whats next?

[reelfish074]

it's been awhile since the last update and you still havnn't told us whats next. rivers?

[tom1234505]

I don't think he will add rivers because of the fact that RWFF has many rivers and rivers are famous for fly fishing. don't think he will but that doesn't mean he won't.....

[reelfish074]

what i meant is rivers like the mississippi. he mentioned before that he WILL add them, but no hints on when it's coming

[Fisherman]

I agree. I've done a lot of river and stream fishing for trout of various types, bluegill, catfish and bass, including striped bass, with small spinners and spoons, and jigs and crankbaits. I've watched the FLW Walleye tour videos, and would love to river fish for them. Bring it on!

[paul]

I've been trying to lay out my tasks for the rest of the year. I've got a major update for VR Sportfishing planned, but there are some other things I need to work on first. Right now I'm overhauling the demo version of the game, because I suspect too many people are content with all the fishing you get in the free demo version of VR Sportfishing. Before I add additional features I'm going to add a time limit. Basically the percentage of people who try the free demo and never buy is way too high, and I think I'm giving too much away.

I'm also working on some new marketing efforts. If I'm going to be able to continue to devote myself to fishing games full time I've simply got to improve sales. If I had my way I'd spend all my time just adding new features, because I can't imagine ever running out of possibilities. But I've got to divide my time between adding to the games and selling them. If I can just get Pishtech consistently into the top 5 Google results for "Fishing Games", that alone would solve my marketing problems.

Also high on the priority list is an update for Ice Fishing Derby. It's overdue, and it will add at least a second lake with some trout, and a simulation mode that lets you pick where to fish, gives you direct control over the rod, etc. That sounds like a huge update, but fortunately a lot of what it needs is already done in VR Sportfishing so it should go fairly quickly.

And then comes a rather ambitious update for VR Sportfishing. Yes, I do intend to include rivers and at least a couple more species of fish. Along with the rivers, I want to add support for walking, wading and fly fishing. It's true that RWFF already gives people a ton of realistic places to fly fish, but I also want to make fly fishing available for those who prefer the immersion and freedom of a 3D game, not to mention support for virtual reality. Other things on my list right now include better trolling (a rear-facing seating arrangement), and lateral rod control, so you can work a rod up and down and side to wide during the retrieve, etc. The update will include at least a few new bodies of water. It's a lot of work, but it will open up a lot of possibilities.

If things go smoothly there's a chance I could complete that update before the end of the year. Again, that depends on how much time I feel I need to spend on marketing efforts.

Tight lines,

Paul

[dan94]

sounds great paul i think ive almost convinced my parents to let me buy this game ive played the demo but want the bigger boats and rods and stuff like that and i like the idea of maybe being able to wade and fly fish or lure fish it sounds good Cheers and keep up the good work Dan94

[Pitti]

Paul, I think a very dramatic step forwards to improve the sales would be to implate a online modus in all of your games. Nowadays most people avoid to buy games without that feature. If I look at my son, he plays only online. Yesterday I've played, I hope I can refer it here, fishsim. You know it. This old game isn't up to date, bad graphics and bad fighting the fish, but..... it has a great online modus, featuring:
chatting while fishing in the same screen,
scoring the caughts,
compare and transfer scores to a online all times highscorelist.
compare and transfer scores to a online outing highscorelist.
etc.



This feature is extreme funny to play, and attract many new user to this game although the other points of the game are substandart. I know some guys who jump from RWFF to Fishsim, only because of the online modus.
If I observe the gamers, I think every game without a online-modus has many many problems to sell it. At the year 2009 this is a must for most customers, I think.
You know I like your games, anyway I would think about ways to implant a online modus so soon as possible, and for me this would be absolutly priority before all other updates!

Regards Peter

[reelfish074]

maybe you should add an option to turn off the moving clouds, ever since that update i had to but all my graphics to the lowest

[Fisherman]

The update plans sound good, about the demo, I mentioned before it was so complete it was more akin to shareware. Some additional limitations might help sales, although the existing demo copies out there might prove a problem at least until a larger update.
***
I saw the online option mentioned above and did a bit of research. Let's look at the numbers. FishSim is ranked 1,827,427 in the online world according to Alexa Tracking Bank, with an average per day online time of 0.9 minutes. 44 other sites link to it.
***
FishSim2 is ranked 2,778,226 with an average online time of 1.4 minutes, and 23 sites linking in.
***
While an online option might be nice, I don't know that it would be worth your while to develop and maintain an online presence. While I've never played the FishSim games, I am betting yours is better. So who knows? Just thought you might like to see how the numbers played out. Of course, the Alexa site depends on the sites tracked to have its toolbar to keep track of clients, so a grain of salt applies.

[paul]

Thanks for the input. There are definitely those who will always prefer on-line gaming to solo, and it is something I want to support eventually. The reason it's not higher on my to-do list is the programming and server setup is less familiar territory for me, and I have no idea how much work it will be or how long it will take. That will also probably be a lot more feasible once Pishtech is on a dedicated web server, which I hope will be the case early next year.

Paul

[gonefishin]

You gotta get out there on the Bittorent and other P2P networks as well as Google. YouTube is how I found out about VR SportFishing. More videos on there and elsewhere would be great. Submitting the game details to Vuzix would be good, so VR SportFishing would be listed as another support game for the VR920. How about contacting Gamespot.com, IGN, etc.? It's a game afterall. I'm doing what I can to spread the word.

As for the demo, to me it looks very beta-ish. Once I got past the initial impression of the game (which wasn't all that great), I began to realize there was more to it. The game needs to pull you in more, with a soundtrack and better opening screen (that dull black one is depressing). I've played about EVERY fishing game out there, from Trophy Bass, to all the Reel Fishing series, to the old DOS ones (Bass Champ, Gone Fishin', etc.), to all the Nintendo releases (Black Bass, Super Black Bass, Blue Marlin), to FishSim 1 and 2, Pro Fishing Challenge, Rapala sellouts, and many, many others. I can tell you what works. Remember, first impressions make a huge difference in who decides to play again and who decides to look elsewhere.

Again, online tournament play is a MUST if you want your game to make you money. You don't have to host a server - allow the players to be able to do that. Trophy Bass 4 failed with its reliance on WON.net for online play. Let's learn from that.

I believe the recent price hike wasn't a good idea despite the new additions. There's still a bit missing and the game feels very unfinished. I will furnish all the info to Paul very soon.

The VR element is wonderful, but a lot of players need additional incentives when considering forking over $40 for a fishing game. Especially since the VR gear is still pricey.

This is simply constructive feedback - not criticism. I love this game. I had no problem spending $1600 for the PC setup to play it in all its glory. Because I know Paul is dedicated and he has the right ideas. It's going to take some time (and our continual support) to make this game really shine.

[bones]

maybe you should add an option to turn off the moving clouds, ever since that update i had to but all my graphics to the lowest

you could allways change the day to clear and not cloudy and have no weather change that should help cheers bones

[paul]

I think the option for the old style of clouds is a good plan, and it won't be much work. That way you could still fish in any weather, just without the changing weather and moving clouds. The new clouds do add to the CPU load, so that will help.

I really appreciate all the input. I've been thinking about improving the opening scene, and the black loading screen. I don't want to get carried away, though, as a pet peave of mine is when it looks like more work went into opening scenes and titles than the actual game. But I agree - the current opening is too dull.

A note about the price increase: Until a few months ago the prices had been $40 for RWFF, $30 for VRS since the initial release lacked a lot that I felt was needed (more lakes, bait, etc.) I surveyed a bunch of people who had tried the game demos and lowered the prices in response to the survey. The survey suggested sales would be much higher at $20 per title. Since then sales haven't changed at all, so the only thing that the lower price did was cut my revenue. With the prices higher again I'll have the freedom to offer a significant sale price now and then. I'm also planning to offer some discount coupons, for people who refer friends, etc.

Paul