Hi all! We're a team of four, consisting of two artists, one programmer, and one composer. Our game is about a bored kid who picks up crabbing over the summer vacation and makes some money (and maybe some friends) along the way!
Programmer - Speck (US)
Speck's goals:
Learn Phaser3 - "Originally I wanted to try Godot, but since I ended up doing more than just coding I picked Phaser3 instead. I don't know it well but I do know JS, so it'll be something new but not too new."
Work in a team - "This was my goal for my last MFGJ too but I haven't done it much since and I'm still pretty new to it overall. I am a hermit crab and normally work alone for most stuff "
Narrative Design - "IDK what I'm doing here, but I'm giving it a shot."
Game Design/Systems Design - "IDK what I'm doing here either."
Artist - Amelie (US)
Amelie's goals:
"...To learn what it's like working with a team for an indie game, and learn what a game jam is like!"
Game Dev Goal - "get used to making sprites and assets as they're needed for the game. learn how to iterate ~fast~!"
2D Animation - "ok, i did not major in this in school but i am gonna try it and see if i can be at least be a little more okay at it by the end. who knows, maybe it'll actually break me in the end instead lol"
3D Modelling - "if i'm lucky, i'm might get to work on 3D models for some crabs (they can be used on a "you got a new crab" screen or something) AND pre-renders can be used as stickers, a la smash bros brawl's adventure mode thing"
Artist - Natto (ID)
Natto's goals:
"...To have fun and make cute art! "
Game Dev Goal - "Being able to make assets that are reusable and have a consistent feel to it"
Color Palettes - "Hopefully be able to emulate different kind of color palettes and be comfortable in drawing and coloring in many different styles as opposed to the current style that I have"
Working with team - "Still working on this one!"
Composer - Danna (AUS)
And my goal is to be able to create the perfect atmosphere in the game through making its music (and designing its sound) and by aligning my ideas with our team's vision!
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Initially the idea for this game was closer to a fishing game than a crabbing game. The original pitch went something along the lines of this:
You play as a kid from the city on summer vacation that was dropped of with a relative in a tiny seaside town. The kid is incredibly bored until an angler teaches them how to fish. There is a simple minigame for fishing (similar to SDV or Fantasy Life fishing), and you can sell fish for money.
Mechanically, the game has the fishing minigame, and then the rest is simple adventure exploration/point and click. The player could opt to focus on accumulating a lot of money for themselves, or focus on building relationships through fishing.
But then we thought that an alternate theme could also be a crabbing game:
...Similar story except you crab. You start with string and Vienna sausages, upgrades include buying thicker and string line that less prone to snapping and can carry heavier crabs/bait, buying better base such as hot dogs and chicken drumsticks, and as a stretch goal CRAB POTS. The rest would be pretty similar, you’d sell the crabs, complete a collection, and perhaps build friendships OR just make fat stack of cash.
So here we are!
Goals for the game (loosely in order or priority)
- Basic crabbing minigame
- Inventory
- Selling caught items
- Time of day
- 2+ Maps to explore
- 3+ Crab species
Setting
A small, remote island. It may have once had a booming tourism business, but it’s much quieter now, even in the heat of summer.
Screens
- Crabbing Screen
- Overworld Screen
- Shop view Screen
- Journal Screen
We're still in the midst of brainstorming a title for our game, so any ideas from everyone will be greatly appreciated! :D (So far we have: Crabby Kid, Kid Crabby, Angling for Summer, My First Summer Crabbing Business, Summertime Pastime, Angler Island, Crab Lad)
Otherwise, I'll be posting updates here detailing our work progress! Thank you for reading, designs will be shared VERY VERY SOON!!