Back after a Long Time

Hey Everyone, after quite a while I've decided to check back in on Thrive and to hopefully get a little more involved in the project again.

On the bright side, since the last time I posted here. I've had some time to brush up on my C++ and OpenGL knowledge, with which I hope can help.

I also had some time to work on a prototype/concept Organism Editor and Menu Screen. But after checking the recent posts I doubt that they'll be of much assistance. They're also, unfortunately, written in Game Maker.

http://www.box.com/s/6sxfx7968dgj2hkya5au - Menu Prototype
http://www.box.com/s/digblr1y3mvlhl5rb5qj - Organism Editor Prototype

I'm also glad to see that this project has grown quite a bit and gained more popularity and progress.

Welcome back! It's a good thing you have sharpened your C++, Roadkill has done some progress in it already (Mercurial repository here). It's intended to build in Linux, but I've got the latest version compiled on Windows (in MSVC). If you want the solution, just send a PM.

Welcome back! And Merry Christmas Holidays*!


*Except for a random 1½ days of school next week... Seriously, who thought that up?

Welcome back! For an early prototype, that OE looks great! I love that it calculates mass, height, etc. in real time. Excellent touch.

Nice OE prototype! It makes me even more excited for when we have the full one! (Which won't be for a long time, ARGH! )

*Waves at GXA*

Ooooh, goodies for me to download!

By the way, biomes are done. I mean it this time. ETA tonight or this weekend.

How are jobs being organized around here lately? Is there some sort list of work to complete or do people get assigned to tasks?

And speaking of Programming, what Language/Engines/3dRenderer/Compiler/VariableNames are we using.

Also, I don't quite understand how Biomes work. And how are plants handled (i.e. In the same OE as other Organisms)?

Well, tags and... um, tags. See, we have a tag system. For animals it would be what they can eat, what kind of shelter they need etc.
Plants are going to be assigned by Elevation/Temperature/Latitude, Precipitation, and slope.

There's a full discussion around here somewhere, but scio's in the process of approving my biomes right now, and there's likely to be renewed discussion on implementation effective more or less immediately, so it might be worth your while to wait 24 hours and sort it out when we have final concept.

GamerXA wrote:

How are jobs being organized around here lately? Is there some sort list of work to complete or do people get assigned to tasks?

And speaking of Programming, what Language/Engines/3dRenderer/Compiler/VariableNames are we using.

Also, I don't quite understand how Biomes work. And how are plants handled (i.e. In the same OE as other Organisms)?

Plants are built in the same OE, but evolve using their own system, within auto-evo.
Plant evolution procedure.

The PH, Height-map and Moisture Map could also probably be used for Animals as well (possibly Frogs and Fish?).


Plants are essentially Animals that don't move. Sap would probably be controlled by the same system that the Circulatory System is controlled with (For Vascular Plants) and the Skin Tab could be modified to accommodate Cellulose. Spores, seeds and flowering could probably be incorporated into the same system as the Reproductive System of animals (I think there may be a type of fish that releases Sperm into the water).

It also may be possible to have a system where an Organism's Musculature could be modified in a Tab and somehow changed into Plant-like tissue.

I may just be over thinking this, but I'm just a little unsure of separating Plant evolution from Animals. Has there been a discussion about planets where plants didn't split off from Animals. Also, are Fungi treated similarly to Plants?


On a side note, has there been any discussion on Symbiosis?

Sorry for so many questions but I'm just a bit out of the loop regarding some of the bigger changes.

One Last thing though that has really been nagging at me is: Why do Organisms with larger Population mutate faster? In Nature it's the direct opposite.

About the Muscle modification, I probably should have explained that a bit better.

Since Plants on Earth don't have muscles, having muscles in the OE for a plant could create problems for the Animations and Behaviour if it starts using them when it technically doesn't have them. Especially since Bones have muscles procedurally generated and Wormacles are muscles surrounded by skin.

The Modification would turn them inert and into Wood/Plant-matter (I'm not a botanist).


And now that I think about it, how does the game determine a Plant from say, a Clam or some Coral.

GamerXA wrote:

About the Muscle modification, I probably should have explained that a bit better.

Since Plants on Earth don't have muscles, having muscles in the OE for a plant could create problems for the Animations and Behaviour if it starts using them when it technically doesn't have them. Especially since Bones have muscles procedurally generated and Wormacles are muscles surrounded by skin.

The Modification would turn them inert and into Wood/Plant-matter (I'm not a botanist).


And now that I think about it, how does the game determine a Plant from say, a Clam or some Coral.

Clams are animals and can move around. the structures of coral are made from the CaCl₂ bodies of tiny animals, and thus can be treated in essentially the same way as rocks, since they grow so slowly.

OK, those were bad examples.

But still, Assuming there is nothing in the OE that would only be specific to plants. And what would the case be if an Organism was created that had fixed point to the ground throughout it's life.

But what is different between the way plants and animals are handled.

GamerXA wrote:

OK, those were bad examples.

But still, Assuming there is nothing in the OE that would only be specific to plants. And what would the case be if an Organism was created that had fixed point to the ground throughout it's life.

But what is different between the way plants and animals are handled.

Ok, we can define a plant as:

Autotrophic (either completely or almost completely)
sessile

Anything that fulfills both of those categories is part of the plant system.

~sciocont wrote:

Welcome back! For an early prototype, that OE looks great! I love that it calculates mass, height, etc. in real time. Excellent touch.

QFT