As we entered the final week of development, we spent most of our time wrapping up the loose ends our game has had over the past few weeks. Here’s what’s new:
- The terrain surrounding the lake is now populated with nature
- Added a cutscene that plays when a player wins the game which displays the winning player and the shark
- The menu, intro cutscene, and ending cutscene have all been updated to match the look of the rest of the game
- A fishing line has been added that displays when the player casts their rod
- The game has been tutorialized in that every player must catch one fish before the true game loop begins
- Players can now quit out of fishing by pressing B
- On-screen button guidance has been improved to include pictures of the buttons themselves, rather than the names of them
- The shop is now accessed by pressing A when within range of it instead of opening on collision
- The inventory now opens alongside the shop
- The shop now displays blacked out items if they are too expensive for the player to buy
- Certain fish were made easier to catch
- Firing cannonballs has been tweaked
- The next available upgrade display now tells the player to go to Jimbo’s if they can afford the next upgrade
- Several instances of text were remade to match the art style of the game
- Added a variety of sound effects
- Various bug fixes
Our changes this week reflected our motivation to provide a product that is fun and aesthetically pleasing. One of the most recurring pieces of feedback we received during playtesting was that the game didn’t feel impactful enough. For example, upon winning the game, we had “You caught the shark and won the game!” which displayed for a short while and then the game reset. By adding a victory cutscene, players will feel more vindicated in their efforts and appreciate their victory more.
