Building a DEEP Fishing System for my 2D RPG

[@Pontypants]

Also love fishing! Fishing is often a bit too simple in games to a point where it’s not really fun for more than 5 minutes. Really loving that you’re putting emphasis on creating depth in your fishing system! Collecting things around the world to put in your tackle box would be really enjoyable and link the rest of the game to the fishing - so it doesn’t feel like it’s own isolated part. Great progress and thanx for the video :)

[@dazcarrr]

maybe as a way to connect the game's systems, you could have less/lower quality fish or maybe even sea creatures that jump out and attack you if the island you're fishing on is too corrupted

[@txe1nd]

I think thats good idea

[@joyfulfishman5445]

I love this idea

[@DevDuck]

Connecting to the rest of the game is a must! Needs to feel like you're rewarded for time invested, rather than just being an isolated feature. This is a super cool idea. I have a few others too!

[@nomadvagabond1263]

There is a type of fish that shoot water to kill bugs, that would be fun, corrupted fish shoot water on the player. but i think its a river type of fish. BUILD A RIVER.

[@matthewparker9276]

It could be if the dive sites nearby are corrupted, rather than the island itself.

[@Eladsaysnothing]

thank god I saw that this was uploaded my work is really burning me out and I've been sick for a few days

[@ricardoaz763]

Hype for the fishing minigame. A suggestion on the fishing inventory system. Instead of a tooltip with text telling the player what the item is or where it should go, I suggest highlighting the place in the inventory. For example by greying the ones where the item shouldn't go and brightening the place where it should go. Hope it helps good luck

[@naramoro]

And/Or color code the icons (red bait, blue line etc)

[@DevDuck]

I need to do this for my regular inventory as well! And I should spend some time to make the tackle box inventory look more like an actual tackle box...

[@timothymclean]

It would also be handy for subtly alerting a player who grabbed the wrong thing, which is handy.

[@carsonhawley8838]

Suggestion: You could make a pixel art tackle box and use the different sections to separate the bait, line and reels. Excited to see so much progress. Great devlog, as always!

[@DevDuck]

I will definitely do this!

[@DeltaNrOne]

Maybe also instead of just drag and drop why not when you click the slot on the fishing pole and it will only show items in the tackle box that can go there.

[@cosmicreciever]

A game I played as a kid called dark chronicle had a fishing mini game, but it was also expanded so that you could keep your fish in tanks, as well as breed them fof specific characteristics, and enter them into weight competitions and races. Maybe you could consider something similar to tie the concepts and systems together more. Say for example you could capture and breed rare fish to release in order to prevent them going extinct

[@LnkDHr]

Dauphin is coming along swimmingly, it looks amazing! I'm so excited to be able to sit down for hours at a time to go fishing on these islands.

[@txe1nd]

Yep

[@theactualtruebear]

Hehe, swimmingly.

[@LnkDHr]

@@theactualtruebear The pun was indeed intended

[@DevDuck]

I sure hope I can make this feature worthy of that!

[@tonatiuhislas8006]

Your Channel was mentioned in the stack overflow podcast this week 09/05/2022. Great job!!!

[@DevDuck]

Whoa I had no idea! That is super cool, thanks for letting me know!

[@tonatiuhislas8006]

the-stack-overflow-podcast episode 491 min 13:57

[@GamesBySaul]

Nice work overall! Really looking forward to seeing what you do with fishing, as I feel it's one of those things people either love or hate, but I feel like your passion for it should really help with making it being an interesting feature!

[@TSkateT666]

this video just popped in my recommended, watched 5 minutes and went to the start of the playlist. great stuff dude!

[@haydinsherifovski2731]

A good idea, while it would take tons of work is when you pick up a new item there is a little animation that shows the item as a large image on the screen with a little description below, the same could be done with different aquatic creatures.

[@Lando_HotelStory]

I really like your desk setup with all the plants

[@tishawnalexis7631]

Cant wait to be able to play this!!

[@txe1nd]

Me to :)

[@SuperDutchrutter]

I love fishing in games too-- I'm thrilled to see you planning to implement such a robust experience in Dauphin. Great devlog keep it up!

[@Skeffles]

Brilliant start on the fishing mechanic! I am always a fan of games with peaceful fishing areas, especially if they have nice relaxing music.

[@ezrakornfeld8436]

I dare you to implement disc golf in the game. When you fully cleanse a patch of forest, you can use the materials you get from the trash to make a hole or net (I don’t know what is called) and you can get a disc as a rare drop from cleansing a crab (kinda like a shell or something). Seems like it would be fun

[@captainyulef5845]

The game's going very well so far! Though I have a small suggestion: I don't think the font in the dialogue boxes fits the game very well, it looks higher resolution than the rest of the game to me. Like I said, it's a very small detail, and it isn't game-ruining of anything lol

[@GrunkleSoos]

Thanks for making these devlogs! Just an idea for how to define which items from the tackle box go into which slot on the fishing pole. Maybe separate the tackle box into three shelves/layers and restrict pieces to each layer. That helps players know what piece of gear can go where on the rod and helps them know how many more reels they need to have the full set.

[@ebitachy]

if you are going to add a hover tooltip for the objects in the tacklebox, if you could add a 'right click to equip' (or unequip when it's on the fishing rod) prompt in there to reduce having to drag things back and forth inefficiently, or a way to 'favorite' preferred bait/lines so they stay at the top of the tacklebox (or if something like the bait is planned to be used as numerable stacks, so that the next stack is automatically equipped when you run out of one, but that doesn't matter if you're planning to make them all infinitely available, which would work if there is more a puzzle aspect of finding the perfect setup for each scenario rather than just constantly upgrading to a better setup thing)

[@Toopa88]

3:40 I didn't finish the video yet, just some mini game ideas: - Maybe something like "match 3". The objects you match could look like other organisms and plants. Try to get combos and a high score in a given time period. Harder to catch fish require you to play quicker and get better scores. There are certain "score milestones" to reach that determine the final chance of catching the fish (0%, 25%, 50%,..., 100%). - Make it like these "rythm" games where you have to press certain arrow keys at the correct moment and for the correct time period. Could make some character fishing animations linked to that. - Make it a memory game. Small fish obviously have easier challenges. - Maybe a simplified minesweeper could work, just not with mines but something else. I don't know if any of these ideas would fit into the game, but I think it's hard making an interesting minigame that refers to fishing.

[@sethcushman5454]

Fishing systems are hard, yours seems interesting! The one suggestion I would have is instead (or additionally) of having a tooltip explaining where gear goes, separate the tackle box into different parts for each slot. Anyway, I’m excited to see the finished product eventually!

[@dextra_24703]

one thing i would like to see is like a combat utility for the fishing rod maybe, comedic as in Twilight Princess at the final boss (a cheesy strategy for a certain boss) or utility based with being able to get certain enemy sea life to get closer based on the type of bait or even unrealistically like using it for traversal with it being used as a grappling hook or swing to get over holes on a mountainous/volcanic island

[@BingtheLizard]

I remember playing Legend of the River King on Gameboy as a kid and finding the fishing (and combat) systems quite addictive. Lots of neat ideas in there, so definitely worth a look as well!

[@SleepDepJoel15]

Love the idea of different fishing brands with their own personality and traits.

[@dardasaba7971]

I really love the direction this is going in so far! Good luck implementing the other features like the casting! (Should be fairly easy with a Line2D)

[@defnotanny]

What I find Reel-y (haha) cool about this is that the player can construct their own fishingrod setup and find things that they like to play with. :D Players always love customizability where it makes sense.

[@kevinwilliams8815]

For the fishing . do not know if someone else mentioned this but you could build rod combo and have a point value applied to each part of your setup.. like certain rod is x points the reel is y bait is z .. so you get a x+y+z equals aa and you would compare this value to a value set for each type of fish you will have available.. could overlap ranges so to get a certain type you have to plan on what setup you want to have

[@evanrobison567]

Showing the customized fishing pole in game is a fantastic feature!

[@phinqs]

It looks like the start of a really interesting system. If I could make one suggestion regarding the UI, I would say that the drag and drop assignment is great because of its simplicity, however, it might be nice to have an easier way to assign/unassign components. I have seen some games make use of shortcuts like Shift + Left Click to quickly assign/unassign a component. Regardless, I am really looking forward to see how this pans out. Keep up the great work!

[@CodemasterJamal]

The overworld for the game is starting to look really nice. As you add more into the game, it feels more fleshed out and organized. It's appealing.

[@TheGoProHockeyPlayer]

Okay so two things btw love the work ive been watching every single episode a day after it came out anyway i think there should be a way where the corruption can just be permanently dealt with for an island (like a final boss for each island or something) if you have to constantly reapir corruption it might get repetitive. I also think that the ship/fishing boat should have its own larger tackle box and crafting station chest etc. anyway have a nice day

[@daemontale]

Dude, love the new spritework for the fishing equipment ❤ Seems very simple, but is definitely working in your favor, looks so clean. Nice idea to have the bait, gear, and rod separable - very stardew valley like, it'd add much more the player to think about which is a nice boost to their engagement 👍

[@GonziHere]

I find it interesting that you've implemented UI and Tuning system before making the fishing mechanics. Mainly because I would do it the other way around and let that mechanic inform the customization needs. Anyways, nice progress and possibly a very fun source of progression in the game.

[@stoykomarinov]

Idea for clarity in the tacklebox: when you pick up an item, let's say a bait, it would be nice for the bait slot to get highlighted while you hold the item. This way if you have 50 items and pick the wrong category, you'll get instant feedback. It would also serve as a visual guide to quickly see where to place it without thinking (+relax points 1:27 ). For the progress so far, I've always been a fan of fishing minigames and I won't tell you how many hours I've invested in Terraria's fishing alone... You could check that one out if you haven't - it's simple but the rewards and randomness make it fun.

[@crowlog]

DevDuck: says tacklebox My brain: whats a tacobox?

[@rikvanderwerf18]

As im watching you develop, i can highly recommend installing the vim plugin for your IDE, it does take some practise but your dev speed will increase tenfold.

[@EMEMMEME]

I love the manufacturer idea!

[@chickmcin7938]

I’m gonna buy this game the second it comes out this looks so fun

[@dylanious]

An idea for a fishing mini game could be surrounded around the sling. A sprite of the sling could be blown up with the aim of the minigame being to reel in the fish at a steady pace. If you reel it in too fast, your line snaps, but if you reel it in too slow, the character begins to struggle and the fish swims away. Think of stardew valley just with a different “spin” on it.

[@joyfulfishman5445]

I love the thumbnail, it gripped me

[@GreenlandRobot]

The tacklebox button could use a border and drop-shadow to more clearly indicate that it is a clickable item.

[@amelyoussouf3726]

Though I’ve never been fishing irl I also love fishing in video games. I’ve spend countless hours fishing in Stardew Valley, animal crossing and even Roblox (when I was a child). I’m sure the fishing mechanism will add a whole lot of value to Dauphin, it looks really damn good so far. I can’t wait to play it!

[@dandymcgee]

Great progress dude! Keep it up!

[@EthynLee]

There’s absolutely no way I’ve been watching you make this game for 2 years now. I don’t believe it

[@MrEisclimber]

Depending on your plans for the fishing mini-game itself, may I suggest having a look at the system from Starbound? It has a 2D-side-view - similar to your diving scene - where you have to navigate your hook towards the fish you want to catch while having to doge the others. This might also work well with the complexity of your fishing-rod-system, as you have more options for changing behavior. A while ago, I made a crude demo for such a game while also using Beziér-Curves for the rope-'physics'. If you think it might help you, let me know:D Anyway, love this series and keep up the great work!!

[@jdyerjdyer]

Hey, just an idea, but since you have items that are slot specific, maybe add the ability to click (right or double, or something) on the slot itself and have that open a sub inventory that just has the items that can go in that slot. The tool tip idea is good, too, but by adding this other feature, it will make finding the relevant items that much quicker, not to mention easier to compare by hovering over each in order (without having to bounce around other items that are not for that slot). It also reduces the need for the player to manually manage the order of their inventory. They can just let the items stay where they are since they know clicking on a slot will pull up all associated items.

[@jessejburton]

So cool! Nice job :)

[@StaredownGames]

This is the video I was waiting for. Awesome! Anything is better than fishing in Tales Of Arise.

[@ManuOromithDevs]

It's looking great!

[@bowersindustry]

What if you have separate spots in the tackle box? Like split the tackle box into 3 sections. One for only bait. One for only lines. And one for only reels.

[@isaacperlich]

This game looks amazing!

[@Camdennnn]

Wow that file system is very organized

[@logandm]

Not sure if this fits with your overall architecture, but it would be interesting to tie in the percentage of corrupted aquatic creatures with the probability of a successful cast. Or perhaps if you catch a corrupted creature it damages your equipment. Love this feature work you're doing!

[@colby3896]

It would be neat if you could also use a net while diving to catch other aquatic animals like jellyfish or sea slugs that you wouldn’t be able to get with a fishing rod!

[@samistube]

I would allow the thing to attach to the Rod to be in any of the 3 slots, and then just replace the item if a same category item is dragged to the Rod builder. No need 2 label them in the inv then. The icons should be descriptive and similar to other items of that type

[@madsbdker5579]

Looks sick man! have no idea how to say this in an understandable manner, but to make the fishing as compelling as you describe you want it to be, you should make each leve up in the fishing skill feel more like: "wow man fishing is so much more enjoyable now" instead of: "damn, fishing is faster now".. make People excited for the next lever up!

[@abrookinthesky7016]

You should make it to where if you shift click the bait/line/reel auto moves to the fishing pole from the tackle box and vice versa

[@etiennedud]

Why do you not just add a new tab instead of the tackle box ? With the fishing rod interface to the left and three column (or line) on the right for each type of item. That way it is more consistent for the user as it better mimick the main page and there is no interface on another.

[@Jukaorena]

Bro, have you tried making the corruption "Aditive"? What I mean is if 2 different sources spread corruption to a same place make it darker? Keep the great work :)

[@mikeohc]

Really love how the game is turning out. I do wonder why I have to smack every creature I see? What if we can capture animals and cure them? Maybe have them as pets because they can't survive in the wild anymore?

[@dragonmann1998]

Maybe add a sub sites in the adventure book. So you have the same style for all inventory related interfaces. Also the two part Interface of the fishing stuff fits perfectly your two page layout

[@Weckacore]

Ive always said that you can judge a games quality based on if it has a fishing minigame. Look at the data: stardew valley, minecraft, cult of the lamb, dauphin. Need I say more?

[@Jkauppa]

coffee must be an important part of your development process, the pauses and "see you next time" temporary delays

[@Jkauppa]

but is your game any fun

[@Jkauppa]

no people slave is making anything of quality, you work slaves

[@Jkauppa]

just the usual trash

[@fantome_e]

Cheers man!

[@CobainSnake]

Pretty interesting idea re:garding multiple manufacturers. I see that this can try to make this unique characteristics and perhaps more diverse gameplay and player choice. How does this fit into the theme of your game? Right now the island does seem isolated - are you intending to implement NPCs / small town that would help to create a context where multiple manufacturers makes sense etc?

[@Shoteyman]

Lol have fun looking for that frisbee.

[@vineetharvind7718]

it would speed up if there a healing crystal or healing shell or healing pearls, which can heal a certain area entirely, this can be unlocked or purchased or revealed at certain point of game

[@msmigs1173]

YESSS BEEN WAITING

[@moonlightfalls7805]

I think that It would be cool if you had it so that there was like a day, month, year system, and you have t complete it by a certain year or make a certain amount of progress in a year or the ocean would become beyond saving, and it gets harder to save over time or you have a difficulty like hard mode that did that.

[@jonatanpfister]

The Tacklebox button doesn’t really look clickable… maybe adding an outline around every clickable button to standardise it a bit…

[@sky01james28]

Or a hover effect

[@nicksthicc6439]

you should add a splash when you go in the deep water

[@skinsfan00atg]

this is awesome!

[@sukkerpotataphilip7631]

Idea: That you can fish a boss or something idk. But great game =)

[@DylanMatthewTurner]

Every game needs a fishing minigame

[@StaredownGames]

Yes! I'm that guy that posts "nice but can we FISH?" on all the game channels lol

[@maringabriel4234]

Hello ,please can tell me wath board of note the progres use,please?...and good work,i like the game

[@lisyarus]

I thought is is a taco box and now I can't unhear it!

[@jennylowe1565]

Hey Ben!! Please, oh please add shift-click compatibility with the tackle box and fishing rod setup interface!! It’ll make things 10x better for the players!!

[@DevDuck]

Do you mean shift-click as an alternative to right click?

[@jennylowe1565]

@@DevDuck no as in an alternative to drag and drop

[@LevTheDev]

I don’t think the ui’s overlapping looks to cluttered in my opinions. Maybe just add a background blur to the tackle box ui and it could make the close button easier to find

[@abandoned4305]

Could you add a feature where the crabs can go underground and spread trails of corruption

[@txe1nd]

Hmmm cool

[@katamas832]

He should probably focus on the overall systems, and then with the details of specific animal behaviours. Get a marketable game first, and then work out the extra details, you know?

[@theokruger279]

a corruption meter could work or maybe getting xp when clearing corruption

[@xrather7735]

You really need to make more drops. And you also need to make the gear buy-able, so its not just on the ground XD.

[@conner_wood]

Ever played Digimon World on the Playstation 1? Now that was some good fishing.

[@jacques-dev]

Heck yeah shout out to fishing in runescape haha

[@teo2805]

What resolution is your game? I'm trying to make a pixel art game but that doesn't super follow pixel art rules (like how you rotate and move those underwater jellyfish), but I'm not sure what screen size to base it on!

[@txe1nd]

Hmmm i think maybe 30x60 maybe 🤔 but im not sure

[@DevDuck]

Dauphin's native resolution is currently 320x180.

[@txe1nd]

@@DevDuck cool :)

[@notbobbobby]

Curious, what do you use for organizing the layout of windows/applications on your computer? It's very clean

[@DevDuck]

BetterSnapTool on Mac! Can't live without it.

[@davirodau]

What's the app you use for the Dev Board?! Really interesting

[@slothinahat]

First of all, awesome devlog as always. I had one question: for your inventory system how are you getting the items to scale to fit the grid size?

[@RialuCaos]

I'm glad the icons are being standardized, differing "pixel sizes" has always been something that bothers me to an unreasonable degree.

[@diggidan]

Can't you color code the different slots in the fishing pole? Like the bait has a green box and then all the baits in the tackle box has a green background or dot in the corner or something like that? Then you would easily see what goes where. And if you where looking for a line you automatically see all things which has, for example, a red background. :)

[@sky01james28]

That works well for us non-colorblind folks, but that’s not ideal

[@diggidan]

@@sky01james28 True! Well then he could have a background made with shapes perhaps? Like a background made of tiny lines for the lines and bait for bait.

[@daemontale]

Oh y'know it would be pretty cool to have a variety of colors around item icons to show off their rarity or subtypes

[@diggidan]

@@daemontale I was thinking that as well to easily localize the kind of stuff you want :)

[@theactualtruebear]

We need more Moose content.

[@bsen2267]

Hey what kind of frisbee u shooting on 04:08? How is that called? Looks very funny

[@Bruno-oh2zj]

What app is the app you use for daily planning?

[@adamkonig3753]

Hey DevDuck, I noticed at 14:53 that you're using different canvas sizes for different pixel art components (The wacky rig is a 4x2 sprite, the 6lb mono is a 8x8 sprite, and the sling is a 4x4 sprite) and they're being stretched to be the same size in the UI. Of course you can do whatever you like and whatever fits your art style you're going for, but I think among pixel artists this is a big no no as it breaks the illusion of a "true" 8bit game (since it's just pixel art ontop of a much higher resolution output and not *actually* limited to the pixels on screen). Just some food for thought. I made a pixel art RPG a few years ago and made this mistake making my characters twice the resolution of my environment and as soon as someone pointed it out I couldn't unsee it but it was too late to re-draw all those characters at the right canvas resolution. Hope this helps, loving seeing the progress on your work!

[@МаксимАгрызко]

Why don’t you split IDE to two columns during the development?

[@anthonydodier6143]

instead of overing each item with the mouse to know what type of components it is(which would be long if the tacklebox is full) maybe add 3 tab for each component of the fishing rod and keep the overing for the stat when looking for like the right bait. Keep the good work! as always great video!

[@thomasi.4981]

Or instead, maybe just some lines separating the tackle box inventory into three. Given that it's already getting a separate menu, submenus night feel excessive.

[@FaraazAhmad]

Have you thought of making the corruption mechanism more meaningful in the game? right now it seems to be working sort of like a collectible

[@FreshSmores]

It the game becomes multiplayer you can cast it and pull your friends

[@b.a.t.m.a.n8013]

Add a watch in Player hand. It's kinda strange that player can use watch but player doesn't even wears a watch.

[@DelBoy573]

Odd question but what programme are you using to show what tasks you’ve completed? Shown here at 2:16

[@teo2805]

Let's GO

[@txe1nd]

Let's go man we have another dev log