FishMoto - similar game for iPhone

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 28 May 2011, 02:52

EDIT:
New trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLp8z6Cxh0U
It's out now: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fishmoto ... 78351?mt=8#

Old Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agvntUBpUF4

I have fond memories playing Elma and noticed there wasn't really anything like it on the app store so I decided to do it myself

-- planning to release it mid June. Thought you guys might be interested and feedback from the Elma community is important to me. Let me know what you think!

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 28 May 2011, 12:48

I think you should download Elma online

The game you made looks cool but kinda stonerish

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 28 May 2011, 13:06

Haruhi wrote:The game you made looks cool but kinda stonerish

Why "but"?

By looking at the trailer this looks like the best Elma clone evar!

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 28 May 2011, 13:18

it's hard to say if it's good based on a vid, I dont like the wheel wobbling.

iPhone ._.

Ecchi · Post by **Ecchi** » 28 May 2011, 14:43

The whole iphone part made it shit in my eyes, good idea though. Just need android stamp on it

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 28 May 2011, 19:03

Ecchi wrote:The whole iphone part made it shit in my eyes, good idea though. Just need android stamp on it

Haha well if I end up having the money/time to do so, I'd love to port it to Android. PC/Mac versions are also very possible.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 28 May 2011, 20:49

JTown wrote:PC/Mac versions are also very possible.

PLEASE! I'm strongly against touch screens (because I'm a bum).

Chris · Post by **Chris** » 30 May 2011, 00:22

Game looks cool. I don't like the levels. They look like typical battle levels made quickly in elma editor. The empty spaces between polygons at 0:11. No grass or anything like that. It's hard to say, but I think you should design them to look like they are not made of polygons, but more like this: http://braid-game.com/news/wp-content/u ... rld_2a.jpg Maybe you should use more different textures add some grass, trees etc. I like the sky texture in your game.

jonsykkel · Post by **jonsykkel** » 30 May 2011, 06:08

i think looks cool game )) maybe physics could be a little less xmoto if pasibel
im disagre with chris__ about that link, one of the things my always liked about elmais that its a skil game, theres not much annoying things in front of everything so you can usualy see exactly where the ground is and but still theres many nice graphics, so grass woud be cool as long as it looks the way it does in elma

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 31 May 2011, 17:34

Chris wrote:Game looks cool. I don't like the levels. They look like typical battle levels made quickly in elma editor. The empty spaces between polygons at 0:11. No grass or anything like that. It's hard to say, but I think you should design them to look like they are not made of polygons, but more like this: http://braid-game.com/news/wp-content/u ... rld_2a.jpg Maybe you should use more different textures add some grass, trees etc. I like the sky texture in your game.

Yeah I'm going to continue working on making the existing levels look better using the tools I have now (by replacing more polygonal objects with more organic looking shapes). It was important to me that users be able to create/share levels and that meant creating an easy to use level editor. It's pretty basic now, but I hope to continue developing the level editor and release it in a future update. I hope to be able to do stuff like grass in Elma, but stuff like Braid probably won't happen -- the environments in Braid are made of prefabbed pieces and I wanted to give users easier access to the most flexibility possible. I think the Elma-style level editor was the best choice because it lets users create any kind of shapes they want -- I hope to make it as easy as possible to make good looking levels, so I plan to continue improving how the level art is generated procedurally.

Also, the trailer is older footage -- since then, I've also added some plants and other things that help the visuals a bit. All of that is done automatically -- level creator only worries about the gameplay (though in the future, I'd like to give users more options on how levels will look). And those messy polygons on the left side are an example of the things I plan to clean up in the next few days before I submit to Apple.

jonharkulsykkel wrote:i think looks cool game )) maybe physics could be a little less xmoto if pasibel
im disagre with chris__ about that link, one of the things my always liked about elmais that its a skil game, theres not much annoying things in front of everything so you can usualy see exactly where the ground is and but still theres many nice graphics, so grass woud be cool as long as it looks the way it does in elma

I've only played a bit of X-Moto, but I'd say the physics in FishMoto are closer to Elma -- I've really played up the stretchyness

I've also made an effort to give players more control over the bike -- I'm hoping that brings in more new players but also allows for even harder levels to be made. I didn't want to make a game that only hardcore players could enjoy, but I also wanted to make sure the hardcore players had plenty to work with. I think I've found a good balance

Lousku wrote:
JTown wrote:PC/Mac versions are also very possible.
PLEASE! I'm strongly against touch screens (because I'm a bum).

Yeah I'd love to release a good PC/Mac port (online play wouldn't be too hard, either) -- it's mostly a matter of whether or not I have enough money to survive (right now I'm basically broke). I chose iPhone first because right now that's the best market for this type of game and there's nothing on the app store quite like it yet. If I have the money to do so, I'd love to put it on as many platforms as possible -- I'm using the Unity game engine so that will be relatively easy

Chris · Post by **Chris** » 1 Jun 2011, 17:20

@JTown

I meant you should made levels more like braid, but not exactly like that. I wanted to show you the direction I think is right.

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 5 Jun 2011, 23:45

Chris wrote:@JTown

I meant you should made levels more like braid, but not exactly like that. I wanted to show you the direction I think is right.

Right on

I hope to be able to continue improving the visuals after it's released.

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 8 Jun 2011, 03:45

Here's some new screenshots showing controls.

Flip button can be pressed in the center, too -- I made it so long so that you could use either thumb to press it. Later on I'd like to include alternate control schemes. You can adjust transparency of the buttons, too (I can do fine playing with them 100% invisible)

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 8 Jun 2011, 04:00

will there be alovolt? :)))))))))))))))

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 8 Jun 2011, 17:16

Igge wrote:will there be alovolt? ))))))))))))))

Some of the advanced tricks in Elma like alovolt won't carry over to FishMoto -- I didn't try to recreate Elma exactly. The suspension is a bit looser and the game is a little faster. Also, the rotate buttons in FishMoto are continuous -- so you can tap them for tiny adjustments or hold them down to keep rotating. Some things will be harder than they are in Elma (like pipes) and some things will be easier.

It'll be very interesting to me to see if the community discovers their own tricks in FishMoto that I didn't necessarily plan for. As a game designer I really like to embrace things like that and bring them into the game proper.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 8 Jun 2011, 23:05

JTown wrote:Also, the rotate buttons in FishMoto are continuous -- so you can tap them for tiny adjustments or hold them down to keep rotating.

I won't buy because of this. Is it maybe possible to have a selection of two bikes, one controls like this, one like elma bike?

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 8 Jun 2011, 23:48

Haruhi wrote:
JTown wrote:Also, the rotate buttons in FishMoto are continuous -- so you can tap them for tiny adjustments or hold them down to keep rotating.
I won't buy because of this. Is it maybe possible to have a selection of two bikes, one controls like this, one like elma bike?

I'm open to having different bikes in the game (though it will have to be in an update later -- I'm submitting to the App Store in 2 days

) but I'm worried that would make some levels impossible with some bikes -- even some of the levels that will be included in the first release are probably impossible because I designed them with the current bike in mind.

I'm curious why that's a dealbreaker for you. I made that decision because to me, it seems like a win win -- it makes the game easier for new players (more players = larger community), but it also opens the game up for harder obstacles that require that extra fine tuned control (I want the game to be fun for noobs and pros alike). It is different than Elma, but I never wanted to copy Elma exactly -- I want to borrow from Elma and make something new

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 9 Jun 2011, 10:47

JTown wrote:
Haruhi wrote:
JTown wrote:Also, the rotate buttons in FishMoto are continuous -- so you can tap them for tiny adjustments or hold them down to keep rotating.
I won't buy because of this. Is it maybe possible to have a selection of two bikes, one controls like this, one like elma bike?
I'm open to having different bikes in the game (though it will have to be in an update later -- I'm submitting to the App Store in 2 days ) but I'm worried that would make some levels impossible with some bikes -- even some of the levels that will be included in the first release are probably impossible because I designed them with the current bike in mind.

I'm curious why that's a dealbreaker for you. I made that decision because to me, it seems like a win win -- it makes the game easier for new players (more players = larger community), but it also opens the game up for harder obstacles that require that extra fine tuned control (I want the game to be fun for noobs and pros alike). It is different than Elma, but I never wanted to copy Elma exactly -- I want to borrow from Elma and make something new

The control of that control scheme is different, not necessarily more fine tuned. Keep in mind that levels such as elma's "Tricks abound" are virtually impossible with the control scheme FishMoto will use.

I hate that control scheme, to the point that i almost always refuse to play a motocross game if it contains it... Elma's volt system is too ingrained in my head

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 9 Jun 2011, 20:26

Haruhi wrote:
JTown wrote:
Haruhi wrote:
JTown wrote:Also, the rotate buttons in FishMoto are continuous -- so you can tap them for tiny adjustments or hold them down to keep rotating.
I won't buy because of this. Is it maybe possible to have a selection of two bikes, one controls like this, one like elma bike?
I'm open to having different bikes in the game (though it will have to be in an update later -- I'm submitting to the App Store in 2 days ) but I'm worried that would make some levels impossible with some bikes -- even some of the levels that will be included in the first release are probably impossible because I designed them with the current bike in mind.

I'm curious why that's a dealbreaker for you. I made that decision because to me, it seems like a win win -- it makes the game easier for new players (more players = larger community), but it also opens the game up for harder obstacles that require that extra fine tuned control (I want the game to be fun for noobs and pros alike). It is different than Elma, but I never wanted to copy Elma exactly -- I want to borrow from Elma and make something new
The control of that control scheme is different, not necessarily more fine tuned. Keep in mind that levels such as elma's "Tricks abound" are virtually impossible with the control scheme FishMoto will use.

I hate that control scheme, to the point that i almost always refuse to play a motocross game if it contains it... Elma's volt system is too ingrained in my head

Fair enough -- though as far as I can tell levels like Tricks Abound would be completely possible in FishMoto.

Hope you'll at least give FishMoto a chance anyway

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 9 Jun 2011, 21:18

The rotation style of Elma is part of what makes the game sach great and höyläble. If you keep rotation continuous like Xmoto and every other clone out there, elmers are disappointed.

jonsykkel · Post by **jonsykkel** » 9 Jun 2011, 21:28

im agre, fre rotate is liek xiiting after one've tried elma

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 9 Jun 2011, 21:36

Lousku wrote:The rotation style of Elma is part of what makes the game sach great and höyläble. If you keep rotation continuous like Xmoto and every other clone out there, elmers are disappointed.

But Xmoto uses Elma style rotating... I just downloaded it again to double check.

I'm curious what other Elma clones are out there. I just know of XMoto -- the physics are very rigid and don't really feel like Elma at all (even though the controls are the same). I think FishMoto is much closer to the feel of Elma than Xmoto.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 9 Jun 2011, 21:37

JTown wrote:
Lousku wrote:The rotation style of Elma is part of what makes the game sach great and höyläble. If you keep rotation continuous like Xmoto and every other clone out there, elmers are disappointed.
But Xmoto uses Elma style rotating... I just downloaded it again to double check.

Oh.

Then, err... Xmoto sucks for other reasons.

derp

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 17 Jun 2011, 03:18

Apple approved it yesterday -- will go on sale this Saturday on the 18th!

Launch Trailer (new): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLp8z6Cxh0U

(honestly I wish I could have come up with a better phrase than "unique gameplay" -- it's not really proper form to reference other games though. Would have said something like "unique to iPhone" but I wanted to keep it brief)

roope · Post by **roope** » 17 Jun 2011, 04:42

Congrats on approval o/

Seems like an interesting game. Would probably be much harder for elmers to play it than someone new to bike games because of sach different physics, like the wheels stretching so easily o,o

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 17 Jun 2011, 08:53

At least it makes more sense than elma. o,o

I guess apart from the fact that the fish is able to drive a bike from inside a bowl.

analcactus · Post by **analcactus** » 17 Jun 2011, 09:22

wow, just discovered that thread!
Great work, i love almost everything about that game except maybe levels! Feels like you'd ask some elma designers to make some levels for fishmoto!
Hope you'll make it for pc and even win mobile soon!

yes, fish which rides a motorbike has been my wet dream for years

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 17 Jun 2011, 19:37

analcactus wrote:wow, just discovered that thread!
Great work, i love almost everything about that game except maybe levels! Feels like you'd ask some elma designers to make some levels for fishmoto!
Hope you'll make it for pc and even win mobile soon!
yes, fish which rides a motorbike has been my wet dream for years

The level editor needs a lot of work right now, but you guys will be the first to get your hands on it

I hope to eventually have the level editor be on the phone and let people easily create/share levels, but until then I think it'd be awesome to give it out to the Elma community and include some of the levels you guys make in updates for FishMoto.

edit: Obviously, when I release PC/Mac versions the level editor will be included in there, too

Igge wrote:At least it makes more sense than elma. o,o

I guess apart from the fact that the fish is able to drive a bike from inside a bowl.

Not just any fish, it's an electric catfish! Controls the bike by emitting electric shocks

Jappe wrote:i have a new tagline you can use to sell your product "at least it's not x-moto"

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 18 Jun 2011, 19:55

It's out now! Spread the word!

Download link

Chris · Post by **Chris** » 18 Jun 2011, 23:12

Good luck!

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 19 Jun 2011, 01:31

7WEHERHR6WKK - taken
A7FT7NL9Y7PH
FELAW4A4P7ME

Here's a few promo codes (redeem them to get the game for free) -- use one yourself or pass one to a friend! If you use one, please mention which one you took so others don't try to use it. If these go fast I have some more

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 19 Jun 2011, 06:03

Haha nice. If i can find my ipod sync cable i'll use one and check out the game

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 19 Jun 2011, 13:04

If I had an iPhone I think I would buy this game! I don't think it has any of the elma feeling but it looks fun enough to play with with a phone. Also love the graphics.

abruzzi · Post by **abruzzi** » 19 Jun 2011, 13:26

Looks like a really cool game, love dying animation hehe. It's like a tiny bit xmotoed elma mixed with some nitro usage ad different stiffness. Hope you'll be rich. I'd check or even buy too, but I don't even know what iphone is so:)

totem · Post by **totem** » 20 Jun 2011, 12:44

Levels can be rendered in 2D or 3D

Can you show us a picture of 3D-rendered level ?
How did you achieved this ? I mean, how did you extrude 2D levs to 3D ?

nick-o-matic · Post by **nick-o-matic** » 20 Jun 2011, 16:55

I think that your game looks like the best elma clone so far. I will still stick to only elma though. :) I think that it would be nicely done to thank elma and Balazs in the credits of your game since it is based on his creation so much (maybe you have done it already).

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 20 Jun 2011, 18:06

totem wrote:
Levels can be rendered in 2D or 3D
Can you show us a picture of 3D-rendered level ?
How did you achieved this ? I mean, how did you extrude 2D levs to 3D ?

The levels are actually 3D regardless, but by default the camera is set to orthographic so you can't tell. I prefer 2D (orthographic camera) because it's more precise.

nick-o-matic wrote:I think that your game looks like the best elma clone so far. I will still stick to only elma though. I think that it would be nicely done to thank elma and Balazs in the credits of your game since it is based on his creation so much (maybe you have done it already).

Thanks! I don't even have credits in the game yet

When I do, I'll probably do that (assuming it won't get me into legal trouble)

wazsi · Post by **wazsi** » 21 Jun 2011, 12:22

Just downloaded this game with the first code, cool to have #2 TT in the world after finishing every level once:D Maybe I'll try to beat your time, seems hard:)
Some ideas: a map would be nice, often I had no clue where to go, which is quite irritating after making some hard spot. Also, maybe you could make a leaderboard for every level, not only the two TTs (btw why is 1-15 and 16-30 separated? An 1-30 TT would be better imo). Don't know if you noticed, but when you miss some jump and start falling for 10 secs or so, and while falling you start spinning like hell, then your wheel starts stretching and after 5 secs or so it gets buggy and suddenly wheels appear all over the place:D Maybe fix this, but isn't so important.
But I really liked this game, after a while the controls aren't so bad either, I would give it some 9/10. Not 10 because of the end of lvl 30. Or because there is just no way such a huge catfish could get into this aquarium. Or sth like that, don't know really, maybe it is 10/10 after all:)

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 21 Jun 2011, 14:12

wazsi wrote:Just downloaded this game with the first code, cool to have #2 TT in the world after finishing every level once:D Maybe I'll try to beat your time, seems hard:)
Some ideas: a map would be nice, often I had no clue where to go, which is quite irritating after making some hard spot. Also, maybe you could make a leaderboard for every level, not only the two TTs (btw why is 1-15 and 16-30 separated? An 1-30 TT would be better imo). Don't know if you noticed, but when you miss some jump and start falling for 10 secs or so, and while falling you start spinning like hell, then your wheel starts stretching and after 5 secs or so it gets buggy and suddenly wheels appear all over the place:D Maybe fix this, but isn't so important.
But I really liked this game, after a while the controls aren't so bad either, I would give it some 9/10. Not 10 because of the end of lvl 30. Or because there is just no way such a huge catfish could get into this aquarium. Or sth like that, don't know really, maybe it is 10/10 after all:)

Thanks for the feedback!

Game Center limits games to 25 leaderboards, which is why I didn't do individual level leaderboards -- planning ahead, I was thinking I'd do a leaderboard for every 15 levels. I had a combined 1-30 leaderboard through GC (using their own 'combine' stuff) but it was buggy so I'll have to redo it myself -- I'll try to get that in the next update. Eventually, I'd like to host my own leaderboards and do so for every level.

Glad you like it!

wazsi · Post by **wazsi** » 21 Jun 2011, 19:11

hmm beat your times, wasn't so hard at all:)

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 22 Jun 2011, 23:11

wazsi wrote:hmm beat your times, wasn't so hard at all:)

Haha, I had your 6:35 time beat last night but I'll have to really buckle down to get it under your new 6:25 time

wazsi · Post by **wazsi** » 23 Jun 2011, 12:08

You really thought beating my TT by 0.1 s every time would scare me off?:D Good luck with 6:20:)
It would be much easier to improve if I knew your times:P Such hard to guess which shortcuts you did already and which are impsy.. Also, too bad there is not much competition:(

Bludek · Post by **Bludek** » 23 Jun 2011, 12:34

used 3rd code (FELAW4A4P7ME). Thx for this! I'm looking forward to play this game

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 26 Jun 2011, 10:08

did you know your game was reviewed(advertized) on indiegames.com? http://indiegames.com/2011/06/iphone_ga ... _over.html

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 30 Jun 2011, 23:29

Zweq wrote:did you know your game was reviewed(advertized) on indiegames.com? http://indiegames.com/2011/06/iphone_ga ... _over.html

Yeah I saw that -- pretty cool!

wazsi wrote:You really thought beating my TT by 0.1 s every time would scare me off?:D Good luck with 6:20:)
It would be much easier to improve if I knew your times:P Such hard to guess which shortcuts you did already and which are impsy.. Also, too bad there is not much competition:(

Yeah sales have been slow =/

Not sure what I can do to change it. Reviewers say the game is too hard haha.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 30 Jun 2011, 23:34

Lousku, Chip and Jon here. We request a piping video. Thanks.

Bludek · Post by **Bludek** » 1 Jul 2011, 00:45

I like this game so far, but i can't rly get use to controls. I think touch screen is not very ideal for this type of game, but it's playble enough

If I could have one request: plz make auto-rotate of screen when upside down. Or at least rotatable in options - it's impsy to play for me on iTouch when headphones connected.

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 1 Jul 2011, 10:19

JTown wrote: Yeah sales have been slow =/

got any numbers to share?

wazsi · Post by **wazsi** » 28 Jul 2011, 13:57

Yesterday number of players suddenly increased by 800%.. Very advertising:D

JTown · Post by **JTown** » 28 Jul 2011, 18:25

wazsi wrote:Yesterday number of players suddenly increased by 800%.. Very advertising:D

It's free for a couple days as a promotion. I don't get any money from it, but I'm glad to have more people playing it.

When I get some free time I'm going to try and get it available on Kongregate as a web game.

Zweq wrote:
JTown wrote: Yeah sales have been slow =/
got any numbers to share?

http://overpoweredgames.com/?p=203