In the last month I've made some mega improvements to Peacequarium to make it more fun and engaging and I've been taking player feedback very seriously. I believe I've incorporated all feedback that contributes to making Peacequarium a better experience and I've successfully integrated Twitch, Steam Achievements, and Steam inventory into the upcoming full game and the playtest!
The most exciting feature I've added are fish traits which add more character to whichever fish you apply them to and makes them more useful. Traits don't persist on closing down the game which creates a nice sink for the trait item economy. I've successfully got a gatherer trait working in the full game and any fish with that trait will collect any wholesome buff it touches automatically (and be wearing a red cap :D ). The playtest has four of the traits available and these are supplied as Steam items over time in your Steam inventory which you can consume in game. Pro tip, if you want to achieve the Fish Collector achievements, then apply a breeder trait to a fish you don't have enough of. Make sure there is enough space in the same aquarium and then leave it to spawn new fish of its species every half hour! Check your Creature Collection menu to know how many of each species you have in stock.
I like the giant fish trait :)
You can apply a trait by going to your fish menu and then clicking on the blue trait icon.
I've made lots of quality of life improvements but a real notable one is that the game now remembers when you press a lock or unlock button for each rarity of fish. When you buy fish you no longer have to keep pressing the lock buttons for each rarity. The game will remember if you pressed the lock button for epic for example and if you spawn any epic fish they will automatically be locked. This applies when starting up the game as well, it will remember which species you want locked or unlocked on spawn. I still have to figure out a way to properly show you what the remembered selection is, so that is a work in progress.
The fast buy buttons are pretty cool and I've managed to speed up the code behind fast purchasing fish and populating the fish menu so it is a fluid operation now. This enables mass buying fish, mass selling and using the fast buy buttons to try and increase your number of epic and rare fish if that is your strategy.
In the Creature Collection menu you only need to hold down your left click now and species levels will automatically keep being bought until you release left click. This is quite a powerful way to increase your earnings per second.
The glowing fish that get added to your Steam inventory have a visual difference, but they also have double EPS and value of their regular counterparts, so they are very much worth keeping and putting into your aquariums if you want to maximise your EPS!
I'm currently continuing to work on the full game content and I'm also aiming to launch the demo for Peacequarium in early November. At this time I'm thinking I will end the playtest when I launch the demo (the demo will replace the playtest) and this will save me from having to maintain an additional project in addition to the full game and demo. Your save progress and Steam achievements will go across to the demo but your Steam items will not, so I recommend that you freely use your items!
There's a ten percent chance on opening a gift box that you'll receive the platinum treasure chest! It gives a mega wealth reward :D
Thanks,
GTGD