what if, instead of making it so that the player is able to become multicellular after a certain amount of cells have been binded togheter, it is made so that, the player has a random chance of being able to reproduce while binded, making him multicellular?
Now, I know that you are going to think that it will be annoying to have to everytime reproduce and to hope that RNG jesus blesses you, but, it could be coded that after a certain amount of times the game lets the player reproduce while binded, allowing to reach multicellular without having to reproduce a million times.
Wouldn’t it be frustrating to have random conditions to progress in the game? I’m against that. Same reason why I immediately shoot down any arguments for underwater civs that start with “what if an alien civilization randomly visited and gave you technology”.
Then why not explain the condition clearly like “reproduce 5 times while in a colony” or just have that colony size limit. Otherwise the player doesn’t really need to explore, they can just exploit the cells near them to bind with one, reproduce, then immediately bind with just one more cell. I don’t consider that very multicellular-y. I think it makes much more sense that a size limit is what unlocks the permanently sticking together as a colony.
What if there is a chance a solar eclipse happens and blocks out all sunlight for a few days/generation? It could be limited to a single zone so photosynthesises don’t all die out.
Isn’t this a problem that the “multicellular after a certain amount of binded cells” model has? I don’t see how this would be a problem with my model, since it doesn’t depend on colony size.
But this model isn’t entirely random, it is made so that if the player doesn’t get to transition to multicellular after a certain amount of attempts, the game is forced to let the player transiction.
Because that would feel too artificial, the reason this model is semi-randomical is to make it so that the transiction between singlecellular and multicellular doesn’t feel too artificial.
Invisible randomness is not good gameplay experience. We used to have randomly unlocking organelles when you engulfed floating orbs. We removed that randomness.
I think it’s much easier to add text that says “reach 10 binded cells” than trying to explain to the player you have x% chance, but after 10 attempts you always succeed.
That sounds like it would be a great idea for a disaster, something we want to have in the game eventually.
Except… instead of a solar eclipse it could be volcanic ash or something else that blots out the sun. Eclipses usually don’t last long at all and are really uneventful for plants, I can’t begin to imagine what crazy orbital circumstances would be required for a very long lasting eclipse to take place.
One idea I have is that you have to evolve organs in a certain order. For example to evolve wings you have to evolve the limbs required first. You could also make it where some organs can only be evolved in a certain time period before being locked off forever. For example the player can add as many limbs as they want in the beginning of the multicellular stage, but this ability is locked off later in the stage. This is similar to the real world, where species can’t just evolve another arm out of nowhere.
Instead of locking out the possibility of making new limbs after some time, I think it would be better to make it so that the more complex the organism gets the higher creating new limbs will cost (which would also be more realistic)
Idea for planet generation
A option for a post apocalyptic planet. This planet will have artificial structures from the generation of the planet. Additionally this planet will have lots of pollution and toxins. You could also have nuclear waste and have cells evolve the ability to produce energy with radiation. You could also have species that use some of the pollutants to their advantage, by using it to produce molecules and organelles that allow them to benefit from it. A creature could use metal to make an armored shell.
Yes, the player plays as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).
That’s why loading premade creatures on the player’s starting planet doesn’t fit in Thrive at all.
how about this: When the microbe stage is “completed”, a new item unlocks that allows for the player to attach to other cells of their own species to create, at first a 2D colony of cells. These can’t be differentiated until X number of cells have been combined to allow for cells to automatically “grow” into the Z plane. Once this occurs, more advanced cell differentiation can occur (digestion, sight, movement, etc). Eventually, a complete switch of the editor would have to occur, but this could prevent the sudden jumps that were done in Spore from occuring in Thrive.