Play game
Puddlehooves: A Centaur Fishing Story's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #6 | 4.556 | 4.556 |
| Audio | #9 | 4.222 | 4.222 |
| Overall | #12 | 4.259 | 4.259 |
| Authenticity (Use of resolution restriction) | #53 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Gameplay | #77 | 3.593 | 3.593 |
Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
Solo project!
Was the resolution a challenge?
The tiny animations are the hardest. Animations in general are difficult, but the tinier they are the harder they are.
What did you learn?
This is my second game. I joined this jam to get better at game-making in general, and work on pixel art in specific. More specifically, I wanted to play with doing water, so fishing was a natural choice.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Once I'd figured out you have to tap the reel button rather than holding it I was away. I love the graphics, especially the water effects. Big Stardew Valley vibes in this one :)
Thank you! It's always a risk when deciding against doing an in-game tutorial, so I'm glad you were able to figure it out!
So cute!! Took me a bit to figure out the fishing, but well done!
Thank you very much! Glad you were able to figure out the fishing!
Absolutely lovely game. The water effects really tie the whole look together. It took me a bit to figure out the fishing, but not long enough that it was a problem. Great work all around.
Thank you! I'm so pleased that so many were able to figure out the fishing mechanics. I knew it was a gamble not including a tutorial, but I really wanted to try for intuitive mechanics!
Dude... Was is that water effects? Amazing.
The songs changes every day and the weather control... that's really a good job.
No doubts an incredible job! Congratulation.
Thank you very much! The water is all done with very simple shaders that move the water textures I drew. I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
I had to have tried this one before, the graphics are great, the water effects are great, I guess you used shadders, they looked amazing on you, and the game is very calm, I feel zen, I also like the game's backstory
Thank you! Yes, this was my first time experimenting with shaders, I'm glad they worked as well as they do! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for playing!
way into it, love a fishing game!
Thank you very much!
really cool! great graphics and music!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy the style!
Nice entry, congrats!
Thank you very much!
So. Many. Fiiiiiiiiiish.
It reminds me of playing the original Harvest Moon way back when. Not really in the game's content, but in the game's feel. It really sucks you in and then "oops it's been an hour. But look at all these fish!"
Incredibly chill game. I love it!
Thank you so much! Chill, immersive fishing sim was my design goal and I'm very glad that that conveyed! I had to cut some hefty things for time (like... story. Or saving.) but I tried to not skimp on the atmosphere. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for playing!
Cute atmosphere (both in art, music and story), outstandingly easy-to-learn and relaxing gameplay.
The story beginning, art and feel kinda reminded me of the last year winner, Memories. Also instantly had a cozy feeling : the enjoyment of messing around and really taking time for me through a game.
Really wonderful, I will come back later with more time to finish it (a possibility to save will be appreciated in a later version).
Oh and a last thing : the fishing notes on the desk with all the catches and the drawings really showed me how much investment you have put in this game. The details are nice (the weather, the changing lighting depending on clouds, the waves animations), and the quality is pretty much consistant.
Well done !
I am somehow both regretful and relieved that I didn't play Memories before working on Puddlehooves, because my initial idea (that had to be scrapped for time) included more story and flashbacks to times you and Granddad had spent together. That, and the ability to save. I aimed a little higher in planning than my fledgling skills allowed. I do plan to expand post-jam and add in the things that I had to skip for time!
I'm very glad you enjoyed the fishing journal! That was a lot of drawing time and I was terrified that my decision to not include a tutorial and instead drop hints via the mail would mean that people would miss it entirely.
Thank you so much for your thorough and kind comment, I really appreciate it!
Oh, I felt so proud when I caught my first fish! Thank you Granddad Centaur!
I think the game would benefit a lot from a save option.
No, thank you for playing! :)
Post-jam, I really want to expand the game, and for sure a save option will be added then. This is my second game and I haven't quite worked up to saving and loading, especially for a jam. You're absolutely right that it would've been a good addition, though!
Super vibe! lovely graphics and feel. Nice one :)
Thank you very much!
How have you done your shoreline? Shader?
Thanks for asking! Yes, the water is all done with some very simple shaders. For the shoreline specifically, I drew a static seafoam/wave texture and made a shader to bring the texture in vertically and give it a slight horizontal wiggle. Believe me when I say it's very simple stuff, my first time messing with shaders!
The atmosphere in this one is quite soothing. I love the waves in the ocean in particular. The centaur's animations are very cute too. I think it would benefit from a short tutorial. Or you could just make a quick explanation in the game's description. But congratulations!
Thank you! I've amended the description with an explanation, since the mechanics didn't convey as well as I thought. Ah well, there's always next time!
Not sure what am I supposed to do when I hook the fish, I always get "The line snapped".
Nice gameplay nervetheless, and cute art, old king's quest vibe.
Thank you for the comment! I ended up opting against including a tutorial, intending instead to try for intuitive mechanics... but I didn't quite manage that, haha.
In the fishing minigame, the top stress bar will stop filling when the bobber is over the fish, so you need to keep the bobber there while pressing space to reel to fill the bottom catch bar.
Love the art style a bunch
Thank you so much! Doing the art was maybe one of the most challenging parts of the whole thing, so I'm glad it works!
Very relaxing and cute! Love the water effect with the waves. Did you do that with scrolling UVs and the water tiles are simply animated tiles? Feels like you got inspiration from Stardew Valley, in the best way possible! The one piece of constructive criticism I can offer is I would've appreciated some sort of tutorial so I could more easily find out what I had to do. I would love it if you would try out my game, I took some inspiration from Stardew though with a twist!
Thank you very much! The water is done with semi-transparent water tiles, and scrolling UVs underneath. The ocean waves are then on top of the tiles.
I totally feel you on the tutorial. I waffled about including one or not very heavily. In the end I decided to try simply making the mechanics as intuitive as possible... but clearly I didn't quite nail that, hah.
(I've had my eye on your game since I saw the screenshots! I'll absolutely be there soon!)
Relaxing and charming, a great game !
The graphics are one of best graph' you can find in this jam.
Keep making awesome games like this ! <3
Thank you very much, that's incredibly kind!
Really, really love the artstyle, music and sound design. The gameplay is fun, and I love the overall relaxing nature !
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!
WOW. Gorgerous artwork -- the waves, the weather, the relaxing music -- I was absorbed in the atmosphere of this game for a solid hour. And I still only managed to catch a little over half of all the fish :G
Snapped some lines before I figured out the mechanics, and I did run into a few minor bugs (I've attached a screenshot of my favorite one 😛), but overall this is an exceptionally chill game you could get lost in for a while.
Thank you very much! Don't worry, granddad is very proud of you. :)
I'm glad the bugs were only minor (sometimes a centaur's just gotta practice casting indoors), and that the game was able to hook you in for a full playthrough!
For 64x64, this game is gigantic at a hefty 180Mb but, for me, it turned out to be entertaining enough that it was well worth the wait.
Thank you for your kind comment and apologies for the file size. I've updated all the various audio files to shrink that down!
No need to apologize. It just caught me by surprise, is all. :)