Tag Archives: Aquarium Sim

Good Bye 2017

Happy New YearAs I wake up to another New Year’s Eve I find myself reflecting on the events of 2017. For me personally it has been a very busy but also rewarding year.  My son started grade 1 my wife started a new job and I decided to focus full time on making games.  As a result of this I was able to complete even more high quality updates to the majority of my games.

As a result millions of new players enjoyed my games, and on average my game ratings went up.  I now have thousands of new followers providing me valuable feedback through 3583 Byte’s Facebook & Twitter accounts which provides a great feedback mechanism to my work.

So once I again before rushing to next year’s goals I want to take the time and review all the amazing things that we did in 2017.

Train Sim

Train Sim had the busiest year out of all my games with 8 updates featuring many of the most requested features. This year I really focused on addressing many of the comments sent to me via Social Media & Reviews to ensure that I responded to as many requests as I could. Here are some highlights:

  • Updated Ports of Call Scene with New Train Yard
  • New Rain Effect & Windshield Wipers added to all Trains
  • New Break Sparks on all Trains & Cars
  • Longer Trains
  • New User Interface
  • New Achievement System
  • New Train Decoupling/Coupling & Improved Track Switching
  • New Custom Environments (build your own train levels)
  • 5 New Trains including:
    • Santa Fe EMC E1
    • Class 66 train
    • ST44-700
    • LB&SCR E2 Class Tank Engine
    • EMD GP9
  • New Train Cars including Double Stack & Grain Cars
  • New Airport Level
  • New Train Drivers

There were also lots of small bug fixes & improvements I can’t remember but one thing is for sure that Train Sim had the busiest year ever with major improvements in all areas thanks to your feedback.

Flight Sim

Flight SimOne of my major goals for 2017 was to improve the overall experience of Flight Sim. In 2017 I did a major overhaul of all the environments, improving their quality & realism. I also improved many of the features such as maps, missions and fixing bugs. I think I can do more in 2018 but this years updates got me a long way to a game I think can be enjoyed by many players.

Dinosaur Sim

Dinosaur SimDinosaur Sim still features very high ratings and popularity with almost 1 million players who enjoyed it so far. This year I also focused on addressing some of the feedback I received through social media and reviews. The updates this year brought players a new Flying Quetzalcoatlus, New Winter & Jungle Levels as well as a much requested Hunger & Thirst Indicator.

3 Jewels

3 Jewels3 Jewels had only 1 major requests from players which was more levels.  This year I doubled the amount of challenge levels to 200!  I think we can all agree that it could use another 100 in 2018 🙂

Kids Train Sim

Kids Train SimKids Train Sim received a complete overhaul to match its features with its parent Train Sim.  This was a large undertaking with took over a month but I think we can agree that the result was positive.  Here are some of the new features added to Kids Train Sim this year:

  • New City Level
  • Improved Interface
  • Improved Passengers
  • Train Coupling & Decoupling
  • Custom Environment (Build your own Train Environments)

Other Games

Kids Car Racers received a new Alternate Reality Level where you can race your cars in your living room (or wherever you are)

Kids Car Racers AR

Aquarium Sim received an update that allows users to build their own Aquariums

Aquarium Sim

New Games

This year I laughed 2 new games.  A new Match 3 Game which is a sequel to 3 Jewels with 300 new challenge levels.

3Jewels 2

Jigsaw Puzzle X which allows players to complete Jigsaw Puzzles with up to 500 pieces.  Great for those long flights.

Jigsaw Puzzle

As always I encourage you to try these games and give me some constructive feedback.  I nice rating is also very much appreciated as it is very difficult to launch a new game in 2017 🙂

On top of all this work that is visible by players allot goes into managing a Game Development Company, such as:

  • Working with 3D Artists & Practicum Students
  • Replying to emails & social media posts,
  • Brainstorming ideas,
  • Testing updates
  • Porting games to different platforms such as iOS & Windows Store
  • Doing backups
  • Testing new screenshots and icons
  • Accounting
  • And lots more

For every update you see lots of work goes into getting the game into a place where it could be enjoyed by millions of users.

In conclusion it has been a great 2017!  Thank you for playing our games and all your reviews.  I apreciate it.  I look forward to an awesome 2018!  Most Importantly:

Happy New Year!

All the Other Games

If you read my Twitter & Facebook posts it may feel like I only work on Train Sim.  While Train Sim is my most popular game with very active & vocal fans, I have 22 other games I made that are also quite popular.  So after my last Train Sim release I decided to focus on updating all my other games.  Here are some of the highlights of the awesome new features now available.

Kids Train Sim

Kids Train Sim received a much needed overhaul.  I actually deleted all the scripts/code from this game and replaced them with them with code from Train Sim.  This I was able to provide all the updates, fixes & features of Train Sim but in a more kid friendly package.  Features like train decoupling, improved passengers, manual door control, custom environments & new user interface are now available in Kids Train Sim.  While I was there, I also added a new City Scene & New Trains.  All of this took a while to implement but I think the end result was worth it.

Kids Train Sim

3 Jewels Sequel

Because every game company should have a Match 3 Game!  As some of you may know I have a very popular Match 3 game called 3 Jewels.  I have been secretly working on a sequel called 3 Jewels 2 with 300 new challenge levels, new graphics and awesome new effects and game mechanics.  3 Jewels 2 is currently available on Google Play and so far the reviews are 5 stars!

3Jewels 2

Aquarium Sim

Aquarium Sim is one of my newer games that I am trying to promote.  So far its launch was a bit bumpy but it is improving.  On this latest update I improved the Custom Environment Feature.  Just like in Train Sim you can now move items around after they are placed.  I also fixed a few bugs that Improved the overall experience.  I am happy to report that after this new update the average rating on Google Play has improved to 4.0.

Aquarium Sim

Kids Car Racers

I was watching my son Play Mario Kart and noticed that the karts in that game can launch things (mostly shells) at each other.  I decided that this would be a fun feature in Kids Car Racers.  So the new version of Kids Car Racers now allows players to launch Barrels at the other cars.  I also added a new Alternate Reality Scene which allows players to race cars, well in their living room and wherever they are.  The scenery from their environment comes directly from the camera just like in Pokemon Go.  The effect is quite cool.

Kids Car Racers AR

Aquarium Sim Update

Last week I worked on a new feature for Aquarium Sim that allows users to create custom Aquarium Environments.  This is a feature I always wanted to include on launch but never had the time to implement.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Rather then just being visually appealing Aquarium Sim now also allows you to be creative.

This new version of Aquarium Sim is now available for Android & Amazon Devices with iOS version has been uploaded & is waiting for review.

Aquarium Sim is Live!

I am happy to announce that after months of work Aquarium Sim for Android is now live on the Google Play store.

Aquarium Sim

Aquarium Sim is an interactive virtual Aquarium for your phone & tablet. Sit back, relax and enjoy a variety of marine & freshwater fish swimming about in a colorful coral reef habitat. Setup your aquarium by choosing from 82 fish and 9 environments. Interact with your pets by taping on the glass and feeding them.
Aquarium Sim Features:

– 82 highly detailed fish species Including (Clown Fish, Puffer Fish, Sting Ray, Sea Horse)
– 7 intricately detailed coral reef scenes
– 2 Freshwater Scenes
– Realistic Swimming behaviors and appearance
– No in-app purchases, all fish & environments are free

Google Play

Working on an Aquarium Game

Recently I started working on a new Aquarium Simulator game (at least while the next Train is being built by my 3D Artist for Train Sim).

Aquarium Sim

As usual the game is going to be free and have no in-app purchases.  It will feature both a freshwater aquarium as well as a marine (saltwater) one.

So far I have the Fish AI complete.  They swim within the bounds of their aquarium along with avoidance of their environment.  Currently you can also feed the fish, as well as tap the aquarium to watch them follow your finger.

Aquarium Sim

Currently I am working on a screen that will allow you to setup the fish in the aquarium and provide you some information about each of the fish.  This is actually a challenge to do, as my screen has too many buttons and is currently not intuitive.   Maybe I have to divide it into 2 screens instead.

Follow me on Twitter to receive more in-progres screenshots.