Would it be possible that there are species that can vary in appearance, in game? They could look different based on where any part of a species live in a different environment. A real life example would be like dogs, with different breeds, sizes and colors.
Well, if I remember correctly, castes are to be added (as to distinguish male from female or make different castes for a hive species), so this could probably work as a variation of that.
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I think diversification should be separate from caste editing, as castes only arise if the evolutionary fitness is increased by the synergy of multiple castes. Male and female dimorphism is an example, as sexual reproduction increases biodiversity.
The game (once in the 3D stage) should store a random code for each instance of a species which delineates how features should be sized and pigments be expressed. This will create suitable morphological diversity.
As for subspecies variants, the game’s scope probably won’t delve into them too far, as calculating fitness for a slight variant of a species is a bit nitpicky. Having a “base” subspecies variation code and averaging it with the randomness code could work, though.
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Well, yeah sure but dont you control only one species ? Why would they be spread out all over the world ? I mean, isnt the point of evolution adapting to a certain environnement so you can survive there ? I guess cousins and such could be all over the world though.
@Louix. There are some animals that could live all around the world, like peregrine falcons or whales. So your species would probably only be on an environment they adapted to.
Ah, yeah I didn’t think of that…
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Variability of view in nature are divided in several groups, including the sexual dimorphism, caste dimorphism, subspecies, breed and etc dimorphism.
The first - sexual dimorphism. It’s really widespread. Even flatworms have 2 variants of body thanks to it - male and female. On this basis males and females can have different sizes (some spiders), colours (birds), fur coat (humans, lions), skin and skeleton outgrouthes (dears, cocks, elephants) and always the sexual glands. How will computer calculate everything himself? I think it’s hard for computer even after many exercises. But possible.
Second - caste dimorphism. It meets rarer but can have a lot of variants. Everybody knows about ants or bees and their division into castes. Ants have 3 main casts - females, males and workers. Some species have warriors and ants, that should store sweet nutrients. Differences: sizes, the presence of a highly developed sexual system, the presence of wings, some other small differences in body, sizes of mandibules.
Subspecies, breed dimorphism. Even insects have differences by this base. Here changes can be absolutely any. Sizes of wings, ears, whole body, fruits, flowers, skeleton, fur, number of offspring. Anything. But with limit. They should can give a viable offspring.
P.S. there can be some other types of dimorphism. And my text can be not maximally true. But main part should be right.
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Well stuff like sexual and caste dimorphism would be handled thorugh the caste system which seems pretty straightforward/well thought out. I think the real question here is how will the game handle smaller differences between individuals as OP pointed out (two years ago!) there are small differences in the fur/hair/skin colour and other less obvious variables in many species, such as dogs and humans.
In the game, would all members of these kind of species look identical, or would their appearance be randomised to some degree? I dont’t think using the caste system for this is feasible, as the player may need to add dozens, if not hundreds, of castes to create some variety.
What about variation in a species as in siblings? We can simply add subtle noise displacement of where the parts are and their size/shape. Maybe even a slight difference in any direction of different colours.
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Displacement is a start but what about stuff that is less than subtly different (e.g.) hair colour. This would be hard to do with just random displacement; for example: Red hair and black hair are both valid options in humans, but that doesn’t mean the colours in between are, nor does it mean zebras could use the same colour options.
That said it wouldn’t exactly be gamebreaking to just not simulate this. Noise will work fine for creating variations and I don’t think most people would be very upset if all members of a Thrive species had similar colours (especially with the caste system in place to create further variations).
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How do you know when alien appendages are hair, fathers, scales, or skin? I mean, the least I can imagine is proportionality in scale, as smaller, more plentiful features have a chance of changing.
Hair/feather/ect brush (that tells the system where it can generate those)?
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I sort of agree with both of you. Though you can still use noise to generate detail patches and colours. Where the details go would be the organisms recent positioning obscured by noise. You can even use noise shift to where blobs of colour go. You can use a simple displacement feature to offset the colour slightly in a random direction of value, hue, and saturation.
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I think that adding patch to patch variation in late multicellular or even earlier would make it easier for players to specialize their species without having to worry about becoming completely unadapted to a different patch. This feature will also add a smoother transition to awakening and civilization stage.
Variation would effect: language, accent (purly cosmetic), behavior, mutations and inventions, benefiting the player with discovering new technologies, and being adapted to a wider array of patches, while having drawbacks such as more within species conflicts.
When moving patches the player can choose to stay as the Variant they designed or as the variant of the patch. If the player chooses to stay as their design both variants will be treated as the same population, but auto-evo will treat them as two different species, not via hard population numbers but by calculating them as percentages of the total population. The variant the player is playing as can never reach 0% until the total population reaches 0. The player can freely choose between each variant every editor cycle unless one goes extinct.
The player could also just always be the variant they made or always be the variant of the local patch, but I feel like the first option would give players the most freedom and make variants feel like they’re a part of your species instead of a another ai species you can’t effect.
Variation also begets the question of birth defects and that question begets the issue of permanent injury.
I believe that if birth defects and permanent injury were added to the game they should only be in hard mode, since birth defects punishes the player for something they have no control over and permanent injury is a much harsher punishment for getting hurt.
If a player spawns with a birth defect it shouldn’t be able to kill them on the spot, make them unable to reproduce or unable to survive until reproduction. Birth defects can just be mutations that auto-evo thinks will make the population less likely to survive, or they can be more general and be any random mutation you can get tripped up by, then they would no longer be birth defects but simply random mutations. Either way the punishment for dying with these should be more forgiving while there should be a greater reward for surviving with it. You can also choose to keep the mutation and miss out on the extra population, if you actually happen to survive better with it.
Permanent injury, on the other hand, should probably not have a reward for surviving, since it is, in of itself, a harsh punishment for not being better at the game. An injury though, should warn the player if it is permanent, if they will eventually succumb to it, if it will kill them before they can reproduce or if it will make it impossible for them to reproduce. Because wasting five hours only to realize you can’t preform the very important mating ritual, because you lost a limb, Five Hours Ago, is not fun, nor interesting, it’s just painful.
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