Breeders: Evolution is go!

I’m back to work on my virtual life simulation after a long break to build my code-fu. This developer diary shows the results of my first experiments with random mutations and evolution. Very interesting results even with just a single changing variable. :)

Apologies for the mumbly audio at the end – recorded that one VERY late at night

I’ve been thinking alot about the next version of my Breeders sim. This VoxelForm for Unity just kind of blew my mind with the gameplay possibilities. (^_^)

Definitely check out the live demo and just imagine the critters and plants that could grow there – influenced (and changing!) the terrain. Perfect fit!

Just a quick note to let folks know that Breeders is still very much alive. :) I have been hard at work in my virtual greenhouse, concocting all sorts of strange, alien plants to populate the world. Here are some examples:

I’ve also learned a lot about Unity while working on my other project, Crashed Lander. I’m much more comfortable in Unity and feel like I have a much better chance at accomplishing my goals with Breeders. I’ve also had a lot of time to mull things over in the back of mind – my preferred method of working on a problem. :)

I also wanted to say thanks to Chris West and Unity for mentioning Breeders in the first issue of the Asset Store newsletter. MegaFiers is amazing, and Chris is also working on all sorts of powerful new Unity tools.

Current plans are to start work on the next incarnation of Breeders In February. I wonder if I can get the ‘evolution’ code written in 7 days? (^_^)

I’ve realized that my plans for Breeders have outgrown my skills with Unity and Javascript. This whole thing is really my first project in Unity – I just dove in and starting importing assets and coding. :) Great way to learn, but I need more practice.  So, I’ve been working on another smaller game  before tackling the more complicated stuff in Breeders: Evolution.

I’ve also been spending time in ZBrush sketching out ideas for plants and whatnot. My skills with zbrush are growing, especially with the amazing new tools in version 4r2. So tempting to try some more realistic, animated creatures. I think it’ll be better to stick with the simple critters. The animated plants will be complicated enough. :)

This in-browser game, Reprisal, is a labour of love based on the classic God game Populous.  The Dev is posting updates as the game progresses and there is a preview version on the site.  Looks great so far!

via IndieGames.com

Here’s an awesome Kickstarter project that encourages kids to create games and share ideas. They are raising $$$ to create a mobile, modular arcade and some gaming essentials like controllers and extra monitors. Toss in a few bucks or Tweeter your FriendFace pals to help spread the word.

I’ve added some defensive behaviours to the Herder and Cubes. Now they have a fighting chance against the two predators in the sim.

When a Herder senses a predator it will turn orange and move directly away from it the next time it has the energy to move. I’ve already seen some fun chase scenes as a Cheata charges in and scatters the pack. :)

The Cubes can also sense predators. When they do, they’ll fire a seed at it instead of the nearest catalyst. Very effective against the Leopard Amoeba. When they are close to dying of old age, they will fire at the Catalyst even if a predator is near.

Give it a go!

I’m too busy at my day job to put much time into Breeders this week.  I’ve been doodling around in zBrush, tho, working out some ideas for ‘alien’ plants. With the zSpheres rigging and awesome sculpting tools, zbrush is perfect for use with the Mega-Fiers morphing effects.

I’m working on getting some of these shapes to ‘unfurl’ as they grow. I’ve got the basic idea down – not too complicated, but fiddly and time consuming like most 3D work. I want to get a few animated plants ready before I start work on the next version of the sim.  That way I’ll can build the growth system into the new framework right from the start.

btw – I’ve updated and organized the MindMap. Broke it up into a few sections to make it easier to navigate and added some info about my current plans for the game.

A quick look at my first morphing mesh tests with Mega-Fiers. Amazing tool! It lets you morph between mesh shapes – and combine a dozen other ways to fold, spindle, and mutilate meshes in realtime. I should be able to use this to make growing plants and some stretchy critters. :)

I’ve zipped up the first release of the Unity 3D source files from my Breeders project. This is the first step in making it easy for you to create, arrange, and tinker with your own ecosystem. For now I would only recommend this for motivated tinkerers and the intensely curious. :)

If you’re familiar with Unity you can open the entire folder as a project and start poking around the scene. Soon I will be making a video that shows the basic steps needed, even if you’ve never used Unity 3D.

Eventually this will be more of a Breeders Kit that includes lots of scenes, critters, game objects, landscaping items, and maybe even simple scripts you could drag onto your own objects to create new critters.

Have fun, and please do share any cool additions, scenes, coding ideas, or situations that you create. 

Download the Breeders Sandbox Source files - (Release 1)