| Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web. While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous. Join our community today! |
| Promising looking evolution game | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 17 2016, 08:39 AM (425 Views) | |
| Vailnoff | Aug 17 2016, 08:39 AM Post #1 |
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Adolescent
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Hi, I'm not sure if anyone has posted about this before, but Thrive is a game currently in development, that is attempting to emulate what Spore was originally intended to be. So far, they have only done the cell stage, but development is speeding up and they are eager for anyone from artists to programmers to try and help with the development of the game. I just thought it sounded rather interesting. |
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| Sceynyos-yos | Aug 17 2016, 10:04 AM Post #2 |
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dheubewes wedor
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and has been so for quite a while, like what, six years already? I wonder if they'll ever get past the cellular stage. Seemed promising the first time I saw about it though. |
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| Dragon | Aug 17 2016, 10:56 AM Post #3 |
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/r/GamingCirclejerk is the best subreddit, don't @ me
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Actually, it looks a lot more promising than it did the last time a thread was made about it here. They actually have a functioning game as opposed to just concepts and ideas. They'll probably get past the microbe stage, though, like Dwarf Fortress, it will take a long time for that to happen. |
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life," John 3:16 A neat pixel animation of a future cowboy
I think this describes what dinosaurs are like now Click for something good. Click this too. | |
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| Flisch | Aug 17 2016, 04:25 PM Post #4 |
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Superhuman
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The cynic in me has long given up on this project. I don't know anything about the inner working of their workflows, but if past experiences are any indications, then this won't get very far. Microbial stage is relatively easy (compared to the rest) to get something done that feels playable and remotely done, but the rest, not so much. This game's scope is simply off the charts. No student project could do it. No startup could do it. No medium sized company could do it. Not even EA was able to pull it off satisfyingly (the reason why the stages felt so shallow is because they were literally separate subsections of a single game and as such had only parts of the development time and resources available). Why does a group of people who lack experience and organization think they can do it? (Oh and money. These people also lack money and thus skill. Let's face it, if you can't hire experts full-time to work on it, you won't get a game with this scope done. If Electronic "We solve all our problems by throwing money at them until they go away" Arts can't do it, ... you get the idea.) Edited by Flisch, Aug 17 2016, 04:28 PM.
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| Arachnus | Aug 17 2016, 05:03 PM Post #5 |
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Prime Specimen
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I suppose they could always start a kickstarter if they think they've created a demo impressive enough to show off. |
"The skywhale has been the elusive love of the speculative biologist since the beginning of time itself." -Mike![]() "I shat this pile of pure garbage out in under three minutes while I heated up some pasta last night. I hate it, deeply." -Octo | |
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| Sceynyos-yos | Aug 18 2016, 04:16 AM Post #6 |
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dheubewes wedor
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To add to what Flisch said, from a quick glance their entire development process seems to be upside down - bottom up. This is not how you do any project. Projects are done top down: first you outline in broad strokes what is to be in the final product, then you brainstorm and elaborate on it and in some reasonable time you should have the complete plan. After that you break it up in segments and parts and begin implementing things one by one, dividing the work if in a team, and not adding anything to the final plan and not working on anything that's not on it. Instead what they seem to do is work on one tiny bit, then another, then another, then get lost in details without having a complete idea what the other stages would be like. Why do you need to bog down in making shiny cell membranes and scrolling backgrounds when the vast majority of the functionality is not even ready yet? This is not how things work at all. end rant |
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| Flisch | Aug 18 2016, 07:48 AM Post #7 |
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Superhuman
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I was going to say this as well, but since I don't really know about their workflows, I can't comment on it that well. But let's face it. How many of them have worked on a game. How many of those who worked on a game were involved in strategic decision making and organization? I would go out on a limb and say none of them have the required experience and when I look at some things that shine through, it's evident that they approach this project as any other group of nonprofessionals would approach making a game: By starting with and focusing on the wrong things. It's this typical situation where people come together to make a really "awesome" game and before anything is done on the technical or conceptual side, someone has already drawn a map of the fictional world, something which really shouldn't be a priority at the beginning. As I said before, I don't want to say that this is definitely the case, but I bet it is. Some things already shimmer through when you see them presenting their stuff. Concept art was literally the first thing they had produced. Debates were held of miniscule details like different biochemistries before anyone even had an idea of how to solve the technical issues. Etc etc etc. It's also telling that they don't have a dedicated Game Design department. Instead they have a "Theory" team, which is essentially just a glorified group of "ideas people". Of course, not every project needs game designers and you can do a Tetris or Pong without anyone dedicated to only figuring out game mechanics, but as I already said, the scope for this is simply too big not to have specialists working solely on figuring out how the game is played. |
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| SemiCylinder | Nov 21 2016, 12:34 AM Post #8 |
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bottom text
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Seems promising, if you are immortal. At this rate my great grand children can play it, maybe. |
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7:25 PM Jul 10