Sharks: Terrors of the Deep Wishlist

[Lostboy]

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

[alphaex32]

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.

[Reichart]

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?

[Jav400]

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.

[Wizwad]

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.

[alphaex32]

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.

[Schnaaps]

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....

[alphaex32]

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?

[IXNAY]

HEy, turtels sounds cool

[Tiny Turtle]

Why thank you, Ix!

[Marian Nichols]

A Manta Ray

[Lostboy]

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.

[Wizwad]

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?

[Digital Lungfish]

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.

[GreenHsiF]

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.

[GreenHsiF]

.

[Tiny Turtle]

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?



/Tiny White

[Schnaaps]

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

[Jav400]

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.