Ishi Mushi was created for the GameDev.tv Game Jam 2025.  

I am an Indie developer from Canada, but living in Japan for the past 20 years. Part of my inspiration came from how my kids like searching under rocks in our small garden.  Unfortunately, they mostly find "dongomushi" or what I would call potato bugs.  So, I thought I'd capture that experience, but make the critters under the rocks a bit more colorful and fun. 

This version of the game basically matches my initial plan for the game.  I planned to have more player freedom, but with the time limit imposed by the game jam, I was only able to implement a linear progression.  I do plan to update it to give players more choice and as I was putting it together, I thought of a lot more features that I would like to add like a day night cycle or multiple locations and special rare critters.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and play the game.  Feedback is welcome!

Jeff @ Aspidochelone Studios