i feel so special now
my first idea that gets acclaim before i even start it

i better live up to the hype and make it good or im dead( like john romero )

im stuck with one idea
im not sure on how to let the user knoe wat his little creature is doin

do it like this:
Status: Exploring
Gene Points: 100
Position: 100, 50

im not sure
thsi is the only way i can think of

u got any other ideas ppl
keep in mind text- only

Stupid me ! I remember reading your post in the Game Design Corner, but I didnt have time to reply.

About the 16mil combinations, I''ll give you an example :

Move genes :
S Water moving ability
B Earth moving ability
H Low energy cost moving ability
R Bursting moving ability (if attacked, run a small while with very high speed to escape attack)


Possible move chromosomes (is that spelled right?) :
S - food to reproduce : +1
B - +1
H - +1
R - +1
SB - +3
BHR - +7
.....
SHBR - +13
In this example there are a total of 2 to the power of 4 = 16 combinations.

If you have 6 choices per chromosome : 2^6 = 64.
Now multiply the combinations for each of the four chromosomes : 64 * 64 * 64 * 64 = 16mil.


Now, if you''re really evil, you could make the order of the genes in a chromosome matter. In the move example :
SR = 100% effective water moving and 90% effective burst moving.
RSH = 100% effective burst moving and 90% effective water moving and 80% effective low cost moving.

Now the total number of combinations would amount to (6! + 5! + 4! + 3! + 2! + 1!)^4 = 873^4 = 580.840.612.641 combinations

dude ure gettin ahead of ureself
wat i thought of is in a much simpler scale

there are 6 different move genes( 6 different levels)
each level has its advantages and its disadvantages
for example: Level 3 movement may make u fast but it will also take some hp, intelligence, or power away
get it?

in the later versions i might add some stuff u said but for now( remember im a newbie ) im keepin this simple( but still fun)

since this is kinda like a simulation i was wonderin if the user should have any control over the cell except to change it


i could add some user controlled battles if u think it would make it more fun

im pretty much done with my early design doc
it kinda sux so im adding some little things in
but it still sux

Why do you have to have just one cell ? Let it reproduce ! Each level would be like a lot of food and some creatures around. Before the game starts you know what the genetic makeup of the others microbes. So you design your cell to beat them. You win the level when your creatures have eaten all of the others creatures.


As for the text mode graphics, just put on the screen symbols like "*", "O", "o", "@" for each cell (the screen would be like a map). You''ll see what each creature is doing, how is your population doing, what genes they need to do better on this level (if they dont spread, put more move genes, if someone eats them, put some offensive or defensive genes, etc., etc..).


Doing it this way will also make it much easier to make it graphical later. A simple replacing gotoxy (x, y); printf ("*"); with drawing an image at x, y.

interestin
not quite how i envisioned it but i see where ure goin

it sounds interstin enough
ure makin it seem like a war game, i like it
i create my little army of cells and i fight them?

if u have icq i think it would better if we talked through that
my icq # is 88982706

I dont have ICQ, but I''ll try to get one. Oh well, theres always email, check my profile.

quote:

---

dude ure gettin ahead of ureself
wat i thought of is in a much simpler scale

there are 6 different move genes( 6 different levels)
each level has its advantages and its disadvantages
for example: Level 3 movement may make u fast but it will also take some hp, intelligence, or power away
get it?

---

Actually, I didnt go to far away from your ideea. Just thought that you could combine the move genes. Instead of only taking one gene, you can take two or more. Their effects would simply add up. This would have to cost though, to make sure the player doesnt simply add all the genes together to form a bigger better bacteria.


A for adding controled battles, I dont think it would be too good a choice. Too many games have it (Starcraft&clones). Its tough to code. And it kills simplicity. Changing the genes of your bacterias and watching them grow sounds good enough to me.

i just thought of something
there will be 2 more categories: Attack & Defense

they would include advanced attacks and defence skills
about the adding things up i dont knoe about that

i like alot of diversity
i want ppl to develop very different organsims

im making a new design doc
the last one had too many unneeded things

my email is bss400@aol.com
ill email u as soon as i can

I like your idea ... and I personally think getting the simulation reasonably settled before adding breeding would be better ... get 1 cell running around living (or dying) and being tracked before you bother with reproduction. That is of course the obvious next level though. As for the 1296 combination ... you are correct ... but I don''t think it will be enough later on ... 4 categories with 6 choices is just not complex enough in the long run ... remember that some of those choices will be immediately rulled out as boring or useless in a given context ... also ... people aren''t really wanting to just run the simulation 1000 times to see what effects you programmed .. .they''ll probably really enjoy seeing if they can''t pick good gene combinations ahead of time ... knowing just a little about the enviroment they''re going into .. and the behaviors they''ve seen before .... say I run the game 5-6 times to experiment ... THEN I start playing to actualy acomplish something .. like live longer ... advance levels .. whatever ...

Extra Idea ... you could make the goal every level to be something like "live long enough to reproduce ... and have the offspring live to adulthood" ... and then play the same goal in different settings .. OR .. you could just have the goal be stuff like "keep the population alive" and the enviroment just gradually changes over time ... partly on it''s own .. partly due to your actions (like eating all of a certain organizim and killing it off).

Oh well .. I think your idea''s really cool

so much feedback im dizzy with happiness

ure right 1296 combinations arent enough

im adding 2 more categories as i said in my last post
i hate bredding, its bad


each level will have this basic objective- "Live long and prosper"

before each level there would be a basic description of the major organism and its strength, weakness

im not sure if i should let the user be able to have more then one gene in each category

should i?