The Grand Aquarium by binroot
Build the largest aquarium to win!
- :fish: Collect exotic mutant fish
- :money_mouth: Sell your collection to make $$$
- :trophy: Make the largest aquarium possible to win!
- :skull_crossbones: Don't overstock your tank
Controls
- Left mouse button
Strategy
- Smaller fish tanks are useful for selling
- Combine fish tanks to increase capacity
- Reserve some space for fish to grow and be worth more

Ratings
| Overall | 159th | 3.1β | 22π§ββοΈ |
| Fun | 166th | 2.905β | 23π§ββοΈ |
| Innovation | 121th | 3.167β | 23π§ββοΈ |
| Theme | 165th | 3.214β | 23π§ββοΈ |
| Graphics | 173th | 2.857β | 23π§ββοΈ |
| Audio | 134th | 2.889β | 20π§ββοΈ |
| Humor | 99th | 2.925β | 22π§ββοΈ |
| Mood | 134th | 3.1β | 22π§ββοΈ |
| Given | 14π³οΈ | 18π¨οΈ |
It's pretty polished, it's generally clear what to do, plus there's a tutorial. The fish designs are amusing - reminded me of the first stage in Spore. The catching process is very engaging. The only unclear part is how to catch fish that spawn right on the edge between tiles, I think a more explicit nudge toward one tile would help. I like the little recap of my catch - you can relax and admire it. For just two days, this is a very self-contained game. Great job!
I think a factor I found annoying was the camera animations. For example, if I catch a fish, I have to wait for a short bit before I'm forced to add it to a specific tank. This action blocks me from, say, catching more fish or selling them. Also pausing for each fish to grow did grate on me as well, for the same reason that it blocks me from doing anything else. If the waiting time on these elements were reduced or even eliminated, I think the experience would have been better for me.
It was also strange that I had to widen the game window to see the entire fishing grid. By default, only a small sliver is shown on the screen, which makes the fishing minigame sort of longer waiting game than I think was intended. I also found dragging a fish-tank to sell at the center of the screen to be rather unintuitive. Maybe a button would have helped?
I do think the core gameplay loop is fine; fun, even. The risk of fish out-growing their tank is a good call, in my opinion. While the prices of each fish isn't readily available, I think I found the optimal strategy to be to sell more and larger fishes as much as possible. Having that be the core strategy does add excitement to the game. I think if actions were more streamlined a bit, I would have had more fun with the game. As it is, now, I'm annoyed with the many pauses the game insists on.
Edit: I also ran into a bug where I caught a fish, then the game was unable to place it into a fish tank. This lead to a softlock where I couldn't fish for any new fish.