Deep Deep Ocean

11pm’s “Deep Deep Ocean” is a stark departure from their previous game entries, but it is nice to see their growth from their original Bitsy game, all about learning “Who is Phil.” Entering the game, the player is instantly flooded with emotions and ideas of the surrounding world. The design not only sets the scene as underwater, but showcases the world as alive, and truly deep. In the locations the player can move to, there are no reflections and no visible waves. The dialogue helps to set the scene as well as in the Pacific Ocean, but the feeling of being deep underwater felt particularly important to me as a player. We don’t understand a lot of what goes on deep in the ocean, so I was left with curiosity around what types of experiences I would face as I ventured on. 

I soon travelled deeper into the ocean, highlighted by the game with a vertical transition and lack of any reflections in the new scene. There I met some fellow sea friends. Each sea animal had quite their own character, highlighting that this wasn’t any normal sea experience, and the deep sea truly has some strange things going on. They worked as tools to access the various minigames. Beyond that, the elaborate coral design made the experience feel exciting but also allowed us to feel subtly orientated without being too specific, which makes it more realistic and also helps provide a sense of direction with an environment as technically confusing as the deep ocean.

Beyond simple visual design, the design was important to the story, with the coral tubes acting as transportation mechanisms for the minigames. 11pm worked with these sprite and color constraints of Bitsy to truly bring the world to life in a way that is realistic but while also enabling the mystery feeling of this deep ocean. Entering each one, we are tricked, thinking we are entering a spa, but have some task to complete. It feels a little frustrating as a player, but it is a good frustration that leaves the player wanting to find the true spa. 

As the player soon finds, there is no spa, at least for them. They even end up on the other side, giving some sort of spa, having to hit arrow blocks. Due to the experience of working on each one, the dialogue and attitude from the characters after returning, and the beauty of scenes, it’s really not the worst feeling. As players we were provided with unique experiences and were allowed to build our own little story in the “deep deep” ocean, with northing forced upon the player. We were allowed to take our time, appreciate, and explore and better understand the potential mystery of what the deep ocean could potentially be like.

All in all, “Deep Deep Ocean” utilizes the constraints of Bitsy well to create a realistic, yet mysterious world, that leaves the player wondering what else strange thing could be next. I mean who would expect an arrow order clicking game created by sea creatures. I know I’m left curious to see what else could be lurking in the depths of the ocean, but also a little scared, with nothing turning out as expected so far.

Deep Deep Ocean brings me a great game experience with all the tile sets and min-games. The general blue theme helps me to immerse myself into the deep sea feeling, which feels like I am in the deep ocean right now as a fish (or a human).

The color of this game is generally blue with important characters or objects being yellow. The blue color corresponds to the ocean elements in the natural world, which helps to render to a similar environment. The wave animation, the sun in the sky, and the screen movement from top to down also implies that we are in the ocean and we are exploring from the surface to the deep ocean. Personally, I really like all the characters being yellow instead of other colors, because it allows me to know what I can interact with in the game and what to expect next.

However, the entries in the game are not explicitly labeled in the game. The three entries are at different tubes in the second scene, which corresponds to different parts of the tubes in the bottom right of the screen. I was confused at first about how to enter the other games when I found the first bubble game. But after a few rounds of talking with sprites in the game and wandering, I found the pattern and correctly entered the next two games.

The first exit of the game is actually mandatory and instructional, since there is only one way you can move and you can only move horizontally. After I move to the right most area of the first scene, the transition begins. However, it is not two separate rooms. The rooms are connected together since the camera only moves down instead of being black. The other exits in the game are not explicit, and it is only mentioned in the text messages after players interact with the essential sprites, which is different parts of the tubes in the bottom right of the screen.

The text messages are the core of the game, since it provides the essential information and instructions to players. Without talking to the sprites, players will not what to do next. Also, the text messages act like an inventory so that you can see what you gain and what you lose after each conversation. For example, when I talk to the crab, the text message can show me that I have gained a shrimp and I can do something about it. It also works for the starfish, which can give me the coupon as the entry requirements to the game.

The three mini games are also wonderful experience to me. The first one that I encounter is to collect all the bubbles, and the second one is the maze. The final one is actually the most interesting since I did not actually play the game, but I managed to get out of the room because I talked to the sprites one more time. 

11pm's game "Deep Deep Ocean" is a wonderful exploration into the deep sea with fun visuals, creative mini-games, and interesting characters. 

Visually, "Deep Deep Ocean" is a treat. 11pm uses three simple colors to not overwhelm the player. The colors are light blue, dark blue, and orangeish yellow. The dark blue is the sea, the light blue is the accent color and the yellow is used for sprites and the player. Beyond this simple color pallet, 11pm really excels in his pixeled design. Each of the scenes are intricately done with complex coral reefs and anemones. This design and color pallet choice adds to the whimsy and interesting details of "Deep Deep Ocean".

The mini games are also a very fun addition to "Deep Deep Ocean". Each minigame is introduced by a different sea themed character (fish, crab, starfish, etc.). These characters give the players items which are used to get to the minigame room. The minigame rooms are hidden in the different tubes of the anemone. I thought that this was a very smart addition on the part of 11pm because it imitated what sea creatures may actually do. Entrances and exits weren't just the edges of the Bitsy scenes but woven into the story and setting of the game. Additionally, the transition in the first scene demonstrated the deepness of the ocean. Rather than cutting from one scene to another, the two scenes were blended together by the player physically traveling downwards. This made the two scenes feel connected and like they were one long and narrow ocean.

The minigames were separated into a maze game, an obstacle game, and a "Dance Dance Revolution" type game. These games worked well together because they were all unique in their owns ways and utilized the different mechanics of Bitsy. For the maze, you navigated around the Bitsy-created walls to grab tiny pearls. For the obstacle game, you had to navigate around different popping bubbles and obstacles to press the bubbles that weren't popping. For the "Dance Dance Revolution" game, you had the option of 4 directions and had to follow the directions given by the sprite. These games gave "Deep Deep Ocean" a feeling of fun and made the game more than a simple exploration game. 

The sprites also added to the whimsy and interactivity of the game. Most sprites had a feature where they would move. For example, the crab's hands and legs moved. The fish moved up and down and had the bubbles around them move. These movements made the sprites feel more real and helped the game to feel more interactive. Additionally, 11pm made the game more dynamic with their use of text effects. Some text said by sprites were normal font, but others were all caps, or different colors, or wavy. These different texts effects helped to distinguish each sprite and reveal aspects of their personality. A fun text effect which I appreciated was that at the end of most minigames, there was a wavy "Congrats" with a rainbow effect which helped me feel more accomplished in my victory.

Overall, "Deep Deep Ocean" was a fun dive into Bitsy, its functions, and the world of minigames under the sea. I would recommend this game to a friend and look forward to playing it again.