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content/blog/tiddler-dev-blog-1-making-a-plan/index.md

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+---
+title: "Tiddler Dev Blog #1 - Making a Plan"
+date: 2026-02-10T14:18:57Z
+tags:
+  - gamedev
+  - godot
+  - tiddler
+draft: false
+---
+
+Since actually finishing and releasing [Whittler](/games/whittler) a few weeks ago I've been thinking hard about what kind of game I want to make next. I've got a massive list of projects I've started and not progressed with, ranging from a nature game with a fully generative forest that spawns trees based on moisture levels, soil quality and terrain height through to an underground cavern simulator with destructable terrain.
+
+None of these ideas have really stuck for very long beyond the initial idea and rush of building the first few Cool New Things.
+
+I've always had a thing for fishing in games, I have multiple 100 skill fishers in Final Fantasy XI, and making a cosy fishing game has always been on the cards.
+
+I did, however, need to make sure I would follow through with it. So I started where any good idea goes first - and started writing a list of ideas.
+
+This was the initial list of ideas I came up with:
+
+- Core catch mechanic
+  - Quick bar on screen that has zones to trigger catching which affects success and quality of catch
+  - Nailing the catch gives you a bonus to your next cast
+- Fish should be affected by environment affects, location, time of day, weather, and moon phase.
+- There should be some sense of progression
+  - New fishing locations
+  - Upgraded rods
+  - Access to new baits
+- There should be some big grindy quest chain that involves catching a lot of fish
+  - This won't be to everyones taste, but I am making this game for myself.
+- There should be mythical fish that require some uncovering to find out how to catch and with what.
+
+This was the absolute base list, it's since grown a bit and got slightly more meat on the bones. Side note, I have started using UpNote for keeping notes, drafts and ideas. It's very handy and syncs across devices.
+
+Using this list of ideas I came up with with a list of mechanics I would need to create:
+
+- Fish database
+- Fishing game interaction
+- Fishing levels / reputation
+- Time progression
+- Inventory management
+- Shop
+- Quest system
+
+This was a pretty tasty list to get started with, so I started where anyone would with a clear list of mechanics they need to make and opened Tiled to start drawing a map.
+
+After I got a cop on myself I closed Tiled and opened up Godot and started getting the main classes in place, even if they were only placeholders. I knew I would need a central event bus and a strong event driven system in order to not become severely unstuck when I got to implementing quests, so that gave me some clear architectural pieces to work towards.
+
+After a few days of tinkering, I did have what could be considered the bones of a game.
+
+{{< img src="tiddler-1.png" alt="Tiddler - The First Screenshot" width="900x" >}}
+
+Yes, I did make some more of a map - it wasn't fun watching some boxes move around the screen.
+
+My very rough plan is to put out regular blogs going over each of the major features as I get to refining them... So maybe pop back some time if that kind of rambling interests you.