by paul » Sun Jan 24, 2010 4:10 am
Sturgeon fishing by canoe... that would be an adventure. That would require more physics than the game has now - specifically, the fish pulling the boat around. =) But hey, why not. I did try fishing for flathead catfish in the upper Mississippi (I've caught them up to 50 pounds) from a float tube. Never hooked one from the tube, but that would have been almost as bad as hooking a sturgeon from a canoe. I've got to give that another try next summer.
I've got the waterfall figured out. Or rather I've got an animated 3D model of a waterfall working that I think I could drop right into the game, but while building it I thought a simpler possible solution that I'll also have to explore. With the work I'm doing now I'm also starting to build a collection of 3D models that lake/river designers will be able to add to any map. Eventually I want to have sophisticated animated characters that you can assign motions to, like cars or trains that follow roads or tracks, barges that follow the main channel, etc. For now it will be more simple stuff, like houses, barns, dams, bridges, trees, docks, boulders, rock piles, riprapped shorelines, road segments, etc. The collection of models will grow over time, but the goal is to give people the parts they need to assemble just about any lake or river they want.
Right now you only control tree distribution by picking how common they are and a few other parameters. Soon you'll be able to add groups or single trees wherever you want them, either manually or semi-automatically, picking the zone and elevation range where you want them and add any quantity. Same for all other objects. I think these changes will not only give people much more control over the maps, but make map development much easier and more fun, too.
Tight lines,
Paul
