Free casual/puzzle game - looking for feedback!

[tommoor]

Hi all,

I have been developing an Android game in the evenings for the past 6 weeks or so. It has finally got to the point where I am happy putting it on the market.. It would be great to get some downloads and feedback!

The game is similar to match-3 style games with a hint of pacman and tetris

There are now two game modes in the game, 'classic' and 'drop'. In the first your aim is to stop the timer going down by popping and eating fish. In drop, fish fall from the top and you must keep eating to stop the screen from filling!

You can check it out (video etc) at:

Fish Food - Free Android Game

Just had a nice review over at Android Games Blog (before the game had 2 modes)

or scan this bad boy:

Thanks all!

 

[Kelmar]

I'd try it, but it's not showing up on the market for those of us on still on 1.5.

 

[tommoor]

Kelmar,

Just working on 1.5 compatability - should have a version on the market this evening

Thanks

 

[lekky]

Going to give this a try, first thing I noticed was the filesize, any chance of storing graphics on the sdcard to bring this down?

 

[tommoor]

Glad I posted now, it's been useful already!

I have just uploaded version 1.05, which reduces the filesize by 25% (down to 3.5Mb) and adds support for android 1.5.

I don't have an older phone, but testing on the emulator there doesn't seem be any issue..

 

[shotgunfool]

Installing now on my G2 Touch (Hero) will let you know how i get on, running stock 1.5.

Edit:

OMG so addicting

1 small thing when getting combo's of 8 and 16 it starts to lag slightly other than that, Ace game

 

[tommoor]

Thanks for the feedback ShotgunFool

 

[shotgunfool]

Just a quick question, iv been playing just now and iv come up against a problem, iv only got pink and yellow fish up so one cant eat the other or is it supposed to happen like that if you mess up

other than that loving my hs of 175600

 

[tommoor]

Just a quick question, iv been playing just now and iv come up against a problem, iv only got pink and yellow fish up so one cant eat the other or is it supposed to happen like that if you mess up

other than that loving my hs of 175600

It can happen if your not too careful of what your eating! At the minute you just have to wait for the timer, but I will be adding a check in an update soon that will make it an automatic game over

Part of the challenge is keeping the 'ecosystem' balanced

 

[joe382]

I just downloaded it, plays very nicely on HTC Legend. It is an excellent game! I love it, the gameplay is addictive and the graphics are very nice. I am wondering if you are thinking of updating it with an online leaderboard? That is the only thing missing from the game.

 

[tommoor]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the kind feedback

There is an update coming next week or early the week after which will add a new game mode, 'drop'. After that if there are enough downloads of the game i will add an online leaderboard for both game modes!

Don't forget to rate it on the market, i am finding it very hard getting any exposure - even when you give it away for free!

 

[Quboid]

Very addictive and fun. Why does some fish sometimes have a flashing border?

It really should be smaller, even after a 25% decrease. I'd give it 5 if it was ~1MB.

 

[tommoor]

@Quboid,

I don't really understand the issue with size, it's under 4mb .. as far as i am concerned that is pretty small considering that included are art assets for three different screen resolutions and over 5 minutes of music and sound effects ;-)

 

[Cheule]

I don't have my android yet (waiting for a Desire!) but I have to say keep up the good work, I can't wait to try your game, and I know it will be a hit with my girlfriend

 

[d3vkit]

Just tried the game. I might just be really bad at these kinds of games, but one thing that was really strange to me was not being able to have say, a purple fish eat a yellow fish. I know that's sort of the point, but it was hard for my brain to not associate that it was the bigger fish and can eat the smaller fish.

Some stuff that I think really is broken: the options key doesn't do anything. Hitting back brought up options, but when I hit restart, it just left the screen as it was. Since I was stuck, I had to go to home menu and start a new game.

I found the game a little slow honestly... but then I'm not that great at these games. I just finished playing jewellust, and while I suck at that too, I hardly ever (never I think) hit a point where there were no more moves (probably has to do with amount of fish and variety of colors on screen mostly, I'd say try to fit more fish on screen), and multipliers, bombs etc clearing out tons of stuff was really fun. I just didn't see any of that happening in Fish Food.

It's a very solid game though, great sound, and very polished. I hope someday I can make a game as nice as this (once I learn how).

 

[tommoor]

@d3vkit

Thanks for your feedback, appreciated.. I can understand your point on the bigger / smaller fish thing but honestly if for example the red fish could eat everything smaller the game would be far too easy!

If by the options you mean the pause menu, then your right a bug with restart was introduced in the last update which will be fixed either tonight or tomorrow evening.

Keep it installed for the minute, i have a big update coming which adds a whole new game mode (more like tetris) which you might enjoy better, fixes a couple of bugs, some new animations and a reduced filesize.

Cheers!

 

[Kelmar]

Glad I posted now, it's been useful already!

I have just uploaded version 1.05, which reduces the filesize by 25% (down to 3.5Mb) and adds support for android 1.5.

I don't have an older phone, but testing on the emulator there doesn't seem be any issue..

Getting ready to try it out now

 

[tommoor]

Getting ready to try it out now

In a few hours your getting a big update

 

[Kelmar]

In a few hours your getting a big update

Ok

I like the concept but don't like how I couldn't exit the game on 1.5. The back button wouldn't do anything and pushing home left the music running in the background.

Question: What is the purpose of the flashing fish (the one outlined)?

 

[tommoor]

Not sure about the exit issue, I haven't heard that one before and it has never happened on the emulator - is it consistent?

If you don't touch the screen for a couple of seconds the game highlights a fish that you could move as a helping hand..

 

[Kelmar]

Not sure about the exit issue, I haven't heard that one before and it has never happened on the emulator - is it consistent?

If you don't touch the screen for a couple of seconds the game highlights a fish that you could move as a helping hand..

Yes, constant issue on the Sprint HTC Hero. I tried reinstalling it with the same issue.

Gotcha, that's a helpful tool if you are handing your phone to a child.

Overall, great job! Shoot me a PM if you get the back issue figured out so I can check it out again (and leave it 5 stars on the market)!

 

[tommoor]

@Kelmar, as email - working on this issue.

Quick note to say the update has landed yesterday evening, with a second gamemode 'drop'. Fish fall from the top and you have to constantly eat to stop the screen from becoming full.

I think I might even prefer this gameplay to the original

 

[mattdanielc]

just downloaded this - good game mate!

Agree about the exit issue. Perhaps a simple button on the menu saying 'exit' ?

No real complaints - all in all a good fun game. Is there a way of turning off the glowing fish though? Perhaps this could only come on in 'easy'?

 

[tommoor]

Agree about the exit issue. Perhaps a simple button on the menu saying 'exit' ?

No real complaints - all in all a good fun game. Is there a way of turning off the glowing fish though? Perhaps this could only come on in 'easy'?

By menu 'issue' is it simply that you would prefer the game to exit if you press back rather than pause?

On the glowing fish.. that's not a bad idea, i will add it to the next update so that fish only glow on the easy level. I normally update the game once a week at the minute

 

[flammenwurfer]

From the video, the game looks very nice! I installed it but it force closes immediately when I try to open it.

My phone is a Sprint HTC Hero and I'm running an Android 2.1 ROM (fresh 2.0d).

I also have a question about the game mechanics. Will I be able to play this game if I'm colorblind? There are a number of games I can't play because they depend solely on color. It would be cool if you could implement some sort of colorblind mode.