I believe I saw a thread earlier regarding suggested enhancements to the game. I can't find it right now, so I'm starting a new thread.
I heartily agree with all the enhancements mentioned earlier, particularly having an icon that shows you how many fish are in the tank. I hate having to count those little buggers! Here are my suggestions:
1) Slightly change the physical appearance of a pregnant fish. (Make it a little bulgy, or add a small icon near it? Or maybe add a pregnancy "glow" to it?) I had 10 of all the same fish I was breeding, and I'm scurrying around trying to click all of them as they are swimming around quickly, frustrated as to which one is the 10th one I hadn't impregnated yet. If we can see the sick ones without clicking them, why can't we see the pregnant ones?
2) Button to reset suggested selling price of the fish in the isolation tank. I leave some fish priced at the suggested price, and others I raise in price. I once raised one too high, and then could not remember the suggested price.
3) Add new fish which can only be bred through trading. Similar to Pokemon that can only evolve when traded. I think the trading feature is neat in general. i.e. if you give someone a Golden Goldbulb, it becomes a Frosted Angelfish (I'm just making up a name here.)
4) A "pokedex" style feature that lets you see which fish you have/had. You can only view the ones you have had, so it doesn't spoil the surprise as to what you can get in the future.
5) A 4x speed and a 1/4x speed setting (or a variable speed setting if it isn't hard to program.)
6) A chart explaining the customers' thought bubbles.
7) Allow species identification of baby/teen fish. The babies all look pretty much the same, and if one is sick, it would be nice to know which species it is before deciding whether to trash it or keep it. Or sometimes one baby dies and I'd like to know which one it was. I don't always write them all down when their parents are pregnant.
A pause feature so you can grab baby fish more easily. I have trouble grabbing the little ones, or sometimes I try grab a big one but I actually end up with a tiny one that was hiding behind it.
9) Allow different selling prices for same species. Each individual fish can have its own price.
10) Expansion packs (software) that have new ornaments, fish, etc. Take a cue from the Sims here and make a fortune;)
11) Allow manual game saving. Let's say you save a game and then accidentally sell or delete a fish. It would be nice to go back to the saved version.
12) An online version of the game, where people can see each other's tanks. Maybe if that's too difficult a task right now, just have a place where people can easily upload a file or picture with their favorite tanks, etc. I know we kinda do that now, but a feature built right into the game would be easier for the less computer-savvy.
13) A log file (maybe somehow connected with the "pokedex"?) that lets you see, with date/time stamps, the fish you have mated, and the resultant fish (did it die, what level tank did you have, etc.) It's just too time-consuming to write it all down or even to use the databases that some folks have created.
14) An easier way to spot dead fish. Sometimes I miss the small babies because they blend in with the scenery a little too much.
15) An audio signal when a fish gets sick, or dies. Especially an audio signal when they reach a new age or life phase (teen/adult). Since the game runs quite slowly, even on 2x speed, I might have the game minimized or something while I'm doing something else. And I feel like I have to check it every minute!
16) Last, and most definitely [color:"purple"]NOT LEAST... [/color] Allow the game speed Options to work independently for each user. My son played for hours on his user, and I ended up with a bunch of dead fish on one of my users. I know one solution would be to copy the folders as Barbara(?) mentioned before, but I'm sure this is not really what you developers intended, or want to happen. The computer-challenged folks can't easily do this either.
Whew, quite a volume here! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this game, and it really is well-done and nearly _bug_-free. These are just things that I think would make the game a little more user-friendly, and also prolong the interest in the game. Some users seem to get bored after awhile, and something like new goals, or expansion packs is a win/win situation. If this game is not already available on RealArcade, it should be. Big exposure there.
Thanks for listening
cheezfri