I hope y’all have some wellies handy … we’re off fishing. I’ve been continuing my work with the fishing system and have re-create it in its entity. It’s much better! There’s also a bunch of random stuff that made it into 0.2f. Let’s take a look.
Let’s start with the meat of the update, the new fishing system. Last week I explained a bit about how it works, but purposely left details sketchy so we could show it here in its entirety.
Previously the fishing system was simple: if you had an apple in your inventory you could cast into water and after ~5 seconds you would get a bite. You’d never see a fish; you’d just catch one. It’s massively different now. Let’s go through it step by step.
There is a new item in the game, worms. You get these by digging dirt and they replace apples as fishing bait.
The replace apples as bait now, so make sure you have worms in your inventory to fish!
You can now only cast into water that is 2 blocks deep. This is both to accommodate the new lure and hook, and to give fish some room to move. The gif below shows me casting into water. You can see the updated art. How pretty!
Perhaps the biggest change is actually how you catch a fish. I’ve said before that I want the systems in Samphi to be reflective of how it works in the real world. In the real world fish don’t jump on your hook willingly, so they no longer do in Samphi.
When you first cast into the water you will scare the fish off as you can see below:
So, just like real fishing, you can’t be splashing about. You need to get your rod in the water and play the waiting game. Fish swim randomly around the pools they’re in, and sooner or later they’ll wander over to your lure. Don’t panic and reel in straight way, wait until you know the fish has bitten.
You’ll know when this happens because you’ll see/hear a splash and the fish will shoot for the worm. Then quickly reel in! I think you have 2-3 seconds to do so or it will get away.
And that’s the fishing system. Much more realistic. You actually have to find fish, have suitable bait, and be patient! All feedback on this system is appreciated. Currently there’s no code to re-spawn fish in water, so they only return when you re-load the level, but that will be worked on in an upcoming update. :)
A fairly big but easy to miss change is that I’ve updated all icon art closer to the new art style. I keep mentioning this ‘new art style’, so let me clarify what I mean:
- Previously everything was drawn using at a resolution of 1 pixel, that’s now being upped to 2. So when I draw things I use a pencil size of 2, not 1. It makes everything bolder, have a bit less detail, and feel more cartoony. At least to my eye it does!
- Everything also used to have a black outline. This has been replaced with a colored outline
The change is subtle, but a step towards a unified art style as we move from old to new. Here’s a selection of icons to demonstrate their change.
That’s right. The eye-sore is gone. It should have gone ages ago. I don’t know about you, but I never use it, I always use shortcuts. It was also just bulbous and in the way, so it’s been removed in favor of smaller icons that can be found down the side of the screen to the right:
The position and look of these icons is not finalized, but I think I like this style of UI better over the older tab system. Instead of creating individual icons for individual settings like it was last time, you can see there’s only one cog …
In the main menu we have a full settings menu, so it’s about time that got brought into the game itself. Instead of having individual icons for fullscreen, sfx, and music options, you can now access the *almost* full settings menu from in-game.
I say almost because the language and resolution options can only be accessed at the main menu. This is just due to how they work. A small quality of life addition. :)
So, here’s everything that 0.2f is bringing, and it’s currently available in the beta branch.
- Fixed bug were icon bin icon was not removed when returning to main menu
- Added worms item. You get them by digging
- Overhauled fishing system (art to follow someday)
- Updated art slightly
- You can now only fish in water pools 2 or more blocks deep. Make your pools bigger to fish!
- When you cast your rod fish will swim away initially as you scare them
- As the fish move there's a certain chance they'll take your bait
- When they do you'll here a splash and have 2 seconds to reel the rod in (release F)
- Updated all icons to follow new art style. (Ditched black outline on things)
- Removed toolbar from bottom of screen and replaced with individual icons
- Added settings menu to in-game
Next I want to work on plugging in player stats more. So working on the XP, health and hunger systems so they bear a greater effect on gameplay. Not sure how yet, so you’ll have to come back next week!!
Speak then friends. Ciao.
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