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Old 06-22-2012, 09:08 AM   #1891
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
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Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Ha, ha - a lot of questions to answer since I last logged in! Where to start?

Though I'm aware of the Kickstarter program (and my daughter might use it for a film), I had never really considered it for program development funding. Each project has to pass a Board of Review, and it seems like they would say, "Why should people donate money with nothing in return when they could accomplish the same thing by simply buying the Aquarium?" I don't really have a good answer. Visibility, I guess. Anyway, it's something to think about.

Hiring people - The worst time of my life was when I was the Art Director for Cinemaware. I had a dozen artists working for me, and I had to pay all of them (plus myself) from a total budget of $8000. I ended up having to redo just about every pixel of everything they turned in, but the worst part was being responsible for so many starving artists and their families, each with their own sob story of why they need a bigger share. It led to a nervous breakdown. The money currently coming in from the Aquarium may be small, but at least I don't have to divide it two or three ways.

Then there's the other aspect of hiring programmers - ability. The line from "The Social Network" keeps coming to mind, "If they could have created Facebook, they would have created Facebook." The same goes for the Aquarium. I know that both Microsoft and EA attempted to cut in on the success of MA, and both gave up. In 12 years, the only one who was able to put out a product which I would have been proud to call my own was Alan Kapler (an Academy-Award-winning artist-programmer), and even Dream Aquarium doesn't have a giant scrolling 3D environment.

Those of you who pointed out the main problem with the Aquarium (the newness or WOW!-factor) are exactly right, and that's why I've been reluctant to spend more time on it. If I came out with add-ons, I'd sell a few copies to the die-hard fans, but it wouldn't generate a huge wave of interest. The easiest new product to develop would be the Freshwater Aquarium, since I already did a lot of work on it years ago. But I don't think people would really notice it. Something other than an aquarium is needed, something with a different look. So, for the past month I've been researching what would it would take to create the Butterfly Habitat. There are technical problems, and no one has even come close to creating convincing butterflies yet. But then, 12 years ago no one had come close to creating realistic fish, either.

The Pros -
- A Butterfly Habitat would have a very different look-and-feel, which may regain the necessary Wow-factor.
- Having a second product would bring many more people to the website and almost certainly increase sales of MA.

The Cons -
- It's a big, difficult project, and my old brain isn't what it used to be.
- I'm already working 12 hours a day on the house, which doesn't leave much time for software development.
- Most of the venues for getting noticed no longer exist. It needs to be displayed to masses of people on banks of screens, but there are no stores which do this any more. There are also no websites like 3DFiles.com which whip up interest among millions of subscribers on a daily basis.


If I were to tackle this project, I'd seriously consider switching to OpenGL. That would make it much easier to transport the program to iPads, Macs, smart phones, etc.

Thanks for your comments, everyone.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
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