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The Shooty and the Catfish Progress Report: 02/20/2018
visitorsfromdreams- 02/20/2018 02:24 AM
- 1279 views
Well... it took me almost 5 years but Shooty and the Catfish is finally live with a demo! For those who follow my game development tumblr (which is here for those interested) this will actually be where you hear about its release first, for those who are unfamiliar with the project... well, welcome!
Rather than my usual blog fair I thought I should just talk about the demo itself. After sending Shooty and the Catfish out for testing I found most people were completing the demo in around 30 minutes. The demo essentially covers the games tutorial and the first zone of the first area. It features all original (though some quite derivative) artwork and an original score by my friend Jim Hort who composed music for my animated series Nimbin in the early 2000s. I dont know what else to say really other than that I hope people enjoy it and the less you know going in the better.
What I can say are planned differences between this demo and the final game release.
I plan on reworking the colour pallet a bit to make objects on the map easier to make out. I also plan on reworking a lot of the mapping so its all single screens as opposed to scrolling, this is so I can make more intricate dungeons while making each individual screen memorable to help people create mind maps. Outside of these major changes I don't see a lot of things being different. I am happy with the games mechanics and characters so far and I am looking forward to seeing where I can take them.
Thank you again for taking the time to check out my game and I hope you choose to follow me and the games progress going forward.
- Daniel
Rather than my usual blog fair I thought I should just talk about the demo itself. After sending Shooty and the Catfish out for testing I found most people were completing the demo in around 30 minutes. The demo essentially covers the games tutorial and the first zone of the first area. It features all original (though some quite derivative) artwork and an original score by my friend Jim Hort who composed music for my animated series Nimbin in the early 2000s. I dont know what else to say really other than that I hope people enjoy it and the less you know going in the better.
What I can say are planned differences between this demo and the final game release.
I plan on reworking the colour pallet a bit to make objects on the map easier to make out. I also plan on reworking a lot of the mapping so its all single screens as opposed to scrolling, this is so I can make more intricate dungeons while making each individual screen memorable to help people create mind maps. Outside of these major changes I don't see a lot of things being different. I am happy with the games mechanics and characters so far and I am looking forward to seeing where I can take them.
Thank you again for taking the time to check out my game and I hope you choose to follow me and the games progress going forward.
- Daniel
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CloseAlright so I gave the demo a go and I figured I'd give a quick rundown of my experience rather than write a full review:
So far, I really like the cartoony and whimsical art style that the game is going for and some of those monster designs gave me a good chuckle. There's definitely a lot of heart and personality put into what you're aiming for and I think it's paying off so far. Slim Grim is a heck of a character to end up in a room with, and he kinda reminds me of the grim reaper from Conker's Bad Fur Day.
Actually, I get this sort of Late Golden Age Rareware vibe from the whole thing so I'm behind it 100%. Awesome work!
Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the boss of Area 1 because all of Shooty's skills depend on having items in your inventory and if you run out, there doesn't seem like there's much you can do besides use the knife. As far as I was able to find, there was no way to make enemies respawn, so if I ran out of sources to get ammo at, that was it. You may want to address this so players don't find themselves trapped in a corner. I think it's neat that the game encourages resource rationing, but it's just a tad too punishing. Have something players can fall back on in a pinch!
Either way I liked my time with the demo, and i'm curious to see how the story and combat open up later.
So far, I really like the cartoony and whimsical art style that the game is going for and some of those monster designs gave me a good chuckle. There's definitely a lot of heart and personality put into what you're aiming for and I think it's paying off so far. Slim Grim is a heck of a character to end up in a room with, and he kinda reminds me of the grim reaper from Conker's Bad Fur Day.
Actually, I get this sort of Late Golden Age Rareware vibe from the whole thing so I'm behind it 100%. Awesome work!
Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the boss of Area 1 because all of Shooty's skills depend on having items in your inventory and if you run out, there doesn't seem like there's much you can do besides use the knife. As far as I was able to find, there was no way to make enemies respawn, so if I ran out of sources to get ammo at, that was it. You may want to address this so players don't find themselves trapped in a corner. I think it's neat that the game encourages resource rationing, but it's just a tad too punishing. Have something players can fall back on in a pinch!
Either way I liked my time with the demo, and i'm curious to see how the story and combat open up later.
visitorsfromdreams
3530
author=SgtMettool
Alright so I gave the demo a go and I figured I'd give a quick rundown of my experience rather than write a full review:
That's fair enough considering that its a demo. ;)
author=SgtMettool
So far, I really like the cartoony and whimsical art style that the game is going for and some of those monster designs gave me a good chuckle. There's definitely a lot of heart and personality put into what you're aiming for and I think it's paying off so far. Slim Grim is a heck of a character to end up in a room with, and he kinda reminds me of the grim reaper from Conker's Bad Fur Day.
Slim Grim is actually from an old cartoon I made years ago called Spilt Coffee. I think Gregg was definitely a big influence on his personality along with Johnathon's conscious in David Firths "A Black and White Cartoon About" series. I love aggressive but harmless characters, especially when they contrast heavily with those around them.
author=SgtMettool
Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the boss of Area 1 because all of Shooty's skills depend on having items in your inventory and if you run out, there doesn't seem like there's much you can do besides use the knife. As far as I was able to find, there was no way to make enemies respawn, so if I ran out of sources to get ammo at, that was it. You may want to address this so players don't find themselves trapped in a corner. I think it's neat that the game encourages resource rationing, but it's just a tad too punishing. Have something players can fall back on in a pinch!
Sounds like someone is a little trigger happy. B)
Seriously though, this is an interesting issue, I actually toned down the number of item drops after a lot of people told me they got to the end with way too many bullets and herbs in the inventory during testing but your the first person to run into the opposite problem. I could always increase the effectiveness of the knife on that boss to make it easier if you do run out of resources. I can see this system is definitely going to be difficult to balance going forward... either that or I need to try to really encourage people to only use firearms when the knife isn't "cutting" it.
author=SgtMettool
Either way I liked my time with the demo, and i'm curious to see how the story and combat open up later.
Thanks for taking the time to try out my dinky little demo. Ill add these issues to my list of things to fix as I move forward!
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