Movement

Controlling the fish

The game was designed with the goal of getting the feeling of flying fast over a landscape while on the edge of your seat, barely holding on of the controls.

This feeling was created by making the movement based on physical forces pushing the avatar around and having heavy damping – echoing the resistance of water – rather than moving the fish directly.

Together with a fairly fast paced base scroll (adjustable by pickups) and a myriad of particle effects to further the sense of speed I feel we accomplished our goal.

UX: Sense of speed

Trails

The sense of speed was very important for the game. Since we had an amazing particle effects artist I tried to use his skills as much as possible and make sure the effects where triggered at appropriate moments.

First there is the ever present trail behind the fish.

Dust cloud

After the player picked up a couple of speed pickups there is a dust cloud (if the player travels close to the ocean floor).

Shockwave

A constant displacement field in front of the fish that grew more and more visible as the speed increased.