not really a sim..:(

[Elusive]

at this point i would not call this a sim. it plays just like those old aquarium games from like the mid 2000's. just put some stuff in a tank add fish and get money. So me this is just Arcady at most.
designing an aquarium is all about balance and you guys have missed a lot of things.
We will start with water. You need to balance everything in a tank. All it looks like you have added is ph and temp. but you forgot ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness, chlorine, alkalinity. Everything effects another. Alkalinity will affect ph by buffering. Good bacteria in the tank will eat the nitrites and crap out nitrates, which will then be eaten by the plants. Hardness effects what fish you can have.

Now that goes into my second point. The scape itself.
rocks and substrate can drastically affect the tank. It looks like you have not taken into account that rocks and substrate can raise and lower ph depending on the stone. To much of one stone can tank the ph if it’s a calcium rock or raise it to much. It looks like 0 research has been done into this.

Stocking.
You have your standard fish but no clean up crew at all. Dwarf plecos, otos, snails, shrimp. All these are kind of a must if you want the tank looking clean and awesome without scraping the sides every week.
Plants also need just as different water parameters as fish. Some grow better in low light, some need harder water, some need C02 injection or fertilisers to grow or they just die.

I could go on and one but yeah. I was kind of hoping this would be kind of a cool sim because I have been keeping different stock for years from marine to fresh water crustaceans. I mean no offence because I really want this game to grow into something really awesome but it feels like it was made by people who watched way to many aquascape vids on youtube and not actually in the hobby itself.
I you want I could probably make a list of things that should be added to make it more realistic. But its probably just as easy to look up actual pages to get the scope of it. Message me if you are interested.

[nathalie.ross]

Originally posted by Adelie.:

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

We have a consultant that has already helped us with providing information on specific fish species' behavior. We're working on improving present animations first, though, and then we'll get working on the new ones.

Thank you can you explain what new fish behaviour will come to the game? Will it be as close as possible to real life? Also one more thing you don't have to get it exact like a real fish just as long as it has behaviour features that is complex enough.

I know a game that has tried to do this but it seem they failed cause it takes forever to have a fish mimic a real one in a game.

Just as long as the system is complex and fhe fish have have complex behaviour and doing things.

Like a sucker fish wont do much but it will go about cleaning the tank and you can see this happen over time.

I can't promise anything specific yet. We'll be checking what works well and what needs more work and then see if we are able to do it properly.

[black_power_all_day_son!]

do some research into 'PlayWay S.A.'

none of these games are close to "sim"

[StrayDogFreedom]

Thinking about picking this up, is it a more realistic simulation at this point in the development?

[nathalie.ross]

Originally posted by StrayDogFreedom:

Thinking about picking this up, is it a more realistic simulation at this point in the development?

What would you exactly expect for it to be considered "a more realistic simulation"? If you want to have all advanced parameters like ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness, chlorine, and alkalinity, then I have to admit there are still not included in the game due to difficulties with research in this matter. We weren't able to find proper information on those parameters, and don't want to put any false information in the game. Therefore, it's not implemented in it. Also, we're more focused on adding new content and functionalities in a form of monthly updates so the game keeps offering you more and more in terms of designing your dream tanks.

[agentmith]

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

Hi, thank you for such detailed feedback. Let me take answer this step by step.

1. We are aware that we don't have some of the parameters you've mentioned in the game. However, this was our community's decision. In one of the surveys, we've asked about such details and only 16 people (out of over 800) said they wanted such features in the game. Most of them wanted something that would not require so much work around it. And we've listened to that. However, we're still discussing it from time to time.

2. We've done a lot of research on that but it wasn't an easy thing to do. However, it is somewhere on our to-do list. I just can't guarantee anything at the moment when it comes to the topic of stones affecting the water pH in the game.

3. Snails, shrimps, and other non-fish animals are considered for any possible future DLCs.
We'll see what can be done about CO2, water hardness, light impact, etc.

4. We're open to suggestions so feel free to share more feedback if you desire :)

This is one of the pitfalls of community sourced decision-making for artistic-style content. People say they want something in a vacuum, without knowing what they really want or need. It's the creator's responsibility to come up with a product that makes people happy, while not purely listening to users, ideally fulfilling a niche and being a differentiator. Take what they say, then craft you're called to do with that in mind. I'm looking for an aquarium "sim" right now, but I haven't found one. What I have found are 3 games just like this one though.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
- Henry Ford (supposedly, but the point is relevant)

[StrayDogFreedom]

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

Originally posted by StrayDogFreedom:

Thinking about picking this up, is it a more realistic simulation at this point in the development?

What would you exactly expect for it to be considered "a more realistic simulation"? If you want to have all advanced parameters like ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness, chlorine, and alkalinity, then I have to admit there are still not included in the game due to difficulties with research in this matter. We weren't able to find proper information on those parameters, and don't want to put any false information in the game. Therefore, it's not implemented in it. Also, we're more focused on adding new content and functionalities in a form of monthly updates so the game keeps offering you more and more in terms of designing your dream tanks.

hi, thanks for the speedy response! I was concerned about those aspects but what I was more interested in was the interactions between fish that one of the posters mentioned. What I was mainly curious about was if fish behavior and interactions were more realistic since the time of that post.

[ArcangelAssassin]

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

Originally posted by StrayDogFreedom:

Thinking about picking this up, is it a more realistic simulation at this point in the development?

What would you exactly expect for it to be considered "a more realistic simulation"? If you want to have all advanced parameters like ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness, chlorine, and alkalinity, then I have to admit there are still not included in the game due to difficulties with research in this matter. We weren't able to find proper information on those parameters, and don't want to put any false information in the game. Therefore, it's not implemented in it. Also, we're more focused on adding new content and functionalities in a form of monthly updates so the game keeps offering you more and more in terms of designing your dream tanks.

Maintaining those parameters and understanding what causes them to change is a fundamental part of fishkeeping. Most of us (or at least myself) aren't looking for a 100% scientifically accurate simulation. Something like adding too many fish to a tank too fast or feeding too much food will cause your ammonia to spike, adding plants might require CO2 supplementation. There's SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE out there in so many books and forums, saying you couldn't find proper information just sounds like an excuse. Yeah there's some debate when it comes to the more advanced stuff like coral, but the basics (essentially what you listed) are very well understood.

[nathalie.ross]

Originally posted by agentmith:

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

Hi, thank you for such detailed feedback. Let me take answer this step by step.

1. We are aware that we don't have some of the parameters you've mentioned in the game. However, this was our community's decision. In one of the surveys, we've asked about such details and only 16 people (out of over 800) said they wanted such features in the game. Most of them wanted something that would not require so much work around it. And we've listened to that. However, we're still discussing it from time to time.

2. We've done a lot of research on that but it wasn't an easy thing to do. However, it is somewhere on our to-do list. I just can't guarantee anything at the moment when it comes to the topic of stones affecting the water pH in the game.

3. Snails, shrimps, and other non-fish animals are considered for any possible future DLCs.
We'll see what can be done about CO2, water hardness, light impact, etc.

4. We're open to suggestions so feel free to share more feedback if you desire :)

This is one of the pitfalls of community sourced decision-making for artistic-style content. People say they want something in a vacuum, without knowing what they really want or need. It's the creator's responsibility to come up with a product that makes people happy, while not purely listening to users, ideally fulfilling a niche and being a differentiator. Take what they say, then craft you're called to do with that in mind. I'm looking for an aquarium "sim" right now, but I haven't found one. What I have found are 3 games just like this one though.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
- Henry Ford (supposedly, but the point is relevant)

Then please, answer me and tell me what would me this game a sim for you. I've addressed the main issues with advanced parameters in my previous post.

[nathalie.ross]

Originally posted by ArcangelAssassin:

Originally posted by nathalie.ross:

What would you exactly expect for it to be considered "a more realistic simulation"? If you want to have all advanced parameters like ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness, chlorine, and alkalinity, then I have to admit there are still not included in the game due to difficulties with research in this matter. We weren't able to find proper information on those parameters, and don't want to put any false information in the game. Therefore, it's not implemented in it. Also, we're more focused on adding new content and functionalities in a form of monthly updates so the game keeps offering you more and more in terms of designing your dream tanks.

Maintaining those parameters and understanding what causes them to change is a fundamental part of fishkeeping. Most of us (or at least myself) aren't looking for a 100% scientifically accurate simulation. Something like adding too many fish to a tank too fast or feeding too much food will cause your ammonia to spike, adding plants might require CO2 supplementation. There's SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE out there in so many books and forums, saying you couldn't find proper information just sounds like an excuse. Yeah there's some debate when it comes to the more advanced stuff like coral, but the basics (essentially what you listed) are very well understood.

If you know the proper pages with correct information, please, send them to us, because we've put a lot of time and effort trying to address this interest in more advanced water parameters, but we're not able to find them for all fish and plants present in the game.