Hello everyone,
Apologies for being a bit late with this week's update. We have finally added the new algae system into the game and later tonight a new build will be uploaded to steam for you all to try.
The underlying code that governs how algae works is a lot cleaner and more robust than what was previously in the game. Algae's growth is far less volatile and players are able to tweak the water chemistry to keep algae levels where they want.
In order for algae to spawn in the first place players need to maintain relatively high levels of CO2 and nutrients. This can happen by design or by neglect. Once algae spawns it is intentional by us that it is difficult to remove entirely. However having algae growing in your aquarium is not necessarily a bad thing and if players keep an eye on their water chemistry it's growth can be stabilised. Furthermore it can be used as a natural way to control the levels of co2, nutrients and oxygen. It will also be a food source.
In the not too distant future there will be fish that eat algae and hopefully not to far beyond that we will add other algae eating organisms like shrimp and snails.
We are also going to make it look more pretty. There is certain type of beauty that can be found in the natural world when nature becomes a little overgrown and buzzing with life. We want to try and capture that in Fishery and algae will play a big part in that.
The little tufts of algae that grow on the surface of the objects in the pictures below are not final at all and they will be replaced soonish with better models. Another part of the algae visualisation that we are working on are the various painted maps that will appear on the surface of objects, substrate and glass. We are also going to experiment with having algae particles floating around in the water as well as experiment with algae appearing on fish when levels are really high.
At the moment algae is only visible on the surface of decorations so you will need them in your aquarium in order to see it. Above you can see what it looks like as algae grows from nothing to it's maximum level.
Algae grows on the surface of objects over time. You can see it's progress on a per-object basis by selecting it. In the real world if you add a rock into an aquarium full of algae it will take a bit of time before algae is covering it. This is a simple attempt to emulate that behaviour. It serves only as a visualisation and it is not adding more algae into the system.
There has also been a small tweak to the overall water chemistry system that we wanted to add a little later but needed to be added now in order to get the algae working correctly. This change is to the speed that the water chemistry adjusts to changes.
There is an additional parameter added to the water chemistry UIs. "Output". Using the example picture above, The output is 28.4. This represents how much is actually being added into the system by some object/s. However the CO2 level is far greater. This is because the output must have previously been around 40 and suddenly it was reduced. Over time the CO2 level will decline and settle to the value of 28.4 because 28.4 is the amount of CO2 being put into the aquarium and no more. When players modify the CO2 level the output adjusts instantly to reflect the change. This allows players to make changes with precision and know that in a short while levels will rest at that number.
Many of the numbers that govern how the algae and water chemistry system work will be changed a lot over time as we playtest and get feedback from you all, so keep in mind that this is all going to change and improve week by week as is the rest of the game. We did do more work this week on other parts of the game but priority was given to getting algae ready and it sort of took over everything.
We wish everyone a good weekend and shall update you with more progress next week.
The Fishery Team