so just a critter button and a new page for them.

A separate screen for invertibrates might be a good idea.

Ignoring my rather graphic based sketch here (and the obviously incorrect info), have you thought about adding a simple plus/minus underneath each fish leaving one single panel open just for information on the left.

If you have too many fish for one central screen, then a second page is not really helping matters - a scroll bar is perfectly valid and user friendly, it's standard issue computing.

Bottom panel I would suggest for all the rest, "Randomizer", "Total Fish", "Empty Tank", "Presets".

Again, I realise a styled menu would involve more work than a standard issue VB layout.

By the way, I ahve a few questions about MA3:

You mentioned a while back that MA3 will ahve a cave for critters to use. Will the critters actually use the cave? If so do they disappear when they go in and reappear when they come out?

Can we see a pic of the cave?

Also, will the fish in MA3 have more advanced AI? - Such as will they dart around the tank or swim in schools?

Also the idea in the above post looks great.

Thanks

Regards,
Neil

TheMethod - I was originally going to have individual +- buttons for each fish, but it was just getting 'way too wasteful. That would mean about 60 extra objects that have to be created and monitored by many lines of code. After doing a couple of fish that way, I decided it's better to have just one up-down control, and use it for whatever fish is highlighted. As fas as the highly stylized look, yes it's nice, and I'll prpbably go that way eventually, but for now I need to stick with standard MFC objects if I'm going to get this thing off to the Alpha testers within the next couple of hours.

rctneil - Yes, there's a cave which will be used by future creatures, but none yet. Can't spare the time for a screenshot. The fish AI has not changed for this first release of MA3, but will be one of the first improvements when I switch to the new fish models.

Do you think the beta will run on XP in Parallels 3, build 5608, on a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory iMac?

I plan to beta test in XP, on a double monitor PC tower, Dell 720 XPS Red, with a dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX -- but I'd also like to try it on the iMac in Parallels, while I wait for the Mac version. :)

No we're not there. Jim, I understand the frustrations of teaching yourself, it's something I do all the time. Take your time and sleep on it, I usually wake up with a solution.

Every time I think I'm ready to upload the new Alpha, something breaks at the last minute. I was just adding and deleting fish, when they suddenly all disappeared.

Love the idea-would be like a little fishtank on you're screen :) but I've had bad experiances running highend software such as matlab - so I moved to bootcamp - let us know if it works well - x

I have no idea about anything Mac-related.

Yeah that makes sense Jim (re. +- buttons).

If you do decide to do a styled GUI, feel free to give me a shout - free labour is never a bad thing.

I hope your latest Alpha calamity is easily resolved.

Wish Elodea in the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium 3.0.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ensis2_ies.jpg

Elodea is a rampant pond weed, and if grown in a freshwater heated tropical tank, can completely take over, in a very short space of time.

I can almost guarantee that it isn't going to appear in MA3, ;) ... sorry!

Cryptocoryne spp. would be a much better choice, but not for a marine tank, of course. That would tend to mess up the suspension of unbelief.

Just my .02. I keep planted tanks :)

When researching suitable items to include in the Marine Aquarium, I found that there are very few marine plants. I was surprised to find that they are considered algae, though some grow to be very large - seaweed, for example. You seldom see plants in a marine aquarium. My Freshwater Tank will be mostly green plants.

When it comes to FW, nothing beats a planted tank IMO.

My favorite marine tank was in a store, a reef tank. It was tall but narrow front to back, and the entire back was live rock, with all sorts of live coral, anemones, and different wrasses, clown fish, shrimp, etc. I spent hours watching that tank. It would suck me right in. No seaweed, though. ;)

Just uploaded a new version to the Alpha testers. We'll see how many seconds it takes them to break it. One...two...three...

No fair posting in the middle of the afternoon.. Us working people want a chance to break it first once in a while too :D

Time has little meaning for programmers. Afternoon, night, Tuesday, Sunday, July, January...it's all about the same to me. Sometimes when I look out the window in the computer room it does seem a little brighter or darker, greener or whiter - but other than that one time is as good as any other.

Things may change when I get this thing done and on the market. Maybe I can actually go outside and enjoy the remainder of whatever season this is.

How long be waiting for public beta? Public alpha is also good for everyone who loves MA3.