I wanted to tell you, as a brand new "player" of your games, that I am very impressed with VRSportfishing.
I was playing it last night and really wanted to let you know that. There are definitely a few bugs, one of which can get exasperating, especially during a tournament, but the game is really very well thought out.A couple obvious things - Sure, the boat graphics and the "player" characters bodies are a little dated. That being said,
Here is what I find really great:
The Fish look great. They really really look great.
The animation of lifting the fish out of the water is really good.
The Size and look of the fish is consistent when it is 5 feet under water, at the boatside and in the fisherman's hand. (Most outdoor games of the hunting and fishing type mess up here in a very big way).
The animations of the fish in the water and in the fisherman's hand look really good. Far better than I expected.
The Fishing itself, meaning the realism, the true measure of the sim, is far better than expected.
The boats are fun to drive.
I found myself really enjoying the "anticipation" of getting enough $ for a boat.
The vast selection of lures really surprised me. I was thinking.."Man, how did he get all those to look like that, a lure generating program or what?" The packages look good, the lures (all hundreds and hundreds of different ones) are all "painted" very lifelike.
I enjoyed the whole inventory system of the bait shop and the fact that the lures on hand change.
I was very impressed that the exact lure with the exact colors being used showed up in the fish's mouth when holding the fish in your hand.
The fish is the correct size for its length in comparison to the fisherman and the lure.
The "strike indications" of when the fish strikes really really impressed and surprised me. The only other games I have played had a big red "BITE" flash across the screen somewhere with some goofy bell noise. Here, if you aren't watching the line carefully, you miss the often subtle line twitch. This is to me one of the absolute top best design features.
When I first had a strike using the bobber, it just snapped straight down underwater and I thought that was how it would look each time and I thought, "ok that looks alright I guess". Then the next time in slowly moved to the right. The next time it twitch left then arched towards me. Very impressive for what was expected.
The reel drag and time it takes to fight the fish seems very accurately correlated to the rod type and line strength. Very realistic to me.
My first competition I tried the panfish tournament. On expert I did not catch a single fish. I thought, wow, this is going to be difficult at times...I like that. (I've since placed first in two of the pike tourneys I entered - and not in some others!).
I got in one bay and stated killing on the bass- 25 in 25 casts. And I thought, wow, how many fish does he have in this lake. Games I have played before seemed to have maybe a hundred or so in the whole lake. My guess is the "starter" lake has thousands.
The depth finder is amazingly accurate to me. I really did not expect that. I experimented with what it displayed vs what I could try to back up and catch, watching where my jig or redworm was, what size fish were at that exact depth, not 3 feet below, etc and it was extremely accurate and consistent. I got on my first school of perch and caught a few that ranged from 5 inches to 12 inches. Then I used the depth finder and bobber and redworm and fished in the different "layers" of fish. The next 5 I tried to guess the length BEFORE they were to the surface and could accurately be very close each time. For a "game", this was impressive.
This is definitely a "Sim" and not a game. A relative asked me recently if I knew of any good fishing sim...now I have a good answer for him.
Paul, it is obvious that you care about your work and understand fishing and likely enjoy fishing yourself a lot as well.
I just wanted to clearly state some of the details that I have noticed as a new player and compliment you on them. I wish some (or even one) of the big glitzy "Rapala", "Cabelas" type game development teams would have had this vision and conviction. With the dev team size, financial backing, etc., they could have created a truly immersive game, graphics, gameplay, etc. Then again, it would have killed this opportunity for you to do this game. No worries. The big companies' focus is on quick gameplay, profit, and selling a slightly different version of the game the next year. The boats in their games look great but catching 10 bass over 20 pounds in the first evening of playing gets old very fast to someone wanting a game such as this.
Overall I was looking for a simulation not a game and this sim has been, in a positive way, what was largely expected and in many ways much more than expected.
Thanks, Paul, for having the conviction and commitment I am sure it took to develop this sim. I am sure it took much more than most of us realize.
SloughCreekKid
