LudumData

Dave is in a Fish Tank by Toast

[raw]
made by Toast for LD23 (COMPO)
Well here is my first Ludum Dare entry, Dave is in a Fish Tank. My personal aim wasn't good coding or graphics, but an original, full-feeling playing experience. I think you can just about define it is a game, but really it's more of a toy. I hope you enjoy it in that respect. But the Game Maker source file shouldn't really be taken seriously. For anything.

Info:
So the deal is this guy called Dave is inside a Fish Tank. Yep. You have to feed him like he's a fish. He meets some other people along the way, but they're not friends. Dave doesn't like people.

Controls:
Left/right - Mouse or arrow keys
Select - Left mouse button or spacebar

Silly bug number 1: Highscore displays the last score, not the highest. Whoops.

Windows http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20264876/daveisinafishtankwin.zip
OS/X http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20264876/daveisinafishtankmac.zip
Source File (gmk) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20264876/daveisinafishtanksource.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=6788

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.31 237
Audio 2.40 467
Fun 3.19 226
Graphics 2.85 449
Humor 3.63 35
Innovation 3.87 58
Mood 3.00 252
Theme 3.31 277

Feedback

unicornpooping
23. Apr 2012 · 14:36 UTC
Yes! Great job on this game. I totally get it. Endless gameplay. Very funny too. I think one of the times I played Dave died from being smothered by his girl? Anyhow, really great job on this one. I'll be coming back to play this again :-)
Lotsa
23. Apr 2012 · 14:53 UTC
A nice concept that works really well. Got it saved now!
Zed
23. Apr 2012 · 15:17 UTC
Think I managed to trap him under some wood, then drowned to death.

I liked the fact that his girlfriend, when present, stole all the good stuff that came down. Very realistic...
thristhart
23. Apr 2012 · 15:41 UTC
I couldn't figure out how to beat this one, so I don't feel comfortable rating it yet. I'll be back!
FredericRP
23. Apr 2012 · 15:43 UTC
Nice and endless game ! I know what to do on my next coffee break ;)
Canard Sauvage
23. Apr 2012 · 15:46 UTC
How does Dave get into the rocket? He seems not use it.
🎤 Toast
23. Apr 2012 · 15:47 UTC
@thristhart The primary goal is just scoremongering. There is an endgame as well - getting a rocket and then fueling it with items. But I made that extremely hard to do. If anyone actually does it I will be amazed.
bms
23. Apr 2012 · 18:36 UTC
at first I thought I was supposed to kill dave xD really fun concept!
YMM
23. Apr 2012 · 20:32 UTC
This is a really interesting idea. If you keep working on it, you should make the drop countdown more salient, like make the item you're holding flash before falling maybe, so it feels a bit more predictable.
🎤 Toast
23. Apr 2012 · 20:35 UTC
@YMM I noticed the unpredictability. I wish I thought to add a visual aid.
jeroenimooo
23. Apr 2012 · 20:59 UTC
hahahahahaha another really funny game. I first didn't get it, but after the first try i got it :) Real fun watching dave do stuff while i was sorting out all sorts of items :D
Nocturne
23. Apr 2012 · 21:24 UTC
Great game! I'll be coming back to play this again due to the different things that can happen while playing... One thing I would have liked is a bit less randomness in the drops, as it means that sometimes Dave Dies from thirst or whatever and it's not your fault. Oh, and this reminds me LOADS (don't ask me why) of the C64 game "Little Computer People".
🎤 Toast
23. Apr 2012 · 21:31 UTC
@Nocturne Yeah definitely, the randomness is something I was sitting around thinking "I should probably fix that". It would have been an easy fix too, just never got round to it in the 48 hours.
crazyheckman
23. Apr 2012 · 22:09 UTC
I love the concept, very interesting. Graphics are pretty good and original.
JaJ
23. Apr 2012 · 22:11 UTC
Very fun! Really nice to play with.
Cambrian_Man
23. Apr 2012 · 22:11 UTC
This is really silly!
Danvil
23. Apr 2012 · 22:27 UTC
Nice little game. I liked the graphics and the girlfriend ;) Got bored after some time ...
Dakota
24. Apr 2012 · 16:21 UTC
Haha Love the game design
Darkfrost
24. Apr 2012 · 23:42 UTC
Nice little game! The random item bit was slightly annoying, at times I'd get a silly amount of spikes and nothing else!

I like the idea ^^ It was good fun, but I killed dave quite a few times D: *whistles* Nice work!
MadGnomeGamer
25. Apr 2012 · 02:26 UTC
LOL Very cool! Lots of possible combinations. For the first one, for some reason the tank never got any water in it! I like the little flowers that drop on his flathead and stay there for a moment. And the gf too. Lots of replayability!
MadGnomeGamer
25. Apr 2012 · 02:31 UTC
I particularly liked the time the robot stole him away from his gf, but I gave him a bomb and he blew the robot up! :D

One thing though: Dave seems to die without apparent cause sometimes. ;/
🎤 Toast
25. Apr 2012 · 02:46 UTC
@MadGnomeGamer I'm afraid random deaths might be the case... that's the flaw in such a small timeframe to make a game I guess. Are we allowed to fix bugs?
HeuGamer
27. Apr 2012 · 02:49 UTC
Lol Very fun to play! I like the concept of the game very interesting.
Jedi
29. Apr 2012 · 00:26 UTC
Cool concept! Fun :)
HD408
29. Apr 2012 · 12:15 UTC
Interesting game idea, but too hard and feels unfinished.
MadGnomeGamer
30. Apr 2012 · 19:18 UTC
Confession time: I played this game more than other any entry, trying to do wacky things like stack the crates to the top and kill his gf without spikes (which i did!) without killing him... Lots of fun.

Question: Does breaking a radio with him nearby electrocute him? That might explain some of the deaths.
🎤 Toast
01. May 2012 · 23:47 UTC
Really glad to hear you enjoyed it - that is the point of it, after all.

It isn't supposed to electrocute him, no... but obviously the bug is caused by something and that's a possibility. I haven't looked for it yet.
samoojamies
03. May 2012 · 17:05 UTC
Nice tetris style gameplay. Promising idea.
ratking
07. May 2012 · 20:19 UTC
I felt like a mad god in this game, haha.
azurenimbus
10. May 2012 · 19:04 UTC
Nice, very unique.
machinas
12. May 2012 · 22:44 UTC
interesting. was fun trying to figure out how all the pieces interact and relate to eachother. I probably still need to play a few more times through to really understand all the mechanics going on. nice job
seagaia
13. May 2012 · 16:18 UTC
Wow, I thought this was a very neat idea once I sort of got the hang of it. An end goal would be nice but I haven't really seen this before. Nice