Omni , you promised me a Friendly Space Whale / Space Leviathan in the first dev stream (and by promise, you said you were warming to the idea). Amirite?
Anyway, that's what I want. Aside from the "procedurally generated" creatures I want larger, more specific creatures that roam space slowly and freely and maybe drop some unique or rare blocks and resources. Or maybe they can still be generated in the way you have set out, but from a smaller selection pool of traits - and are always huge.
The traits on my list for "Space Leviathan" (which I will use as a colloquial term for giant, more specific deep space dwellers):
- Sizes: Large - Gigantic (Corvette sized - Cruiser sized?)
- Body shapes: Shark-like, whale-like, squid-like, serpent-like
- Articulated skeletons for turning and movement
- Pods, that may include baby sized Space Leviathan and Bull Leviathan; numbers depending on average size
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As an aside to the Space Leviathan, there needs to be a food source. Of course there would be carnivorous, maybe even Geophagous (rock and non-organic material eaters) leviathan, but omnivores and herbivores as well. The main problem is that there is no way for herbivorous leviathan to feed, as there is no foliage in deep space. The solution would be to create "deep space flora", perhaps a plant that grows on asteroids and resembles a root system of sorts. There would be different variations for each type of rock or earth block, all coming from the same seed block. The seed block would create a new "trunk" or "foliage" block every
x amount of time. The trunk or foliage block type would depend on the asteroid of planet source block (different trunk and foliage blocks for different environments). The placement of new block would be determined by the distance from the source seed, the proximity to other seeds, and the type of earth it was placed on.
For a few examples: you have a lone asteroid out in space. On that asteroid is a single seed block surrounded by 5 "Purple Rock Stuff". The seed would grow a trunk block up, grow trunk blocks around that trunk block to form a core, and then grow long thin trunk blocks out from that core which hug the asteroid closely. Along those thin trunk blocks sporadic foliage blocks would form.
In another example, you have a green planet. There are numerous seeds close to eachother, all of them placed on top of a single "grass patch" block. The seeds would grow a trunk blocks straight up for a few blocks, realizing there are lots of other seed block nearby. When they are 3-5 blocks high, they sprout lots of foliage out far - thereby creating a kind of forest. In stark contrast to this is the same planet with only a single seed block. The seed block would grow up very high, sprouting lots of trunk blocks out to create branches.
The ones you find in space growing on asteroids, the foliage of those could be consumed by herbivore Space Leviathan. I've probably thought about this waaay too much, but I reckon it would create a very lively universe when tied in with the planned creature system. It would add further variation to planets and asteroids, making each one feel unique. Imagine: procedurally generated planets with procedurally generated flora, home to unique fauna.
