Hello, I'm Nevin Portillo and I'll be participating as a solo jammer.  This is my first devlog for my submission to the FishFest game jam! https://itch.io/jam/fishfest

Game Concept

• Game Title: Speedy Salmon
• Pitch: Speedy Salmon is a 3D, speed-action game where you play as a salmon who's trying to swim back to the ocean by traveling downstream a rapid river, all while trying to survive various obstacles that threaten your life.
• Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Trying to ideate a game idea I took inspiration from the life cycle of a salmon. Salmon are particularly interesting because they can migrate between saltwater and freshwater. Adults will swim upstream from the ocean to a river and become accustomed to the water change. They will find a decent spot along the river and lay their eggs. The eggs then hatch and the babies will grow and live by the river for a couple of years before grouping up and traveling back to the ocean. I wanted to make a very simple yet fun game, so the mechanics aren't too complex and there's simple systems in the game, but I want to have a fast-paced flow as you rush down the river trying to keep control.

I also really wanted to try making this in Unreal Engine 5. I knew that when coming up with the idea it would be best in either 2D or 3D, and that I would use Godot4 or UE5 respectively. I've used Godot before but I've recently been learning UE5, and although I'm not too confident in getting every aspect of an Unreal game decent, I ain't gonna learn through only tutorials.

Controls

• A, D, LeftArrow, RightArrow - move left and right
• W, UpArrow - rise
• S, DownArrow - dip
• Space - skip or fly

The inputs will be WASD or arrow keys, and spacebar, and I'm planning to add controller compatibility. In the game the player is constrained to move forward down the river, in a similar concept to Subway Surfers or Temple Run where the player is constantly running forwards and can only jump or move side to side, though not snapping to a left, middle, or right lane. 

The camera will follow behind the player. A/D or LeftArrow/RightArrow keys move the player left and right, and the camera will slowly follow the player horizontally. W or UpArrow is to rise up to the surface, with the camera focusing on everything outside the river. S or DownArrow is to dip below the surface and move downward, with the camera focusing only below the surface, making everything above the water not visible. Space is to "skip" or "fly". While the player is on the surface, pressing space will make them "skip" (like skipping a rock across a lake) and jump above the water with low altitude. If the player dips, then rises, and presses space before reaching the surface, they will get a boost to "fly" (similar to how flying fish jump out the water) and propel themselves in the air also using any added momentum.

Planning

To keep myself organized I'm using Trello. I've used a scrum framework before for my 2D Capstone class at UT Austin, and while you can't really do agile with only a week of development, I've taken inspiration and made a backlog, along with tasks that I'm planning for tomorrow, have yet to do today, is in progress, and is completed. I also have a list of resources, such as assets or videos, to use for my project, and my overarching game idea to make sure I'm staying in-line with it.

Thank you so much for reading! Once again make sure you take a look at the game jam page as well as everyone else's progress here https://itch.io/jam/fishfest . The jam ends on the 8th at 6pm, so by then there will be plenty of fishy adventures to check out!