The Game Dev’s Guide to Fishing Minigames
Why do so many games have a fishing minigame, and why do we love them?
Imagine having your own spaceship.
With it, you can freely travel across hundreds of galaxies and explore millions of planets. You can discover all kinds of flora and fauna, earn money to upgrade your ship, build a base, and gather resources with your friends.
Now, picture yourself sitting down to fish in the midst of all this.
It sounds absurd, but this is what drew me back to No Man’s Sky after years: the new fishing minigame. And as it turns out, I’m not the only one.
This also made me think: Why do so many games include fishing minigames, and why do we love them? That’s what we’re looking at in today’s issue. Let’s go!
Why so many games have a fishing minigame?
No Man’s Sky, Destiny 2, Far Cry 6, the Zelda series, World of Warcraft, Stardew Valley, Red Dead Redemption 2, Final Fantasy 15—and many more I could list just to get closer to my target word count—all these seemingly unrelated games have one thing in common: They all have a fishing minigame. BUT WHY???
The biggest reason, as Adam Millard explains in his video "Why The Hell Are There So Many Fishing Minigames?" is that fishing (and other minigames) gives players a fun and relaxing break from the main gameplay loop.
Our brains naturally get tired and bored when doing the same thing for too long. Take the first three hours of Doom, for example. It’s incredibly fun at first, but after three hours of nonstop monster-slaying, most players feel mentally exhausted and need a break. That’s what minigames do: They provide a break and allow the brain to engage with something different so it recharges for the main game.
Also, being a "mini" game by nature, the mechanics are simple and easy to learn, making it both relaxing and rewarding at the same time.
Why is fishing, in particular, such a common minigame?
It's likely because fishing can easily be integrated into many different game mechanics. As we'll see in the next section, developers often tailor the fishing mechanic to fit the theme and other systems of the game. (Plus, it helps that fishing is something we're all familiar with.)
Different Types of Fishing Minigames
The most common type of a fishing minigame involves casting a line, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then spamming buttons once the fish bites. But some fishing minigames go beyond this. Let’s look at a few different types:
Turn-Based Fishing: The player and the fish take turns making decisions. A rare example is Dragon Quest X, where you try to make the best move without wasting resources or letting the fish escape.
First-Person Shooter Fishing: The player must aim and shoot to catch fish. In Yakuza 6, you dive, then simply shoot and slaughter all fish until the boss fish appears.
Simulation Fishing: These games aim for realism. They require players to factor in bait, tackle, weather, and fish behavior for a more authentic fishing game. Example: Red Dead Redemption 2.
Stardew Valley-Type Fishing: Not sure what else to call these, but it’s where the player controls a slider within a bar and tries to keep it aligned with a moving fish icon. Cult of the Lamb also uses a similar mechanic. (Another magnificent game uses the same mechanic, which I talk about in a sec).
What Makes a Good Fishing Minigame?
There’s no universal answer to this, as mechanics can vary heavily depending on the game. But in my opinion, a good fishing minigame rests on three key pillars:
1. Relaxing
The main goal is to give players a break from their piling quests and other responsibilities. They should be able to sit back and enjoy fishing without any stress. The mechanics should be simple and easy to learn so they can jump in and start playing right away.
2. Rewarding
It’s not enough just to have a minigame; you need to give players some incentives. This could be fishing tournaments, selling fish for money to complete other quests, or even fishing-focused objectives. All of these can motivate players to engage with the minigame more.
3. Different
While the mechanics should align with the game’s overall theme, they shouldn’t feel identical to the main gameplay. After all, the goal is to give players a refreshing break. For example, my game is text-based and heavily focused on reading. A text-based fishing mechanic wouldn’t make much sense in this case.
Speaking of my game…
Fishing in Herald of the Mists
Yes, I couldn’t resist adding a fishing minigame to my own game. Since it’s text-based, I included a small time-based mechanic to give players a break from all the reading. In its current form, it’s a very basic Stardew Valley clone. After getting your rod and bait, you cast your line, wait for a random fish, and then try to keep the hook over the moving fish until you catch it. It’s still a work in progress—I plan to add more fish types, rods, and spice up the mechanics.
Final Words
In summary, fishing and other minigames offer players a break from the main responsibilities of the game, giving their brains a chance to rest. Fishing is so common because it blends easily with other mechanics and is simple yet rewarding. However, it’s also crucial to make it unique enough when adding it to a game.
So, what’s your favorite fishing minigame?
To-Do List
Watch: Top 10 Best Upcoming Indie Games - Steam Next Fest Oct 2024!
Learn: How to Create a Squash and Stretch effect in Unity with code (2D, 3D, UI)
Read: How My Indie Game Hit 10k Wishlists
Me
Reading: I finally finished Jade Legacy, the third book in the Green Bone Saga, and what an incredible ending to the series. While the first book is still my favorite, this one had moments where it surpassed it. Spanning over 30 years, it allowed us to see the characters grow and evolve along with their world. I’ll definitely miss spending time with these characters and can’t wait to see what Fonda Lee writes next. Even if you're not into urban fantasy (like me), I highly recommend checking it out.
Playing: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. The first Pillars game is one of my favorite CRPGs, but despite that, I couldn’t get into Deadfire in my previous two attempts. Now, with Avowed nearing release, I’m giving it a third and final shot.
Listening:
Thanks for reading!
And that’s it from today’s issue of GameDev’s Journey. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you did, please like and leave a comment. Reach out for suggestions, objections, questions, or just say hi.
But regardless, thank you so much for reading, and have a great game dev journey!
Quite interesting about fishing mini games. I do rembered playin that in FF XV. This kind of side game helps break the grind in some of these rpg intense battles.
This is quite fitting. I just tried fishing in Red Dead Redemption 2 yesterday. :D