Where's My Water? is a puzzle video game developed by Creature Feep and published by Disney Mobile, a subsidiary of Disney Interactive Studios. Released for devices using Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems, the game requires players to route a supply of water to a fastidious alligator. Where's My Water? has been praised for its gameplay and its graphical style, with special recognition of its lead character, Swampy, the first original Disney character for a mobile game.

Gameplay Edit

Swampy, an alligator living in a city sewer system, hates being dirty, but whenever he tries to take a bath, Cranky, another alligator living in the sewers, disrupts the water flow to Swampy's home. Located somewhere on the level is a supply of water, either a finite amount pooled at various locations or an infinite amount flowing from a pipe. Players use the touch screen on their device to dig through the dirt and redirect the water toward an inlet leading to Swampy's bathtub. Occasionally, the water must be routed through other pipes or must interact with machines in order to open up a route to the inlet. When the required amount of water reaches the bathtub, the level is completed and the next level is unlocked. Also scattered around the level are three rubber ducks that can be collected when they absorb an amount of water. Select levels also include items hidden in the dirt that will unlock bonus levels when three-item collections are completed.

Certain levels are also populated by hazards that must be avoided or removed. For example, some levels contain algae that will absorb water and grow. Other types of fluids will sometimes appear, such as purple poison and green acid. A single drop of poison will contaminate pure water, turning it into poison as well, while the acid will eat through the dirt and react with water, destroying both fluids. If either poison or acid reaches the inlet, the level is failed and must be re-started. Both the poison and the acid will destroy the rubber ducks on contact. However, both fluids will also destroy the invasive algae on contact and they will react explosively if they touch each other, potentially opening up parts of the level to the benefit or detriment of the player.

Points are awarded for the amount of time taken to complete the level, for collecting rubber ducks and for delivering more than the minimum amount of water to Swampy's tub. Collecting a certain number of rubber ducks will also unlock new groups of levels.

Development Edit

Where's My Water? was developed by Creature Feep, a team of designers within the Disney Mobile division of Disney Interactive Studios. Creature Feep is headed up by game design director Tim FitzRandolph, whose earlier works included the popular game JellyCar that Disney would later acquire and distribute. In an October 2011 interview, FitzRandolph explained that the goal for the development of Where's My Water? was "to contribute a new character to the company, while making a really fun game in the process."

The earliest phase of development centered around the concept of the game, which was players using their fingers to guide water to a goal. According to FitzRandolph, "We had a whole bunch of ideas, and at some point along the line, it kept coming back that water, water was very fresh and people hadn't done a lot of physics around water." Designers invested time in making sure the water flowed naturally and as a player might expect it would in real life, thus making the gameplay easier to learn for newcomers. In actuality, the water is rendered as lots of individual "drops" that interact with each other.

The place players were routing water towards became a bathtub, at which point the designers had to devise a reason for having a bathtub underground. That reason came from the urban legend of alligators living in city sewers, so the game's lead character became a "hygiene-conscious alligator". Unlike many mobile games released by Disney, where characters from the company's films are used, Where's My Water? represents the first time that Disney has produced an original character for a mobile game. In designing that character, Disney Mobile wanted one "that felt like it belonged when lined up with other Disney characters".

ReleaseEdit

Where's My Water? launched with four chapters—"Meet Swampy", "Troubled Waters", "Under Pressure" and "Sink or Swim"—each containing 20 levels. Like similar games such as Cut the Rope, Where's My Water? receives free updates from time to time that add new levels and new gameplay mechanics. An October 2011 update added "Change is Good", a 20-level expansion that added the ability to change fluid types from one to another in order to complete levels. "Boiling Point", the game's sixth 20-level chapter, was released in a November 2011 update and included levels where players must convert steam into liquid water. A version for devices equipped with the Android operating system was released on the Android Market in North America on November 23, 2011 and included all six chapters available up to that point.

In December 2011, "Stretched Thin" was released to both platforms, adding 20 new levels, a Christmas overlay for the title screen and new water balloon obstacles. A free, ad-supported version of Where's My Water? was also released to both iOS and Android in December 2011. The free version includes 25 unique levels, plus the ability to unlock five popular levels taken from the main game.

External linksEdit

• Official site