Wow, that was quickly snagged. I'm cautious. I like some of the looks but I've fallen for so many "marine" simulations where the AI was just lacking.
This game is really frustrating. I got it because of all the positive comments and the idea of physics based movement sounded cool. I was skeptical as to how you could control a dolphin in a 3d environment with 2D swipes. So far my skepticism has proven true. It is very unclear how to maneuver the dolphin around the 3d space, especially with regards to moving toward/away from the camera. I feel like I'm missing something with regards to the controls. If I swipe right the dolphin faces right. The same goes for all swipe directions. So what direction do I swipe if I want to face toward or away from the camera? It feels random and imprecise, and when I do finally align myself properly and boost to snag a fish, the dolphin often boosts out in a direction I wasn't facing. Not fun so far.
The Ai is the marvel of this experience. You will be mesmerized. Again - bold words - but play and see for yourself.
So very rough statistics, less than 1% of the users report a similar feeling of lack of control. Keep in mind, on the other end of the spectrum, the players report the entire magic of the experience is the rich, visceral, "feeling" of control of the animal. But objectively - these are ends of a spectrum. Most people get over a hump, then learn exponentially. So the question is, can you get to the state where you "feel the magic"? That is, will you be able to feel "jacked-in" to the animal? One of the posters on this forum was identically frustrated. But he PM'd me and I sort of walked him through the control. He is now quite a vocal lover of the game and on the leaderboards - so, its a "thing" you have to figure out. Some people just wont - no matter what, and I think there is possibly a scientific reason. Some people just may not be able to make the "motor connection" the way we designed it. That, of course is perfectly fine - we cannot cater to the cognitive-motor interface of everyone with the Artificial intelligence. We tried to hit as many people as possible. I may do a large study and isolate that 1% (less) - and try to cater the artificial intelligence better. Keep in mind, people as young as 4 and as old as 94 have been able to master it. But id like to see if you can get over this hump. First, 1. You must use two hands - one thumb for boost, one for movement (or a finger); 2. Don't hammer the boost - align first. 3. Don't "think" about the control, think about what you want to do (and this is only confined to targeting a fish or a shark). Guide your finger to move him - and then pounce. 4. Don't target fish in shark levels (they're not meant to be eaten and the ai is off for aligning them). 5. Don't try to move around arbitrarily - this game is about battling an enemy and only that. Again Try to align the dolphin so he is targeting a fish first - and then hit boost to pounce on it. Be gentle. You have to let the Ai connect with your intention, and match that to the dolphins. Let yourself get good - once you do, it will be so second nature you'll feel like you're in the water with him. This is a good video of how to win a battle and control it: How many pearls do you have ?
I'm rubbish at this and I'm bored now! I've restarted this four times now and still haven't got it. I guess some of us just don't see what you see! The game is good, I'm not! Wait for the dolphin to align and then watch as the fish you lined up on whips round you and bites you!
Ok, I had this same exact problem. Essentially, you can control the movement with the controls on the right. In order to go further away from the camera you have to boost when the dolphin is pointing away from the camera. So wherever the front of the dolphins head is pointing you can boost in that direction. In order to attack the best way is to get aligned with the fish and then boost into it. At first I felt exactly the same as you. I thought this was not working at all. After a bit I got the hang of it. Don't give up. This game is very addicting! There is something that I wish would get fixed and I think it is a real problem in this game. The camera a lot of the time cannot keep up with the dolphin. You told me earlier that it's supposed to be like that but I think it completely hurts the game. I think you should be able to see your character pretty much at all times and you shouldn't be able to die off screen. I have died off screen almost a dozen times now. I don't think I should hope and pray my dolphin is ok when I can't see him when he goes off screen. Can you please change this? Does anyone else agree or disagree with me?
yes - I will try adjusting the follow averaging dynamically. I would like for a few testers - we have your uDID so I'll PM you when the update is ready for testing.
This kind of bothered me at first, too. I kept wondering if it's a better experience on the iPad because you can see more of your surroundings. But I was trying to think how it can be improved -- I don't know that it would be quite the same if the camera were static, always staying centered on the dolphin. i think it also becomes less of an issue as you become more confident with the controls and dart around less. In a really good battle, I'll stay mostly in the same area, staying focused on the enemy fish. But when I don't feel confident, that's when I dart around to try and stay out of harm's way. I am curious what thought went into this ultimate decision, because obviously a lot of thought went into *every* little aspect of the game. I'm curious if they tried other ways and this felt the most natural.
Well - look for the update - I am going to try and address this issue, and I have a few ideas. If you PM me your udid, I can let you beta test it. One game we will be doing (very) soon is the same locomotion and physics animation of the creatures - but top down accelerometer based (no cetaceans - you will be a shark). It is a "direct" control and may be your cup of tea. It will come very soon. I'm sorry for your not being able to control I Am Dolphin as the vast majority of players have. I will send you a Promo on the top-down game, and/or if you want, just send me your udid. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
It took us basically three years from the very, very first skeletal prototype of a dolpin-ish thing to where we are today. There's been easily a dozen different proposed ideas for how the game could be shaped, several of them put into very serious prototype form before being scrapped. We hit on the game you see today in early summer, I believe. It took us the breakneck months after that to make it ready for public release; we'd originally hoped to have it out in august but wound up partially scrapping it again because it wasn't good enough. It's been such a crazy, long learning experience, and as it gets into the hands of more people we're learning what works and what doesn't. Over the course of years, hammering away, we've tried to focus on what could really appeal to a broad base. But it's hard to keep things in perspective over all that time. Of course there's lots of stuff that hasn't made it in yet, but we also want to refine the basic formula to perfection. And getting it out to people who don't know us, and can be honest to us, is important and useful. The feedback matters a lot to us.
Well I followed your advice and I think I've gotten the hang of this game. The main thing was probably getting past the idea of normal movement and understanding that there is a degree of randomness to it, you just have to learn how to use it to your advantage. Before I was stuck in a loop of failure around 8 pearls. Now I am at 90 pearls, much more successful, and quite addicted to the game. Thanks for sticking with me! I've updated my rating but for the last star I would like if you added the ability to zoom the camera out farther, a tighter camera when boosting (it loses track of you), and iPhone 6 Plus optimization.
This is basically what everyone I've showed the game has said. It's definitely got a steep learning curve, but don't feel bad if you don't click with it right away. It's worth it when you do This was a subject of much debate in the development. I think we even tuned the camera to keep pace a little more. I believe it was mostly an aesthetic choice, since having the camera zipping everywhere wouldn't look great. But we'll work on it, as I do agree it's an area that needs improvement
I think this was almost precisely the train of thought re: camera movement around the lab Also, a friend of mine at Nickelodeon has been showing it around the studio, and everyone there is absolutely enthralled. They also mentioned the camera, so that will probably be the first thing we start on after lefty controls and vibrate options. Thank you for the feedback, guys!
Awesome! You went from very low to a high-end player. impressive in the amount of time. We will keep u posted with changes.
TBH, I dismissed this game as some sophomoric simulator and didn't even open this thread. However, living not too far from our nation's capitol I read the Washington Post today about the dev's who are from the area and gave a look-see. I'm super-impressed with the quality of the game and the level of effort that went into it (including studying the dolphins at the National Aquarium, a place where my family and I love to go). I'm buying this game to support these guys because this is something really special.
Thank you for that comment. The recent spate of "animal simulator" games, fueled of course by Goat Sim's success, has been something of an awkward happenstance for us. This is something we've been trying to do for many years, and a lot of people snap to thinking that we've simply jumped on the bandwagon of shoddy "be animal X!" games. (The Simulation category in iTunes is kind of depressing.) As people see and hear about it though, I think that notion will be dispelled thoroughly.
