Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell

Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell is a 1998 video game and the third of five adventure games in the Freddi Fish series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It was released on the later releases under the title Freddi Fish and the Stolen Shell. The iOS platform was released with a shortened title Freddi Fish & the Stolen Shell, and also released with a "Lite" demo version that featured subtitles and text boxes in the gameplay.[3] It was considered one of Atari's capital projects available on its website and on the App Store.[4]

Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell
Cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment
Designer(s)
  • Edward Pun
  • Tami Caryl Borowick
Artist(s)John Michaud (animator)
Writer(s)Fred Kron
Composer(s)Thomas McGurk
SeriesFreddi Fish 
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Macintosh
Windows
Linux
Android
iOS
Steam
Release
  • 1997 (rental release)
    1998 (Win & Mac)
  • January 12, 2012, 2014, August 13, 2015 (iOS)
  • April 3, 2014 (Android)[1]
  • May 15, 2014 (Linux)
  • May 15, 2014 (Steam)[2]
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Development

Development for the game began around April, 1996. All puzzles were drafted by the development team on notebooks and minigames for the carnival were sketched.[5] While programming the game, programmers used pseudo-code to keep track of their work.[6]

Art

The characters were designed from basic descriptions with 10 till 30 sketches drawn until a final sketch was approved.[7] The longest process in the character animation was adding bubble trails to their movement.[8]

During the storyboard process it took from 15 to 30 sketches to design each scene in the game.[9] Backgrounds were penciled, inked and hand painted. Some of those backgrounds were inspired by scenery photographs.[10]

Audio

To find the right voices for the characters, dozens of actors auditioned for the game.[11]

Plot

Freddi and Luther are taking a summer vacation to the Founder's Day Festival in the Hawaiian Sea. As they enter the festival, they find that the Conch Shell which is used to signal the beginning of the festival has been stolen. The shell is vital to the festival as the festival cannot start without it. To make matters worse, Luther's Uncle Blenny, the "Grand Exalted Keeper of the Conch", is in jail for the mess. Now Freddi and Luther have to find the three golden pipes that fell out, and look for the real thief. They search and investigate the suspicious characters to find out who really "did it". Once the pipes are found, Old Soggy, Uncle Blenny's dogfish, will smell the scent and find the culprit. Freddi and Luther follow Old Soggy to an Aztec temple in the Sea off the Coast of Mexico.

In the Aztec temple, they spot the thief with a bag and the conch shell outside. Old Soggy swims off to catch the thief. When Luther starts losing control and grabs a jewel, the gate closes and he gets trapped in a cage. Freddi has to get the key to get it open. After Freddi frees Luther and he puts the jewel back in place, the gate opens and the bag drops into the temple. They catch the bag and tell everyone that Uncle Blenny is innocent. Inside the bag is one of six items: a microphone, a foreign language world map, a boxing glove, a cane, a spool of thread, or a toothbrush. One of the suspects is depending on the evidence from the item. When the suspect is chosen, he or she does not believe Freddi and Luther, but Old Soggy bites its tail or back. The culprit confesses and explains the whole situation to everyone.

After the culprit gives Uncle Blenny the conch shell, everyone apologizes to Uncle Blenny for blaming him. He forgives the town and has his title of "Grand Exalted Keeper of the Conch" reinstated. Luther places the pipes in the shell and Uncle Blenny blows out the signal to open the festival and everyone celebrates. The dialogue shows what will happen to the thief as the narrator mentions it, then he says "case closed", meaning the player finished the game.

There are six possible suspects, and each one has a different reason for stealing the Conch Shell.

Gameplay

The game uses exactly the same mechanics as its predecessors. In each playthrough, the puzzles, collectible and usable items, character encounters, locations, minigames, and trivial click spots change to randomly determine which of the six suspects stole the Conch Shell.

Reception

Freddi Fish 3 was generally well-received, getting scores of 85% from GameBlitz,[12] a 4-star rating from Allgame,[13] 81% from Greenman Gaming,[14] an Excellent rating from About this Particular Macintosh,[15] 4 out of 10 from GameCola[16] and a 5.5 out 10 score from Unikgamer.[17]

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[13]
GameBlitz85%[12]
Greenman Gaming81%[14]
About this Particular MacintoshExcellent[15]
GameCola (iPad)4/10[16]
Unikgamer5.5/10[17]

References
  1. "Freddi Fish & the Stolen Shell - Android Apps on Google Play". Google Play. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. "Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell on Steam". Steam. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  3. "Freddi Fish and the Stolen Shell Lite for iOS". CNET. September 20, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  4. "Annual Financial Report/Registration Document Fiscal Year 2011/2012" (PDF). Atari. March 31, 2012: 9, 10. Retrieved April 19, 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Freddi Fish 3: The Blueprints". Archived from the original on June 15, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  6. "Freddi Fish 3: Programming". Archived from the original on June 17, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  7. "Freddi Fish 3: Art & Animation". Archived from the original on June 14, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  8. "Freddi Fish 3: Frames". Archived from the original on June 15, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  9. "Freddi Fish 3: Storyboards". Archived from the original on June 17, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  10. "Freddi Fish 3: Backgrounds". Archived from the original on June 14, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  11. "Freddi Fish 3: Voices". Archived from the original on June 17, 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  12. James Anthony (1998). "Freddi Fish 3 review on GameBlitz". Retrieved March 11, 2015. Younger children (3 to 6) will definitely need a parent around to help them work things out, but sit down and have some fun.
  13. Brad Cook. "Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell - Review - allgame". Allgame. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  14. Romy68 (August 10, 2014). "Reviews for Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2015. Grab it, a title which should not miss from person's collection who loves old titles.
  15. Mike Shields (1998). "Review Freddi Fish 3". Retrieved May 4, 2015. There were puzzles to solve, as well as games to play. Sometimes, you have to play a game to solve a puzzle!
  16. Michael Gray (January 9, 2013). "Freddi Fish and the Stolen Shell (iPad)". Retrieved May 4, 2015. Will the target audience of very young children enjoy this game? Most emphatically yes. In the end, I guess that’s all which really matters for the success of the game.
  17. "Freddi Fish series on Unikgamer". Unikgamer. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
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