Sharks: Terrors of the Deep Wishlist
 

So what can we expect to see for the future of the Sharks screensaver?

Here are a few things I wouldn’t mind seeing:
3D background
More sea life; crabs, eel, maybe a rare whale
The smaller fish coming closer to the camera

I also have a few things to suggest:

-schooling fish
-more types of fish and sharks obviously (the fish should be relatively easy to make as the small models are not very detailed)
-top-down view
-change colors of lights and background

also just wanted to thank you for such a great screensaver...this is where I originally imagined serenescreen would go, with a full reef scene. If you combined the detailed fish from Jim's screensaver and the sharks from this one in a reef scene, it would be amazing, as the fish could come right up to the camera and still look detailed and real.

The things we are planning for Sharks are roughly. Some are coming soon:

Better Shark Textures
Gamma controls
A new better brighter background (none fantasy)
Small fish that swim everywhere (low poly prevents that right now, but this will change with the MD version)
Gills that work. Mouths that open and close, eyes that lid over.
Turtles
Carousel mode. Which will allow you to cycle through different screen savers.

p.s. goldfish is still being worked on, more is coming soon. “Soon” is defined as “we are actively working on it” and has nothing to do with time. If we are not working on it, we never say it is coming soon.

Reichart,
Good to see a post from you. Are you feeling better?

One thing that I have hoped to see that fits in with the better textures would be some on the fly imperfections on some of the more aggressive sharks. It would have to be random, not something that would be exactly the same on each shark of the same type, but something that would lend some individuality to each and therefore more realism.

Actually, it would be nice to have a bottom up view as well as the top down suggestion above - seeing a hoard (shoal?) of sharks silhouetted against the light is so totally dramatic and awe-inspiring. Just ask those who have seen the Blue Planet series/dvds.

now thats wierd...as I was reading that post, I noticed the bottom-up picture of the hammerhead sharks on my Blue Planet dvd case cover.

Currently, we are maintaining a list of almost 50 suggestions by our fans for things that they would like to see improved, fix, or implemented. An improved background is just one line item in our list of things to improve. In Addition to improving our current tank, I have a list of several other tanks ideas that we may address in the future. We want to polish what we have before we start adding too much. I also have a personal goal of improving our shark movement, behaviour and collision.

BTW, be sure to post your ideas here. You never know what the next build will bring....

honestly, I think you should turn this into a full fledged reef simulation, rather than just focusing on sharks. You can add dolphins, fish, rays, invertebrates, etc...
You seem to have a good system in place for the motion and space system in this, and I really would like to see a simulator which really does justice to the beauty and variety of species in a coral reef.
I have a few other ideas as well, such as a screensaver dedicated to palegic ocean life (whales, manta rays, sunfish, marlin, etc.). You could do another for deep sea stuff, which is something I would really love to see. You could have squid, jellyfish, tube worms, anglerfish, and other wierd stuff. I have yet to see a really impressive simulation that displays an entire ecosystem rather than just a tiny niche of life or an enclosed tank.

Also, I would like to say that I think the shark movement is already incredibly realistic (much more lifelike than sharkvisions, which looks really rigid). I would like to see more detailed and improved textures before the animation is improved. This is where I see sharkvisions shines...the sharks have very accurate lighting and textures as well as higher poly counts. Last, have you seen the specular lighting feature in the newer versions of aqua real? Could this be implemented into a screensaver like this?

HEy, turtels sounds cool :D

Why thank you, Ix! ;)

A Manta Ray

Here’s something I’m not sure if I’d want or not. All the screensavers so far have been serene, which is nice; where as this screensaver is about Sharks, “Terrors Of The Deep”. Even though sharks are beautiful and very serene to watch, they are commonly known as being scary. So, would it be a good thing that every once in a while one of the sharks would catch a fish? Part of me would love to see that, it being more real, but I think it would also change the mood of the screensaver, so… I don’t know.

I would love to see that too, but with the anti-collision algorithms I would imagine it would be a pretty tricky scenario to program?

Catching and eating a fish eh? I'd be fine with that. I think it was pretty cool to see that shark grab a fish in the Matrox demo. The only thing I'd like to avoid though is blood. Don't get me wrong, I don't have an aversion to seeing it or anything like that (I see it in the games I play), but I don't think it's appropriate for a screensaver that's supposed to appeal to a wide demographic.

However, if for some reason Prolific does decide to add blood, my suggestion would be to at least limit the amount and have it dissipate so that it's not lingering on screen. I know that we have some people here (like myself) that are gamers and some of those people really like to see blood and guts in games (I'm not one, it isn't a factor that draws me to games) and at times I think that desire "bleeds" (sorry for the pun) over into requests for certain features in the screensavers we test here. I just don't think that level of gore or violence needs to be seen in a screensaver. Then again, maybe that's just me? I don't know, I guess we could vote on it.

1.Great White should have white underneath it.

2.Hammerhead should have a better swim pattern so we can see the unique style of the fish.

3.Little fish swimming underneath some of the sharks.

4.Have the sharks turn in a completly different direction in front of the screen,instead of off the screen.

5.Since it is the coral reef and not an aquarium.We should see more creatures,like you would if you actually went out there.Like a octopus,starfish on the screen,a seal that the great white chases but never catches.

6.Make it look not to cartoony and more realistic looking.

7.Plants moving.

8.Keep the sharks in the reef and not swim off in the background.

9.Maybe see the small fish swim to safety when the sharks swim by there area,then see them come out when the sharks leave.

Milk Shark
 

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I doctored up this one earlier while it was in "closed beta" form and got a round of applause for it. It's one of the many things on "the list". Let's hope, shall we?

http://69.93.205.106/forums/attachme...=&postid=40835

/Tiny White

GreenHsiF: where did you get that great image of the milk shark? That is just about perfect. I am tired of looking at sharks being hung by a hook on a dock by some fisherman. Not that I am opposed to fishing, blah blah blah, but they really are impressive animals and it is a shame to see them in such an unnatural state.

Feeding: This is about the number one request that we get from the masses. Forum users seem to interested in other things, which I find interesting. At some point we MAY decide to include feeding. This is not a guarentee, or a promise. However, a few notes on feeding. If we were to include feeding, we would have a way to disable it, and by default it would be OFF. Blood. Well, I guess I don't think about shark attacks having a great deal of blood. This isn't gonna be a movie. I envision a fast moving shark striking a fish on the run. Typically, any material such as scales, or blood would disipate almost immediately do the speed of the shark, and the dollution effect of all the water in the ocean. Also, it would look odd due to the fact that the red wavelength of light can not penitrate very far beyond the surface of the water.

Red Coral in the reef? yes we have red coral in the reef and I do not think that will make it version 1.0

What about the "frenzy" effect? A shark can smell 1 drop of blood in the water from over a mile away. If one shark feeds, will this cause the others to go into a feeding frenzy? I would think it would need too if you are wanting to keep the realistic effect. At the very least, I would think that the others would show much accelerated swimming and more erratic patterns for a short while.

I really like your idea Michael!! This would add more realism. I think attack can be implemented but the blood can be avoided like Schnaaps pointed out

Feeding frenzys are caused by an over abundance of food or perceived over abundance of food in a confined area, and not the result of one small drop of blood. It would be a cool effect/feature to attempt, however, I fear the implecations of collision and performance. The ability to do this well would be an issue. If we did do something along the lines of feeding, I picture a shark swimming along fast, and quick turn and lunge towards its prey, and swimming off into the distance with perhaps a small trail of organic material.

Have I made it clear this is no guarentee or promise????

[quote]Originally posted by Schnaaps
[b]GreenHsiF: where did you get that great image of the milk shark?
On "Common Name" type the word shark and a list of different sharks will be on there. http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm

Great site, thank you.

Feeding frenzy, – would be cool, but chasing other fish (by the proper species) would be so much cooler. I think throwing a seal pup in there and have a couple of Great Whites tear it to pieces would somewhat alter the customer base a bit. Then again, this is "Terror of the deep" (albeit not really that deep, eh?)

/Tiny Terror

That site has been pointed out before...

How about an option to play the music from the movie JAWS !

Now THAT would be cool!

Sounds good, but maybe there will be some copyright issues need to resolve before use the same music.

While the theme from Jaws plays in the background, the Great White swims menacingly toward the screen, at the last possible second, suddenly his massive jaws spring wide, lips pulling back from the malevolence teeth and snaps shut with a violent thud, at a full close up inside that huge orifice.
I bet that would scare the wits out of anyone seeing it for the first time, especially.
:D

"Some copyright issues" is an understatemet worthy of an Englishman.

Personally I wouldn't use it.

The theme from Jaws doesn't have to come built into the screensaver. The screensaver would just need to contain an option to play your own music (mp3, wav, etc...) file.

Bingo! Great idea! :)

Ditto. Y'all are really coming up with some great ideas. :cowboy:

I really only care for the idea specifically as a solution to getting the Jaws music to play when it starts... I can always run winamp in the background if I want music...

Tiny: I love the idea of adding more marine life to the product as time goes by. Many Fans have made wonderful suggestions.

If we were do add feeding, IMO I would only really have the sharks feed on fish. If a seal pup were to be included, I don't think it would be even on the screen at the same time as a shark. Seals in life tend to avoid sharks. or else.... Bottom line, if we ever attempted feeding behaviour it would be done delicately. But for version 1.0 there are more imporant things.

I would really like to see behaviours such as chasing fish, etc... and hopefully we can address this idea in later versions.

JAWS Music, yeup, odds are that will never happen. I rule nothing out, but yeup, that one probably never going to see the light of day. Do you really want the ability to play music when it starts up? I tend to fire up winamp and just play music while I am working, and have the sounds turn off in SA/MA/GF etc... becuase I want to hear my music and not the tank bubbling. But that is just me perhaps....

Just like Aqua Real's build in music function, you can build a playlist with over 10 types of supported audio files, and you can also do random or repeat on selected music or the whole list.

This way, you can go find JAWS music on Internet then put it into the SS.

Jim,nntJbaotsn,
I'm not sure if I misunderstood you. I don't think sharks feeding on a seal would be the right thing to model. I was just trying to point out that the different fish have different feeding habits and just because some book has mentioned sharks going into a feeding frenzy on a whale carcass, that all sharks do this.

/TT

Tiny,
I agree. I really want to get in separate behaviours.

How about a whale shark? You think Great White are big you should see one of these timid but huge fish!