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Working on fishy facts offline

  • Copied TODOs from 20260814162226
  • I really need to make that production plan, I'm late!!! I was supposed to do it at the beginning of this month.
  • It looks like I take about a month to implement a new mechanic and make all the puzzles for the next area with it.
    • The initial light mechanic was implemented on July 15th in f926566
    • The last light puzzle was added on Aug 14th in d5a9b21
    • I did not write any dialog. However, I may get some assistance with the writing by doing a skill trade.
    • Since there are 3 areas that introduce new mechanics left, I will probably need three months to implement the rest of the areas that require new mechanics.
    • The last area is a combination of all mechanics. While there are no new mechanics, I could easily imagine this taking about a month to do as it would also be around the time I do a little bit of work to finish the entire progression of the game and add a winning screen and such.
    • This takes me to the end of the year, which is later than I would like. However, it's far enough that I can start doing marketing while doing polish for the game
    • It would be nice to reserve several months for polish, especially to implement features like the stamp rally mechanic. This would also be a good time to finally get the art in, like the 3d models, the character art, the key art, etc.
    • It looks like it would be good to plan for showing the game off at conventions starting next year rather than this year.
  • Checking the asset list from 20260710234933
    • I recall that the artist I want to work with itemized the work needed and quoted me the following time and cost: $10 USD/hr, for 321 hours of work, which would take about 3 months and cost a total of $3,210 USD.
    • Considering that I think this rate is too low, I want to drop some of the work the artist needs to do that isn't super important. If I dropped the illustrations for the animals and backgrounds, the total time the artist needs to do the work drops to around 175 hours. I estimate this would probably take them about two months, and I could probably pay them $15/hr or $2,625 USD.

Production Schedule:

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Gameplay Kelp Forest Coral Reef Tide Pool Deep Sea Stamp Rally Polish and QA " " " " Release
Writing Open Sea Kelp Forest Coral Reef Tide Pool Deep Sea Polish " " " " Release
Art Character Design Marketing Assets Art Assets " " " Release
Music Marketing Assets Music " Release
Marketing Storefront Pages, Streamers Kickstarter Demo Release Capital Creative Showcase Steam Next Fest Release

Research:

  • Whale shark
    • https://www.sharks.org/whale-shark-rhincodon-typus
      • Rhincodon typus
      • Whale sharks are very calm and gentle.
      • They go on long-distance migrations over a long period of time and like to visit favored feeding sites regularly to eat.
      • They are distributed all over the world, except in the Mediterranean
    • https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19488/126673248
      • Endangered
    • https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/shark/whale-shark/
      • The largest shark and the largest of any fish alive today.
      • They feed on plankton.
      • Found in all tropical oceans of the world
      • They have a white spotted coloration, which makes these gentle giants easy to distinguish.
      • Weight of up about 11 tons.
      • Length of up to 60 feet.
      • Whale sharks indicate the presence of plankton and thus the overall health of the oceans.
      • All tagged sharks spent most of their time below 150 feet, rarely rising to the surface.
      • Popular with snorkelers and divers at sites where they aggregate off the coast.
  • Diatoms
    • https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/animals-a-to-z/diatoms
      • Diatoma
      • A group of unicellar algae, which could have as many as two million species, and come in a wide variety of shapes.
      • Diatoms absorb carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to create energy and oxygen through photosynthesis.
      • 20 to 40% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by diatoms.
      • The cell walls of diatoms are made of silica, and the cell walls make up Diatomaceous deposits.
      • Diatomaceous deposits make up 26% of Earth’s crust by weight and are thought to be nearly 13 million years old.
      • Size ranges from 2 to 500 μm (micrometers)
      • Diatoms are an example of phytoplankton.
  • Plankton
    • https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/plankton.html
    • A group of organisms is considered plankton if it is carried by tides and currents and cannot swim against these forces.
    • Plankton are usually microscopic, but can include larger species like crustaceans and jellyfish.
    • There are two types of plankton: phytoplankton, which are plants, and zooplankton, which are animals.
    • Krill is one of the most well-known types of zooplankton.
    • During daylight hours, zooplankton generally drift into deeper waters to avoid predators, returning to the surface at night to feed on phytoplankton. The carbon in the consumed phytoplankton is defecated and sinks, becoming trapped deep in the ocean.
    • This process involves so many animals that the journey can be observed from space.

TODOs:

  • I'm going to reorganize the TODOs to be more focused on what I should do next.
  • Marketing
  • Writing
  • Touchpool
  • Open Sea
  • Map:
  • Level Select:
  • Puzzle:
  • Tutorial
      • Maybe add popups or background graphics showing controls as necessary
      • Maybe add help button on levels that add more context/hints
  • Visual Novel:
  • Stamp Rally:
  • Editor:
  • Kelp Forest (See 20260710234933)
  • Coral Reef (See 20260710234933)
  • Tide Pool (See 20260710234933)
  • Deep Sea (See 20260710234933)
  • Supporting dialogs (See 20260710234933)

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