How easy would little fishies like these guys be? I'm talking about the kinda fish you'd see in things like Finding Nemo and in big aquarium exhibits. I feel like the animations you'd need to do for these would be quite minimal compared to the big mammals that dominate the current PZ roster as all these things do is swim around and open their mouths, thus, having a lot of them floating around in a player-made tank would be fairly doable.
How easy would little fish be?
- Thread starter tigris115
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It depends on what you mean by 'player-made tank'.
If you mean a fully custom aquatic habitat, then probably more difficult than habitat animals, since fish move almost constantly and the traversible terrain calculations would need to take into consideration not only the size of the tank you've built, but the volume of water, and how much scenery is in the way. These fish would also require hitboxes so we run into that same problem.
If you mean aquariums that are functionally the same as exhibits, then that's a lot easier. Looped animations (i.e. the fish move around in a constant loop around their preset tank) are much easier to programme than dynamic/AI-driven animations (such as habitat animals deciding where to go).
If you mean a fully custom aquatic habitat, then probably more difficult than habitat animals, since fish move almost constantly and the traversible terrain calculations would need to take into consideration not only the size of the tank you've built, but the volume of water, and how much scenery is in the way. These fish would also require hitboxes so we run into that same problem.
If you mean aquariums that are functionally the same as exhibits, then that's a lot easier. Looped animations (i.e. the fish move around in a constant loop around their preset tank) are much easier to programme than dynamic/AI-driven animations (such as habitat animals deciding where to go).
Personally I would love to see a system like Megaquarium, where you can alter water stats, decorate the tank yourself and select a preferred combination of fishes.
I would imagine such a thing would be possible.
I'm viewing it as a sort of 'advanced' exhibit system. So you still plop down a preset box, and the environment is based on what you put in it, but the options are expanded upon. Ideally yes, it would allow you to add in more than one species up to a maximum capacity, and decorate the tank with pre-placed items such as rocks and plants. Corals are a little trickier, since you'd have to wonder whether they would include them as animals or scenery or something in between.
In terms of water stats, beyond temperature there isn't a whole lot you need to worry about with saltwater. Outside of the extremes, the whole ocean is always a little bit alkaline so pH requirements don't vary hugely for different species, and salinity isn't a big factor either. If they included freshwater fish as well, then certainly, sliders for pH, salinity, and temperature could all be included.
I would highly recommend it. It's got the simplistic style of the original Zoo Tycoon, along with more complex features for a more modern game. The upcoming DLC Freshwater Frenzy looks like it's going to add a whole new layer to it as well.
In the case of dynamic movement, indeed that seems to be true. The pterosaurs seem to work because they exist on a looped system so the AI doesn't have to figure out where the animal will go next; it will always go to the same place.
In the case of aquariums like we are discussing, it would be a case of creating multiple loops depending on the environment. So a basic empty aquarium would have one loop, a moderately decorated aquarium would have a different loop, and a fully decorated aquarium would have a different loop again.
I agree with what you say. If you look at the previous games, what you say yes seems to be true.
The Pteranadon system in JWE was actually like animals in the Xbox Tycoon Xbox version. It is clear that they have trouble with flying animals and aquatic animals in the cobra game engine. I think there is a technology for this. ZT2 did this. but when we consider the animal animations and behaviors in ZT2, it was much simpler then. It is very difficult to do because the current animal animations and behaviors are very good.
frankly, I think they will find a solution. but it seems like it will take a long time for them to find this solution. 3-4 maybe 5 year.
Is the cobra game engine not capable or is it bad in artificial intelligence technology? or don't they do it on purpose?
The Pteranadon system in JWE was actually like animals in the Xbox Tycoon Xbox version. It is clear that they have trouble with flying animals and aquatic animals in the cobra game engine. I think there is a technology for this. ZT2 did this. but when we consider the animal animations and behaviors in ZT2, it was much simpler then. It is very difficult to do because the current animal animations and behaviors are very good.
frankly, I think they will find a solution. but it seems like it will take a long time for them to find this solution. 3-4 maybe 5 year.
Is the cobra game engine not capable or is it bad in artificial intelligence technology? or don't they do it on purpose?
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