Skyhook Tides

Cinevva's analyzer read this game's design doc and its source, then wrote the brief below. "Make your own" hands it to the game creator as your opening message, so you start from a real spec rather than a one-line idea.

Recreate a mobile-friendly 2D side-view arcade game titled “Skyhook Tides” in a flat minimalist vector style. The entire playfield is a vertically scrolling sky/ocean-like space viewed with an orthographic camera. Begin on a warm gradient background that transitions from pale yellow-orange at the top through coral and violet into dark indigo/purple depths as altitude increases. Add layered, semi-transparent silhouetted mountains along the lower horizon, with the mountains fading away as the player climbs, and gradually reveal very subtle pink and purple abstract blob shapes in the deep zones. Do not use realistic textures or 3D scenery.

The player controls a small glowing cream-colored fishing hook hanging from a pale line. At the beginning of each run the hook launches upward and slightly sideways from near the bottom-center, with modest initial velocity. Gravity continuously pulls it downward and drag reduces its horizontal and vertical velocity, so it cannot climb forever without successful catches or reeling. The camera smoothly follows the hook upward and tracks a small amount of horizontal movement. Keep the hook within horizontal bounds around the camera; it bounces off the side limits with reduced speed. Draw a pale fishing line from near the upper-left portion of the visible playfield to just above the hook, making it feel like the hook is being cast from offscreen. Give the hook a soft yellow glow and slight rotation based on movement.

Populate the area ahead of the camera with many colorful, simple vector fish distributed in loose horizontal lanes rather than directly on top of the hook. Each fish is an oval body with a triangular tail and one dark eye, using a rotating palette of warm yellow, coral, mint, lavender, pale yellow, and pink. Fish drift gently horizontally and bob slightly. Some fish are larger legendary fish with a pale glowing ring around them and a small chance to appear, especially at higher altitudes. When the hook overlaps a fish, catch it immediately: remove the fish, emit a burst of small colored particles, increase the combo count, award points, add upward velocity, and refill some green reel energy. Normal fish give a small lift and score value; fish of later types are worth more; legendary fish provide substantially more lift, energy, and points. Points should scale upward with the current chain combo. Show a large temporary pale-yellow “+points” popup near the center after every catch. If the hook is falling rapidly, gradually reduce the combo. Keep spawning replacement fish so the play area remains populated.

The main interaction is pointer/touch control: moving a mouse, finger, or pointer left and right steers the hook toward the pointer’s world x-position. Holding the pointer down anywhere during gameplay spends the green reel-energy bar and applies upward acceleration, while also damping horizontal motion. Releasing the pointer stops reeling; energy slowly regenerates. The run ends when the hook falls below the camera after the run has lasted several seconds. Present the start screen again after a loss, showing the best climb in feet, the current score, and how many fish families were unlocked, with a “CAST AGAIN” button. Also allow Space to start when not running and to act as a held reel key while running.

Build the HUD as translucent rounded glass-like overlays over the playfield. In the upper-left show a very large altitude number in feet and a smaller uppercase layer label. Altitude is based on vertical hook position; use these layer names at increasing heights: “surface launch”, “sunlit shallows”, “violet reef”, “dream thermals”, “abstract deep-zone”, and “legendary sky trench”. In the upper-right show a rounded score box with the numeric “combo score” and a horizontal energy bar whose fill is a mint-to-pale-yellow gradient. Along the left side place a narrow vertical progress meter with a rounded milestone label such as “2,680 M”, tick marks, and a fill that gradients from pale yellow through coral to purple. The meter tracks progress toward successive 2,680-meter milestones. Along the right side place six stacked rounded roster slots, each containing a fish silhouette: the first starts unlocked and brightly colored while the others are dark silhouettes labeled “LOCK”; catching a fish type unlocks its corresponding slot and changes it to a bright “NEW” fish silhouette. Keep the roster and HUD responsive on narrow mobile screens.

Before the first run, show a centered translucent dark-purple rounded card with the large cream title split over two lines, “Skyhook” and “Tides”, plus the explanatory text: “Launch your hook, drag through fish, chain catches, and climb from warm surface skies into purple abstract depths.” Place a large pill-shaped button with a yellow-to-coral gradient, dark bold text “CAST THE HOOK”, and a darker offset shadow beneath it. At the bottom center show a pill instruction overlay reading “Tap / hold to reel upward · steer with mouse or finger”; during a run change it to “Hold spends reel energy · steer into fish to keep climbing,” and after a loss to “Tap cast to launch another continuous run.” Use rounded playful display typography for the title and altitude, with bold clean sans-serif supporting UI. The overall composition should feel like the supplied screenshot: warm, dreamy, colorful, abstract, and arcade-like, with no extra gameplay systems, weapons, enemies, or scenery beyond the hook, fish, line, particles, scrolling background, HUD, and start/end panel.