Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
also do damage to the other god's worshippers, while repairing the damage that the
rival god does to the player's people. This damage usually takes the form of harm-
ing his opponent's population by bringing down natural disasters upon them:
spectacular events such as floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, lightning strikes, torna-
does, plagues, rivers of blood, and so on. Because it's more fun to watch natural
disasters than it is to watch crops growing bountifully, god games tend to offer
more destructive powers the player can use on his enemies than they do construc-
tive ones that benefit his own people. The mana cost of these events rises rapidly in
proportion to their destructiveness. In fact, a god game is almost a destruction and
management simulation.
To design a god game, begin, as always, w ith the question, W hat is the player going
to do?—in this case, as a god. What kinds of powers would you like her to have?
And what will differentiate your god game from those that have gone before? Also
ask a lot of questions about the culture of the simulated people. What do they do?
How do they spend their time? What circumstances are needed for their popula-
tion to grow? How do they react when their world is damaged by a hostile god? A
god game needs a lot of interesting animations for the people; it is an artificial life
game, after all. Some of the entertainment value of a god game comes (perhaps a
little cruelly) from watching the people run around and scream in terror as they
respond to the player's wreaking destruction upon them.
Genetic A-Life Games
Some A-life games involve managing a population of creatures over time. Rather
than concentrating so much on individuals, the player tries to achieve certain goals
with the population as a whole. By far the most successful of these is the Creatures
series from Creature Labs, in which the player manages a small group of beings
called Norns, creatures who can learn things through repetition. Norns also have
distinct genetic characteristics that are reflected in their appearance and behavior.
Unlike the people in The Sims , Norns have a limited life span, so the game focuses
on breeding generation after generation of Norns and exploring and manipulating
their world indirectly through them.
DESIGNING A GENOME
To create a game in which you crossbreed creat ures and get new, unique indiv idu-
als, you need to devise a genome : a set of descriptors (genes) that define all the
important characteristics of the creature. These characteristics should include
everything about the creature that can vary from individual to individual: shape,
size, coloration, and so on. You can leave out details common to all creatures. For
instance, if all your creatures will have two eyes and that will never change, there's
no need to store a gene called “number of eyes.”
When two individuals reproduce, they mix their genes, and you will need to define
how this mixing takes place. It's a common mistake to think that you
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