by paul » Fri May 15, 2009 1:37 pm
Here's the status of the update:
On Monday I'm going to release this as a beta for a week or two. There are a lot of changes in this one, so a beta release will give people a chance to try it out while I continue to work on a few more additions. Anyone is welcome to try it while in beta, but keep in mind it's a work in progress and there may be a few bugs. It will give people a chance to start creating new lakes, though.
Here's what's going to be included in the beta on Monday:
Two new lakes
Support for custom lakes, including video tutorials of how to create them
Rainbow trout, lake trout, and muskies
Some larger lure sizes for muskies
Live bait including nightcrawlers, redworms, grubs, and 5 sizes each of minnows and shiners
Simple anchoring
A heavier rod for muskies
Better fish AI and animation
Water visibility effected by weather (less visibility in overcast or windy weather)
Fish locator will now show your lure if it's directly beneath the boat
Fish locator will now use a bow transducer when you're standing and fishing
Short casting for jigging - click during the beginning of the cast to drop the lure by the boat and let it sink with the reel open
Improvements to the fish & ski boat - a taller windshield for better visibility
More types of trees including pines
Assorted bug fixes
For the beta the live bait will cast and sink like a jig. After the beta I'll have support for some different rigs including sinkers and bobbers (floats.) Also after the beta I'll add a "bribe the guide" function. For a very large sum of money (and probably not during tournaments) he'll show you on the map where the largest fish of any species is located. I've been working on this and he lead me straight to a 50 inch muskie.
As soon as this update is finished and out of beta I'll start on the next group of changes which will include better trolling, possibly walking/wading, and probably some of the other things we've discussed here like standing timber in the water, more docks, houses on the shore, etc. Those things won't change the original lakes but will be available to add to new lakes.
I also want to warn you now - there are so many changes to the core of the game in this update that you'll need to reset your saved games - back to minimal money and no equipment. For beta testing purposes you can use the "rich wealthy" cheat to start with enough money to buy what you need, though.
Also most of the changes in this update will only effect the full version of the game. Custom lakes, trout, muskie, etc., will not be available in the free demo version of the game.
Well, I'd better get back to working on the live bait.
Tight lines,
Paul