Merge Fish
Merge Fish is a cozy fishing game about merging fish, exploring lakes, and growing your fishing operation. Catch fish, merge matching ones, and complete orders to earn upgrades. But think twice before selling your best catch—it could be the bait you need to lure something much bigger.
š£ Cast your line or let your crew help. Hire fishermen to keep the catches coming while you focus on other things.
š Merge and collect. Combine matching fish to increase their star rating and fill out your collection.
š§ Explore the lakes. Discover new fishing spots and learn where to find each species.
š¦ Complete orders. Deliver the fish your customers need and spend your earnings on upgrades.
š Lure giant fish bosses. Toss fish into the lake to attract something enormous from the depths—then try to reel it in!
Thereās always one more fish to catch.
š ļø This is the game jam version of Merge Fish. A more complete demo is planned for Steam. Iāll post an update here once itās ready—stay tuned, and thanks for playing!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
addictive, as incrementals should be.
automatization is good, but need something more (exploring or meta-progression or more fishing mechanics, idk)
visuals are AI slop, but animations are quite good. hope you find an artist for yout project soon
Itās a really solid game—genuinely addictive—that makes you want to just sit back and relax while matching up the fish.
Itās worth noting that AI-generated visuals aren't the enemy here; when you're working under a tight deadline without an artist on hand, you can't exactly create a polished look from scratch—and there's no point filling the game with primitive shapes when modern tools offer better alternatives.
Obvious AI Slop graphics, how disappointing.
So what? Throughout my career, Iāve created a bunch of games with unique graphics, and I want to say that the current breakthrough in AI allows me to work on ideas quickly, testing them for playability. You can always draw graphics for any game, but once the game design is flawed, thereās no way to fix it.
lowkey full dermo
The game is awesome! I love games in this merge style — you go in, everything is clear and intuitive, you press a button and it works. Yeah, probably AI was used, but come on, just look at how much work and ideas the person put into it. I think everyone is already using AI — some more, some less. This is the time for that. Iād like it to keep developing and get released on Steam.
I donāt understand why you donāt want to skip this game. The rules say you can ignore the jam theme, so other projects arenāt any better. This is just wow — Iād even support the gameās author.
Give it a chance, I think the creator will use the original assets for the Steam version; right now, weāve put together an image so that the game feels fresh and plays normally.
Hi there, jam host of the Cozy Fall Jam 2026 here. I'm letting you know I've disqualified your game from the jam. The reason for this is threefold:
1. You're using artwork generated by AI, which is not allowed in this jam.
2. You've created a mirror link page after missing the deadline, which is not allowed. Via the Discord there was an official short grace period for these kinds of issues.
3. You're game has nothing to do with the main theme of the jam, which is fall.
Thanks for your understanding, and have a nice day.
Dude, at least my game is actually playable, unlike 90% of the entries in this jam. So good luck picking a winner between yourself and the guy who used AI—you just didnāt notice.
After giving it some thought, I've decided to take the following standpoint regarding the policing of AI in this jam: I will not always be able to be 100% certain as to whether AI was used visually, let alone in the back (e.g. code). So following that train of thought, it would not be fair to disqualify obvious AI entries as there will be non-obvious AI entries that make it through. Policing AI entries also creates a lot of controversy in general which negatively impacts the vibe of the jam.
So while I still agree with my 2nd and 3rd point about the reasons for your disqualification, I will requalify your entry to comply with my earlier made point. Thanks.
Okay, can I upload the game files directly instead of using a mirror link, then? I was literally just waiting for the build to finish. I submitted the game that same evening and havenāt made any changes since.
Please DM me via Discord.
I sent you a friend request on Discord so I can message you. Could you please accept it?