After about 5 hours total working on this game, I finally feel like I’m on the right path, and it feels wonderful! This is gonna be the first game I’ve ever actually finished, especially as it is my own idea and not a port.
Here’s the first screenshot-

As you can see, graphics-wise, this game is going to be full of programmer’s art. I did use my animation utility class for the first time, and I’m glad to report it works just as intended.
So, the game. When I read what the theme is, I was a bit upset. It’s a cool theme, but not if you’re a first-timer and all of your games are inherently minimalistic. I decided to express the theme purely gameplay-wise; specifically, through player input. There’s only one button to press, and you’re supposed to swim against the current to get to the exit by timing your presses. I then incrementally introduce more game mechanics, such as triggers that change your direction, spikes, and more! So that’s what I’m setting out to do now, and I may actually finish this for the compo!

I’m really enjoying this so far! Good luck to everyone!