quote: Original post by Chokki
thanks for the support, but for all of you illterates out there it is spelled C-H-O-K-K-I . Just a personal pet peve of mine, is all.

This being the _writing_ forum, we have an amazing lack of illiterates here, especially for an internet community. So, don''t be rude. (This is the moderator speaking here.)

Anyway, lessee, do I have anything to say about evolution... Well, as I mentioned I already put together one evolution-based game design. The gimmick of this design is ''genetic vampire shapeshifters'' which sounds like a horrible mix of cliches but actually isn''t. The idea is that there''s this race that has the ability to extract the DNA from whatever they eat, or from a drinking blood if they want to avoid killing the original source. They can then use the DNA to modify their own body to mimic parts of the animal the blood came from. Of course, it takes brains and skill to genetically engineer yourself - a few of them can''t do it at all, and the player must solve a puzzle to be able to use each piece of DNA. So, this is fine for adults of that race, but the problem is that their children are born without any shapeshifting options and have to survive long enough to learn how to shift, gather up some DNA, and learn to use it well enough that they can take their place in adult society. ''Using it well enough'' means both being able to shapeshift yourself into a powerful fighter with body armor and teeth/claws/horns, it also means being able to shift yourself into a beauty who can persuade NPCs to do things for them. That''s the basic concept for Gimmie Those Wings!

You, however, want to use robots. Well, I don''t generally like robots, so I don''t have a whole lot to say about how they might evolve. I think it would be interesting to start out as one of these robots being like a lab mouse with scientists making you run mazes and things, and you would have to figure out how to evolve yourself so you could escape and do something more interesting. (So this would be like the training lefel of your game.) And then, just when you thought you had escaped, they stuff you in a rocket and send you to Mars (or wherever you wanted your main game to take place.

Honestly, I think it would be more fun if instead of robots your creatures were pieces of software trying to survive in cyberspace (see the book _Trouble and Her Friends_).

err.. I liked the idea origanaly but I''ve been turned off by it ever since you decieded to make the robots like what you find in mech warrior.

What I was invisioning was something completely diffrent. I was thinking the robot would be some small little thing with treads and an egg shapped body. kinda like R2D2 but smaller.

What your talking about sounds like a heavily armed mech.

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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

*sorry, sorry*

perhaps I was a bit hasty when I said mech warrior. More or less the opposite of what I meant.

however, unlike in EVO, the character will not be perhaps so cute and cuddly. Somewhat tame, sure -- acid cannons and flamethrowers aren''t my thing. And, I probably would try to stay away from humanoid. I just feel that there should be some more freedom - in EVO, your only weapons were attached to your body, no projectiles. I want to have more projectiles in this game.

And, sticking to EVO, The player will be able to customize the character. As I was writing earlier, I overlooked one of the most important things; Never give the player 100% control. It would be frustrating for new players, and boring for the rest of us. I should rather stick to giving the player more generalized choices, based on what technology he has already acheived, and what sofware he has collected.

As for the robot itself, I have been debating what its first form is to look like. This important, as it will easily shape the image the player expects for the rest of the game.

To emphasize that this robot is utterly unique, dealing with rigid hardware would be too much hassle. It would instead resemble almost a liquid, flexible shape. I almost want to say that the point is taht the robot was stressed to look animal-like in nature.

The reaon I would prefer it to be animal like is that as a twist of irony, the events that caused all of the prblems to begin with was a morphing biological form; similar to the robot. It might be the cause for some interessting emotions in the player, being a robot that had a will to survive, dealing with the morals of killing life when itself was just hardware.

This could be fun for people that had already played EVO, because this organism would be along the lines of the life form in EVO, bt now as the "bad guy"

That change your oppinion a bit, TechnoGoth?

thanks for all the comments. If I make this game, i will let you people know You have been great help, and some major issues have been resolved. I am pretty much asking for this thread to be closed, as I don''t think anything more can really come from it.

Thanks,

Chokki