Great design ^_^
Liked using the lighthouse to guide player home.
Liked nice physics when crashing into rocks.
Liked a bit of a challenging area farther into the pond.
Nitpicking (Jam version):
* The fact that the crane is immovable and one does not need to search/recheck for extra control for it could be conveyed elegantly.
For example if it were a horizonal woden rod DUCKtaped to the roof in an obviously inadjustable manner.
* Camera control locking and unlocking (after delay!) with movement makes it a bit annoying to adjust the view.
* Ducks submerge and reemerge from water in too desynchronised manner, making them harder to collect. They are light and cannot desync that much irl -> it feels like a bug. Consider making the phase of the wave deterministically calculatable or probe-able for ducks. If the hardship is intended, consider making an in-narrative reason for this and align the behavior with this reason.
* Seeing the mountains so soon makes it feel like a lake, not an ocean. Consider limiting view distance more or making it an in-narrative lake. The later might be preferred since we do not have a compass, and good view distance helps navigation.
* Combinable with the previous, some simple landmarks on the shores could be nice, to both improve navigation and to make shores participate in narrative delivery.
* The message in the end is blunt and feels on a x10 less narrative mastery level than the game itself.