I just got through playing Terry Maas' computer game "Bluewater Hunting". It is super cool. It begins with an introduction to bluewater hunting, and the game by Terry Maas. The underwater footage in that introduction is impressive. Besides the footage of free swimming yellowtail, sailfish, sunfish, sea snakes, tuna, etc... is Terry stoning a big ono, and Ron Mullins shooting a white seabass (WSB) in the head.

After the intro, the player chooses his gear and dive locale. He  can choose from seven bluewater destinations (such as Aliwai Shoals, Ni'ihau, Catalina, etc...). The player loads his gun, takes in a deep breath, and descends. Big fish begin to appear. They seem to stare at you in the same way that real fish do -- penetrating, fearlessly -- and act much like real fish in that they become less wary when the diver is still, move away when the diver makes uneccassary movement, come in to band strumming, etc... but are largely unpredictable. Sometimes the fish in the game are as frustrating as they are in the ocean. Tuna seem to veer off when you've made eye contact, almost coming in range but staying just out of it. Terry offers his advice for each specie of fish (tuna, sails, mackerel, marlin, mahi, ono, ulua, wsb, yellowtail, amberjack, etc...) in each fish's respective bio. For example, he reccomends silence while hunting WSB. As in reality, the diver must watch his down time or he will suffer shallow-water blackout (SWB) and end his dive. (I blacked out several times).

The game has a clock that monitors the diver's bottom time, to help prevent SWB. found to be fun and helpful. Other helpful features include flashers, band strumming, and easy controls.  This game is much more like real bluewater hunting than racing games are to actual racing. The gun is slightly hard to swing (big bluewater guns are), you only get one shot per dive, you have to be close enough to your quarry to see minute details in order to make a good shot, etc...

It took some time to get to know and experience your game. I reconfigured almost all functions to the numeric keypad, keeping aiming foremost in my mind. Originally, I had treated the beginner level as if I was diving and I was a bit frustrated. That was my fault since I neglected to think about how the game is designed for divers of all levels. Here are some more thoughts you may be able to use:

The advanced levels were fantastic. I can see the game as being a great way to spend some time on those days when you have to cancel your dive trip or when it's raining in winter. If I lived in a landlocked area, I expect I'd be playing Blue Water Hunting quite a bit.

The game is much like blue water hunting itself in that catching fish takes strategy and patience. I found that my normal diving technique work well, which is to constantly scan all around me while moving fairly slowly. I think of spearfishing as being two phases, the first being where you are getting yourself to where you first sense the fish species you want, and the second being of how you can get close enough to the fish for a proper shot. The game compresses time in the first phase and allows you to refine your skills of the second phase. A person who has never even held a speargun will have a remarkable understanding of what it takes to hunt blue water species by using the game as a training tool.

Individual aspects of the game include a number of points of which I'll only mention a few. Timing your shot is very important. I was pleasantly suprised to find that the catch often didn't end with a shot and that you had to have enough air to get your fish and make it back to the surface. Your urge to breathe is relayed back to you on the game console, as is your swimming exertion level. Game owners who have not yet hunted in the open ocean will learn that you have to consider the need to swim closer to the fish but balance this with the awareness that same exertion can, and often does, spook fish. The fish in the game seem to "read" you, and your appearing to be indifferent to the fish does pay off.

1999 marks my 30th year of freedive spearfishing, which to me seems like a great deal of time, yet I find that the game gives me cause to pause and think about why I did or didn't get a particular fish. I like that. I tend to visualize myself as being the diver in the game and immersing myself in the game tends to make me play better. If I was to pick what I felt is the most impressive part of the game, it would be how so many details of actual blue water hunting were interwoven into the Blue Water Hunter.

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From Australian bluewater hunter David Birch, who with 35 years experience in blue water hunting can offer the view from the mature diver:

Climb onto the wharf and the fish is hung on the weighing scales. It just misses out on beating the IBSRC world record, but what a challenge it has presented none the less. This scenario could well see you as the hunter, in what would be a dream situation for most avid bluewater spearfishers. And at a fraction of the cost of a real trip to Guadalupe Island (off the coast of Mexico) for a crack at what is possibly the world’s best tuna grounds.

What I have been doing lately is test driving "Body Gloves’ Bluewater Hunter", the first and only computer generated CD game soon to be released, and it brings all the realism of the sport of bluewater hunting into your home. Just the thing for those cancelled spearfishing competitions when you’re all pumped up, or when the weather is keeping you indoors, or even when your health doesn’t allow you to become immersed in the aquatic world for a period of time. I have been asked to give an insight into what has the potential of introducing hundreds of thousands of computer game addicts around the world, to the exciting experience of bluewater hunting. Be aware that I’m not enormously familiar with CD games significantly more complex than Hoyle’s Board Games (a CD full of fun board games such as Battleships, Checkers, Backgammon, Chess, and the like) and the occasional lash at "Motocross Madness", but I’ve seen a few around the neighbourhood and the internet cafe’s. I took to this challenge with the frustration of a free-diver who has been out of the water too long, and whose brain has started to degenerate to the point of no return. Come to think of it, I have been out of the water for over 8 weeks, thanks primarily to eastern Australia’s unseasonably rough seas and the eternal filthy offshore viso! With some degree of spare time I have at present, it looked too good to resist. So here goes!

From the outset, the manufacturers recommend that you have a computer that has a Central Processing Unit (CPU) at least faster than 200Mhz (almost as fast as my spear is). Also you need at least 32 Meg. of memory on board your computer (more than my brain seems to have at times), so it rapidly supplies the fantastic graphics to the screen in quick time. A sound card, coupled to a good pair of quality speakers, will provide the real sounds we hear under the water (many of which were supplied by the legendary Terry Mass). If this is getting too much for you as a computer illiterate (one who knows absolutely nothing about computers), I suggest you get down-town now, pick up the latest model, and catch up with the rest of humanity as it gets better from here. The makers of the game approached Terry Maas with the concept of the game basically completed. Terry’s expertise in bluewater hunting is well recognised and documented around the world, hence their request for his input. Coupled with Terry’s spectacular video footage intro, it makes this world-first underwater hunting game the best it can be. Added to all that, it had to be as real to life as modern computer language and programming could make it. The game needed to be technically correct in all aspects for the IBSRC (International Bluewater Spearfishing Records Committee) to endorse such a project. Terry made many trips to Seattle, Washington to oversee the creation /production, so you can be assured of a supreme result from the 4 time US National Spearfishing Champion and IBSRC Chairman/founder.

Now to the fun part the game: Depth is a factor because one way you lose the game is to have three shallow water blackouts. The deeper you go for fish, the faster your oxygen expires. There is an oxygen meter and a depth gauge on the bottom panel of the game screen; your oxygen diminishes with time under the water and depth achieved. If you get close to a shallow water blackout (SWB), you can drop your weight belt and lose points instead of blacking out. Also a swim-speed meter that shows how fast you are travelling above or below, is graphically shown. Fortunately personal age is not a factor, or some of us would perhaps have one foot in the proverbial grave from the onset. It’s designed for young and old players, and guaranteed to satisfy the challenges that life in the sea puts before us, even if you have never spat in a mask. Visibility is a factor in your success.

They have designed 6 different underwater worlds, for you to choose from; Mexico, Panama, South Africa, Australia—the Great Barrier Reef etc. In the Catalina Island world, white seabass will materialise out of the gloom, whist on the Great Barrier Reef, Dogtooth Tuna appear to be closer than anticipated in the crystal clear waters. Boats are not a hazard, but predatory sea creatures are. At any time a shark can threaten you. You cannot shoot your gun at a manta ray, sunfish, whale, dolphin, or other harmless creatures. However, you can use your powerhead to shoot at sharks. The powerhead is designed to only frighten the shark and not kill it. After all, who of us out there wants to kill sharks needlessly. If you shoot at a billfish, you must kill it with a "stone" shot, otherwise it will return to gore you! Not a pleasant ending for "your’s truly"! A good bottom time is 1:30, although, there will be a cheat switch on the game giving unlimited bottom time. Two minutes sees you floating mid-water in an nconscious state, and one life less for the conclusion of the game.

The game has some other very interesting concepts. If you do not kill a fish with a stone shot, it will slowly sink until you dive again to recover it. You must swim down to a speared fish to capture it successfully. Each of the 6 u/w worlds has different fish to hunt. For example, in Australia, the targeted fish are Dogtooth Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna and Wahoo. There are 3 different levels of difficulty for each world. Also there’s a variety of options of available for fins, masks, and wetsuit choices. A good choice helps the hunters in his quest. Take a tip and begin as a rookie!

The artificial intelligence of the game will randomly generate a world record fish which can appear at just about any time. You need to turn your head from side to side to check out the surroundings fully. If you even aim at a manta ray or other non-game fish, your cross hairs become inactivated. Good education here! The player can use several attractors to entice fish: flashers, strumming the bands of the gun and croaking deep in the throat. These sounds were recorded with Terry underwater at sea, as well as the sound of the gun loading, firing, and hitting a fish with a thud. Some fish, like Kingfish will be attracted to flashers, but others like white seabass will flee. A great learning exercise for the uninitiated. The animators/creators were able to obtain a very sophisticated computer model of schooling fish behaviour. When a school of bait fish is near, and they begin to flee, you'll know that a game fish is nearby. Whales, manta rays, sharks, coral, jellyfish, in fact all marine life is generated with amazing reality at random around you.

It’s astounding how far cathode ray tube (CRT) image enhancement/realism has advanced in such a short time. There is much more, but hopefully you can visualise the high level of sophistication that the programmers have included. The project coordinator was absolutely committed to realism and consulted on every aspect of the game with Terry. The art department has done a fantastic job too. The sharks that appears from the gloom periodically, firstly silhouetted in the distance, swim and looks just like the real thing - with none of the angular edges or movement of less sophisticated games. I see the release of this fun CD game as the ‘stepping stone’ of future bluewater hunters, both young and old, into the aquatic world and it’s endless adrenalins pumping experiences. Truly our extreme sport personified in bytes. Playing this game gives me the visualisation of future arcade game parlours or home entertainment rooms, filled with people wearing virtual reality helmets and waving their arms in panic, reaching out with an imaginary gun for a shot at an ever-cautious ocean roaming pelagic fish. What an experience this would be for any normal kid off the street. It has to be far better for them mentally than slaying demons, dragons, robotic creatures or fellow human enemies.