016 路 14:47 UTC
the controls didnt really work with my keyboard layout, but nice to see a small local multiplayer game and the endscreen is very funny (:
馃帳 tentacode
19. Apr 2016 路 14:51 UTC
thanks for your feedbacks :)

ragnarolis: just play with a friend or too and try to stay last alive, bounce them into ennemies (the jelly fish, the crabs and the mines)

leon: with the Mac / Windows build you should be able to customize inputs in the settings window that open before the game!

have fun :)
Dasginger
19. Apr 2016 路 15:13 UTC
In the web build, W seems to move fish 1 down rather than up? I played 3 player with my brother and ganged up on fish one anyway. Hilarious game, really good job!
馃帳 tentacode
19. Apr 2016 路 15:53 UTC
Thanks Dasginger, I'll look into it :) I did not test extensively on qwerty, I have an azerty myself :)
馃帳 tentacode
19. Apr 2016 路 16:01 UTC
You were absolutely right Dasginger :o *facepalm*

I updated the WebGL build, I'll rebuild mac and windows later.
ployer
19. Apr 2016 路 17:04 UTC
nice game, great art. well done
Arvydas
19. Apr 2016 路 17:07 UTC
Really phat!
Elemental Zeal Games Studios
19. Apr 2016 路 17:08 UTC
Cute graphics!
WeaverDeveloper
19. Apr 2016 路 17:54 UTC
Pretty good, though I didn't have anyone around to play against, though it looks like it would be a lot of fun. Even enjoyed just avoiding stuff on my own. Solid graphics and a good amount of polish.
TomPugh1112
19. Apr 2016 路 19:13 UTC
Reminded me of starwharl, it's the type of game you'd have fun playing on the sofa with friends
teamross
19. Apr 2016 路 19:17 UTC
wow! This is so funny! I've spent like 15 games playing with my boyfriend and we want more! Good job! Keep going!
馃帳 tentacode
19. Apr 2016 路 19:23 UTC
aha thanks all, that's exactly what I had in mind, means a lot :D
psychonull
19. Apr 2016 路 21:04 UTC
Audio and Graphics are awesome!, I don't have here someone to play with right now but I did try it out using both hands, the "winner - turn down for what" is so funny haha. I cannot see the theme though
sndr
19. Apr 2016 路 21:27 UTC
Omg, I simply love this game! I love this pixel art style! Plus those thug life endings are just hilarious and really get the two players in the mood for another round!
Those Phat Fishes are getting five stars!
馃帳 tentacode
19. Apr 2016 路 21:28 UTC
the theme is explained in the description above :) thanks for playing!
geekguy100
19. Apr 2016 路 21:29 UTC
Really nice graphics and menu! A single player mode would be nice, but I think it makes a great party game.
kestrelgames
20. Apr 2016 路 06:23 UTC
It's really cute! I had to find someone to play with me, haha. The kind of game that leads to real-life violence... I like how you can be fat/small even on the results screen. BTW, thanks for letting us know about the android issue -- I've been told just tapping or double-tapping on the pluto planet tear will get you into the game :) Sorry about that!
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 09:12 UTC
Thanks ! I retried your game and it was awesome !
WitchBoys
20. Apr 2016 路 10:51 UTC
Nice game ! I enjoyed the humour and the graphic!
Pestel Crew
20. Apr 2016 路 11:28 UTC
Ima boop you :) Cute!
pixelpotions
20. Apr 2016 路 12:53 UTC
First thing first: I laughed hard playing this game!
Unfortunately exactly now I don't have other friend to play it with me, but I had fun playing alone anyway!
I loved the humor on the game, and you did this all alone? Great job!
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 13:01 UTC
I might add a solo mode in future versions if this is asked for :D
CasualCat
20. Apr 2016 路 14:49 UTC
The art is so cute and its very well polished! amount keys in the instructions was confusing but I basically just use wasd and arrow keys just fine for two players. The controls are weird and confusing at first, but actually work suprisingly well.
esayitch
20. Apr 2016 路 14:52 UTC
Liked the humorous air the game had, especially the end-game sequence (GTFO! GTFO! xD)

I didn't have someone to play with but I can imagine this being pretty fun when played together with someone.

Artwork was slick, sound is pretty suitable.

Great entry, good luck!
sharrackor
20. Apr 2016 路 16:15 UTC
A clear in-game tutorial would be nice, but good besides that!
kestrelgames
20. Apr 2016 路 17:21 UTC
Maybe you don't need solo mode as much as online multiplayer:) i'd love to kill more of my friends haha :) Mobile release??! :)

PS, thanks for the kind comments and for giving our Android build another shot!:) Glad it worked for you!
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 17:24 UTC
Yep, I'm starting to think about the next stage for the game (which is really cool!), here is some things I though :

* Power ups, like heart or star
* Solo endless mode with more hazards (it's not vital but I think it's a good apetizer for wanting to play multi next)
* Small Tutorial (I know definitely how I can make it look cool)
* Mobile build, 4 players max on tablet, swipe and tap fishes
* Multi device multiplayer via IP (could be on mobile too, I kinda know how to do this)

If anyone got other suggestion I'm listening, also I'm on twitter if you want follow ups on the dev! @tentacode_
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 17:26 UTC
Also a better UI for settings and a little bit of polishing here and there of course.
hpearson2
20. Apr 2016 路 20:24 UTC
*Played single player.
Good fun and would have wished to see it in the compo but things happen. Good work man!

"PHAT FISHES IS AN ANAGRAM FOR SHAPESHIFT!!!" I missed that! adding another star for it.
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 20:32 UTC
hehe thanks hpearson2 :)
馃帳 tentacode
20. Apr 2016 路 20:33 UTC
if it were not for that anagram there would not have been a game at all, I was so out of idea and nearly was going to drop out the ludumdare that I tried an anagram website and it's where I got the idea :D
Allthebees
20. Apr 2016 路 20:54 UTC
Played it with a friend we had a lot of fun and funny too! We found that the movement was a bit clunky at times, especially when you didn't want to fly into the crabs!
Nexus64
20. Apr 2016 路 22:18 UTC
Very funny game. It's almost a complete game. Congratulations
Also thanks to hpearson2, I didn't see the secret meaning of the name
TeamScripta
23. Apr 2016 路 17:07 UTC
This game combines so many good elements! The art is so cute and the audio is great! It's multiplayer and it's fun!
local minimum
24. Apr 2016 路 13:42 UTC
I played against myself, which probably takes away a lot of the game-part of the game, but it felt like a couch multiplayer game. It was a bit odd (but I guess necessary for push-game play) that the turning was so hard yet one just bounced on the walls. Maybe it would have felt more natural if one warped around the sides and have a surface on the top?
Foxarya
24. Apr 2016 路 20:53 UTC
Love the jellyfish!
Pietro Ferrantelli
25. Apr 2016 路 00:25 UTC
Asked my two little brothers to play with me and we played about 10 times. We enjoyed it a lot, I especially love how you can learn to be good in this game, that proves the skill matters which is a great quality for confrontation games. The pixel art is also pretty eye-candy (nice character design especially) and there is a lot of funny details. Nice to see local multiplayer in Ludum Dare.
axoona
25. Apr 2016 路 19:54 UTC
cool multiplayer game, unfortunately I didn't have anyone around so I was playing just myself against a non moving fish and I lost the first match...
The controls seemed a bit stiff but I suppose it simulates the watery environment (on the other had we play as fishes so we should be alble to move swiftly ;)
otherwise very nice graphics and audio.
馃帳 tentacode
26. Apr 2016 路 08:24 UTC
Yeah, I admit physic is a bit "rigid" I plan on making a smoother control when you are the "small fish" :)
fatsopanda
26. Apr 2016 路 19:46 UTC
A cute local multiplayer game! :)
orukinawa
27. Apr 2016 路 16:17 UTC
Had a blast playing it. I really liked how the controls felt. My only suggestion would be to make the collision between fishes push each other away more.
themadknights
08. May 2016 路 12:48 UTC
Hahahaha, adorable arena game. I enjoyed it a lot
themadknights
08. May 2016 路 12:52 UTC
Funny game with cool graphics :). I couldn't figure out the used of the theme until I read it XD
馃帳 tentacode
10. May 2016 路 07:31 UTC
Looks like not a lot of people guessed the theme right :D thanks for all the reviews folks, follow me on twitter @tentacode_ or itch.io for the next more polished versions