Tip-Up! is a fast-paced ice fishing themed puzzle / strategy game. The goal is to obtain a high score by returning fish to your shanty while avoiding freezing, falling through the ice, and the game warden.
The goal of Tip-Up! is to obtain a high score by returning fish to your shanty. You have eight tip-ups that randomly get fish bites and go off. You must leave your shanty to go catch the fish. However, whenever you are outside the shanty, your character is freezing and your temperature gauge is depleting. If it turns completely blue, you become a popsickle and it's game over. You can either restore your temperature gauge by returning to the shanty or drinking beer cans. Freezing is only one of your concerns. You can also fall through the ice and end the game. Every time you step on the same patch of ice, it cracks further until it can no longer hold your weight. The third way to end the game is to lose all of your bait.
You will be awarded bonuses for catching more fish, such as bonus beer cans and the ability to strengthen the ice. Also, catching fish awards you shop point which you can use to purchase boards. You may place boards on cracked patches of ice so that they won't be damaged the next time you run across them. Only by wisely using your beer cans, selecting which ice you wish to strengthen, and strategically placing your boards will you be able to post a high score.
The higher your score, the harder the game gets though. First the game warden will appear and walk in between your tip-ups. Touch him and lose all of the fish that you are carrying. Next, storm clouds will appear which will obscure your view of everything they pass over. Finally, if you do well enough, snow cyclones will randomly charge across the screen. If you get caught in the middle of one, your temperature gauge will drop much quicker. The game comes with a complete tutorial, but the gameplay is very simple and easy to pick up since it is limited to only the directional keys, space bar, and b button. After downloading the game from IndieDB.com or ModDB.com for FREE, please let me know what you think. I look foward to hearing feedback and suggestions for improvements towards my next version.Thanks!
This is a really good classic arcade-style game, really good concept, makes you think and plan your route carefully! I think one thing I would change off the top of my head is increase the limit of how many beer cans you can have, maybe cap it at 5 but start with 3, because I just played a round and got a beer while I had 3 already and it basically makes it pointless! Just a thought, anyways good game and hope to see maybe some other fun arcade style games from you!
Thanks for the comment! You make a good point about the extra bonus beer cans. The game becomes much harder when you run out of beer cans, so I wanted to randomly reward the player. However, like you said, it can also randomly punish the player who has a full set. I'll be sure to address it in the next version.