Marine Aquarium 3 Rumors and Speculation

[Jim Sachs]

The reason it will take a while is that the program needs to be in a semi-finished state before we commit resources to language issues. For the first few weeks of Beta releases, there will be many changes and we don't want to keep going back to a dozen translators with each change.

[Mith]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

The reason it will take a while is that the program needs to be in a semi-finished state before we commit resources to language issues. For the first few weeks of Beta releases, there will be many changes and we don't want to keep going back to a dozen translators with each change.  

I say, if you don't speak ENGLISH..........

heh

[hololo]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

few weeks of Beta releases  

Oct 2008 for Beta, release before Dec 31 2008?

[Jim Sachs]

Who knows? If all the remaining bugs would become obvious, then I could release the Beta today. Or tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month. With software, the only thing that ever comes from setting a date is disappointment.

[jleslie]

BTW I spotted this feature on the new Sony-Ericsson X1 phone:

A “mini aquarium” where you could feed the fish and pester them. Even better - the different fish reflected the state of the phone. One fish changed colors if you had voicemail, another if you had email, and yet another told you whether or not the phone was on silent or vibrate or LOUD or whatnot. This panel was super fun.
(From http://wmexperts.com/reviews/smartph...ons_of_th.html and the current front-runner to be my next phone, in October...)

I'm pretty confident this feature won't make it into SS though... BUT it would be cool to add/remove fish on events though, like a received e-mail or calendar reminder... very cool! V3.1 anybody? (I know... I know...)

John

[jleslie]

Wow - I single-handedly managed to stop this thread in its tracks... who'd have believed that was possible (okay, with a little help from Ike).
:-)
John

[johnblommers]

Sometimes I have the opposite effect

[Tiny Turtle]

[hololo]

any new information?

[Jav400]

Not so far, Jim and Edgar are tracking down the latest bugs and correcting them.

[bigbass22]

Hi Jim
I have been around since the long ago days of the.99's. Since then I've survived both a heart attack and retirement. We all have regrets and I was wondering when it comes to V. 2.6 what were yours? In hindsight was there anything you would have done differently with the release?

[Jim Sachs]

I needed to stay in touch with programming better. After turning the code over to Prolific, I lost control of it. It became a one-way process, where I would create some fish or make some other improvement, submit the changes to the Prolific programmers, and never actually see the code again. When I finally made the mental committment to finsih MA3, it was nearly impossible for me to get back into programming. I had to start all over again, writing it in DirectX8/9, but with my advancing age it was Greek to me. I've learned that if I go for more than a couple of days without looking at the code, it's very hard to get back into it, so I plan to go immediately into the Freshwater Tank after MA3 is finished.

[Isabeau]

Working late again I see Jim? In Holland it's 11.18 now so it must be 2 or 3.18 overthere depending on the timezone. I realy hope i can purchase the update to V3 soon or download the Beta. I'm a real fan of the program for a long time. By the way if you want a Dutch version I might be able to help you out if you like.

For later pleasant and inspiaring dreams here in Holland I'm half way the working day schedualing my classes at INHolland University

Bye Guus Eberstadt van der Velden

[Jim Sachs]

I usually work until 2 or 3 in the morning. The MA3 Beta is extremely close.

[memilm]

"Freshwater Tank" after MA3 would be very nice...

[loub516]

The MA3 Beta is extremely close

It is, after all, almost October.

[JEBrady]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

I usually work until 2 or 3 in the morning. The MA3 Beta is extremely close.  

Woohoo! Here's hoping it's just some minor niggling left and no showstoppers.

[Jim Sachs]

I'm still waiting for an nVidia 6600 AGP card which I bought on eBay over a week ago. There have been problems reported with this card in a multimonitor setup, and I need to do some more testing. Nearly all the remaining bugs have something to do with multimonitor support.

During testing so far, it has become obvious that card manufacturers have not done a very good job of standardizing the way multimonitors are handled on a driver level. Many problems have been fixed by rolling back to a previous driver, or using the same driver number, but downloaded from a different source ?!

[JEBrady]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

I'm still waiting for an nVidia 6600 AGP card which I bought on eBay over a week ago. There have been problems reported with this card in a multimonitor setup, and I need to do some more testing. Nearly all the remaining bugs have something to do with multimonitor support.

During testing so far, it has become obvious that card manufacturers have not done a very good job of standardizing the way multimonitors are handled on a driver level. Many problems have been fixed by rolling back to a previous driver, or using the same driver number, but downloaded from a different source ?!  

I try not to think too much about graphics card drivers, it's just too frustrating. I've had an HD 3850 AGP for half a year, and every driver ATI has put out since I bought it is a hotfix.

Anyone trying to make a graphics app compatible with every vid card out there...what an aneurism.

[Jim Sachs]

I can't describe the frustration in dealing with video hardware. I wonder if Steven Spielberg would continue making movies if every projecter was different, and he had to personally go to each theater to figure out why his movie wouldn't play.