Various bugsering. Probably a new release tomorrow. Some new PowerGoals are up. (*)fixed reclaim crash from units holding multigrasp clothing (*)handled some other potential multigrasp inventory indexing issues (*)handled new forbid orders vs. butchery, severs and sever-drops (*)fixed problem with delay on up digging tasks (*)stopped dirt road construction at glacier/stone interface (*)fixed problem with map export and flashing job markers

There are no Batman clones in Angband. Pretty much every single adventurer had their parents killed by a monster, so it'd be kinda generic.

Continuing on the Spore prototypes theme, I'd love to have a Javascript version of Biome available for use on the PCG Wiki. It'd be great being able to demonstrate things like fire propagation live on the wiki, using 2d cellular automata to visually show various algorithms. Looking at Biome, it is flexible enough to handle a variety of automata using notation from chemical stoichiometry in a 196 kb executable.


An example of this notation from the ForestFire.txt example supplied with the executable:

;Fire

WIDTH = 150
HEIGHT = 150
PAUSE = 0

%%

INIT = {0,0,64}
FIRE1 = {96,32,0}
FIRE2 = {128,48,0}
FIRE3 = {192,64,0}
FIRE4 = {255,96,0}

YOUNG= {0,128,0}
OLD= {0,100,0}
ASH= {48,48,48}

%%

DISCRETE FOREST

%%

;Fire spreads
FOREST:OLD + 1FIRE2+ -> FIRE1*0.1
FOREST:OLD + 1FIRE3+ -> FIRE2*0.1
FOREST:OLD + 1FIRE4+ -> FIRE3*0.1

FOREST:YOUNG + 1FIRE2+ -> FIRE1*0.01
FOREST:YOUNG + 1FIRE3+ -> FIRE2*0.01
FOREST:YOUNG + 1FIRE4+ -> FIRE3*0.01

;Fire rages
FOREST:FIRE1 -> FIRE2*0.1
FOREST:FIRE2 -> FIRE3*0.1
FOREST:FIRE3 -> FIRE4*0.1

;Fire dies
FOREST:FIRE4 -> ASH*0.1

;Initial random forest
FOREST:INIT -> OLD*0.1
FOREST:INIT -> YOUNG*0.1
FOREST:INIT -> ASH*0.1

;Age
FOREST:YOUNG -> OLD *0.01


;Renew
FOREST:ASH -> YOUNG * 0.001

;spark forest fire
FOREST:OLD + 5OLD+ -> FIRE1 *0.00001

(I would get a screenshot, but none of the Spore prototypes run on the laptop I'm currently using. Given that this is my gaming laptop, I'm a little worried for the final release).

I'm working on a Javascript based cellular automaton tool at the moment, which doesn't quite have the flexibility of this framework. It is inspired by the Five Cellular Automata algorithms, although in the very early days of the implementation here. You can have a play with the algorithm here. At the moment it just generates a random 30x30 grid, each location of which has 50% chance of containing a cell, then plays the Game of Life.

You'll see the animation stutter frequently: I presume for garbage collection. I'm not sure the cleanest approach for animation in JavaScript. The recommended approach is to use setTimeout or setInterval which creates a callback into the JavaScript code. But this seems to requires that I make the referenced object global as I don't seem to be able to pass it through the callback. Suggestions are welcome.

Mostly (actual) headaches and graphics head-scratching today, but the cursor trail bug is gone now. Going to pull back from the new screen refresh code a bit until some of the problems are sorted. As usual, there are problems on other computers that I can't knock off quickly on my own or even reproduce. People have written up some possible fixes and are looking at others, but I don't have a timeframe for this. (*)stopped designation cursor from leaving a trail when the minimap is updating (*)added an init option for partial screen refreshes (defaults to off) (*)fixed lockup for glassmaker moods where the glassmaker doesn't like glass

I've been playing with some of the Spore prototypes available from the website, and I'm enjoying and intrigued by them. From a game design perspective, it's great having early prototypes available, as you can see some of the thinking that has gone into the game, and the ribs of the final design are very visible. I'm surprised that more people haven't reviewed these, simply to see what the final game may be like but there is a difficulty curve associated with the lack of documentation, and the risks of an untested build. As highlighted when you download them:

Usually these prototypes are never seen by the public, but we thought some of the more intrepid players out there might enjoy playing around with a few of our early Spore prototypes. Keep in mind these are not tested, supported or even easily explained.

I started with Space, on the basis of a semi-review by Stromko on this thread. I have to agree with him, in that the Space prototype is the most enjoyable initially because it is the most game-like. You start off zooming around your solar system, terraforming the other worlds and boot strapping your colonies using plants and animals from your homeworld. Once you've collected enough revenue to build a star drive, you can go conquer the galaxy, using much the same methodology, encountering other alien races along the way and harvesting their species.

What is lacking in the prototype is any real feeling of agency - that is, whether your actions create any kind of difference. As soon as you figure out that altitude is the only real measure of whether a species propagates or not, and that using atmosphere generators seems without drawback, it is just a matter of flattening out the planet to a smooth ball at the right height and dumping a single ecology worth of species on the surface. You soon get access to volcanoes, comets and other terraforming tools, but since the species you carry in the cargo holds propagate without limit, there is very little incentive to use these extra tools. In fact, after you purchase the star drive, you'll see your own species colonising nearby solar systems independently of you.

It is hard to judge a game from a work in progress, but I hope they've increased the level of player involvement because at the moment it feels like a sand box that builds its own mountains and tunnels. The Spore prototypes I've tried are dangerously close to being zero-player games. And where is the fun in that?