In addition to feeding the fish, the player must protect them from aliens that periodically enter the tank and attempt to eat them.įor example, guppies eat fish food bought by the player, and carnivores eat little guppies. The aliens must be clicked on repeatedly with the mouse pointer in order to defeat them. Insaniquarium can be played in five modes: Adventure, Time Trial, Challenge, or Virtual Tank. In Adventure mode, a player advances through four tanks, each with five levels. In each level, the player must earn enough money to buy three egg pieces to advance to the next level. During an initial playthrough of Adventure mode, at the end of each level of a tank, the player receives a new pet from the egg. While 28 pets can be earned throughout Adventure mode, each level requires the player to pick three pets. Each pet can aid the player during gameplay. There are bonus rounds where the player can collect shells, which can be spent to place fish in the Virtual Tank. Īfter a tank is completed in Adventure mode, it will be unlocked in Time Trial mode. Time Trial mode restricts the player to completing the first tank in five minutes and in ten minutes for the three subsequent tanks. The purpose of each level is to collect as much money before the time runs out. Challenge mode is unlocked after Adventure mode is completed, and there are four levels that are unlocked in subsequent order. The player has to fight increasingly difficult waves of aliens while taking care of the fishes and unlocking the pieces to the egg. The Virtual Tank is the player's personal aquarium where their fish is maintained. George Fan (pictured in 2018) is the creator, designer, and programmer of Insaniquarium.ĭuring his time working for the online gaming portal, George Fan was researching Java games. He came across the website for PopCap Games and found their games better than the other Java games he was researching. Afterwards, Fan left and became a freelance video game designer. Fan started developing Insaniquarium, back then codenamed FishTank, using Java in July 2001. He paired up with his colleague, an artist named Tysen Henderson, for him to create the backgrounds. They formed Flying Bear Entertainment together to develop the game. įan's main purpose with creating Insaniquarium was to develop a video game to enter into the Independent Games Festival, having decided to do so along with Henderson after seeing the independent games in Game Developers Conference 2001 (GDC 2001). Fan's idea 'was to create a game that's easy to get into, yet unfolds into something much deeper.' The first prototype simply featured clicking on the fish to feed them when necessary.

Insaniquarium online