Idea for the Test Mode

Okay, so we are going to have a test mode, right? To test our organisms' survival abilities? Well, if I am correct, I have an idea: put down a hidden panel on the side of your screen while Test Mode that allows you to change the setting. This is not what Spore did- this will actually change the way your creature behaves and show how good they are at survival in a certain type of area.


Here is an exaple of what the panel would look like:




AREAS

Savanna [ ]

Desert [ ]

Wasteland [ ]

Ocean [ ]

Cave/ Subterranian [ ]

Ocean Cave [ ]

Deep Ocean [ ]

Pond [ ]

Marsh [ ]

Jungle [ ]

Forest [ ]

Tundra [ ]

Urban/Intelligent Populated Area [ ]

Light Combat [ ] (Places you in an area with slightly agressive organisms.)

Heavy Combat [ ] (Places you in an area with extremely aggressive organisms.)


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Alright, I think you get the point. Every one of those would take you to a different environment, each with different preset organisms in them to interact with. For the combat options, you could check either of the Combats and also select a setting at the same time to fight in the selected area.


All of these options would be available to you during creating a tech- like a vehicle. Choosing combat during tech would pit you against other techs.

Also, while creating a tech during gameplay, you would be able to test it against other techs from your own planet, to give you a good idea of just how powerful it is.

By the way, the [ ]s are check boxes.

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US_of_Alaska wrote:

Also, you should be able to change the gravity and atmospheric conditions by either manually changing them or selecting an explored planet and having the settings loaded.

As with what Alaska says here, you would definately be able to set the properties like gravity. I would like to add, however, that it should automatically match the conditions of whichever planet you are playing on when the editor is launched.

It would also automatically use the average global temperature for the planet you are playing on, but it would vary based on the environment you are in. (Exmple: in a desert, you would experience the very highest reaches that would make sense of the planet's average temperature.) (Example's example: Planet average is 70 degrees. In a desert it would be 90-100 degrees.)

Behavioural modifications.., such as shivering if the organism is in a cold environment, if it cools down enough. Speaking of environment, we should bring up a discussion about rust.

This would be a good modification to the Test Mode.

GamerXA wrote:

Behavioural modifications.., such as shivering if the organism is in a cold environment, if it cools down enough.

Yeah, that's about right.




Rust... well, it should just be a texture that slowly forms over metallic surfaces after some time. It would probably also change the properties of the object to make it weaker, too.

Also, you should be able to change the gravity and atmospheric conditions by either manually changing them or selecting an explored planet and having the settings loaded.

I really love this idea, especially the combat part. Heep moving forward on this. I think it will be good for official test mode.

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Also, you should be able to change the gravity and atmospheric conditions by either manually changing them or selecting an explored planet and having the settings loaded.

Good idea. I'll add it to the OP.




EDIT: So sorry for the wait. I got a Trojan uber death virus right here in the forums earlier, and I had to take care of things before they got out of control (they got out of control anyway).

Would the flora in these arenas be from the planet that your organism inhabits?

Grimlock wrote:

Would the flora in these arenas be from the planet that your organism inhabits?

Unless you select another planet, yes.


Those areas of testing should be existing places on planet. User can select how big should the area be.

Some features should not be available in easier difficulties, such as testing in areas your race has not yet found a reliable way to get in and back (polar and deserts mainly), no combat with things you cannot get (enemy techs, ...) also no free changing of gravity and atmosphere (unless you have a specialised labs for that).

Commander Keen wrote:

Grimlock wrote:

Would the flora in these arenas be from the planet that your organism inhabits?

Unless you select another planet, yes.


Those areas of testing should be existing places on planet. User can select how big should the area be.

Some features should not be available in easier difficulties, such as testing in areas your race has not yet found a reliable way to get in and back (polar and deserts mainly), no combat with things you cannot get (enemy techs, ...) also no free changing of gravity and atmosphere (unless you have a specialised labs for that).

Well, what you would be in this Test Mode is it would have pre-set, pre-made places. I think this would be easier on our computers. Also, testing combat against enemy techs would be crucial if you were at war with someone- you would know if your latest invention would stand a chance in battle.

Whoops, I said it wrong. I meant the stuff should not be available o HARDER difficulties, not EASIER.

Still, premade places would actually be worse than places on planet. Preset places have to be stored on harddisk, making the game larger, and also involve a lot of loading. Selecting existing places makes better use of already created resources.

Also, when someone designs a combat tech, they only have rough knowledge how good it is until they test it in battle. Allowing players to create the ultimate tech utilising all weaknesses enemy techs have is unfair, and takes all challenge from this aspect of game.

Commander Keen wrote:

Whoops, I said it wrong. I meant the stuff should not be available o HARDER difficulties, not EASIER.

Still, premade places would actually be worse than places on planet. Preset places have to be stored on harddisk, making the game larger, and also involve a lot of loading. Selecting existing places makes better use of already created resources.

Also, when someone designs a combat tech, they only have rough knowledge how good it is until they test it in battle. Allowing players to create the ultimate tech utilising all weaknesses enemy techs have is unfair, and takes all challenge from this aspect of game.

But if the player captures an enemy tech object and studies it, then they could place it in the test mode on aggressive organisms.

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Commander Keen wrote:

Whoops, I said it wrong. I meant the stuff should not be available o HARDER difficulties, not EASIER.

Still, premade places would actually be worse than places on planet. Preset places have to be stored on harddisk, making the game larger, and also involve a lot of loading. Selecting existing places makes better use of already created resources.

Also, when someone designs a combat tech, they only have rough knowledge how good it is until they test it in battle. Allowing players to create the ultimate tech utilising all weaknesses enemy techs have is unfair, and takes all challenge from this aspect of game.

But if the player captures an enemy tech object and studies it, then they could place it in the test mode on aggressive organisms.

Yes, you can do that, but you still need pilots, otherwise it's only a target where you test your firepower.

Commander Keen wrote:

Yes, you can do that, but you still need pilots, otherwise it's only a target where you test your firepower.

So are you saying that if you kill someone in the Tech Editor Test Mode, someone somewhere in your empire should die?

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Commander Keen wrote:

Yes, you can do that, but you still need pilots, otherwise it's only a target where you test your firepower.

So are you saying that if you kill someone in the Tech Editor Test Mode, someone somewhere in your empire should die?

Nope, I said you can only use enemy tech as a target, unless you want to sacrifice your own people, but it's an interesting idea. Having criminals as practice targets would surely lower criminality in your empire.

Commander Keen wrote:

Nope, I said you can only use enemy tech as a target, unless you want to sacrifice your own people, but it's an interesting idea. Having criminals as practice targets would surely lower criminality in your empire.

I think we will have to explore this idea further...

Hows abouts, we have the option to select people that occupy a certain tech object. That way we could place people from prisons, people from POW camps, people from government-funded housing, the possibilities are endless!

US_of_Alaska wrote:

Commander Keen wrote:

Nope, I said you can only use enemy tech as a target, unless you want to sacrifice your own people, but it's an interesting idea. Having criminals as practice targets would surely lower criminality in your empire.

I think we will have to explore this idea further...

Hows abouts, we have the option to select people that occupy a certain tech object. That way we could place people from prisons, people from POW camps, people from government-funded housing, the possibilities are endless!

I agree. In a dictatorial country, you could draft innocent civilians to die for testing new technologies.



Also, what about Test Mode for when you are making things with the editor in the main menu?

Good idea, Alaska.

InvaderZim wrote:

I agree. In a dictatorial country, you could draft innocent civilians to die for testing new technologies.

Just don't forget that they would require extensive training if they would have to operate the technology, and dying after that would be quite a waste of resources.

InvaderZim wrote:

Also, what about Test Mode for when you are making things with the editor in the main menu?

Randomly generated terrain, and randomly picked organisms and techs, that are similarly powerful as your test subject.

You should probably be able to spawn organisms and tech in a test drive environment on demand.