Microbe Stage Concept Animation

A few weeks ago, I mentioned here (seventh post down) that I would soon dedicate some time to creating an animated concept video of the entire microbe stage. I'll quickly point out that I haven't yet created any part of it (sorry for those of you who expected to see something interesting with a thread title like this), but my work load is now decreasing and I may be able to start by the end of the week. I have therefore created this thread now to collate everything I'll need together and explain the purpose and intended outcome.

The intended outcome

Hopefully, within a month, I should have an animation similar to this one, but rather than demonstrating the concept for only the microbe editor, it'll show the entire microbe stage - editor, gameplay, evolution, etc. It will, of course, be an animation, but in a sense it will be an incredibly slow simulation. Before making each frame, I'll perform actions myself which the code would do in the final game, such as increasing or decreasing stored ATP depending on the situation, adding mutation points or decreasing the efficiency of organelles. I'm not entirely sure how long the animation will run for, but even if it's two or three minutes long it will give a good insight into how the microbe stage will work. The animation will also flag up any balance or concept issues.

What I'll need

1. Thriving Cheese (I know he's said he'll be away until Friday) will need to help me quite a lot, mostly by making cell models in Blender. Each time I enter and exit the editor in the animation, I'll have a new cell, so that will need a 3D cell model. At the moment I'm unsure of whether I'll evolve the AI (or, in this case, HIPTBAI - Human Intelligence Pretending To Be Artificial Intelligence :) ) cells as this may prove an enormous challenge for an animation, especially one made by someone who has only vague programming and logic knowledge. Therefore, from Thriving Cheese I need top-down view images of the microbe models, organelles and other assets made so far, preferably with a transparent background, and the same for each iteration of the cell I'm evolving. I'll send you the hex-grid shape, organelle placement and colour specification each time.

2. The current GUI should cover most of the game, although if I find I need more somewhere, I'll ask either ~sciocont or Aiosian_Doctor_Xenox to make a GUI concept for me. Don't worry about sending me all the chopped-up buttons as I can easily do that myself.

3. Since I've only composed two microbe editor themes and one microbe theme which I'm thinking of using as a microbe editor theme instead, I'll need more music. Doggit, can you send me the audio files of your microbe themes on Skype so I can use them in the animation?

4. I do read everything that's posted on the more technical threads such as population dynamics and agent discussions, although the percentage of it I completely understand is debatable. I'll therefore need those who have been discussing these topics (mainly ~sciocont, Seregon, Nimbal, untrustedlife, NickTheNick and Daniferrito) to help me with 'programming' the animation. As I said earlier, I'm unsure about whether I should evolve the AI cells. I'm thinking that, since in the first few versions of the released game they won't evolve anyway, I won't simulate/animate this to save time.

5. I'll need all other art assets, such as backgrounds and icons, as well. If anyone has a background for the microbe stage or any other relevant game art, can they send it to me?

Why I'm making this

When I made the animation concept for the microbe editor, I was only doing it to pass the time which would have been wasted if I hadn't. However, after I posted it, I saw a surge in activity and discussion about the microbe editor. Coincidence? I think not! (I suppose ~scio explicitly stated in his post about the editor GUI that it had been inspired by my animation, so it's not that much of a surprise). By making this animation and actually testing the concept, which up until now has only existed as prototypes for single aspects and discussions, it may incite some more progress. The programmers will have an easier time because they'll know exactly what they're aiming for, the artists will have an easier time because they'll know what sort of art works and what doesn't, and the musicians (including myself) will know which themes work for the microbe stage. With a solid concept to aim for, which collates everything discussed so far (except probably NPC evolution :( ), everyone will know where the target is. Balance and gameplay issues will be highlighted even without gameplay, giving everyone a look at what they need to work around. Thus, the microbe stage will have taken a giant leap towards completion, and we may even finish a working game before the end of the year.

Also, with the British summer holidays (or vacation, as they say in the US) coming up soon, other than time spend editing the book I've written, I'll be bored. AND I GET ANNOYED WHEN I'M BORED. :) 

In conclusion, expect an animation of the microbe stage (with or without NPC Auto-Evo) by around the middle of August. Or it could come earlier - I expected the editor animation to take a week, but I ended up spending less than a day on it. I'll probably start next weekend.

Wish me luck.

EDIT: For anyone who hasn't read the latest posts in this topic, here's the final animation:

Great idea, Oliveriver such animation would certainly provide a good feel of the microbe stage concept so far. I myself find it hard to imagine such a primitive world.
Good luck

Sounds like a great idea.
Also, something that's been on my mind- I want to push our art style more towards realism. I really appreciate all of the work our modelers and artists have been doing, but at the same time I think the fidelity of our models can be pushed further. I don't want to have a cartoon style, and I think having a realistic visual style will attract more people.

Amazing to hear Oliveriver! I am excited to see what work you get done on this animation, and I'll be glad to have it boost activity towards work on the stage. I'm also surprise that the holidays in Britain begin so late.

~sciocont wrote:

Also, something that's been on my mind- I want to push our art style more towards realism. I really appreciate all of the work our modelers and artists have been doing, but at the same time I think the fidelity of our models can be pushed further. I don't want to have a cartoon style, and I think having a realistic visual style will attract more people.

I completely agree, and actually posted something on that a week ago, but was drowned out by a wave of further posts. I think that your image here

Spoiler:

really encapsulates a good art style for the Microbe Stage. As in the textures used for the cell, the nucleus, and the flagellum. If you have any better examples that would be great too.

~sciocont wrote:

Sounds like a great idea.
Also, something that's been on my mind- I want to push our art style more towards realism. I really appreciate all of the work our modelers and artists have been doing, but at the same time I think the fidelity of our models can be pushed further. I don't want to have a cartoon style, and I think having a realistic visual style will attract more people.

QFT

Also, there are a couple of things I've been wondering about the way the microbe stage will play. Under the behaviour tab of the editor, there will of course be the option to use, change and upgrade agents. This alone would work for your cell, but what about AI cells? Once we have a working cell editor, we'll need to create a bunch of (probably basic, as they'll have to evolve) cells.

What about including an aggression modifier? It would be something along the lines of: aggression = modifier * number of defensive/offensive parts. This is a very basic example, and just using the number of attacking parts would probably be a bad way of doing it, but it shows my idea. Basically, there would be some number calculated from the amount of structures and agents your cell uses to attack others, and this would be multiplied by a number x to give the cell its aggression (i.e, its likelihood to attack others). The number x can be changed manually when you're editing your own cells, but each increase or decrease would cost MP. Of course, you'll not be under the control of your own aggression modifier, but the AI cells of your species will. For other cell species, the modifier would change randomly but within a certain constraint, so you won't see a cell which was timid in the previous generation suddenly become a raging apex predator.

With this system, if you only have a couple of attacking parts but still set your modifier very high, you'll still have a lower AM than one with a lot of attacking parts but an average modifier. Balance is, of course, an issue - we don't want something to suddenly get 10 times more aggressive when it upgrades its attacking agent by 20%.

That was just an idea I had, but if everyone else thinks it wouldn't work I won't add it to the concept video.

For the purposes of a concept animation, I wouldn't worry at all about AI or anything else that's not immediately visible. Just animate the NPC microbes in a way you would like to see in the game. Then we can worry about how to make it happen.

Oliveriver, are there any assets you need that would help you in your animation? Any help you need in obtaining or coordinating anything?

NickTheNick wrote:

Oliveriver, are there any assets you need that would help you in your animation? Any help you need in obtaining or coordinating anything?

I mentioned some things I may need from people in the first post, although I've probably missed something. From you in particular I'd just like some summaries of the more technical aspects (how agents will work, what functions have been decided for the editor, etc.), although ~sciocont, Nimbal, Daniferrito, Seregon and others may be able to help with that.

EDIT: By the way, does anyone have an opinion on the aggression modifier mechanic I suggested in an earlier post?

I dont think the AI should work that way, so my opinion would be against it. Anyway, as Nimbal said, dont worry about how things work behind the scenes. For the animation purpouses, just make all cells inteligent (they dont just suicide because a RNG told them to, they dont get stuck somewhere) even though some early iterations of the AI will definetly do it.

Here's a file with all the current backgrounds for the microbe stage/phase. (BTW, I'm back now...)

Welcome back, Cheese, and thanks!

EDIT: I have now started creating the animation - so far it's not that impressive, just a loading screen. I've also managed to chop up Cheese and Xenox's GUI concept and fiddle around with it slightly.

Spoiler:

In the bottom right you'll see I've changed the Mutation Points and Reproductase to icons instead of letters. Here's a close-up image.

Spoiler:

The top one is, of course, a double helix strand of DNA to represent Mutation Points. The bottom one is supposed to look like a cell dividing and represents Reproductase.

Interestingly, after I divided the ATP gauge into ten sections, I discovered something quite interesting. So far I haven't bothered changing the amount of ATP as I'm still setting up the environment, so I just copied the proportion of ATP that Cheese and Xenox had used. When I looked at it in relation to the intervals of ten . . . well, you can see how much ATP there is for yourself.

Also, I saw there were bacteria on the GUI concept image. What exactly do they do?

Sorry for the spam but whats that above the ATP-meter? If its minimap is it really necessary?

I really like how you replaced the ATP and Reproductcase with symbols. Makes the interface look much less bland.

Also, as tritium said, what is that thing that looks like a minimap?

Excellent icons Oliveriver! It makes the GUI look really nice.

@Tritium and Tarpy
That was one of Xenox and Cheese's ideas. It will contain a picture of your cell which you can click to highlight your cell in the environment. This will help if you've just loaded a game and can't remember which member of your species you are.

EDIT: . . . as this image demonstrates:

Spoiler:

This looks excellent. That GUI is sleek as Belgium.

Those cells look fantastic and conform much better with ~scio's recent guidelines. This is looking great, Oliver!

Inca wrote:

This looks excellent. That GUI is sleek as Belgium.

You can thank Aiosian_Doctor_Xenox and Thriving Cheese for the GUI design. I just fiddled with it slightly.

@WJacobC
Thanks!

Also, I still need to know what the bacteria (the blue shapes you can see in the image) actually do. At the moment I'm not really sure.

Oliveriver wrote:

Inca wrote:

This looks excellent. That GUI is sleek as Belgium.

You can thank Aiosian_Doctor_Xenox and Thriving Cheese for the GUI design. I just fiddled with it slightly.

@WJacobC
Thanks!

Also, I still need to know what the bacteria (the blue shapes you can see in the image) actually do. At the moment I'm not really sure.

From my knowledges of bacteria, atleast the kind of bacteria I know a little about; They kinda get themshelves into microbes, and then they spread out their genome into their victims, and thus kinda reproduces themshelves (their kinda like parasites). Altough this blue bacteria might maybe be acting in some other weird way, maybe...

Oliveriver wrote:

Inca wrote:

This looks excellent. That GUI is sleek as Belgium.

You can thank Aiosian_Doctor_Xenox and Thriving Cheese for the GUI design. I just fiddled with it slightly.

@WJacobC
Thanks!

Also, I still need to know what the bacteria (the blue shapes you can see in the image) actually do. At the moment I'm not really sure.

 The little blue ones are the free-living bacteria that can be assimilated into mitochondria. Most bacteria in the game will be in the form of biofilms, just a carpet of tiny calls that spreads over the surface like a mold.

Oliver, did you create the organelle and cell models in that screenshot?

NickTheNick wrote:

Oliver, did you create the organelle and cell models in that screenshot?

I made a new type of simple cell with the hex system then asked Thriving Cheese to make it 3D, and the others I chopped up from images (the large cell from ~scio's editor concept and the bacteria made by Cheese). The nucleus (the only organelle in the image) was made by creating a circle, filling it with a fractal cloud/plasma bitmap and then asking Cheese to make it 3D as well.

I'm really excited to see this animation, I'm glad to know that there is concrete progress on this game.

Planning the game is concrete, it just hasn't solidified yet. Planning is the foundation, coding and animating are what we use to build on top of it. Without good planning, then everything else will come tumbling down.

Glad to see that we know what we're doing! Great!