Peacequarium news & patch notes

Hello All, Peacequarium is part of the Indie Assemble festival here on Steam! Over 1,000 indie games created by more than 600 development studios from 63 countries! https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44717737-Indie-Assemble/sale/indieassemble {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/35185d58bf817e704fc4979efd07719810d1a130.png Thanks GTGD

Hello! I made a nice clean artwork showing most of the fish I've drawn over the past few months for Peacequarium. I need to make another version for the baby fish in the future. Also tomorrow the Minimal and Chill Steam Showcase will start and it has amazing games in it. Share the link with anyone you know who likes these games. Peacequarium is in the Minimal Input, Maximum Fun section. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/e7b097977cd9f00ab86622ac5533112c0e42bdb1.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/57e0063f98b2331ad7475d28a3f153dcf51ea843.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/79df9c10254689db12a162ca3ce4a2babdd37c88.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/4da3375b16816c18e0d81ba1a8154e823b1061f8.png Thanks, GTGD

Hello! Peacequarium will be part of the upcoming Minimal & Chill Steam Showcase from April 21 to 27! https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44955240/sale/MinimalandChillShowcase Over the coming months there will be more updates coming to Peacequarium! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/7d6dc30655e5b1015eec495b152f578aa4a76d7c.png Thanks, GTGD

Hi everyone, I've removed the sliding UI behaviour and so made the different menus in the game load faster. Peacequarium has grown a lot over the last six months, with many more menus being added, and so I think the sliding UI had become a bit slow and cumbersome when moving from one menu to another. Best Regards, GTGD

Hello everyone, I've added two pleasant soundtracks to Peacequarium and a music volume slider in the game settings panel. I've also reviewed my auto save code and I can confirm that the game auto saves every hour. I want to share that the music is freely available and made by Liborio Conti who makes professional soundtracks and provides them completely free without copyright. I'm not aware of anyone else doing that, and at a professional level, so I believe we should promote artists like him so more people get to experience their works. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/2248d9a7452282353d54931a7255c3002d560292.png Best regards, GTGD

Hello All, another small update, and this time I've added a toggle for turning on / off completed achievements to help you just see the achievements you haven't completed yet. When you open the achievements panel you'll see the toggle at the top. I've also added numbers to achievements that have stats so you can better understand how far away they are from completion. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/7a1f9e3fa13284d1454bcb923e24a770812e6cd9.png I've reduced the gift opening timer to just a few seconds instead of a minute and I've fixed a bug where a breeder fish will keep on breeding spawn cards even though there is not enough space in the tank if the player tries to spawn all of the spawn cards. If you encounter any issues please do let me know so I can try and fix them. I haven't forgotten about trying to show the rarity of collector fish achievements to help the player understand what sort of rarity the fish they are trying to collect is. Once I have a good solution for that I'll aim to implement it. Best regards, GTGD

Hello All, A regular update, in this update I've added a toggle for only selling mature fish. When active you cannot sell baby fish including when pressing the sell all button. This is for those players whose strategy is to quickly grow fish and sell them for a profit which makes sense! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/9606bf78c9153668f530213e6fd325543837d3d3.png Also I've changed the Twitch authenticator code generator link to another website because the previous site has been closed by the developer. This is the new link https://antiscuff.com/oauth/ If you have any questions or other thoughts then just let me know. Best regards, GTGD

Hello! We've made it to the launch of the demo and thanks everyone who has been playing the beta and giving feedback! For the demo I've created a new cozy background, the winter cabin! I've kept the requirement for unlocking it pretty low so you can enjoy it sooner rather than later. Also don't forget to pet the husky! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/dd9579bee8ee69ad9bfeffb0f65c11c939466dee.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/846593377a54633fdeb1c24871b75aae969b5225.jpg I've also added a new quest for the demo which is restoring dirty client aquariums. You get to vacuum up solid dirt, place plants that grow and make the water clean, and feed those hungry fish! Once you return the client aquarium you'll be rewarded with an awesome jade treasure chest. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/41b10c267df42ccb07910caf291bc3d33293f122.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/6591dadd924dc4c59cf31a7478a60f14a24484d7.jpg I hope you all have a lovely holiday and a better year ahead!

Hello! The demo launch is coming soon, 23 December! I've added a new type of quest which is to clean up client aquariums and this is in the demo! It's up to you to clean up dirty aquariums and make them beautiful. With client aquariums you need to suck up the solid dirt, place plants that will grow and make the water turn blue again and feed the hungry fish. Once restored you can return the client aquarium and get a jade treasure chest! You can also move the plants if you wish by left click dragging on them. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/41b10c267df42ccb07910caf291bc3d33293f122.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/6591dadd924dc4c59cf31a7478a60f14a24484d7.jpg

Hello! Peacequarium development is making great progress and the feedback coming through has been continuing to help make it a better game! I can now share the date for demo launch and it will be the 23rd of December! All of your save progress will continue from the playtest into the demo version, only Steam items will not be transferred because they are bound to the AppID.

Support for really big numbers

In fact numbers so big that a game can not display more than that! The game now supports up to 1e303 Centillion and pretty much beyond that the game can’t display more numbers and treats it as infinity. If you do get that far I’ve added a reset button in the settings menu that will reset your income multiplier and money so you don’t have to reset your save file and you can keep on enjoying your aquariums. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/3806873eb130564b1984aa38ddfaa84a34f9e3d1.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/e5eaf58f62c0640f4dcaf7f4528ce8f3c8ffa186.png

Water colour of your choice

Many players were wanting this so I’ve added a Custom Colour 1 scheme where you get to define the water colour, light colour and crest colour. Once defined you can then apply that colour scheme to your aquariums like any other colour scheme! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/2c203dbcdb9d26ba20fbc774ed9244245df53cb6.png

Shop filters

To help with the large amount of content in the shop I’ve added filters so you can narrow down what you’d like to access in the shop menu. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/9cf5e600a623a3cef5bcce4a5869a96a46a3ff7c.png

Quests

I think all of us agree that selling fish doesn’t make much money compared to earnings per second as you progress in the game, even when you upgrade the species levels. To address this I’ve added quests which are not too hard and basically you just have to sell the required fish to complete the quest. The quest is automatically fulfilled when you meet the requirements and you are awarded with a jade treasure chest that gives you money equivalent to the cost of your income multiplier. You could think of it as a handy level up! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/c653352cc0cabbe6363aa7be82a898242ff0635f.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/34fbfa7ea9faf507378c655a01b41132ad490162.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/9d3dcdaf5310a87930160f5698fd986ba5f34ff0.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/1dfd4edbce3fba41985450dae114c0e479cf9f13.png

The Demo

Up to the demo launch I’ll be continuing to tweak and improve the playtest, but I think I’ll save any major new content for the upcoming demo. This will help make a distinction between the playtest and demo versions, and I hope to give you a good fun reason for moving over from the playtest to the demo. I have lots more dev work to do and lots of experiments to carry out on creating fun new content.

Olexa played Peacequarium

Also in case you missed it Olexa played Peacequarium which is so cool! If there are streamers that you enjoy watching tell them about Peacequarium! Don't forget to follow my Steam developer page if you haven't already. GTGD

Big numbers and full screen

The numbers in Peacequarium can now go up to Vigintillions 1e63 and the earnings per second scales up as per the cost of the green Income Multiplier upgrade. This ensures that your earnings per second keeps pace with the big numbers so it doesn't feel that getting to the next level of big numbers is out of reach! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/1606faa21982c6ec764ec73f8a47f86309badc81.jpg You can now play the game in full screen windowed mode! Open your settings menu and press the toggle screen size button. On Windows you can dock the game around the screen like any other window! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/19a7442a930c780b31df0312fe4186b67af6d068.jpg

Naming your fish

You can name your fish from the fish/sell menu. Just click on the fish name such as Koi and start typing and the default species name will be replaced with your name for the fish. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/26cbbf6732ac6ad866bca7992d534ff03d4815aa.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/6cfd27e6fe382fde09b7094a91309dbbee7bf0d7.png

Fish traits and glowing fish

I've added fish traits which give the fish some uniqueness. Fish traits are Steam inventory items (I've changed them to not tradable or marketable) that are dropped regularly and you can apply these to your fish from the fish/sell menu. Once applied the trait will remain permanently on that fish. In the full game there is a gatherer trait and a fish with it will collect any wholesome buff it comes across! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/5eac3782c5154eb15434d737703f9b14b0b3eb6f.jpg The fish that get added to your steam inventory are glowing ones. They are visually different and have three times the earnings per second and value of a normal fish. You spawn these fish into your tank from the gift menu. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/f1f0dc29d22202c4ad55893d0295e7149f7e6e55.png

New Species Levels

I've redone fish species levels from scratch and I think the numbers make more sense now. You can upgrade the level of each fish species infinitely and this makes a big impact on your earnings per second and the value of the fish for selling purpose. This can be accessed from the Creature Collection menu. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/e99636e1f9dfc4e074be6020e217ce5e605ab956.png Btw, have you subscribed to my newsletter? Thanks, GTGD

In the last month I've made some mega improvements to Peacequarium to make it more fun and engaging and I've been taking player feedback very seriously. I believe I've incorporated all feedback that contributes to making Peacequarium a better experience and I've successfully integrated Twitch, Steam Achievements, and Steam inventory into the upcoming full game and the playtest! The most exciting feature I've added are fish traits which add more character to whichever fish you apply them to and makes them more useful. Traits don't persist on closing down the game which creates a nice sink for the trait item economy. I've successfully got a gatherer trait working in the full game and any fish with that trait will collect any wholesome buff it touches automatically (and be wearing a red cap :D ). The playtest has four of the traits available and these are supplied as Steam items over time in your Steam inventory which you can consume in game. Pro tip, if you want to achieve the Fish Collector achievements, then apply a breeder trait to a fish you don't have enough of. Make sure there is enough space in the same aquarium and then leave it to spawn new fish of its species every half hour! Check your Creature Collection menu to know how many of each species you have in stock. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/5eac3782c5154eb15434d737703f9b14b0b3eb6f.jpg I like the giant fish trait :) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/72c0d82e2aa6e198d7f3ab689258873a29e90a5a.png You can apply a trait by going to your fish menu and then clicking on the blue trait icon. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/80958cf2ce6b6728e51cea9fabd647e8fa4ea273.jpg I've made lots of quality of life improvements but a real notable one is that the game now remembers when you press a lock or unlock button for each rarity of fish. When you buy fish you no longer have to keep pressing the lock buttons for each rarity. The game will remember if you pressed the lock button for epic for example and if you spawn any epic fish they will automatically be locked. This applies when starting up the game as well, it will remember which species you want locked or unlocked on spawn. I still have to figure out a way to properly show you what the remembered selection is, so that is a work in progress. The fast buy buttons are pretty cool and I've managed to speed up the code behind fast purchasing fish and populating the fish menu so it is a fluid operation now. This enables mass buying fish, mass selling and using the fast buy buttons to try and increase your number of epic and rare fish if that is your strategy. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/030b00c52f0f519ed48e39f75ba942f3fd457495.jpg In the Creature Collection menu you only need to hold down your left click now and species levels will automatically keep being bought until you release left click. This is quite a powerful way to increase your earnings per second. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/910fc2cd6a18e8dcfb441ac95ca1b44515770b4f.jpg The glowing fish that get added to your Steam inventory have a visual difference, but they also have double EPS and value of their regular counterparts, so they are very much worth keeping and putting into your aquariums if you want to maximise your EPS! I'm currently continuing to work on the full game content and I'm also aiming to launch the demo for Peacequarium in early November. At this time I'm thinking I will end the playtest when I launch the demo (the demo will replace the playtest) and this will save me from having to maintain an additional project in addition to the full game and demo. Your save progress and Steam achievements will go across to the demo but your Steam items will not, so I recommend that you freely use your items! There's a ten percent chance on opening a gift box that you'll receive the platinum treasure chest! It gives a mega wealth reward :D Thanks, GTGD

The playtest has been bringing in so much useful feedback that I've decided to change it to an open beta! I have made so many improvements to the game since the launch of the beta, so I'll focus on just a few that I think are pretty cool, and these are now part of the beta which you can play. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/49719012dde9fb2dff8672227ced0042be2161ad.gif

Steam Inventory Integration

I've made several games and released them on Steam, but this is the first time I've integrated the Steam inventory service. It was really quite difficult for me to figure it out, but now I understand how to and it is cool. If you are also a developer then I've written this post on the Steamworks Developer group on how to setup the backend integration and I'm surprised no one has done this previously! When you play the Peacequarium Beta you'll be rewarded with gifts and fish that are added to your Steam inventory based on playtime (which works great for an idle game!). You can consume these in game or trade them on the Steam marketplace! Gift boxes will generate a wholesome buff of lots of cute snails or turtles, or give you three free fish, and fish gifts can be spawned into any aquarium that has capacity. These items are bound to the playtest and the full game will have its own set of items. A maximum of 12 of each type of item can be spawned each day. I think two gift boxes have already been sold on the marketplace! I don't get anything from item sales, it is purely the seller, buyer and Valve, but it is interesting to see an item from the beta version of the game having some value in the Steam marketplace! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/0fb70a0f1629280f27dc22bf005a603ae4852d44.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/4a0855d5bec196b17ee3b45a4e7ed746cddbe669.png

Twitch Integration

I think this is pretty neat and I've added a dialogue to the game that allows a streamer to enter their details and connect the game to their Twitch stream. Viewers can then type in the commands !snail !turtle !sub to spawn a snail, or turtle, or mini auto feeder submarine, and anything they spawn into the streamers game will have that viewers name on top of it! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/3841e221521ec25c155161e8a9749e2a64210ae4.jpg

Better Graphics

There was a lack of harmony between many of the water colour schemes and the colours used for the fish, so I've reworked most of the colour schemes to be pleasant and have a beautiful contrast with the fish. The new reworked Arctic Freeze colour scheme (available in the beta) is one of my favourites, and I find it so soothing. Also transparent water is pretty cool! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/5f5b77e9ae26dabe7a94cca27a029e903a2817aa.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/ee6724bbb80cc646ff0339c9f0700cc2afd930b5.jpg Btw, have you followed my Steam developer page. Yes there is actually such a thing on Steam so do follow it! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/f224778d6a735031c6ded9b76249f2d2784e29f6.gif

Hello Aquarists, We've reached a big milestone and today is the launch of the play test! It's a closed beta and everyone who signed up till now should have received an email about the playtest being activated. The playtest will run till the 20th/21st of August and will then be deactivated. Please do fill in the survey form that you can access from within the game and for longer feedback you can use the Peacequarium Steam Discussion board. Here are some gameplay tips:

Hold down mouse right click, or Left Ctrl, to feed your fish and make them grow faster.

Remember the aquarium has a a capacity and you can't buy more fish when it is full. You have to sell fish to make space for new fish.

The amount of gold the treasure chest gives is based on your Income Multiplier upgrade.

When you have the can of worms, use it to chain a gold fever fish with a super feed or vice versa to have a massive EXP growth multiplier. Have fun looking after your fish! GTGD

Hello Aquarist, Just a few more days to the public playtest! I'll switch it on at about 12am ET time on the 16th of August and I'll turn it off at about 12am ET time on the 21st of August to roughly coincide with the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration. Here are a few helpful things to look for in Peacequarium that will facilitate your progress. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/028ccccda6827b470a31f1e55999859592a49afc.png 1. The gold fever fish. When you see this guy just hover your mouse over him and you'll gain a 20x increase in your earnings per second for half a minute! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/2e3a298b1bb803731b17e44bd6acc42a0dec67ba.png 2. Super feed, This will add your earnings per second to your feed strength and so help you grow your fish faster. Btw, this chains with the gold fever fish! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/f6faca2a3ad942f879b1fcce0e22062b3a3740b0.png 3. The treasure chest. Just hover your mouse over it when you see it and it will give a heap of gold. The amount of gold is tied to the number of income multiplier upgrades you've purchased. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/2371c555e60a8f8ae2d6aa3e2c07462380603697.png 4. The research buff. Hover your mouse over it to get it. All research you are doing will be boosted 20x for half a minute. I recommend putting some of your profit towards the endless research card that will increase the value of your fish and your earnings per second by 1% every time it completes its research cycle! Looking forward to seeing you at the playtest! Best regards, GTGD

Hello all Aquarists! I'm working towards launching the Peacequarium playtest when the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration starts on the 15th of August (Peacequarium will be a part of it!). It will be a closed beta limited to everyone who signed up before the start of the playtest and run for about a week and then it'll be switched off. In the meantime I'll be writing some more posts on some of the features of Peacequarium so make sure to follow so you can be informed better than anyone else and get your own aquarium off to a great start! Best Regards, GTGD {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45131850/b9a721afb7120ba13ada648d5bbc36c296104ef1.png