子非鱼/Untitled Fish Game
Migrated from "Momentum"
itch.io Link
About Purpose And Utility
The story that happens in this world, starts from the perspective of a sushi chef who, at first, fully believes in the "purpose" it was given as a chef: take order, cook fish, serve dish. Such cycle continues, as the chef encounters various characters throughout the game, there will be moments that will shake the chef's foundational believes in what was indoctrinated by the fish world. Some essential questions should be answered:
"why can't a fish be fish? why do they need arms and legs?"
Where Are You:
Post-apocalyptic Fish World
All of mankind have vanished, and now their empty cities are inhabited by land-walking, intelligent fish creature.
Many of these creatures have duplicated the old lifestyle of human beings, living and working their daily jobs while being proud of their artificially grafted limbs to fulfill their maximum potentially as a member of the fish society.
"be useful", such words have been spreading among the schools of fish to make them believe that happiness and fulfillment come from, and can only come from contributing to their school of fish.
Under such settings, it is one's greatest honor to receive arms and legs to earn the freedom of being useful.
Utility is worshipped, even so, deified sometimes.
Dishes and Spices
This is also a world where "big fish eat little fish" happens quite literally. The concept of cannibalism does not make the walking fish shy away from the delicate cooking recipes that were left behind by the humans. In fact, cooking ties together the whole society:
spices are traded like currencies, recipes and cook-wares are treated like national treasures
those who are willing to DIE for a good dish could earn the gift of "immortality".
Immortality In A Can of Fish
Immortality means the preservation of one's mind. One that is open-minded enough to take the risks in order to achieve more will be rewarded handsomely with the ability to transport one's mind into a new body after the destruction of the old one.
This process is called "canning". Canning one's conscious back into a new vessel.
While maintaining the same conscious, a martyr may potentially modify the new body in order to achieve more in the future.
below images are generated with Midjourney
Who Are You:
Sushi Chef In A World of Fish
A fish chef means:
the responsibility to perfect your study in cuisine techniques that were left behind by the humans
have specialized combat techniques to help you hunt for fresh ingredients
spices and sauces run through your vein to assist you in hunting and cooking
Unlike human beings, fishkinds do not shy away from consuming other members of the society.
general believe that fish markets only serve meat that came from natural causes,
some chefs (including ours) take orders from the "big fish" that the clients may select a cut of meat from some-fish specifically. In the fish society, they believe that eating something showcases their total domination over something. In simple terms to those clients: murder is good, eating your enemy makes it even better.
For example, having that annoying business partner as a plate of delicate sushi on a Friday night is right-up the alley for someone out there who can afford such service.
Martyr & Ikizukuri
Ikizukuri, in human dictionary, means preparing a sashimi dish from live seafood. In our world, it is a grotesque, peculiar, and therefore considered privileged service that can be provided at a fish diner. In order to complete the dish, the chef must become part of the meal. Meaning that the targeted fish will be served as the main course, with the chef being a side-dish.
Of course, such noble sacrifice will be compensated with a resurrection through the fish cannery afterwards.
To Read More About the Untitled Fish Game:
“子非鱼，安知鱼之乐?”
“子非鱼，安知鱼之乐?”
If you translate this sentence word by word, it would be "if you're not a fish, how do you know it's not fun of being one?" Casting aside the discussion about if this argument is a sophistry, I've always liked this quote since the first time I read about it in 5th grade.
To me, it means that I might need to really be in one's perspective to understand his/her/its intentions, actions, and furthermore: values. And I want to at one point deliver that idea in this game.
Our main character is ruthless: a maniac sushi chef that feasts on the flesh of his aquatic enemies with no remorse. On paper, our guy is bat-shit insane: I mean why would you ever do that? That's why I decided to make this game a first person experience. As you play through the game, charging into hordes of enemies like a madman, I want you to really run in the shoes of the main character.
But what about the fish? Why do they attack you? How did they get their legs? Where did they learn their DROPKICK techniques? Who are they worshipping? ... These are the stuff I want to present more as I, as a developer, explore more about this concept/game as I further develop it. Maybe "you" really are what "you" eat, with more fish meat consumed the main character eventually can become one of the landwalkers? Could this be a choice you can make in the end? Or I should incorporate this as part of the combat mechanics? The answer to these questions in my head will be addressed as I progress further (and depended on how much time I have).
But as far as I go with these hysterical imaginations, I want to settle on a name for this project instead of what I was (momentum). So the Chinese name will be called 子非鱼, meaning "you are not a fish" if you take it out of its original context: just like the first part of the game being "you" swinging down these "mindless" goons with no hesitation.
Before I've found a better name, I'm calling this game "Blame The Tiktaalik" (Tiktaalik is the type of fish that first walked on land, so yeah maybe all of this carnage would've been prevented if that guy didn't decide to take a peek out of the water).