Log In  



Cart #xmasfish-1 | 2019-11-27 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
82

This is my entry for the 2019 Advent Calendar =^w^=

Controls

  • Up/Down/Left/Right: move
  • O: do actions
  • X: show/hide inventory

Backstory

My wife Aubrianne wrote a 100% completely original poem which provides the deep lore behind this game:


'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the sea
Not a creature was swimming, not you and not me;
The lights were all strung on the coral with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The wee fry were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-worms danced in their heads;
When up from the surface there came such a splashing,
I sprang from my bed to see what could be happening.

Up, up to the top I swam like a flash,
Looked up through the ripples, popped up with a splash.
When what to my protruding eyes did appear,
But a crash-landed sleigh and eight whiplashed rein-deer,
With a little old driver so frantic and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.

They paddled like puppies, his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the shore of the beach! to this lonely atoll!
Now swim on up! swim on up! swim on up all!"
As awkward as kittens dropped into a bath,
They bobbed and they flailed and sought for a path;

And then, in a twinkling, reindeer on the beach
Were prancing and pawing the sand with relief.
As I dipped 'neath the waves, and was turning around,
Into the water St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, which was quite a blunder,
His clothes got all soaked and were pulling him under;
I was quite astonished to hear him call out
to me he was waving and said with a shout

"What ho, my good fish! You've been very good!
I'm here to bring gifts to your fine neighborhood!
But, alas! All the presents I brought for your friends
Have been lost at sea and I might get the bends.
Our tanks are all dented, and I very much fear
we have only wetsuits for seven reindeer.
Dasher, that rascal, lost his on that trip
we took to Fiji on our polar cruise ship.

"My friend, will you help me? I'm in dire straits
For all o'er the world empty stockings await
Will you find all the gifts and deliver each one?
Will you wear the red hat and make Christmas come?"
I solemnly blooped and I bubbled assent
I would see it through to the very last present!

His hand rose up all the way to his head
and came down again with his fine cap of red
He gave it to me and he said with a sigh,
"You're Santa now, fish. You are the guy!"
With a wink of his eye, he gave me a smile
I knew I had nothing to fear from this trial;
He sloshed to the beach, and tapped his red nose
The sleigh came together and in the air rose

He sprang right aboard, the reindeer all heartened,
And away they all flew, as fast as a marlin.
But I heard him exclaim, as I floated, awestruck—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all, best of luck!”

Credits/Special Thanks

82
4

"P.S. You can keep the hat."
"You did a perfect job!"

What a delightful ending ! Golden starfish for this game.
4

Ok wow, this is such a neat game :D
2

charming, clever, and fun to play!



@Jerkstore you find the red diamond things and get seven
2

Wonderful game! I'm glad that I came here for the lore.
3

Absolutely friggin' wonderful! Loved this so much. Really put me in the Christmas spirit. The music, the little touches like the hat physics, the humor, even the controls are all fantastic.
3

A game that is nothing but fetch quests?

WOW, it's just what I wanted!

This is pretty cute. The only thing that would make it better is if I could hear what people wanted the first time I talk to them, even if I already have their item. Like the manta ray, there's almost no chance you won't have the sunglasses before you find them. So if the first time you talk to them, even if you have the item, it should say what they're looking for, and then you can give it to them.

I also, personally, would love to see my path through the map at the end. You know, just to know if I got the most efficient path through with minimal backtracking. But that's just my optimization talking.
2

that was a delight :) especially loved the character's personalities
3

Nice game especially near x-mas.
Sent all the gift to all the sea citizens and got to keep the hat :D.

Something was in my mind while playing this game... how do fish ho ho ho in fish language? :D
1

@kittenm4ster I was replaying this cart, (one of my favorites.) Even though it isn't christmas time and was wondering if you wouldn't mind me looking at the music for inspiration for my game that's water-themed. Still love this game ^_^
2

@SmellyFishstiks
of course! feel free to look at the music for inspiration! (I licensed the cart under creative commons too btw!)

It's "sleigh ride" of course, but I myself was heavily inspired by the version by Caribbean Jazz Project; I stole most of the harmony and rhythmic ideas from that version.

Also if you are looking at the music in the editor, you'll notice that half of it sounds different than it does during the actual game; I do some sneaky runtime modification on one of the SFX instruments because I was out of SFX instrument slots and I wanted one more :) It just switches the chordal track from a slow arpeggiation to a super fast "bubbly" arpeggiation.

@kittenm4ster Ok thanks for letting me know! I'm getting close to getting my game done. I still have to do the music so looking at other people's work will help!
1

also didn't realize that was a real song, sounded super cirstmasy but no idea what it was, the original and your remix are amazing!
2

I saw this on Zep's page and thought Ikachan! It is very good. Thank you for making it!
4

Thought I would give a bump to this charming little underwater adventure game as it's been 2-years since it was written and clearly deserves the spotlight again during this holiday season.
1

Why do I like this game so much?
Is it the cute art-style?
The well made jokes?
The wonderful gameplay?
(answer = all the the above)



[Please log in to post a comment]