Evolver 02 FriendBuild

Version 3

- Updated:

- Each creature has been given a faction that will help to align it with members of its family tree. The very first generation all share a faction (0) but their offspring each assume one once they are born. These factions are passed down from that point, with a slight chance for each offspring to go rogue and form a new faction. The faction is represented by the small flag that raises from the top of the creature. The strength of the loyalty is represented by the length of the flag, and it's colour is assigned by the faction itself. While (for now) this doesn't guarantee they won't cannibalize their faction-mates they are presented with a loyalty rating that must be over come by their need to eat. The most hardened create will kill anyone for food regardless.

- The currently existing faction ID's can be view with the 'A' key.

- A switch the path finding out for a different version because now there are obstacles for the creatures to navigate in the form of what I've dubbed (for whatever stupid reason) testroads. Besides impeding the creatures it they also (crudely, for now) obstruct their line of sight which causes them to target the furthest object away to help them re-position and get that sweet LOS. It's looks really crazy for the first few generations while nature sorts out the drifters and fringers, and then becomes very interesting to watch.

- There's also a slight chance that a blight will occur and kill every piece of food in play, forcing those who won't cannibalize to wait for the dead to rot and sprout new plants.

- 'Z' will zoom you to a send level between following a particular creature and viewing the entire environment. This can help with right or left clicking on them depending on what you want to do, but the camera won't lock on a clicked creature at this zoom level. I'm not sure If I like that or hate it yet.

- One more thing; this version is still pretty bloated, especially with the new path finding, and it might start getting choppy as early as 300 creatures in. I'm going to fix that up and also hopefully have an interface for dictating some of the parameters of the colony and world before play.

Version 02

- Updated:

- Each creature now consists of 6 segments; 4 triangles making up the body, a triangle on top that reflects it's kill rate (height) and kill number (intensity of the red), and a triangle on the bottom that reflects it's defense (the height reflects the level of defense). The top internal triangle reflects gender (yellow == female, blue == male), the bottom triangle reflects defense developed over a the creatures life, and the side triangles reflect it's swiftness and oscillation rate.

- While zoomed if the targeted creature dies the view returns to full room zoom.

- Other small refinements to the inheritance system.

Version 01

There's a lot to unpack in there, and it's still very very rough even for what it is, but it's still pretty fun to watch. Be warned, though, it's pretty memory intensive once you get a good colony going, and it might not work on Windows 8

Key commands:

ESC - Restart at title screen

Space - Pause all motion and plant growth (current pregnancies countdown and come to term, so it's not a true pause and can alter the dynamics of what's happening in unnatural ways)

Q - All skulls report their cause of death

W - Kills music

Left Click on Creature - Brings a magnified view of the field up, with the camera tracking the clicked creature

Right Click (while zoomed) - Returns to full view

Right Click on Creature - Draws lines to all living relatives (yellow - mother, blue - father, pink - children)

Left clicking black button - Brings up debug screen (disabled for now)

Basic idea

Each creature (after the first generation) inherits various traits from their parents, which influences their over all shape, fitness, metabolic processes, and even colour. Creatures require energy to live, which they constantly burn and can eat from the green plants that are growing and spawning all around them. However, if the distance to a nearby plant seems too great there is a chance that a creature will resort to cannibalism and devour their nearest neighbor. Each time this happens it becomes more and more likely that they will kill for energy. However, a kill isn't as simple as the desire the eat another being, each being has a defensive trait. Creatures develop these traits are they are exposed to the appropriate stresses making it more likely that they will succeed in their respective goals (food/not dying). These developed traits are partly passed down to their children. The spike on top of the creature reflects its killing power, the spike on the bottom reflects defense. The darker red a creature is the more of it's kind it has killed.

There are roughly 20 genetic traits and 10 personality traits that affect a creatures behavior. Hopefully you'll enjoy watching these weird little guys do their thing.