

Following GDC 2002, PopCap Games became the publisher for Insaniquarium. The game received updates over the next year. Release įlying Bear Entertainment first released Insaniquarium as a free, Java-based online game on their website on August 31, 2001. Fan designed and programmed a majority of the game along with drawing its concept art and composing some of the music. Following the start of PopCap Games's aid, Insaniquarium used PopCap Games Framework as its engine. Blizzard allowed Fan to develop Insaniquarium before working with them, and PopCap Games aided Fan on Insaniquarium for the next two years. PopCap offered Fan aid in publishing Insaniquarium as a downloadable game, though didn't hire him as Fan was already offered a job at Blizzard Entertainment. They met up at Fan's finalist booth at the conference. Fan contacted PopCap Games and asked if they would be at GDC 2002. Insaniquarium would later win the festival in the category "Innovation in Game Design". įan was in a cyber cafe in Hawaii when he heard that Insaniquarium made it into the festival as a finalist, to which he openly screamed with joy. The prototype submitted took a month to create. He entered Insaniquarium into the festival in 2002. Fan decided to add more depth to Insaniquarium due to his inspiration from an unknown Java game, which let the player buy upgrades with accumulated resources. 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. 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). They formed Flying Bear Entertainment together to develop the game. He paired up with his colleague, an artist named Tysen Henderson, for him to create the backgrounds. Fan started developing Insaniquarium, back then codenamed FishTank, using Java in July 2001. Afterwards, Fan left and became a freelance video game designer. He came across the website for PopCap Games and found their games better than the other Java games he was researching. 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. The Virtual Tank is the player's personal aquarium where their fish is maintained. The player has to fight increasingly difficult waves of aliens while taking care of the fishes and unlocking the pieces to the egg. Challenge mode is unlocked after Adventure mode is completed, and there are four levels that are unlocked in subsequent order. The purpose of each level is to collect as much money before the time runs out.
#Insaniquarium aliens trial
Time Trial mode restricts the player to completing the first tank in five minutes and in ten minutes for the three subsequent tanks. Īfter a tank is completed in Adventure mode, it will be unlocked in Time Trial mode. There are bonus rounds where the player can collect shells, which can be spent to place fish in the Virtual Tank. Each pet can aid the player during gameplay. While 28 pets can be earned throughout Adventure mode, each level requires the player to pick three pets. 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. In each level, the player must earn enough money to buy three egg pieces to advance to the next level. In Adventure mode, a player advances through four tanks, each with five levels. Insaniquarium can be played in five modes: Adventure, Time Trial, Challenge, or Virtual Tank. The aliens must be clicked on repeatedly with the mouse pointer in order to defeat them. In addition to feeding the fish, the player must protect them from aliens that periodically enter the tank and attempt to eat them. For example, guppies eat fish food bought by the player, and carnivores eat little guppies. The method of feeding depends on the type of fish to be fed. Each creature must be kept alive by feeding. The coins will disappear if they reach the bottom of the tank.
#Insaniquarium aliens full
Guppies and other fish drop coins, which can be collected by the player and used to purchase fish food and upgrades, such as more aquatic creatures, food that can keep the fish full for a longer period of time, and laser upgrades to repel attackers.

In the game, the player must manage a tank of guppies and other aquatic creatures, and each stage begins with two guppies in the tank.

#Insaniquarium aliens simulator
Insaniquarium is a virtual pets simulator with a blend of elements from action, strategy, and puzzle video games. Screenshot of gameplay from Insaniquarium
