development update #50
Hello everyone,
Apologies for uploading this a little late, it has been a very intense and interesting week. Unfortunately there is no update to the build this week because we are working on a few large changes that are not quite finished yet but we are quite confident that there will be a new build next week.
Hibuna Goldfish (Male):
One of the new fishes that will be in next week's update will be the male Hibuna Goldfish. It took an exhausting 12 hour painting session yesterday and a further 3 hours today to get it's paint job finished (but I may still tweak it at some point). It is such an iconic fish that it is very important to try and get it right. In addition it is also really good practice for painting scale patterns. Some fish have very clear and defined scales and we need to practice painting them so that when come to paint these fish we will be ready. For instance Arowana fish and the boeseman's rainbowfish are on the list of fish that are scary to paint.
We hinted last week that we would have another nice fish (both male and female) ready this week but we need just a few more hours of painting to get it right. On the bright side that means next week there will be 3 new fish added to the game.
Creation Mode Tweaks:
Time was spent this week fixing up quite a few annoyances in the creation settings. We focused on making it less clunky to create objects quickly and accurately. In the above example there are a few new parameters added and enabled to help this process.
There is an option to enable a preview material on the preview representation of the object you are creating. You can keep creating objects with subsequent mouse clicks rather than having to repeatedly return to the menu to drag the icon into the aquarium, which really became annoying. The UI for this has also been simplified.
These creation settings are now more consistent with the creation settings for plumbing objects which should make things less confusing and some more work will be done to the plumbing creating ui and settings to improve player interaction with that system.
The backdrop system has not been changed in a long time and in desperate need for of an update. An important part of this update is making it's user interface more consistent with the other user interfaces of similar creation features in the game. Which means having a nice menu with a panel with settings so players can customize settings within their chosen backdrop.
We have a lot of new backdrops planned and a few in various stages of completion. There are quite a few types of backdrop. At the moment the default backdrop is a flat grey backdrop. It is pretty boring but players may wish to have simple pure coloured backdrops. In the new version of this system players will be able to choose the colour from swatches from it's settings UI. Changing colours and other settings for each backdrop type is going to be the most interesting part of this system.
Ocean Backdrop:
One backdrop currently present in the game is the ocean backdrop. Eventually there will be a range of options that players can customize that include fog colour, enabling details like whales swimming in the distance, submarines, crabs walking about etc.
Radial gradient test example:
We are also adding a few more backgrounds that are most commonly seen in the advertising industry. Essentially these types of backdrops are all about making a nice clean presentation of whatever is the object of focus. There will be options for players to choose style and colours.
Abstract-ish Patterns:
This falls under the category of "abstract patterns". This category of backdrops won't make sense to everyone but some players may wish to express an idea with their aquarium design which is better expressed and enhanced on a backdrop of something that is not exactly in a 3d space. This could include things like old paper (as seen in the image above) or certain types of floral patterns, very subtle gradients, bokeh patterns etc. This category certainly is not for everyone but there will be some interesting ideas added.
There will also be the realistic category which will have backdrops familiar to all. Players have asked for backdrops like, a child's bedroom, a family living room, the lobby of a business, a pet shop. We are definitely going to add these and much much more.
After we have updated the backdrop system next week we will post a new list on the forums with all the ideas we have for backdrops and of course you will all be invited to give us suggestions so stay tuned for that.
I got a little behind this week with replying to stuff in the forums. Most likely I will respond to questions and suggestions on Sunday after a little rest today.
As usual we wish you all a great weekend and look forward to getting a nice big fat juicy update ready for you all next week.
the Fishery Team
Apologies for uploading this a little late, it has been a very intense and interesting week. Unfortunately there is no update to the build this week because we are working on a few large changes that are not quite finished yet but we are quite confident that there will be a new build next week.
Hibuna Goldfish (Male):
One of the new fishes that will be in next week's update will be the male Hibuna Goldfish. It took an exhausting 12 hour painting session yesterday and a further 3 hours today to get it's paint job finished (but I may still tweak it at some point). It is such an iconic fish that it is very important to try and get it right. In addition it is also really good practice for painting scale patterns. Some fish have very clear and defined scales and we need to practice painting them so that when come to paint these fish we will be ready. For instance Arowana fish and the boeseman's rainbowfish are on the list of fish that are scary to paint.
We hinted last week that we would have another nice fish (both male and female) ready this week but we need just a few more hours of painting to get it right. On the bright side that means next week there will be 3 new fish added to the game.
Creation Mode Tweaks:
Time was spent this week fixing up quite a few annoyances in the creation settings. We focused on making it less clunky to create objects quickly and accurately. In the above example there are a few new parameters added and enabled to help this process.
There is an option to enable a preview material on the preview representation of the object you are creating. You can keep creating objects with subsequent mouse clicks rather than having to repeatedly return to the menu to drag the icon into the aquarium, which really became annoying. The UI for this has also been simplified.
These creation settings are now more consistent with the creation settings for plumbing objects which should make things less confusing and some more work will be done to the plumbing creating ui and settings to improve player interaction with that system.
The backdrop system has not been changed in a long time and in desperate need for of an update. An important part of this update is making it's user interface more consistent with the other user interfaces of similar creation features in the game. Which means having a nice menu with a panel with settings so players can customize settings within their chosen backdrop.
We have a lot of new backdrops planned and a few in various stages of completion. There are quite a few types of backdrop. At the moment the default backdrop is a flat grey backdrop. It is pretty boring but players may wish to have simple pure coloured backdrops. In the new version of this system players will be able to choose the colour from swatches from it's settings UI. Changing colours and other settings for each backdrop type is going to be the most interesting part of this system.
Ocean Backdrop:
One backdrop currently present in the game is the ocean backdrop. Eventually there will be a range of options that players can customize that include fog colour, enabling details like whales swimming in the distance, submarines, crabs walking about etc.
Radial gradient test example:
We are also adding a few more backgrounds that are most commonly seen in the advertising industry. Essentially these types of backdrops are all about making a nice clean presentation of whatever is the object of focus. There will be options for players to choose style and colours.
Abstract-ish Patterns:
This falls under the category of "abstract patterns". This category of backdrops won't make sense to everyone but some players may wish to express an idea with their aquarium design which is better expressed and enhanced on a backdrop of something that is not exactly in a 3d space. This could include things like old paper (as seen in the image above) or certain types of floral patterns, very subtle gradients, bokeh patterns etc. This category certainly is not for everyone but there will be some interesting ideas added.
There will also be the realistic category which will have backdrops familiar to all. Players have asked for backdrops like, a child's bedroom, a family living room, the lobby of a business, a pet shop. We are definitely going to add these and much much more.
After we have updated the backdrop system next week we will post a new list on the forums with all the ideas we have for backdrops and of course you will all be invited to give us suggestions so stay tuned for that.
I got a little behind this week with replying to stuff in the forums. Most likely I will respond to questions and suggestions on Sunday after a little rest today.
As usual we wish you all a great weekend and look forward to getting a nice big fat juicy update ready for you all next week.
the Fishery Team