Aerofish Project by almost

[raw]
made by almost for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Aerofish Project

Help your Aerofish protect the core as it slowly falls into the depths. Gather resources to expand your territory.

Build an army and defend against hostile creatures.

Controls:

Left Click to select and place buildings

Right Click to command military (birds)

Click and drag to move the camera

Space to reset camera

Research: build a research lab, then click top-right where it says tech available

cover_itch.png

Ratings

Overall 299th 3.722⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 337th 3.519⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 179th 3.741⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 480th 3.63⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 243th 4.054⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 356th 3.02⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 555th 3.385⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 13🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

Tobius
11. Apr 2025 · 02:13 UTC
The environmental assets and buildings look great together, and the RTS style building / base defense worked well if not a little easy.

One way to elevate this game would be to add a simple background music track, and simple sound effects for the units. I see that you opted out of audio, but even if you don't create the audio yourself, having audio is a great way to add some polish to it!
Manatee Webster
11. Apr 2025 · 02:14 UTC
Cool small scale RTS! Would love to see it expanded on with more buildings and units. I wasn't sure if researching one of the bird upgrades locked me out of the others? I only researched one of the upgrades for the and then the others greyed out and I couldn't select them. I also had the lookout bug and I couldn't build any at all. It was fun to build a giant deathball of birds to protect the tree. A very cool idea, great job!
Vary
11. Apr 2025 · 02:23 UTC
Really neat take on an RTS with a moving base. I liked the art style and the animation, especially on the fish, but I do wish there was an audio track of some sorts for the background. I also was very confused the first time around and thought I had to control the fish and attack the birds? lol. it took a little bit to realize that the birds are friends and the other sprites with life bars are enemies - I feel like that could be a bit clearer. Otherwise a fun, creative idea, nicely done!
🎤 almost
12. Apr 2025 · 02:57 UTC
Thanks for the feedback all! Glad you enjoyed it.

@tobius and @vary yea, we were planning to add some sounds and music, but ended up short on time and the audio didn't make it.

@manatee-webster For the lookout bug, one thing that might be relevant is that all buildings must be placed within a certain distance of either the core or another building. This is shown by some outlined circles while you are trying to place a building, so perhaps if you tried to place the lookout too far ahead it would stop you.
It should be possible to research multiple upgrades to the birds, but the research will show as gray if it is in the process of being researched or if the research has already completed. In hindsight, the completed researches should probably be removed from the list to be more clear.
Pegasus
24. Apr 2025 · 14:57 UTC
Really cute game. I liked the simplicity of it. I know you opted out of audio but some kind of sounds would have gone a long way, even if you downloaded them premade. The concept for the game was kind of strange, I thought I was doing something wrong when the fish was going down at first, but once I got the hang of it I was having fun so good job!
Static_Leap_Studios
24. Apr 2025 · 16:26 UTC
I was enjoying it! I noticed I never had to worry about resources, I might balance that a bit more. Also, I never got the aerofish hover time upgrade, which helped me win faster I think. Nice art and creative setting, good job!
gdman
24. Apr 2025 · 21:46 UTC
Very solid and beatifully looking game. Took me several attempts, was losing at 2nd checkpoint to angler. But then managed to build right, place turrets, hatch birds. I agree that last part could be too easy, possibly add some pressure, may be attack upper part or send waves from bottom, or add some upkeep. May be I encountered a glitch, I was unable to build research lab when skipping tutorial, and I think at one game core was attacked immediately by 3 enemies at start of game. Another idea, may be add research of tree regenerating.
Overall pretty original idea and implementation.

![screen.png](///raw/24e/f3/z/6c735.png)

At last jam day, try to play and rate other's games, so you'd get more visibility and votes.
heat
25. Apr 2025 · 09:36 UTC
It's an unusual rts game. The beginning of the game is quite difficult. I only took damage early on, but then the birds and turrets helped me. However, for some reason, not all the improvements and buildings were available to me. Still, I was able to take my tree into space.
MoD_Wiz
25. Apr 2025 · 19:34 UTC
I like the mechanic where you need to protect the core of your base that is periodically moving, very innovative. And the artstyle is simply gorgeous. Player onboarding is well done. The lack of audio is unfortunate, but understandable.
ImNotVegan
25. Apr 2025 · 19:54 UTC
I completed the game without using research, but it was interesting.
Untitled Studios
25. Apr 2025 · 20:14 UTC
Super neat! Gorgeous art, difficult and engaging gameplay. The mechanic of having your main base move every so often makes the world of the game feel perpetually dangerous, even when you have a pretty good build up of resources and units.
nadavhalahmi
25. Apr 2025 · 20:15 UTC
The graphics are amazing, and the tutorial was super helpful! Unlocking the research lab took the game to a whole new level!