Splash: Underwater Sanctuary Swims onto Mobile [Interview]

DeNA and Flutter: Butterfly Sanctuary developer, Runaway, have announced the release of Splash: Underwater Sanctuary as a free game on iOS and Android devices. Where Flutter was a butterfly collection game, Splash focuses on the collection and releasing of fish, as players work to populate the ocean with dozens of colorful varieties. In Splash, players start in a Coral Reef, attracting fish to their reef using specific collectibles. These fish are based on real-life species, with players starting with angelfish, before moving onto seahorses, butterflyfish, jellyfish and many others. Each fish must be fed multiple times, growing it to a mature state, before it can be released into the wild, with each fish requiring a specific amount of rest time between feedings. Players receive collectibles each time a fish is fed, allowing them to create more fish for the reef. Players can only care for a limited number of fish at any one time, with this number increasing as players level up (through releasing fish) and increase the size of their reef. Food, meanwhile, is created in a food pot, using coins collected from the reef’s decorations. The longer gamers play, the more decorations they’ll unlock, and the more food they’ll be able to create each time they login. Different groups of fish eat different kinds of food, which cost different amounts of coins to create. At its core, the goal of Splash is to raise and release multiple units of each kind of fish, enabling them to thrive in the open waters. Players can continue to raise and release these already thriving fish for extra experience points and collectibles, but the rewards are greater for pushing forward into new varieties, even if they take longer to raise. We had a chance to chat with Tim Nixon, director at Runaway, about Splash, and what fans can expect from the game going forward. SocialTimes: What has the team learned from the success of Flutter that may have impacted the development of Splash: Underwater Sanctuary? Tim Nixon: A big part of why Flutter has retained so many players is its genuine connection to the natural world. Players love learning about butterflies as a by-product of having fun. At first we went pretty light on the factual elements, as we didn’t want the game to seem too “educational,” but over time, we realized we should accentuate those elements, as that’s what makes our games unique. Splash continues this focus, adding creatures with emotional variety that have relationships and responses to each other, a mechanic which will be greatly extended in our events and updates. We’ve also learned a lot about live game operations, specifically the importance of events, updates and weekend bonuses to keep the game feeling fresh and new. In Splash, we’re working to weave this feeling of global connection and activity into every aspect of the game. ST: What were some of the major responses you received from the game’s beta testers? TN: When beta-testing or user-testing we look very closely at the tutorial and core interface. Are those base interactions (that you’re going to do thousands of times) actually fun? We had a lot of great feedback on the artwork from early on, but had work to do on refining the core loop of the game so it was really simple and progressed the player toward goals they understood were important. That meant removing or refining things right up until the 11th hour, including a drastic change to food production and XP progression. Probably the riskiest element in our design of Splash is the “releasing” mechanic. As opposed to hoarding species and leveling them up, the player is challenged with establishing a population in the wild by releasing their fish when they are fully-grown. This idea of letting go of the fish that you’ve been raising is, in some ways, counter to established conventions in simulation games. However, we feel that the emotional moment of contributing to something bigger than yourself is better overall. It also means your environment is constantly changing as opposed to stagnating. So while it took time to get right, it was a great relief when our testers responded to it positively. ST: Splash: Underwater Sanctuary starts out simply, but it’s not long before players have plenty of fish to micromanage at once. How big will our oceans eventually become, in terms of the number of individual fish? TN: The starting map for the Coral Reef supports up to 63 fish, but will grow over time as well, so … a lot! We’re ensuring things don’t get too unwieldy though, as we don’t want it to be overwhelming when the player loads up the app. Also, one great new addition allows us to create whole new areas in different parts of the world, so players will not just be confined to the reef in the future. ST: Which strategy do you feel is best: grow as many identical fish as possible early on, or diversify and grow as many different kinds as the available crafting ingredients will allow? TN: There are definitely advantages to both, so it depends what goal you’re working toward. Focusing on one fish will allow you to reach the higher population milestones quicker, and reward you with gold tickets to trade in for special decorations. Broadening your population will get your more XP to expand more quickly and diversify your item pool to discover new fish. We’re working to find even more ways for players to have their own personal strategies, so it really becomes a meaningful decision of which fish and coral to have in your environment. ST: Are there plans to update the game with additional fish and critters post-launch? TN: Absolutely. We have an extensive event update plan which is already well into development. A couple weeks after launch, Runaway and publisher DeNA will begin our first Splash event, which is a great evolution of the system we use in Flutter. We’ll also have big updates to the core game content coming later this year, which as mentioned above, will introduce whole new areas to the game. ST: From my experience, one of the main draws of Flutter was to collect limited edition sets of butterflies. Will there be any element of that here, with users potentially being allowed to keep some special fish without taking up inventory space? TN: Yes, events and limited content will be integral to Splash’s future. Players will be challenged to discover and raise a rare set of fish that will permanently be added to their population if they work hard. Our releasing system removes the need for an inventory, and we’ll be using this along with community goals to give our players an even better sense that they are working together to raise the population of sea life. ST: How will players be able to spend money in the game? TN: Our free-to-play philosophy is that everything is truly free and can be earned through gameplay, but if a player is eager to progress quickly they can take a shortcut with premium currency. As with Flutter, timers can all be sped up. Players will also be able to purchase the items they need to create each fish (like flowers in Flutter), but the system for doing so is much more streamlined this time around. ST: Anything else you’d like to add? TN: We’re just excited to get the game out there and can’t wait for everyone’s response! The team at Runaway pays close attention to our community and cherishes their feedback. Together we’re hugely ambitious for the future of our portfolio, and can’t wait to release more games and characters inspired by the natural world. Splash: Underwater Sanctuary is now live at the App Store and the Google Play store.

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Splash: Underwater Sanctuary Swims onto Mobile [Interview]

The game asks players to raise and release fish to restore a coral reef, and the ocean's fish populations, to better health.

Brandy Shaul

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