http://store.steampowered.com/app/314520
Dovetail Games Fishing Early Access Phase Two is now available on Steam. Featuring new Global and local fish AI, Environmental Carp ‘shows’, Lake exploration and peg selection, First person casting, Ambient audio control system and Complete controller functionality.
Global Fish AI
We’ve introduced the concept of a Global Fish AI solution to the lake. This is the underlying behaviour system for our general population of fish in the lake and determines how the carp move around their habitat. The system takes into account the most basic needs for carp.
1.Food - this is currently only based on natural food that can be found in the lake and is set by our game designers.
2.Oxygen - Obviously fish need oxygen to breathe and through our research and practical knowledge we understand how oxygen levels in a lake change over time. We have a model for this which is an underlying variable for how carp migrate around the lake.
Following on we will also add water temperature. With temperature such a critical variable in carp behaviour we have the ability to automatically affect the water temperature based on a number of factors such as time of day, season and lake depth.
All these variables are currently set to our baseline level and we’d appreciate your feedback on how you feel the fish behave in the game. For example, do they show enough? Do they seem to move around the lake realistically based on their shows?
Local Fish AI
To supplement the Global Fish AI we also have a new Local Fish AI feature. Whenever the player does something within the sphere of influence of the Global Fish AI such as casting their line out we then use Local Fish AI to create individual fish personalities (individually simulated carp). Not only will these carp be of different sizes and colours they will also react differently after they’ve taken your bait depending on their size and will have differing amounts of stamina.
Again, this is only our baseline behaviour and we welcome your continued feedback on look, feel and behaviour to help us refine this feature.
Fish ‘shows’
Now we have our baseline Global Fish AI populating our lake it means that we now know where our fish actually are and can attribute different ‘shows’ to them. Currently we have two shows; bubbles breaking on the surface of the water causing ripples and water splashes where carp ‘breach’ the surface. In later phases we will add to these shows (lake bed being disturbed with plumes of mud rising, actual fish breaching, etc).
Lake Exploration and fishing from different pegs
The player now has the opportunity to explore the lake environment and hunt for signs of carp as they move around their environment. If you choose to cast your line in an area where there are no fish present then just as in real life, you aren’t going to catch anything. Use the lake exploration feature to increase your chance of catching.
Players now have the ability to fish from various pegs in our training lake. Though the lake isn’t 100% complete it is now in a playable state. You’ll notice that bushes deform to the characters movement for example. The team will begin to add more individual features to pegs / swims in the coming weeks.
Updated Fish
We now feature fish of different sizes and colours in our game. It’s currently using the same Common Carp model, scaled to an approximate weight and size. In future releases we’ll be working to create unique looking fish so players can specimen hunt just like real life. Feel free to send us an image of your biggest catches!
Complete Controller Functionality
If you have a gamepad connected to your PC then this should now be fully supported. Please report all issues with this to us in the usual way. We’ve tested this on a Microsoft X360 wired controller.
First Person Casting
We’ve had a lot of interest from the community for a first person mode in the game. We’ve added a first person camera to the lake exploration feature and because we think it’s a cool feature we re-prioritised this for casting too. If you press F1 when in casting mode then you’ll go into a first person mode. Press F2 to return to third person. This is a very quick implementation of this feature - it’s included purely to get your feedback so please fire away!
Ambient Audio Control System
A dynamic audio system has been put in place to control ambient audio around the entirety of the training lake. This currently includes wildlife, foliage, aircrafts and birds (which spawn randomly with basic song cycles). This system will be continually updated as the game develops.
Now available on Steam