FISH GAME
DEVELOPER: A Shell in the Pit Games, Creative Ink Games
RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2023
PLATFORMS: Steam
Fish Game is a freshwater aquarium simulator developed by people who are passionate about educating current and potential fish owners on how to care for their fish properly. In Fish Game, you can customize your aquarium with plants, objects, and various fish, and just like in real life, anything you add will affect the water quality and the fish. Fish Game provides a safe environment for players to explore possibilities through trial and error and learn more about fish. Unlike real life, you don’t have to worry about how much money you have, and this allows players to explore different environments without any restrictions. While there are no financial concerns, players gain XP as they play, which unlocks more items in the shop and upgrades for the aquarium — this keeps the game interesting and exciting for players as they progress.
With over 50 species of fish and 120 varieties, as well as about 75 more items to unlock, there is always something new to look forward to. Each fish has a different personality, which adds to Fish Game’s immersive gameplay. For example, when I played the demo, I placed 2 betas in the aquarium, but they ended up fighting each other because of their personalities. This detailed approach made me care for the virtual fish like real pets.
I had the chance to speak with Gordon McGladdery who is the Director of Fish Game. His company, A Shell in the Pit, provides sound effects and music for a variety of AAA games. Gordon is an avid fish keeper in real life, and he found it difficult to find a legitimate aquarium simulator, so four years ago, he decided to create the game he envisioned. He mentioned that the most challenging aspect of creating this game is marketing, but he is proud of the game's completeness and its addicting and engaging gameplay. Educational games like Fish Game are important, and it’s inspiring to see people using video games to share their knowledge. Fish Game is available now on Steam for all fish lovers to enjoy.
Jennie: Alright, so what was your name and what game are we playing?
Gordon: My name's Gordon McGladdery, and I'm the game director of Fish Game.
Jennie: Alright. Did you come up with this concept? Or…
Gordon: Yes. I wanted to make this game for a long time. So, I run a company called the Shell in the Pit. We do sound effects and music for games, like Untitled Goose Game, more recent, Five Nights at Freddy's installments. Over 50 titles. But I've always been, I was a fish keeper, very avid fish keeper in like university and after university. And then, you know, I moved to South Korea with my wife for a couple years and came back to Vancouver and didn't have time. We were both starting our own businesses, and couldn't pursue the hobby anymore, and I missed it. So I've always wanted somebody else to make this game, and then nobody did.
Jennie: Yeah, [that’s] how it goes.
Gordon: You know, our company had just a bit of money in the bank. I was like, surely I'm not the only one that's feeling this way
Jennie: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Gordon: So I found some developers in Indiana. We partnered up, who have done educational and science-driven games before, and we've, yeah, we've been working on it for about four and a half years, and then we've got a game that we're really proud of. Well, we know that it's scratching that itch for a lot of people.
Jennie: Yeah, and you said that your team was three people?
Gordon: Yes. We've got two full-time in Indiana. I'm pretty much full-time, but I also work just longer than full-time hours because I have to. I'm still a composer by trade. I have to run the audio studios.
Jennie: Okay, wow.
Gordon: And then my producer, also, my producer, at Shell in the Pit has also bought in as an investor on the game. And then, of course, we do all the sound.
Jennie: Yeah, okay.
Gordon: Does that make sense? We've got a few contractors, a 3D modeler, and we have a UI designer as well. And they're part-time.
Jennie: Oh wow, that’s awesome
Gordon: I'm forgetting a lot of them.
Jennie: Yeah, lots of community, village. It takes a village. So if you could go back in time to that, that first time that you like, started with this idea and stuff, and started with this game. Is there anything that you would either tell yourself [or] do differently as someone looking back?
Gordon: Our main problems have not been development really. I'm quite happy with how development itself has progressed.
Jennie: Yeah.
Gordon: Marketing is still unfolding. We had a major… we had a major boom in that my business partner is Destin from Smarter Every Day. It's a YouTube channel that's quite popular, so we were able to have him involved. And yeah, that helped us on our launch. But it's really just a resources issue. I just wish I had more time.
Jennie: Yeah.
Gordon: If I had more time, I could do more of the things that I want to do, yeah? But right now, we're just chilling now. Because, like, we're in it. It's a sim game where the ideal situation is, we get to work on it forever, you know?
Jennie: Yeah, like updating.
Gordon: We can just keep adding stuff forever. So I'm kind of just relaxing and putting my faith in the products because, you know, it's good. Like, we released in October. It's out.
Jennie: Oh yeah. Oh wow.
Gordon: We’ve got 94% positive reviews. It’s doing very well within the fishkeeping and in the sim community.
Jennie: Yeah.
Gordon: And so we'll just keep on rolling because I know, I know we've made it. I know we've made, I think, the best game in this micro genre.
Jennie: Yeah.
Gordon: And we just have to continue finding our people because I know there's a really big audience, and we will just keep chipping away at it.
Jennie: Yeah, yeah.
Gordon: The reason I wanted to is [that] I like systems, interactions, and the randomness that comes out of it. And saying this in front of Dan from Universe Sandbox is like, funny. So… the, like, we work with Caves of Cud, and I just really like the emergent narrative that comes out of just, like, ‘Let's throw a bunch of systems in here and see what happens’.
Jennie: Yeah.
Gordon: Because that's actually kind of what real fishkeeping is. It’s that you're putting in these different personalities, because every species has its own thing, and then every individual, they're doing their own thing too. And seeing how these interactions play out.
Jennie: I was just playing, and I put two betas in there to start, and they fought each other. I was just going through it. I was like, ‘Wait, what are you doing?’ Yeah, I like that.
Gordon: And the hardest part about sims is this degree of depth, within those mechanics, is what you have to do, you have to build so many of those systems before you have anything fun.
Jennie: Oh.
Gordon: You know, like, the game was not fun for two years, probably, but we knew we were getting there.
Jennie: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Gordon: Like, we still have a lot of confidence. Like, you can see the glimmer of hope, but it took a long time to be like, ‘Okay. Like, this is okay. We're there now’.
Jennie: Yeah, yeah.
Gordon: And now it's just getting even better.
Jennie: Nice, alright. Well, is there anything else you would like to add or say about your game?
Gordon: About the game? Join our Discord. It's a really friendly community, and you can and some of the aquascapes that people are doing in there are absolutely incredible.
Jennie: Yeah. That’s cool. And so, is it on Steam? Is it on any other platforms?
Gordon: Just on Steam.
Jennie: All right, perfect. Well, thank you so much, and it was great to meet you.
