Fish Swarmer

Enjoyable game, especially in concept, but I couldn't help but notice its flaws pretty quickly. That's not to say I dislike the game, there's a lot of promise here. Nor do I mean this to come off as me wanting you to completely change your game; I just believe this game's a few touches away from being a quick and fun arcade-like experience.

As others have already said, there's no clear indication what your "leader" fish is when switching between forms, and that led to a great many confusing game over screens because I just wasn't aware of that mechanic from the get go. The text assisting the player through the level is pretty fun, but I think it'd be nice to characterize it a bit more. HowardTheHuman mentioned the hint text feels like a guidance NPC, and I think it'd be fun to make the hint text be spoken by an actual fish. Perhaps a fish could be positioned near the text to suggest they're the ones speaking it. On top of indicating who the "leader" fish is, this would help players identify with the fish as characters a bit more. Granted the hint text becoming fish dialogue isn't necessary, it just offers a nice bit of pazazz. If you must make just one change then seriously consider offering the player a clear visual cue so they know which fish is the "leader". Most of my frustration stemmed from that being absent.

Frustration compounded--albeit these are minor hiccups--when I realized switching to a different school doesn't automatically change your formation if you're pressed up against a surface or are otherwise unable to fully complete the required shape. This led to a few occurances where I was trying to switch on the fly and just couldn't. At the start of one level I found myself in piranha formation while using the barracuda (straight line) fish. Another annoying instance was when I switched to the puffer fish formation only for the circle to not fully form, and my "leader" was picked off pretty quickly. The best way to address this might be to show the player the shape of the formation in the numerical toolbar on the top left, while highlighting the fish in the formation when a player is using it. Probably not necessary, but it would at least keep some players from checking the top left to see what formation they're using.

Speaking of formations, they're quite charming. It's a nice touch to use the unique properties of the four fish that embody the mixed school, I especially enjoyed the puffer fish being used as shields. Yet I found the puffer fish formation to be janky. Visually I understand that the fish are encircling the "leader", thus keeping them from harm. But in execution my "leader" would get picked apart due to harpoons acting as lingering hitboxes and hooks shredding through the large shield. Tweaking this to make a single fish actively swim into a hitbox, deactivating it for a few seconds, might help make the puffer fish ability stronger while also providing the player a stronger sense of the school's importance (where each fish, in this case specifically the puffer fish) and how many resources they have left. After all, these fish are a resource as much as they are you. Having the formations be limited to the type of fish you have in your school is a clever concept, but it would be interesting to see each formation specifically "sacrifice" those fish first: piranhas and barracudas in front, puffer fish taking the first hit. The tuna formation does this well, you can only shoot the tuna fish and they unfortunately die in the process. It'd be interesting to see that be a risk of using a specific formation: the fish who make the formation happen have the highest chance of passing away.

By no means do I mean to make it seem like this game is all bad. I understand this is a Game Jam submission, and I hope you realize that my criticisms are minor change suggestions. Outside of highlighting the leader which I feel is an oversight that needs correction for the game to be more player friendly, this is surprisingly well made for a project hammered out on little time. The visual style is simple as is the music, but both are charming and grant the game a calming air. There's a sense of a narrative which I found compelling, though I think expanding on the narrative would improve the experience overall. Granted, I'm biased when it comes to narrative driven games, and this is by no means a necessity.

If this were ever to be given more polish, I'd love to play the next incarnation.

Theoretically, the concept of playing as a school of fish in which the amount of HP you have is directly proportional to the amount of fish you have is a fun concept, but sadly it doesn't apply here. You still die in one hit no matter how many fish you have because you only control the 'leader' of the school - and without proper highlighting, it's a nightmare to navigate the narrow trench filled with one-hit-death obstacles, especially when the rest of the school is blocking your view. This is why the second and fourth levels are the hardest because the amount of obstacles is too many while you can't even grasp the position of the 'leader' fish on the screen.

The game mechanic of having multiple kinds of fish with different powers is also a nice concept, but due to the level design and the amount of fish the game throw at you it's hardly matter to lose any fish due to leaving them behind when going through a narrow space, which makes the barracuda power essentially useless.

The hint texts are really fun, and I can definitely feel a personality behind it, like a proper guidance NPC instead of just some texts floating on a screen.

The graphics is nice, though there's nothing to write home about.

The music is chill and a great fit for the theme of the game.

Overall a 7.5/10, and I know this is basically an entry to a game jam but with more polish this could turn into something great. I can definitely see the work the team put in this, so keep going and never give up.