Hello everyone,
It has been a slightly shorter week due to the easter break and there is no update to the build this week. However some really important progress has been made with the fish.
As has been mentioned in some previous posts we have been working on improving existing fish whilst preparing to add new ones. This also includes making the male and female versions to be used later when we implement the breeding feature.
For example here is a look at the old model of the Tiger Barb that is currently in the game:
Like the other fish models it is fairly simple but works quite well. As was said before what we need are to have gendered versions of each fish. For Tiger Barbs, the differences between genders are more subtle than other species in terms of body shape. Females are overall larger and their bellies are larger as they have to accommodate lots of eggs. The other differences are in colour but we wont be showing that in this post.
Their size is set to be the same so they fit nicely in the image. The important things to notice here are that there is more definition around the head. The fish actually has gills now and overall there is more of a feeling of volume and form. Much more detail has gone into the fins so when seen in silhouette they are more distinctive. The higher polygon count and distinctive features allows us to add more detail into the animations. The lower resolution versions did not look good when the body bends during it's swimming motion because there are not enough polygons to make the bend look rounded.
It also makes painting the fish easier because we paint on top of a surface that has more definition. This actually helps it feel more three dimensional. The old version tends to feel a bit flat because there is more detail painted into the texture but it sits on top of a simple featureless model. Essentially it comes down to us wanting to improve the quality. There is nothing particularly wrong with the old versions but they can be better and it is important to make them the best that they can be.
Here is a look at the other fish we have worked on this week:
Round Tail Guppies:
Old:
New:
This is the first proper guppy type we are adding. We will slowly add the other guppy types such as fan tail, sword tail, spear tail etc but for now we will stick with the round tail type. We will be adding as many colour variations as we can over time. By the end of development there will be quite a lot of guppies.
Platy:
Old:
New:
like guppies, Platys come in many different colours and we are going to add as many if these into the game as we can because too they are quite lovely.
We are also going to add Mollys. Mollys and Platys are quite similar to each in terms of body shape but there are distinct differences and variations. Mollys will get their own distinct models and colourings.
Betta:
Old:
New:
We added the first betta fish around christmas time and players seemed to really like it. This one is a female. The male is still being worked on because it's fins are quite a lot larger. The hard part is figuring out a good way to animate them. Their fins are so large and behave like cloth. This requires a bit more problem solving to get right.
Rainbow fish:
This is a completely new fish type that we have not been shown before. It needs another few hours of modelling work and then we can starting painting.
Next week we will post a list in the forums of the fish we are going to include into the game. as well as some information on their state of readiness. We will keep adding to the list so fear not if you don't see your favourite fish on it but feel free to tell us and we will add it. We will also try and show more fish related progress every week now that the ball is rolling.
We wish you all a lovely weekend
The Fishery Team