What Creatures/Aliens and other life forms would you like to see?

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    I don't think that breeding is a good idea (it takes hundreds of generations of controlled breeding to get any effect). However, the devs have said that they would like to see genetic modification. In that you could take genes from various aliens and build your awesome customized death pet that way.
    It only needs to take as many generations as Schema thinks is appropriate, tbh. It doesnt have to mimic real world evolution in that respect. But it should definitely take some work to get the results you want. Im pretty stoked to hear about the genetic modifications. I was actually going to put that in my post as well, but i figured that would be an even bigger long shot than what I already proposed.
     
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    Anyone knows if any of these creatures are planned to be a threat to ships?
    especialy big ships?
    Or perhaps its planned so that creatures are pretty much just insignificant filling for universe so its not so empty, or collectable resource like planets, that pose no threat??
    Can't promise on the exact details, and the first implementations may not be quite as much of a problem for a big ship, but my hope is to have Fauna that regularly surprise you and are more of a threat than you expect. If nothing else, one feature I hope for pretty early on is for leaving your doors open to be a bad idea. As always, no promises on time-frames, but I'd love it if curious Fauna, whether peaceful or extremely violent, would wander/jump onto ships that have openings. But, as everyone else said, you should try reading through some of the rest of the thread. :)

    Eventually I'd like them to at least be far more than insignificant filler if you're getting out of your ship. Like... "you might need bigger weapons" type of non-insignificant filler. Again, no promises on when that would come.

    Oh, and whether or not they're a threat to big ships by default, leave that to modders. I promise you modders will fill the galaxy with living nightmares that will tear your giant ships to shreds. (Well, if you're using their mods that is.) That ought to be fun. Man, I love modders. Though I'm a modder of many games myself, though perhaps that's no surprise.

    I would love if, in addition to randomly generated species, they could add a breeding feature similar to that of the forestry mod(and the add-on mods that go with it) in minecraft. Each species would have a list of traits(size, speed, reproduction rates, temperament, etc) that varied within the species. By breeding selected members of the species together, you can slowly alter the traits of the offspring to suite your needs. For example, you find a species of space cows on a different world. You start breeding them so they are bigger(therefore dropping more meat when killed), and so their reproduction cycles are much quicker. You'll corner the market on space beef in no time. Or you find a species of fire breathing beetles. You breed them up so they are faster, have more health, and are extremely aggressive. Drop your little pets off on an enemy planet and watch the carnage from afar.

    Im sure such a system would be far too difficult to implement, but a guy can dream. lol
    I'd say scalability is the biggest concern there. Keep in mind we'll have to keep track of the information of hundreds or thousands of individual organisms across dozens of planets... might be a bit much to manage, especially on servers. That being said, not sure what the future will hold. Selective breeding (genetic engineering the old fashioned way) would be an excellent way of doing things, especially since direct manipulation of genetic code might have unintended consequences... or at least that's what I'd like to see in the future. ;) So we'll see on that one. Might be possible, though.

    Though watch out if you're breeding extremely aggressive fire-breathing beetles. That may not end well for you if your containment measures are lackluster. Key point being the "extremely aggressive" part.

    I don't think that breeding is a good idea (it takes hundreds of generations of controlled breeding to get any effect).
    A very valid point.
     
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    Though watch out if you're breeding extremely aggressive fire-breathing beetles. That may not end well for you if your containment measures are lackluster. Key point being the "extremely aggressive" part.


    A very valid point.
    That's only the first phase of my plan. Once I get my ultra aggressive beetles, Ill combine their DNA with a giant bat, and a crocodile to make a species of space dragons. They'll burn planets to cinder at my command! mwahaha
     
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    Man, I love modders. Though I'm a modder of many games myself, though perhaps that's no surprise.
    Good to hear. I had tried modding Minecraft at one point, but found the whole thing a bit... esoteric, to say the least. Here's hoping that whatever mod API is produced for Starmade will have some decent documentation.

    I'd say scalability is the biggest concern there. Keep in mind we'll have to keep track of the information of hundreds or thousands of individual organisms across dozens of planets... might be a bit much to manage, especially on servers. That being said, not sure what the future will hold. Selective breeding (genetic engineering the old fashioned way) would be an excellent way of doing things, especially since direct manipulation of genetic code might have unintended consequences... or at least that's what I'd like to see in the future. ;) So we'll see on that one. Might be possible, though.
    Wouldn't you also be keeping track of each organism's species anyway? Though I guess that could be a bit different, as you could simply have them all point to a species definition...

    I like the sound of curious creatures hopping on ships. Could make things interesting, and would make moving them a lot simpler.
     
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    What if you could capture aliens and give them to advanced shops, where you would get some kind of reward (I don't think credits would work, because that would look like illegally trading them) which they would use them for "research" Now that I think of it, it would make more sense with plants. They really don't get much attention.

    Alternatively, You could grab a few, Keep them around, breed them, take a bunch of them and release them into a enemy station. They eat all the people, they walk into the sunset and the credits roll. Or somebody kills them all.
     
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    Perhaps captured/ killed creatures could be processed/ exchanged into organic materials used for something that could NOT be salvaged.
    I think we need something that cant be salvaged , becouse anything salvagable will be too common to encourage trading or real exploring.
    Creatures could be good source for that " currency"

    IT might be for creating organic ship components( unsalvagable)
     
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    Perhaps captured/ killed creatures could be processed/ exchanged into organic materials used for something that could NOT be salvaged.
    I think we need something that cant be salvaged , becouse anything salvagable will be too common to encourage trading or real exploring.
    Creatures could be good source for that " currency"

    IT might be for creating organic ship components( salvageable)
    For some reason, I want the organic ship components, when salvaged, to spit out Some kind of waste that only sells for a credit and damages your salvage cannon. I still want to have a pet alien just hanging out at my base.
     

    Ithirahad

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    For some reason, I want the organic ship components, when salvaged, to spit out Some kind of waste that only sells for a credit and damages your salvage cannon.
    I'd like to see special "Mysterious Materials" that can be used for pirate/other AI enemy faction blueprints that would do this. They would explode and hurt you if you salvaged them by hand, they would disappear if removed using build mode, and they would do damage to your salvage cannon and only turn up useless sulfur-smelling goo if salvaged.
     
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    Good to hear. I had tried modding Minecraft at one point, but found the whole thing a bit... esoteric, to say the least. Here's hoping that whatever mod API is produced for Starmade will have some decent documentation.


    Wouldn't you also be keeping track of each organism's species anyway? Though I guess that could be a bit different, as you could simply have them all point to a species definition...

    I like the sound of curious creatures hopping on ships. Could make things interesting, and would make moving them a lot simpler.
    Unfortunately, modding by nature can be a bit daunting. Though the most basic kind of modding - adjustment of values such as sector size, pirate aim values or max speed - is very easy and accessible. Block editing is also not too difficult, with perhaps the visual/graphic in the texture file being the hardest part if you're not used to the process of creating such things/Photoshop. Lots of fun to mod in your own letters based on hull blocks so you can stick them on your ships to give big, satisfying names without requiring a massive wall to write on. Gotta remember that the blueprint will only work properly locally, though, and replace these letter blocks with normal blocks if you intend to use the ship/blueprint anywhere else.

    As for the species, yes. That, however, is the very problem. If each of the Fauna had slight variation in nearly every aspect, they would essentially need their own species definition (or memory-heavy override) each. By grouping them together, large numbers can be managed without each added individual of the species having a large memory impact. (In a game where memory is already something in short supply for its needs.) This allows for much larger groups without nearly as many memory/performance issues, and I think nearly everyone can agree that a half-dozen unique instances of a species is not as fun as many dozen slightly more generic instances that create a larger and more nuanced species presence and behavior. (Not sure on the exact number you should expect, but I think you get the idea.)

    Also, my hope would be that the ones that would jump onto ships would be the exact ones you WOULDN'T want on your ship. Otherwise it'd be too easy or a very exploitable mechanic. Then again, best to go for whatever is the most fun and interesting. ;)

    What if you could capture aliens and give them to advanced shops, where you would get some kind of reward (I don't think credits would work, because that would look like illegally trading them) which they would use them for "research"
    Would make a great simple mission to be given by shops. Would be a little repetitive I imagine, but you need some missions to fill the basic repetitive category, not to mention a lot of things shops, trading hubs or colonies need ARE repetitive. Like shipping food, though that'd be more interesting done as a freeform system by which you buy low and sell high. Though, then again, receiving that in a mission might break up the monotony of self-driven trade or simply make the process more accessible. (Not as much profit to be made compared to being an incredibly savvy trader, though.)

    For some reason, I want the organic ship components, when salvaged, to spit out Some kind of waste that only sells for a credit and damages your salvage cannon.
    I'd like to see special "Mysterious Materials" that can be used for pirate/other AI enemy faction blueprints that would do this. They would explode and hurt you if you salvaged them by hand, they would disappear if removed using build mode, and they would do damage to your salvage cannon and only turn up useless sulfur-smelling goo if salvaged.
    Actually, that is an interesting idea. It'd be important for it to not be obnoxious, though. If the damage went directly to your salvage cannons somehow, it'd feel cheap or unfair on a ship focused on incredible defense. Perhaps better as a slightly dangerous thing when attempted to be salvaged on foot, or drain power/deal damage to shields.
     
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    Perhaps through trading fauna to shops, shops could then "domesticate" or otherwise find a use for the creatures, and sell them back to you. Such as a creature that can be bred and then harvested for blue paint or a valuable trade commodity. space-bug juice.

    I wouldn't mind having very little or no variation between individuals within a species. At least don't let it hog too much memory.

    You could, for instance, have the game forget the individual traits of any creatures players dont interact with and only save traits of creatures players interact with meaningfully. Like individuals which succeed in killing the player (so you can get revenge, of course!), or which the player captures and moves to a different location. Then the only information in permanent memory is the data about the species and ways in which individuals could vary from one-another, places the game has spawned that species/it's habitat and the size of the population. generating individuals with unique traits only temporarily unless they become notable.
     
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    Yeah, it was largely the more artistic side of things I struggled with. That and not knowing where to find information on what kinds of hooks were out there (didn't want to go changing base classes, after all).

    The discussion about unique traits between species got me thinking - what about creatures that live in a sort of "hive" structure with a few different variations suited to different tasks; i.e. you'd have workers, soldiers, a queen, etc. that worked together? It might be a bit of a challenge from a programming standpoint (though you can do all sorts of cool things with swarm AI's), but it would be cool, especially if they were space-faring sometimes...

    Which got me thinking, there was a science fiction story I read a while back that had this sentient fungus that would travel across space by hitching a ride on this alien tree. Essentially, the tree would produce a substance inside itself, similar to rocket fuel, and when ignited by something (like a lightning strike), it would fire off exactly like a rocket. It would be interesting if a few species had more organic means of space travel like this, though that might be a better suggestion for a flora update.
     
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    I'm especially interested in seeing how a modular NPC/creature system ties in to the rest of the game's features. Simply having them be there would be rather... Plain and shallow of a feature with such powerful potential to change the game.

    Minecraft, to name a rather obnoxious example, does a decent job of having mobs be a part of just about every feature in the game from the obvious like farming and exploring to things that might not initially seem mob focused; ocelots scaring creepers away from houses, using sheep wool as a building resource, or even breeding the perfect race horse.
    With Starmade being about as sandbox as a game can get and having a sci-fi theme, there's a massive design space for unique uses/features for mobs that just wouldn't fit within the capacities of other games of the genre, and I think we haven't really done them justice in exploring the possibilities.

    For starters, there's a rather lengthy list of 'token' uses for mobs that have already been cemented in the genre but haven't been given that special sci-fi touch that we could provide. Some of these have already been discussed, such as replacing the normal 'breeding' of creatures with genetic manipulation in order to slowly change the creature into something that fits your needs. Taming creatures and using them as a form of super-soldier has also been mentioned often and is a perfect example of how sci-fi can enrich even the long-standing traditions of mobs in sandbox games. Combined with genetic manipulation and a wide pool of modular parts/behaviors there's no limit to what happy fun killing machines can be created!
    Perhaps you're looking for a more industrious purpose to capturing and manipulating creatures. How can we make farming awesome in a futuristic theme? Perhaps an intrepid explorer could come across a rare creature with a certain valuable resource as a byproduct of it's metabolism; a perfect specimen to abduct and sell to the industry sector of a faction for a large sum. Maybe a skillful enough geneworker could modify a creature to cause it to slowly generate resources just by staying alive? I highly doubt that 'farming' creatures could outright replace mining/salvaging as a healthy form of material acquisition, but it sure as heck could help and it'd make a good long-term investment.

    Even with only these three basic features of manipulation, taming, and farming a lot of gameplay is created across the entirety of Starmade. Pirate could attempt to steal or kill off extremely valuable creatures setting back their opponents. One could use 'pet' guards on their planet to ensure any visitors that try to sneak in get a nasty surprise or even build dropships to spill their geneworker's spoils into an enemy base or station. Exploring a previously unseen planet could yield fascinating new combinations of parts and behaviors with unexpected results.

    I'm sure that the system's much discussed flexibility is able to do much more than that though. What about sentient creatures and alien civilizations? What about a master geneworker creating new sentient species with the benefits of both a creature's anatomy and a Dave's ability to hold conversations and follow orders?
    There's too many possibilities for me to type out myself, and I'd hate to see the system finalized at 'Here's a random creature, you can tame it!' when the setting given in Starmade opens up so many neat concepts that haven't been explored properly.
     
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    I'm especially interested in seeing how a modular NPC/creature system ties in to the rest of the game's features. Simply having them be there would be rather... Plain and shallow of a feature with such powerful potential to change the game.

    Minecraft, to name a rather obnoxious example, does a decent job of having mobs be a part of just about every feature in the game from the obvious like farming and exploring to things that might not initially seem mob focused; ocelots scaring creepers away from houses, using sheep wool as a building resource, or even breeding the perfect race horse.
    With Starmade being about as sandbox as a game can get and having a sci-fi theme, there's a massive design space for unique uses/features for mobs that just wouldn't fit within the capacities of other games of the genre, and I think we haven't really done them justice in exploring the possibilities.

    For starters, there's a rather lengthy list of 'token' uses for mobs that have already been cemented in the genre but haven't been given that special sci-fi touch that we could provide. Some of these have already been discussed, such as replacing the normal 'breeding' of creatures with genetic manipulation in order to slowly change the creature into something that fits your needs. Taming creatures and using them as a form of super-soldier has also been mentioned often and is a perfect example of how sci-fi can enrich even the long-standing traditions of mobs in sandbox games. Combined with genetic manipulation and a wide pool of modular parts/behaviors there's no limit to what happy fun killing machines can be created!
    Perhaps you're looking for a more industrious purpose to capturing and manipulating creatures. How can we make farming awesome in a futuristic theme? Perhaps an intrepid explorer could come across a rare creature with a certain valuable resource as a byproduct of it's metabolism; a perfect specimen to abduct and sell to the industry sector of a faction for a large sum. Maybe a skillful enough geneworker could modify a creature to cause it to slowly generate resources just by staying alive? I highly doubt that 'farming' creatures could outright replace mining/salvaging as a healthy form of material acquisition, but it sure as heck could help and it'd make a good long-term investment.

    Even with only these three basic features of manipulation, taming, and farming a lot of gameplay is created across the entirety of Starmade. Pirate could attempt to steal or kill off extremely valuable creatures setting back their opponents. One could use 'pet' guards on their planet to ensure any visitors that try to sneak in get a nasty surprise or even build dropships to spill their geneworker's spoils into an enemy base or station. Exploring a previously unseen planet could yield fascinating new combinations of parts and behaviors with unexpected results.

    I'm sure that the system's much discussed flexibility is able to do much more than that though. What about sentient creatures and alien civilizations? What about a master geneworker creating new sentient species with the benefits of both a creature's anatomy and a Dave's ability to hold conversations and follow orders?
    There's too many possibilities for me to type out myself, and I'd hate to see the system finalized at 'Here's a random creature, you can tame it!' when the setting given in Starmade opens up so many neat concepts that haven't been explored properly.
    Hmm. Very interesting points/ideas, actually. Weaving them into more of the game mechanics could be quite fun. Though there are some people who might want to avoid dealing with Fauna as much as possible. (To each their own.) I don't like forcing any aspect of gameplay on players rather than letting them decide what to do and experience.

    And I'm also very curious what the result of mixing Fauna and more advanced NPC behavior might bring... I don't think there's much of anything in the code to prevent it. They're not mutually exclusive. Should be very interesting indeed. ;)
     
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    For creature generation, it all depends on how difficult the code is.

    The simplest would be a having a fixed set of creatures with no variety. Adjusting the scale is relatively easy (small to large creatures). Having multiple textures (and randomly selected textures) is a little trickier as it involves paying a lot of attention to the seams (e.g. if a creature has a blue head and red body, what happens at the neck?).

    After that is "mesh tweaking". In this case you have "control points" that can be adjusted to change certain aspects of the mesh. For example, it wouldn't be too hard to to adjust the length of a creature's tail by defining the tip of the tail as a control point and using a few formulas to determine where nearby vertices are in relation to the tip of the tail.

    The next level of complexity is to have a set of body parts that are stitched together. This can be relatively easy (e.g. 5 different shaped heads that are interchangeable), but it can also be very complicated (e.g. random numbers of arms and/or legs and/or tentacles, with severe difficulty animating the creature) .

    The last level of complexity would be procedurally generated randomised meshes. It would be extremely difficult to generate the meshes, then extremely difficult to generate suitable textures, then extremely difficult to animate the creatures.

    What I'd do would be a mixture of the first 4 techniques (scaling, texture selection, body part stitching and mesh tweaking). Basically, get a random number and use some bits of that number to determine body type (e.g. beast, blob/mould, bug, fish, cephalopod, etc); then have different code for different body types that use the next bits of the random number to select attachments (head, arms, legs, tail, fins, wings, etc) and their textures; then use more bits of the random number to adjust any control points in the meshes; and finally the last bits of the random number determine the scale of the creature (huge to tiny).

    For example, the first few bits might select "bug"; then the next bits might select "head shape 2", "wing set 1", "leg set 3", then "tail type 2". For "head shape 2" you might have a control point that determines proboscis length and a choice of 3 textures; so the next bits determine the proboscis length and which texture to use for the head. For "wing set 1" you might have a control point for wing length and a choice of 2 textures, so the next bits determine those things; etc. Then the last bits might determine that the scale is 5. You might end up with a randomly selected 5 meter tall flying bug with orange fur, green wings, a scorpion-like tail and short legs.
     
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    I had an idea that may not be feasible, but pretty cool - what if there were three types of creatures?

    1) Standard, roughly player-sized beasts. They could be intelligent or dumb, predatory or vegetarian, flying, swimming, running, jumping - just about anything. Fire breath, acid poop, telekinesis, whatever. All the good stuff.

    2) Leviathans. Land or space based. Big enough to stand on, extremely tough, potentially dangerous. They aren't one entity - instead, they're made up of multiple blocks. You can damage them by destroying blocks, and certain blocks/areas would be especially vulnerable. They could be giant dragons with three hearts - destroy two and they die. Or massive sheep that you can shear over and over with a salvage beam. Their corpses are also salvageable.

    3) Bugs. Little creatures smaller than a block. Possibly just a change in the block texture - a single pixel scrambling around. They move in swarms and can't be killed with regular weapons. If you destroy the block they're on, or gas the place or something, they die. They could be dangerous or benign, and enough of them together could build hives, which spawn more. Or they could travel singly. Some might get into your computers and cause 'bugs' (getitgetitgetit), or maybe bite an NPC (or a player!) and start causing weird behavior.

    This could potentially be CPU-intensive, but how cool would it be to jump on a space-whale with your trained chlorine-spewing dino-dog, open it up and destroy an infestation of astro-bot-flies before resealing the space whale and herding it into your massive space whale pen.
     
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    We need a stun gun and a way to make some kind of "lab" or just give them to advanced shops. It would be cool to pick up a random thing and find it's sentient but it not looking like it is.

    I know I want Suarodinos on my station.
     
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    I would want to see some kind of 4 dimensional creatures that are able to interact with our 3 dimensional world.
    It would look so crazy :P
     
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    Omni I know you were considering this awhile back but I was wondering if this could get a sticky? because I think it's a great way to get everyone's input (Note:Maybe even move this to suggestions and have it a sticky there? You could also have a couple other sticky's for specific categories of ideas, just an idea ).
    It's perfectly fine by me if you have reasons not to I won't object. I just think this is great thread for suggestions and also a great way to get new people involved in the community and also a brilliant way to get people working together.

    (edit=some spelling fixes)
     
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    Omni I know you were considering this awhile back but I was wondering if this could get a sticky? because I think it's a great way to get everyone's input (Note:Maybe even move this to suggestions and have it a sticky there? You could also have a couple other sticky's for specific categories of ideas, just an idea ).
    It's perfectly fine by me if you have reasons not to I won't object. I just think this is great thread for suggestions and also a great way to get new people involved in the community and also a brilliant way to get people working together.

    (edit=some spelling fixes)
    Still uncertain if I should sticky it or not. Still on my mind, but haven't made any decision yet.
     
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    Clinging ability for some creatures- they can align themsevles to s hip and walk all over it (rotating to the blocks as needed.) This way I could create laser-crabs and drop them on a ship if it needs turrets, or make repair spiders or something.