And add a little humour...
 

After the chase and bite, the agressive fish should slowly turn around and swim away.

But not before releasing some bubble-looking gas from its backside!

:) )

Re: The key should be Interactive and Addictive
 

Mark,

Individual personalities will be added to the fish at a later date, this has been planned from the beginning. When that happens you will see some short chasing and maybe some territorial attitudes from some species, but like you mentioned there won't be any fighting or damaged fish.

In addition, you will also be able to feed the fish and tap on the glass in the future. No fish will die from a result of not feeding them, but it will add your level of interactivity that you mentioned.

There are several other things planned along the same lines, that will add even more functionality to the aquarium, so stay tuned. :)

Re: And add a little humour...
 

The feeding and tapping on the glass features are coming, but by far the most requested item is the movement of the soft corals. In order to even have a chance at achieving this, the background objects must be 3D. So the 3D background is my number 1 priority, after I get the box design finalized.

By the way, I absolutely guarantee that the fish will NOT pass gas as long as I'm alive :)

where i can download it ?
 

so plz tell me where i can download the sash aquarium program

Re: where i can download it ?
 

Go to this URL:

www.serenescreen.com/
(Sorry, Jim. I have put in the correct URL.)

and click on "NEWS/Starfish" and download .

Re: where i can download it ?
 

Please... it's serenescreen.com. I've been trying to retire that old fish-byte address for a year.

Re: where i can download it ?
 

Pass gas? I don't think that has ever been in suggested?

Re: where i can download it ?
 

The suggestion is from Mark Lee, above.

Other operating systems?
 

I'd like to see the Aquarium ported to other operating systems as well. I guess an Amiga version would be out of the question these days, but how about a Linux version?

Thanks.

Re: Other operating systems?
 

The Aquarium is a totally Direct3D program. I wouldn't have a clue how to do it without D3D underneath.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Jim,

I'd like to suggest this creature for the screensaver. I know there's a good chance it wont happen, but I'm still posting it because it makes for a very interesting read and I believe the forum users would enjoy learning about it. Still, if you should consider it, I'm sure it would be a real attention grabber.

Anyway, I found a link to a VERY interesting species of octopod (new species in fact). Now we all know that an octopus can change it's body coloration to mimic it's surroundings right? Well, this new species can not only mimic the colors of it's surroundings, but the color of other creatures, their movements, and even more amazing, their actual shape. If you would like to know more about this strange little octopus, follow this link:

asiandiver.com/themagazin...icoct.html

- DL

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

I saw a Discovery Channel Documentary on these critters. They are really fascinating.

Mimic Octopii (sp?)
 

Thanks, DL! I sure enjoyed reading about 'em.

The obvious problem with putting one of these guys in the tank would be that it's just too fantastic. People would just say "Too bad he put that weird octopus in there when the rest of it looks so realistic".

/Tiny

Re: Mimic Octopii (sp?)
 

Turtle, that philosophy seems to be preventing the appearance of wrasses as well. :(

I understand but it's a shame. Do we fit people's sense of reality? Or do we enlighten people to reality?

Re: Mimic Octopii (sp?)
 

This is a problem that all artists face when striving for realism. Let's say I'm doing a background scene for a game, and I go out and photograph some clouds for source material. If one of the clouds happens to look like a rabbit, I can't use it. Even though it's a real cloud, people won't accept it in the game.

However, I will look into ways of using an octopus like the one described above and still make it believable.

Re: Mimic Octopii (sp?)
 

Thanks Jim, I appreciate the fact that you're willing to consider this idea.

- DL

Re: Tap on the glass
 

How will "tap on the glass" work? Will the cursor be a hand and clicking a mouse button make it tap? Also, how will feeding the fish work?

Sea anemone
 

What about some anemone for the clown fish to hide in.

Any DVD plans?
 

It would be sweet if I could pop in a DVD and have this on my T.V.

I suppose it would have to be a recording of the screen saver though.

Any DVD plans?
 

Darrellf,

You're much better off just using your PC with a video card that has TV-out on it, that's what I do. I've got my GeForce 2 Pro hooked up to my 27" Sony and that's all she wrote.

- DL

Moveable Coral & Tank
 

I would like to see in the new version a few extra features to do with the tank rather than the fish.

I think that it would be good to have a few other tank layouts and designs for the fish including being able to turn the amount of bubbles up or down and have the sound to match.

Also it might be an idea to have a designable tank where people can add in certain pieces of coral.

It would also be good to see the fish interact with their surrounding more - like the clown fish playing in the anename and things like that.

Re: Moveable Coral & Tank
 

Dallion,

I don't see how Jim could add a changeable tank. Whenever he creates the 3D coral, he will have to extensively test the Aquarium so that the fish do not pass through the coral.

Jim has stated in the past that changeable coral is unlikely. Both for the difficulty, and also because he is a stickler for the asthetics of the Aquarium and wants it to look a certain way.

A brand new Aquarium background is coming which will have living moving coral. At some point (then or later) we will see a living anemone that the clownfish has a symbiotic relationship with.

RE: Moveable Coral & Tank
 

Dallion,

You said:

"I think that it would be good to have a few other tank layouts and designs"

Now I'm not sure if you're hinting at the same thing or not, but I sort of suggested something similar a while back. I thought it would be pretty interesting to have more than one type of tank (i.e. different coral setups in different shaped tanks - rectangular, square, octagonal, triangle, etc.). However, in response Jim told me that he only intends to do the one tank with one coral layout as multiple layouts would require too much additional work.

Morgan,

You're response was:

"Dallion, the features you seek are in development. Read through the other 300 posts in this Wishlist and you'll see. "

Does this mean I missed something along the way? Does Jim intend to impliment:

- other tank layouts and designs
- able to turn the amount of bubbles up or down and have the sound to match
- people can add in certain pieces of coral

Just a little confused by these two posts and I hope to find some clarity in there somewhere. :)

- DL

Re: RE: Moveable Coral & Tank
 

Steve,

You're keeping me on the ball.

I didn't pay much attention when I said "Yes those features are in development."

Jim will be the first to tell you that a user-changeable tank ain't happening. Unless Jim has changed his mind about allowing this and tracked down some game programming gurus to help him with collision detection/object avoidance.

Re: RE: Moveable Coral & Tank
 

You had me confused there for a minute Morgan (and a little hopeful I suppose). :) Thanks for clearing that up.

- DL

matrox dual display
 

make it compatable with dual displays
would be great

dual displays
 

Don't know how feasible it would be, but it would be cool if it work with dual displays where the fish could swim back and forth between the two screens. I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but can the widescreen version be modified to do this?

...
 

That's fine except for the fact that my PC is upstairs, my TV is downstairs, and I don't have any immediate plans to string video cable through the walls.

Re: ...
 

Wireless Video transmitters aren't that expensive.

Re: ...
 

Sounds like that aquarium DVD that everyone was talking about last month might be just the ticket.

Jellyfish
 

Jim, I was wondering what kind of jellyfish you plan on adding to the aquarium. I saw some in a tank at Sea World one time, and I just wanted to stand there for the longest time and watch them. They truly are poetry in motion, and I think it would be a nice addition to the tank. The link below tells about what all is required to keep jellyfish. Not something I would want to try myself thats for sure :) The second link has some facts about the jellyfish.


www.aquarium-design.com/jellyfish.html

www.aqua.org/animals/species/jellies.html

Thanks,
Grape

Re: Jellyfish
 

The type I had in mind is similar to the lower picture in your second link.

Re: Jellyfish
 

It's a shame the aquarium is not capable of holding larger creatures, otherwise I would suggest using my personal favorite, the Portuguese Man-o-war (mainly because I'm Portuguese :) heh):

www.aloha.com/~lifeguards/portugue.html

Then again, I suppose you could just make it a juevenile version. :)

- DL

Impressive!
 

Hey, I'm new to these forums and also new to the community!

However, I think this really rocks! It's fantastic watching it on my TV using the Dualhead technology of matrox. At night, when u turn off the light u have the impression of a real aquarium standing in your room!

Fantastic work, keep it going! Could anyone tell me when the next version will come out? Dunno when 0.99L has been published.

matroxx

instead of interchangable coral...
 

How about instead of interchangable coral, you let the user simply choose the color of the coral. Also, you could let the user change the backdrop color. I think it would really neat to be able to change the coral and backdrop to match your computer color scheme. These kinds of user options for how the aquarium looks are essential and will make it more fun. You could also let the user set the coral color as a texture aquired from a picture file, so companys could stick their logos on the coral and you can make the coral look however you want. Maybe you could also do these same things with the gravel so we can make the gravel any color or texture we want.If you used this idea, you could always post new bitmap textures to use for the coral and ones to use for the gravel. Of course, these things can only be done once the 3d coral is done. If I have any more ideas, ill be sure to post them!

P.S. - For anybody who hasnt seen the ms plus pack, I just saw it in a store and it has a nice picture of the aquarium on the front (among other things).

Rating System
 

Someone earlier mentioned that it would be nice to be able to choose what fish you want to appear and what not whem you set RANDOM for fish. As for me i always set random, and because i like some fish more than another and can't stand couple of them i so have to Double Space couple times before im happy with all the fish i see.
So lately i was thinking about it and have suggestion.
I don't know how many of you used winamp plugin called Geiss

www.geisswerks.com/geiss/index.html

but it has one feature that allows you to rate presets based on star rating. More stars - more chances preset has to appear and so on.
Jim, is it possible to implement this feature in aquarium where you could rate fish based on your preferences, lets say from 1(once a month) to 5 (almost every time, given you turn on aquarium couple of times a day, like i do :) )?

P.S.

Thanks for a BEST screensaver and one of may favorite pieces of software. And keep on doing on what you do like no one else.

peace

Re: Rating System
 

I'd love to see such a system.

Star Light, Star Bright
 

Star Light, Star Bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

I wish I could get a signed copy of the boxed CD containing version 1.0!

Woo Hoo!

Star Light, Star Bright
 

About 3D Background
 

Will the new 3D background be basically a modification of the existing one or significantly different?