The cards with multiple sharks do get pretty tough. The trick to the blacktip/dogfish one (in my experience) is to take down the blacktip and then concentrate on the dogfish. I usually try to lure the blacktip away from everyone else and quickly chow down, because the dogfish get pretty pesky when you're not trying to eat them That's all the AI (and DJ Flipper's) doing! Is there a particular battle you find yourself coming back to more than the others? Like a certain great white?
Ah okay that sounds like a good strategy I will have a to try! I temporarily unlocked Simon but I lost the next match so I went down to 29 pearls and to my surprise Simon was locked up again!! What a way to get people to work for their fish Bandit is great fun so I don't mind but I do want to have all the characters unlocked eventually Thanks for this great game
I only defeated Kthulu twice when he had one heart. I'm afraid to even go near him with four hearts. But hopefully with enough practice against the others, I'll take him on sometime. I still go back a lot to the Mako and the blue sharks. All the Sharks are mean. Honestly, even the little fish on the red cards aren't a sure thing. If they get the slightest chance to attack, all 3-4 bite at once. I learn something from almost every battle.
I'm loving it! Got a lot to learn in terms of control, though, so I can be more efficient in my turning and be more effective. Some things happen off-screen when you can't see yourself or your prey at all. You can eat fish even! Wouldn't be good if it was too easy, and I love a challenge! Lots to keep me interested for a long time even if the dev left the game as is and didn't add more exciting content later, but I'm looking forward to it all never-the-less! This is my kind of game, and I'll tell ya what. I'm thinking this game gets my vote for GOTY!! Just a marvelous piece of work, and I know we all love a dev who thinks the way he does and pops in here and is interested in how we feel like he does! Simply a class act, and I don't say that often! Earns my highest recommendation!
How the hell did you get 400 pearls? I'm struggling to get into double figures! Nope just not getting anywhere. I'm hopeless at this! The only way can keep my pearls is to quit before I die.
Hey man, that's cheating Actually, have you noticed that you can replay a card forever with no extra loss penalty? If you do lose a match, the card stays up, but you'll notice the negative number is gone. It often takes a few tries to beat a card - sure, you'll end up with only half the pearls you would have won, but it's better than a new loss
Here's another dev diary entry. I can only give insight into the creative processes, not so much the technical ones, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless! When I was first tasked with creating Bandit (who didn't have a name until way later in the process), DJ Flipper told me to go to the aquarium and draw and study the dolphins there. But his actual instructions were much more complex than that: "Capture the essence of a dolphin." We got special access to the dolphins at the National Aquarium thanks to Sue Hunter. I would go there, talk to her, go down into the pit (an observation area in the middle of the three tanks) and just sketch. I did what any artist would do. I sketched them in their poses, trying to study their anatomy and how their bodies moved. But as you can see, I'm not realistic in my approach. More important than the pose, the look, or the anatomy was the feel. Did it feel like that sketch was a dolphin? Did it embody the most essential qualities of these wonderful creatures? Did it truly capture their spirit, their natural playfulness, curiosity, and intellect? At the aquarium, I focused on three of the dolphins to create Bandit. Beau and Foster are their two male dolphins. They're bonded, which basically means that in the wild, these two would be swimming around together, looking for love. Beau is 7 years old, and Foster is 5, making them very young for dolphins. The other dolphin I studied was 4-year-old Bayley. She's the smallest of the girls, which makes her easy to spot, and usually swims with her mom, Chesapeake. I chose these three for a number of reasons. They were all very young, which plays a big role in their behavior, and they are also very smart and inquisitive. Everything is new to them. Not only that, but they are more inventive than the other dolphins, especially in their use of toys. Bayley was the first in the tank to discover the joy of bubble rings, and she would use them to make "bubble art" (as the trainers dubbed it) on the undersides of the pool ledges. From these concepts, I modeled a very high fidelity but low poly dolphin. This was almost two years ago, and the 3D model underwent hundreds of revisions to become the Bandit you know and love. One of the biggest challenges of creating a dolphin character was imbuing him with emotions. In reality, dolphins have no facial muscles, and their characteristic smile is really just a hydrodynamic adaptation. We struggled for a while over how "cartoony" we wanted to make it. There's a danger in overly anthropomorphizing animals, which given our partnership with the aquarium and our beliefs, we wanted to avoid. However, we still needed to give people an "in" to the dolphin's state of mind, and usually the easiest way for an artist to do this is to give the animal human expressions (think the horse in Tangled, for example). Early on, we decided to do this through posing, and later, we refined the eyes to make them a bit more expressive than your average dolphin's. These sketches in particular were integral to Bandit's emotional development. They serve as a rough storyboard, wherein a bored dolphin swims by something interesting (like a person), sees it, and gets excited. DJ Flipper had some of these in his office for a long time, and referenced them quite a bit as a supplement to Promit's live-action footage.
Okay I'll look at that. But my problem is that I'm not good at catching the signs, I just dash about like a mad thing hoping I catch something. Don't get me wrong I love it!
Just want to make sure...you know you can skip cards, right? You can practice on easier fish until you feel ready to take on tougher ones.
Well you shouldnt be chasing fish in shark levels-- the ai which maps ur 2d swipe to the dolphins 3d intent is off for the fish in shark levels. Remeber dont think about the control- ease off on the boost, and let the flow connect with you. This will happen- when it does its magic. Think more about your target and wAtch it carefully. let your brain guide Your finger without thinking about it. Dont watch your finger- watch the dolphin and its prey. Look at your dolphin and target and think where you want to move him. then let your finger move him.
Thanks for the help guys, but I'm just not getting it. I'm not thick but some things I just don't get, like puzzles I suck badly at them.
This is interesting - but I still think solvable. First, though, how are you playing ? With two thumbs ? or with one thumb and one finger ? What device are you playing on ? I would do this - don't boost, at all. You wont win, of course, but you will learn the control. Try and then to simply align him to your target so that you "want" to lunge out and eat him, but resist the urge. DO this for 5 minutes or so, then limit yourself to a boost at opportune moments. If you hammer the boost - you will easily step out of the control zone if you haven't mastered it. This is learnable by anyone - so you will eventually get it.
Two thumbs on an iPod touch. Ok I'll give that a go. I'm always worried I'll get bitten, that's why I keep boosting. Thanks for your help. It's one of these great games I love but just happen not to be good at.
Hey Kat howcum your game isn't advertised on the new app section of the App Store? I would have missed this and many other apps if it wasn't for TA! You're probably missing a lot of sales because of it.
two hands Its most definitely two handed game - your reaction times with one finger would never be fast enough unless you were some type of alien.
Appunwrapper's battle against 2 blue sharks: So first of all, this is a very difficult battle. I put one shark in there that requires nearly perfect reactions, nearly 100% of the time. As you've undoubtedly noticed, the blue shark is unforgiving in that he takes advantage of your positional/strategy mistakes relentlessly. You mess up - you're bitten. It is probability set at 1.0. Many of the battles involve discovering a weakness of the shark - an oddity which can, sometimes, be exploited in combination with your skill. For the blue sharks, this is minimized. There are no explicit weaknesses. You just have to have fighter pilot reflexes. I built it, know exactly how they move, and cannot beat them. I beat a single blue once - while testing, but the precise ai was very fresh in my mind. I've never beat it "cold" where I have to learn it. Watching this battle is mesmerizing. In the beginning, my sharks are methodically and unforgivingly taking you out. Then about midway - you get into a sort of an evasive groove while managing to get 1, and 1/2 the life of the other. I did "ease" (maybe not the best word considering how hard they are) it up slightly by giving the 2 blue sharks only 2 lives each. The end of the battle you both have one life so you're very, very cautious - playing only at the perimeter - and the kill just comes out of nowhere. All of the creators of I Am Dolphin are pretty impressed with your reaction-times to evade some of these spurts by the sharks. I think this confirs you with a slight advantage over other players, i.e., why you have 400 pearls which I was kind of shocked at.
Just tried the shark! Way too hard for me. You say you need the reactions of a fighter pilot. I've got those of a pensioner. 54! Actually.
From what you describe - I think the Cod would be a great repeat-battle for you to hone in your skills. Well lots of players have extreme skills - that I can come nowhere near - But We have had 94 year olds who can get into blue (after 30 pearls) so I know your reaction times are just fine. Its just allowing the flow to take over. Were you ever playing with only 1 finger (to both boost and move) ? The "Black Pearl" are for extreme players - that's when the "fighter pilot" stuff comes in. I cannot even get there.
