From the outside in

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Exciting, innit?!?! Grandroids


First up, hello and a big thank you to all my new backers! There are more than 400 of you now! I'm stunned and thrilled (if one can be both at the same time). 

Secondly, there's a bunch of discussions going on now about what the initial world might look like, how smart the creatures may or may not be, to what extent evolution is possible, and so on. That's great. I read every comment but I apologize that I can't reply to all of you individually. For one thing Kickstarter's comments system doesn't support direct replies and for another you'll kill me if I don't get on and focus on my work! There'll be a place for tracking the project, learning about it, making suggestions, discussing it, bugging me with questions, etc., so keep the thoughts coming. I'm working on it but it won't go live until after the end of the pledging period, so please be patient!

What else? Evolution? Yes, but it's not the primary focus of the game because evolution by natural selection is slooow! The more complex the creatures and the longer they live (so that you can really get to know them as individuals and care for them) the slower it becomes. But that was true with Creatures too, and it didn't stop anyone. Selective breeding is much faster than natural selection, and I'll also do what I can to make wolfling runs possible, since some of you have asked for it. But really, heredity is still a big deal even if not all that much happens to the gene pool in the space of a mere few years. If you can get these creatures to breed (which will take some skill and experimentation, I suspect) then the children will inherit characteristics from both parents (in a very non-trivial way) and thus end up with a unique personality. So, this is not a game where you sit and watch passively while trivial little stick creatures evolve in the space of a few hours and the fact that tens of thousands of them die in the process doesn't concern you a bit. This is more like keeping rabbits.

Will you feel sad if one dies or gets sick? I do hope so! I don't want to make you unhappy, obviously, but if you feel bad for them then I'll consider that my work has been done! And the corollary to that is that you get to share in the joy when they learn a new skill or fall in love or have their first child. Will they actually deserve those moral responses? I have no idea. I'm just doing what I can to make that possible - it's up to you to judge these ethical questions and decide how best to deal with them. Will they be able to form plans and execute them? I hope so. Will they develop some kind of culture? Will children learn from parents? I don't have a clue. All I know is that these things are far more possible than they were in Creatures. I have a lot to do yet and there are still many unknowns. I'm as excited to find out as you are!

Multi-language support? Yes. Linux? As soon as Unity3D decides to support it. Accessibility support? Good point. I'll do what I can - I'm getting old too! Genetic control of appearance? Yes, some (but this isn't Spore, so don't expect a horse and a tiger to give birth to a zebra). Will the creatures have emotions? Yes, definitely - they're crucial. Will they be aware of you and can you interact with them? Yes, for sure - more so than in Creatures because you'll be in their world with them. What scale will the landscape be? Fairly small, otherwise the creatures will just get lost in the forest and you'll never even see them! They're too complex for you to have dozens of them so I have to hit the right balance between density and explorability.  

Okay, I'm sure I've missed a lot of your questions, but that'll do to be going on with. Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm! Yippee!

Posted via email from The New Word Order

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