Patch notes 3/21/2025

Ahoy, cosmic debtors! We have once again made it to FISH FEAR ME Friday!

First, patch notes! As always, patch notes marked with ⚓ are community suggestions.


[h2]Game Balance[/h2]

• ⚓ Significantly buffed money-making weapons:
• Party Cannon: $1/shot -> $5/shot
  
• Ritual of Pain: Changed money gained per ritual from $5 to $10 (LVL 1-2), from $5 to $25 (LVL 3), and from $10 to $50 (LVL 4-6)
  
• Metal Detector: Changed like so:
  LVL 1: $1 per overheal, max $25 -> $1 per overheal, max $50
  LVL 2: $1 per overheal, max $50 -> $2 per overheal, max $75
  LVL 3: $1 per overheal, max $100 -> $2 per overheal, max $100
  LVL 4: $2 per overheal, max $200 -> $4 per overheal, max $200
  LVL 5: $3 per overheal, max $500 -> $6 per overheal, max $500
  LVL 6: $3 per overheal, no max -> $10 per overheal, no max
  

Money-making weapons were broadly underpowered as a category, given their high opportunity cost and low reward. The idea in buffing them like this is to make them more viable in the early-game and provide a stronger risk-reward profile: here's a way of getting significant extra money on top of your fishing, but you miss out on getting a more combat-viable weapon in that slot.
[h2]Bugfixes/Misc[/h2]

• ⚓Fixed a bug where Metal Detector + Summoning Ritual would produce extremely loud noises when triggered simultaneously
  
• Fixed a bug where damage numbers were showing up as the wrong color
  
• Optimization: Changed fish and projectile physics from dynamic to kinematic
  
• Optimization: Made squids spawn trails slightly less often
  

The dynamic->kinematic change should ideally have zero effect on gameplay but decently improve performance. If you notice anything behaving strangely (like its physics is "wrong" for whatever reason) let us know -- this is probably why!


[h2]Optimization and Usability[/h2]
Visiting programmer Noé has been hard at work recently doing controller UI navigation, and it's starting to show results! This game has a lot of menus, and each one requires a semi-bespoke solution, so it's a bit of a Herculean task. Still, progress is being made!!

[h2]WOMEN WANT ME[/h2]
Work on the WOMEN WANT ME expansion is going well! I recently spent a day jamming with Josie Brechner, the game's composer, as we figured out the arc of the expansion's new song. The song's name is KINGFISHER, and it's both a tragic tale of the Lady of the Lake's eternal solitude and an absolute banger. I've been listening to a WIP version of the track on loop all morning -- it's really good.

As some of you know, when I work on content expansions for games, I usually start by setting up a few new mechanics to play with, and then putting them through their paces. For SNAKE FARM: THE CURSE OF RAMONA, this was bomb attacks and teleporting snakes; for WOMEN WANT ME, I'm starting out by creating some new fish AI patterns!



This stop-and-start pattern is useful in a few different contexts -- here, it creates a swarm of lizards that aim and pounce, but it can also be used for the Mimic Octopus I posted about a couple weeks ago:



Get ready to never trust a bounty again :)


I'm excited to report that FISH FEAR ME has its first mod!! Sea Sick Me by SilverQueenRuby is a mod that rotates the camera alongside the boat, de-centers the boat and UI, gives physics to UI elements, and adds screenshake when you're hit. I'm not adding a gif to demonstrate, because I genuinely cannot play this mod for more than thirty seconds without feeling physically ill. It's a delight.

Check it out!

https://www.nexusmods.com/fishfearme/mods/1




What's your favorite fish?

Happy fishing,
Heather Flowers