Insaniquarium

Lore & Background

Insaniquarium was mainly designed and programmed by George Fan through his company Flying Bear Entertainment. Fan's main intention was to have the game featured in the Independent Games Festival. After learning the game had made it as a finalist, Fan paired up with PopCap Games to make the game downloadable. The game was a success, garnering general praise for its fast-paced gameplay. The game has the player maintain a tank full of fish while protecting it from alien attacks. In the game, the player must manage a tank of guppies and other aquatic creatures, collecting coins to purchase fish food and upgrades. The player must also protect the fish from aliens that periodically enter the tank. The game can be played in four modes: Adventure, Time Trial, Challenge, or Virtual Tank. Adventure mode advances through four tanks, each with five levels, and the player earns new pets from eggs. Time Trial mode restricts completion time, Challenge mode involves increasingly difficult waves of aliens, and Virtual Tank serves as a personal aquarium and screensaver.

Reader's Guide

Insaniquarium was a commercial success, with IGN reporting over 18 million downloads of the Deluxe version by December 2005, and Pocket Gamer reporting 20 million downloads by April 2006. The game received positive appraisal from critics, who praised its fast-paced gameplay and visuals. Jay Bibby of Jay is Games called it 'cute, strange and addictive'. PCMag's Carol Mangnis stated that it 'takes the joy and anxiety of maintaining an aquarium and turns [it] into a supercharged Tamagotchi-like experience.' Steve Palley of GameSpot described it as 'a fast-clicking experience that's several orders of magnitude crazier than your typical real-life aquarium.' GameDaily's Samantha Rupert noted the game never gets boring due to changes every five levels, while Stuart Dredge of Pocket Gamer observed that players might tire of it faster than hoped. The game's visuals were praised by IGN's Levi Buchanan for being 'almost fiercely colorful' and by Joel Brodie of Gamezebo for the personality of each character. Retrospectively, Jordan Devore from Destructoid felt the game had aged well, and PC Gamer's Jody Macgregor listed it among the best underwater games, saying it 'takes the inane pleasantness of owning a fish tank and video gamifies the hell out of it.'

Did You Know?

• Insaniquarium was originally a web-based Java game released in 2001 before becoming a downloadable title in 2004.
• George Fan designed and programmed most of the game, drew its concept art, and composed some of its music.
• The game won the 'Innovation in Game Design' category at the Independent Games Festival in 2002.
• Insaniquarium was ported to mobile devices by Glu Mobile in 2006 and by Astraware in 2008.