Hello to all of you,
There will be a new build uploaded within the next 24 hours but if all goes well it will be tonight. We have added some nice new art content:
Rummy Nose Tetra Female:
Rummy Nose Tetra Male:
I'm sure some of you are asking, what about the male guppy from last week that was promised? I got a bit too tired of staring it and needed to reset my brain so instead I looked at the unfinished fish list in the forums and found the Rummy Nose Tetra. Quite lovely little fish and they were a lot of fun to paint. The male blue grass guppy should arrive in the game next week, hopefully it will not defeat me again.
Banana Slice:
More food has been added. It just felt so right to add into the game. It also has a dual purpose. Bananas are high in Potassium which is a valuable nutrient that plants require. Soon the code will be updated so that certain food items rich in nutrients can be used to feed fish and also provide nutrients for plants. That way players won't necessarily have to depend on the artificial fertilizer balls or the plumbing nutrient injector to help sustain their ecosystems.
Ruins:
We also added two more ruin pieces that we introduced last week. The new pieces added are the single pillar sections that are not attached to a base block. Next week we hope to finish painting some more brick like blocks of various dimensions so players can start building things with a bit more structure. You can also see a lovely array of banana slices elegantly scattered around the aquarium.
Fungi:
This is Mitrula Paludosa. It is not in the game yet but it will be next week if all goes to plan. It is a species of fungi that grows in the water. We have not found pictures of it actually submerged more than halfway underwater but that is good enough for us to put it into the game.
Fungi is new object type to the game and it will be very useful. Fungi is what is known as a "decomposer" which simply means they break down dead organic matter. Their main job in fishery will be to provide a way to manage waste levels. Players may wish to keep waste at acceptable levels using purely natural means without a plumbing filter. Fungi will get the job done and will help make things look interesting in your aquarium. We have not decided precisely what their needs will be but it will be similar to the other forms of life currently in the game. They will be sensitive to temperature, PH and saltiness and they might add nutrients and other chemicals into the water in exchange for removing waste.
Busy times indeed. When working on art content it often feels like we make more progress than when working purely on code features which is good for the morale of us and anyone who has been following us for a while. The game is really coming together nicely and if we keep going at this pace it means we could add at a minimum 4-5 new species of fish per month. On top of that we looking to add more decorations, plumbing objects, food items, plants, substrates and backgrounds. At some point we will also return to adding more features but our updates were quite feature heavy at the start of the year and we need to balance it out a little before we go deep into code again. Some of the features that have been planned and ready to be coded are the undo system, a much better help system, selection sets, marquee selection, selection filters, more complex fish behaviour and emotions, floating plants and many many many more. The to-do list is enormous but we shall prevail.
We wish you all a great weekend
The fishery Team