So I'm gonna try my hand at making an evolution simulator.
…And no, it's not gonna be a Spore clone.User input will be pretty basic. You'll pretty much just define the environments and set it in motion.When FPS starts to drop to an unreasonable level, which it undoubtedly will with hundreds of organisms crawling around, the sim will kill off 50% of the population. But it'll give the player a choice as to what kills this 50%, whether it's a flood or asteroid or whatever. This choice will determine exactly which organisms die off during this mass extinction, thus changing the course of evolution.I toyed around with the idea of creating a DNA-like code for the organisms that actually determines their traits, but I think actually creating a meaningful organism-defining code that can mutate randomly to result in random new features would be too difficult. Not to mention that if I did somehow get something like that working, it'd probably take way too long for notable changes to occur.Instead, there will just be a variety of random mutations that a new organism might be born with. The random mutations will have prerequisites though, which will prevent a basic cell-like organism from suddenly sprouting advanced eyes or something.
If you want to save FPS and make it more in depth then I recommend using simple symbols like dots or letters to represent creatures and then allow the user to pause and read about the particular creatures (kinda like dwarf fortress). I think that would turn out more like you want it to be than if you had to deal with sprites and such.
(lol "simple symbols" sounds funny)Yeah, wasn't planning on using sprites. The organisms will be drawn with GM's draw functions… they'll become slightly more elaborate in appearance as they become more sophisticated organisms, but not too much so.
The game's also undoubtedly gonna be a single-object affair.Sweet.
I've been working on 2 different methods for simulating various melanin proteins (pigment proteins) if you'd like some info on that I would gladly show you it though it may be a bit more inclined for spritey games. It's somewhat related to evolution because it's centers on genetic traits and radiation.
I don 't know why, but this is something pretty much everybody tries doing at some point of their Game Maker "career"…
Including using draw functions for it.The idea of extinction-based selection sounds fresh, though :pSo I've noticed.
And It's not even the first time I've tried doing something along these lines, but now I think I've got a clearer vision of how I want it to work. Plus I'm a bit more skilled with Game Maker than I used to be, so that'll help out.@Zac1790: Not sure if it'll be of use to me, but sounds interesting. Wouldn't mind taking a look at it.I did pretty much exactly what you just described with this. Minus the disasters. Kind of.
I'll send you the source if you want to poke around and get ideas.Man, this site is slow right now.
I just re-read my comment and I hope I didn't come off as thinking you were taking "my" idea (which it totally isn't).You should definitely go for it. I'm excited to see what you come up with. I learned a lot by making my sim, hopefully you will, too!It's true. One of my most engaging games so far is a life sim. It's interesting to see things you've made work without you, especially when you're using actual biological concepts.
Actually, your work with bloomoon is in fact what originally sparked the desire within me to create something similar, Poly Man.
Definitely would love to check out the source.