Fishies...

Community Forums/Showcase/Fishies...

Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2008) [#1]
Just was playing around with a fish shoal particle system I created. Watch the video to see the fishies in action...

Video: http://kieryn.com/fish/fish2.avi




Naughty Alien(Posted 2008) [#2]
..very nice..I like it..when you going to release source? :)


plash(Posted 2008) [#3]
Are those fishies just sprites? or low poly models?

Very nice btw!


Retimer(Posted 2008) [#4]
Great job.

Love the idea! I think you should create an external component that can be used on other 3d engines for this as well, after professionalizing it to commercial standards, then sell it. It seems like a clever idea that might create a market. People seem to love adding things like tree-gens, water effects, etc to their engine, so I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Either that or release the source to us beggers =D


M2PLAY(Posted 2008) [#5]
Awesome !!! very nice and real !!!
great job Mr


Loktar(Posted 2008) [#6]
Wow what was this done in?


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2008) [#7]
Wow, didn't expect to have so much great feedback - thanks - I guess the visual effect come across nicely...

Plash> the fish are low poly meshes, created programatically which is why they aren't the best.

Loktar> this is done in blitz3d

As for the releasing the source - hmmm because of the feedback I'm tempted to consider creating a plugin DLL that I can license for a modest cost... I already did a cool jellyfish animation, maybe I could do a whole sea-life package :O)


plash(Posted 2008) [#8]
I'm tempted to consider creating a plugin DLL that I can license for a modest cost...
Blast! we should've kept quite! :P

What kind of fps do you get?

How would you release it as a dll if its blitz3d?


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2008) [#9]
How would you release it as a dll if its blitz3d?


It's a specialized particle system essentially, so I can pretty easily convert to C++ and write a DLL that can be plugged into B3d, BMax etc. The cool thing about DLLs is that they are usable-for (and therefore sellable-to) programmers in just about any language.

What kind of fps do you get?

I haven't checked the FPS, but on my system (Core2 quad 2.4Ghz, +2 Gig RAM + GeForce 8800 GTS OC) Its smooth up to about 1500 fish. After that it starts to slow down quite a bit, but I've noticed that the slowdown is caused by the rendering, not the particle system.


MGE(Posted 2008) [#10]
Again with no exe, aren't we supposed to post source or exe's in this section? There're a graphic showcase for pics and vids. ;)


Chalky(Posted 2008) [#11]
Blitz Showcase
Show off your latest Blitz projects here.

Graphics Showcase
Show off your design skills here - post screenshots of your latest 3D models, textures etc.


I interpret the above as meaning the two posts you commented on are in the right place since they are screenshots of forthcoming projects. Stevie G also has some excellent vids of his work here which are far more than pics of 3D models etc.


Raz(Posted 2008) [#12]
I think it was just a sly attempt to get an exe of it Chalky, and I can't blame him! ;)

Nice one Snidesmin


puki(Posted 2008) [#13]
Looks like someone has been reading up on 'flocking'.

Looks good though - for a beginner.


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2008) [#14]
Looks like someone has been reading up on 'flocking'


actually it's a just a side experiment that came from my years of fiddling around with explosion particle effects and fluid dynamics...


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2008) [#15]
Okay, now I've been reading up on flocking... (from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocking_%28behavior%29 )

And yes, it turns out I am using the 3 basic principles:

1) Separation - avoid crowding neighbours

2) Alignment - steer towards average heading of neighbours

3) Cohesion - steer towards average position of neighbours


Though I came up with those without reading up, after all they're kind of obvious. There's a few additional behaviours too that I am incorporating.


MGE(Posted 2008) [#16]
Yes, yes I want to see it run on my computer! :) lol.. I'm doing alot of research on comparing B3D render speed with Blitzmax. ;)


WERDNA(Posted 2008) [#17]
Very Impressive Mortal.
A sea life package would be really cool!.

The Mighty WERDNA(Lord Of Watching Fish Swim)


Cp(Posted 2008) [#18]
HMM...Idea...coming...SWIMMING GAME!!!!!
Err...can you make a swimming game with this????


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2008) [#19]
I wrote a little game that uses a flocking algo : http://www.360shooters.com/ - the implementation is 3 dimensional but with the depth ignored :)


WERDNA(Posted 2008) [#20]
There was a Wii game a month or so ago called Endless
Ocean.You swam around and basically just explored the
ocean.

Could you do that?
(Just a better version of it, the Wii game sucked.)

The Mighty WERDNA(Lord Of Darkness)



chwaga(Posted 2008) [#21]
way neet, and WERDA, I'm about this close (shows how close this close is with hands) to going crazy over your stupid werdna thing.


WERDNA(Posted 2008) [#22]
What WERDNA thing?

You mean this?



chwaga(Posted 2008) [#23]
erm, the whole mighty werdna, mortals, etc. stuff :)


WERDNA(Posted 2008) [#24]
I don't do that.
What are you talking about?

I'm just an ordinary Guy.

The Mighty WERDNA(Lord Of Darkness,Master Of Mortals)



chwaga(Posted 2008) [#25]
...I shall personally kill you...

...with rather mean insults....


Nice fishies again, btw...






....werdna, you're a poopoo facist meany butt.


ardee(Posted 2008) [#26]
Mightly impressive stuff, the gentle camera movement really adds to the video.


WERDNA(Posted 2008) [#27]
I suppose we have strayed a bit off topic,
sorry Mr snidesmin.
Fishies are great!,
I look forward to what you do next.

And to Chwaga,sorry if I made you mad.

I know you don't like the WERDNA thing but it's just
what I do.
I'll try to tone it down a little bit sometimes just for you.

Although I had best warn you, that you are going to get
really mad when I release a game I'm working on that
stars the Mighty WERDNA himself.

The Apoligetic WERDNA()


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2010) [#28]
In case anyone is interested... something finally did come from this... I rewrote all the code in Unity3d and turned it into an iPad game:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/fish-swarm/id391904761?mt=8
http://fishswarm.com/

The swarm AI got a bit messed up when I was tweaking for performance on the iPad, so the swarms are not quite as smooth yet, but I'm working on that, amongst other things.

If anyone has an iPad and wants to play without paying, here are a few promo codes (just post a reply if you take one to let others know)

KWKXAWJX3FF9
4WRWX6WPEPHT
L79PYWF6FLNA
3A7MXPTY3LM6
JW6YJJ4TRR3X
7KEFJA64943R
EL3NW63979MY
L6YEYXAEL9H6
MWWE6TLAYPY4
NEL69KA7AA46

This is actually my first published game, so I'm actually quite proud of myself... Its a shame it's not a blitz3d version.

I am thinking about maybe launching a PC version sometime so maybe that will be in blitz for old times sake, although Unity is so temptingly easy, especially as the iPad version is already done in it...

Last edited 2010

Last edited 2010


H&K(Posted 2010) [#29]
I wont take one. ( as I dont have an I pod) BUT, that is very nice thing for you to do. Thanks


Pete Rigz(Posted 2010) [#30]
Looks nice :)

Out of interest, which technique did you use to find nearby fishes for each fish, ie., spatial partitioning etc.?


Tri|Ga|De(Posted 2010) [#31]
Thanks I used this code: KWKXAWJX3FF9


Mr Snidesmin(Posted 2010) [#32]
Thanks Pete - I actually use my own custom algorithm... it's an approximate one that is geared more for real time performance than for 100% accuracy like spacial partitioning.

Thanks Tri|Ga|De (Jens) - hope you enjoy it... I know it needs improvement so if you could let me know which aspects need attention first that would be helpful :-)

fyi also, after one of the treasures is found, there's an easter egg in the game that unlocks a special fish - see if you can figure out how to do it :-)

Last edited 2010


Steve Elliott(Posted 2010) [#33]

..very nice..I like it..when you going to release source?



Hmm, yeah, work hard on something and some cheeky bugger immediately wants you to give it to them for free.


Blitzplotter(Posted 2010) [#34]
Don't have an Ipad thingy, looks very impressive mind you!

Last edited 2010