Aquamania is a scuba diving exploration game on Roblox, still in alpha. This page walks through what I was aiming for and the systems that make it work, with a few screenshots along the way. Click any picture to see it larger.
Quality on Roblox
Aquamania is my attempt at making something of quality on a platform that, I felt, lacked it for a long time. It is a scuba diving exploration game, and I try to put as much care as I can into every detail of the dive.
Awe and fear
What I care about most is the vibe and the ambiance of exploring underwater. The player should feel the vibrant awe of the submarine world and, at the same time, be a little afraid of it. The visual and sound effects are designed to be cohesive, so every place feels like it belongs to the same ocean.
Regions, transitions and state
Behind the mood sits a lot of engine work: complex regions, transitions and state tracking. They keep track of where the player is and what that place should look and sound like, and they carry the player from one ambiance to the next instead of switching abruptly. That is what generates the visual and audio effects you see and hear.
Data that migrates itself
Player data goes through a dynamic serializer and deserializer. When I make a small adjustment to the data schema, I don't have to write a migration by hand for it: old saves adapt to the new shape by themselves. It sounds minor, but it removes a whole class of chores and mistakes while the game keeps changing.
Still in alpha
Aquamania is still in alpha, so it is a work in progress and keeps evolving. You can dive in and see where it stands today.
Play Aquamania on Roblox →More from the dive
