auughhhh this is really great! i have a hard time pulling myself away from it lol.
it's deceptively easy to run into a stationary obstacle.... i think the stop-and-start motion of the basic fishes does a lot for breaking up your ability to read the situation from a glance. also like how the other creatures that come in break up your habits further by forcing you to be more mobile, which may or may not drive you right into another fish while you're trying to focus on getting out of the way.
i'm reminded of some stuff from melos han-tani's devlogs for angeline era abt how a big focus was designing the game so that players would have to always be managing shifting zones of risk. i think there's a very similar dynamic here. even before the big fish (frog?) comes in, the random patterns of the red fish naturally create riskier or less risky spaces on the screen. it's very dynamic and exciting, especially when you get cocky and think you can swoop in btwn a bunch of the them and nab a treat.
Couple people in the discord I hang out in are 80+, but this is my record after playing this all morning. Just phenomenal. Few scattered observations:
brlka is best-in-class at minimalist theming + sound design. Thinking of that soda can pull-tab used for death sound in Love Eternal, I'd love to know what the treat-grab here is based on. Has that tactility of a mouse-pad click but more organic, somehow. The whole thing being about syncopation staged within fish-tank-like boundaries through which wave-like obstacles move unperturbed is just perfect, too. I like how the larger, deterministic fish variants force the player to switch between different dodge intervals, and that the sensation of swimming is so strong despite the spareness of the elements onscreen.
For me the wax-on-wax-off flow state here is even more addicting than Angel or Hornet; it will maybe function as a gateway drug for chasing higher scores in those two and others, though. There's a way I've been intentionally blurring my vision to better interpret incoming signals--between farsighteness and myopia, or something, swimmingly?--that my highest runs are contingent on.
It only occurred to me while playing this that Snake is one of the prototypical avoidance games.
I'd love to pay for a commercial/Steam compilation of brlka's avoidance / fixed screen games. Turning the corner on strongly liking this stuff to being obsessed with it. Bravo!
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auughhhh this is really great! i have a hard time pulling myself away from it lol.
it's deceptively easy to run into a stationary obstacle.... i think the stop-and-start motion of the basic fishes does a lot for breaking up your ability to read the situation from a glance. also like how the other creatures that come in break up your habits further by forcing you to be more mobile, which may or may not drive you right into another fish while you're trying to focus on getting out of the way.
i'm reminded of some stuff from melos han-tani's devlogs for angeline era abt how a big focus was designing the game so that players would have to always be managing shifting zones of risk. i think there's a very similar dynamic here. even before the big fish (frog?) comes in, the random patterns of the red fish naturally create riskier or less risky spaces on the screen. it's very dynamic and exciting, especially when you get cocky and think you can swoop in btwn a bunch of the them and nab a treat.
my high score is 47..... for now
I reach 30, this is amazing XD
I really do think this is what it's like for them
One of the best arcade games I've played, extremely fun! I would definitely buy a "Minnow Eternal" on Steam lol
33! Was almost tempted to cover the score counter, it kept throwing me off. I love how easy it is to start a new round.
55 treats, the new aquatic creature is scary. another great addition to the most epic score attack series
i love the movement in this one.. being a minnow feels great. i'm stuck at a lowly 23 treats until i get more time to sit down and practice