Reservoirs

[_Glenn_]

I'm really fired up about this game after reading Paul's "What makes a good fishing game". I like the emphasis on simulation. I have felt that the current crop of console fishing games are fun in an arcade way, but leave anglers like me wanting more. I'm an amateur largemouth bass fisherman, who fishes mostly local tournaments with my bass club. I have been fortunate to fish most of better reservoirs in the east and southeastern US , In the winter months, I occasionally reinstall Ole "TrophyBass 4" (Sierra/Dynamx) which is IMHO a good game but could be better.


One question I have is :All of the lakes I've seen in the screen shots appear to be northern natural lakes. Are there any reservoirs modeled?. In my area of the country, with the exception estuaries, this is what we fish . Reservoirs have there own particular structures (roadbeds, foundations, rock walls, stump fields, points etc), the old submerged river beds being key pattern structures. Vegetation is important but usually secondary to structure. I was wondering if reservoirs and their structures are modeled?
Glenn

[paul]

There isn't anything with roadbeds and structure like that, but one of the Western lakes is intended to represent a reservoir with flooded valleys, points, etc. In a future update I plan to add support for dams, roads, other buildings on the shore, etc. That won't effect the fishing but it will make a reservoir more life-like. It would certainly be possible to add old road beds, flooded creek channels, stump fields, standing timber, etc. Sounds like a fun project.

Which brings me to something else I've been thinking about: How about a screen shot contest. The person who would submit the most impressive screen shot would win a custom lake - the winner describes the features, fish population, vegetation, etc, and I'd create it, possibly with one new species of the winners choice. As soon as this update is finished I think I set up something like that.

Paul

[_Glenn_]

Thanks for the quick reply. I can definitely tell you care about your product and customers!

It would certainly be possible to add old road beds, flooded creek channels, stump fields, standing timber, etc. Sounds like a fun project.

I thought that I might be fun to combine my interest in bass fishing and a project like this too, but never knew where or how to start. I'm a hobbyist programmer, but do know some C++, through inheritance and polymorphism and some Win32API programming . Played around with designing some 2D games using a game engine etc.

The winner describes the features, fish population, vegetation, etc, and I'd create it, possibly with one new species of the winners choice. As soon as this update is finished I think I set up something like that.

Sounds good!

Glenn

[paul]

Glenn,

I was planning to add a new lake in the update I'm preparing to release. I'll make this one a reservoir for variety's sake.

You might want to have a look at the lake creation tutorials - it doesn't require programming, but it lets you build pretty much any lake you want. The update that supports the custom lakes is still in beta but seems quite stable. I wonder if people are finding it a bit too technical, though. I'm surprized we haven't seen some custom lakes shared on the forum by now.

Paul

[_Glenn_]

I purchase VRSF online a few days ago, installed it that night. I stayed up late that night playing around. Few niggles on the install on a new Core Vista32 lap, standard Intel video card, but everything seems to work just fine now.

With the high water effects enabled the mouse drag very slow. I switched to low and the sum work WAY better. The lower water setting actually looks more realistic to me; less transparent, without the swirly surface. Under the low setting the water is less transparent and has more of pea-soup appearance that matches my home lakes.

I jacked the skill setting up to high for the start and caught lots of bass on Eagle Lake after making a Topo. Nice environmental and other features that I liked too. For example I like the way the bass subtly pick up a worm...very realistic. I wish My RL fish was this good, this am we had 4 boats out and caught seven all total, 3 were shake-offs…I don’t remember losing any at Eagle Lake.. Lots of questions and things I could comment on but over-all I like this sim and it’s potential.

I had a look at the videos re:lake editing. It looks pretty straight forward. I will give it a try when I can get the time.

[paul]

Thanks for your support, and I like the topo map you made! I'm glad you're having fun with the game, and hopefully you'll enjoy the update that's coming shortly. I am including a reservoir that should offer some interesting fishing. The river channel is obvious on the map, but the roadbed is more subtle. It doesn't show up on the map view, but you can see approximately where it runs from the old road on the shore, and then find it on your fish locator and follow it.

Here's the layout of the reservoir:


And here's a shot of the new lighting and weather features, heading out at sunset:


And a near miss driving by starlight (yeah, I'll add running lights in the future):


And a little bit of bobber fishing for panfish:


And some topwater fishing on the reservoir on a clear night after the full moon came out:


Paul

[Mydnyte]

Wow, that's looking really good.