Well, this is my first entry. It's been tiring, but really interesting.
Basically, what we have here is a sandbox where we can see a population of creatures hang around, feed and, at fixed intervals, mate (or generate mutant clones of doom, if they're asexual). Creatures can generate the energy they need, or they may get it from eating nutrients or other creatures.
My idea was to make a "god game" where you could use some powers to get a population satisfying a set of conditions (for example..get 3 blue carnivores) after a given number of generations. Powers would be things such as...exterminate an individual, increase the life degradation rate temporarily, create/remove natural nutrients (the small, still dots). Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to achieve that and lots of things that I thought about, but I guess this is OK for a couple of days (shared between programming and gaming ^^).
More details on the readme file included in the *.zip. Source code is also there.
Third-person libraries used: SDL, OpenGL, Boost. The font used is Arial.ttf.
Good luck everyone, and I hope you enjoy the compo :)
(Edited to update the dl link to a functional release executable)
Thank you all for telling!. I've been getting completely different execution results (from framerate differences to varying kinds of crashes) from one machine to the other. I'll see what I can do.
Note to self: Next time, don't rely on C++ projects if you can't test it on a large enough set of machines beforehand >_<!
Hmm...some of the crashes might be due to the lack of Visual C++ redistributable packages for x86 systems (I'm afraid the packages for both 2005 and 2008 are necessary, I remember having some trouble before).
I think you distributed your Debug build instead of your Release build. I saw this with another entry and it created the same error in the Windows event log (missing Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT). If u can upload Release build I reckon it will work with VC++ 2008 redist!
Apparently, the Release one crashed upon entering the game if you ran the executable directly (which leads me to the typical, obscure uninitialized variables mystery), but it seems fine now.
I'm afraid that, since I wanted the simulation core first and foremost, I disregarded gameplay and user interaction until the very end (not to mention graphics).
The buttons there don't do much more than alter some of the world conditions: reset the food, which might make sense if you've got a set of starving herbivores (the delta wing-shaped creatures) or omnivores, slow the movement (and, since it applies to all creatures uniformly, it might as well do nothing), or double the reproduction rate and the population size (useful to add variability). And of course, there is the amazingly well drawn explosion button, which resets the state of the game.
In its current state the game is 95% simulation (and it can still be improved) and 5% gameplay ("oh, hey, I can make food drop from the skies!...my herbivores might survive like 2s longer!"). My initial goal was to have "level conditions" on the population, and a larger, more meaningful array of "powers".
But all things considered, I'm still somewhat happy with my little blob of moving dots XD
Nice idea, but I honestly was never sure of what was going on. It feels like you're mostly an observer. There are few interactions possible and it's not immediately obvious what they do or even if they do it (ie. no appreciable feedback).
Another thing is that at evolving time, some creatures would disappear. I don't understand why. Is that intentional?
Comments24
Note to self: Next time, don't rely on C++ projects if you can't test it on a large enough set of machines beforehand >_<!
They're available on Microsoft's web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29 (that's the link for VC++ 2008...the package for the 2005 release can be found there in a link, too)
Apparently, the Release one crashed upon entering the game if you ran the executable directly (which leads me to the typical, obscure uninitialized variables mystery), but it seems fine now.
This version corresponds to the Release build -sources are included as well, just in case:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8967322/evolution_baby_release_exe.zip
Amazing simulation environment, for sure Spore was started with a prototype like this one. I would love to see it evolving into a complex game.
Well done! :)
I'm afraid that, since I wanted the simulation core first and foremost, I disregarded gameplay and user interaction until the very end (not to mention graphics).
The buttons there don't do much more than alter some of the world conditions: reset the food, which might make sense if you've got a set of starving herbivores (the delta wing-shaped creatures) or omnivores, slow the movement (and, since it applies to all creatures uniformly, it might as well do nothing), or double the reproduction rate and the population size (useful to add variability). And of course, there is the amazingly well drawn explosion button, which resets the state of the game.
In its current state the game is 95% simulation (and it can still be improved) and 5% gameplay ("oh, hey, I can make food drop from the skies!...my herbivores might survive like 2s longer!"). My initial goal was to have "level conditions" on the population, and a larger, more meaningful array of "powers".
But all things considered, I'm still somewhat happy with my little blob of moving dots XD
As for the game, I think it could do with a Sim-City style "speed up time", as it was difficult to see what effect my actions had!
Still, this game is evolution to the core! Theme win!! :)
Another thing is that at evolving time, some creatures would disappear. I don't understand why. Is that intentional?
>:C
This game isn't worth playing.
Source is REQUIRED!!!
Plus It doesn't even work!