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Author Topic: Random Creature Generator  (Read 50818 times)

Girlinhat

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Random Creature Generator
« on: March 20, 2011, 11:54:17 am »

So, I'm working on a little program.  The aim is to make randomly generated but sensible creatures.  No scale-covered eyes with no head and a single hand.  Instead, it should make more like, a glacier creature with thick fur, horns, four legs, and two arms.  The basic way it will do this, is to pick a biome, and then mix and match creature bits, then paint on some tissue types that fit the biome and style.  After that, it adds the pet value, attack types, syndromes, if any, and other behavior bits to match its size and style.  It will then dump this into a .txt file, which can be copied right into the raws and run from there.

To streamline things, I'm defining my own body parts instead of using the default types, and these body parts will be in their own files.  I'd like suggestions on what to include.  Right now, every creature will have an upper body, lower body, and head (even if the head is more like a snake's head and just part of the body).  It uses different categories of parts, namely arms, legs, quads (for creatures that don't stand upright), eyes, horns, ears, and mouths.  These categories have specific types, like "2 arms" or "4 claws" like the giant desert scorpion, while legs include 2, 4, or 6 feet or hooves, or a tail.  Various numbers of eyes are available, including none, and 2 or no ears.  Mouths are split into "mouth" or "muzzle" or maybe "tentacle hole" or something.  Horns are 2 or 4.

That's pretty much what I've got right now, but I know these forums and I know there's evil lurking in your minds.  What sort of different body parts or behavior types would you recommend?  If you don't know how to make it in specific, just start shouting something and I'll figure out how to work it in.

SUPER-EDIT: List of body parts already included.
Spoiler: arms (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Eyes (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Ears (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Mouths (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Horns (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Tusks (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wings (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: March 23, 2011, 09:18:26 am by Girlinhat »
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Cotes

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2011, 12:07:49 pm »

Exoskeletons and antennas for cavern critters maybe. And the mouth category should definitely include "beak" and "horrible teeth pit".
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Well if you remove the [MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE] tag from dwarves I think they have like 2-4 children each time they give birth. And if you get enough mothers up on the pillars you can probably get a good waterfall going.
Ashes are technically fire-safe.

Girlinhat

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2011, 12:09:59 pm »

Good call.  Right now I'm not planning cave critters, simply because it didn't occur to me, but I should make some plans post-haste.

imperium3

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2011, 12:15:31 pm »

This sounds very much like an improved FB/Titan generator. :D Is that the intention?

Are you allowing creatures with no legs - ie snakelike? I recommend that. Also adding the option of one or more stings or a venomous bite.

I'd love to se a creature that's literally half a dozen mouths and little else. Voracious cave crawler ON STEROIDS.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2011, 12:17:03 pm by imperium3 »
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Girlinhat

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2011, 12:25:24 pm »

It's sorta a FB generator, but it's more tame.  Ideally, it would produce things like Elk Birds, which are unnatural by human standards but not -that- strange.  I could make a perverse generator, that makes monstrosities and horrors, but this is more of a buff on general wildlife.

And yes, there's a tail option for humanoids and quadruped types.  In this case, "quadruped" means "not upright" because it includes things that walk and slither, but don't have arms.  By this definition, a giant desert scorpion is an "upright" because it has claws, but a giant cave spider is a "quad" because it has no arms, only legs.  Quads generally have a few more leg options.

malimbar04

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2011, 12:43:07 pm »

For behaviors, I'll input some different types of breeding patterns

monogamous, polygamous (1 with many),  promiscuous, serial monogamous (1 per year at a time, like penguins), hermaphroditic (like slugs), asexual (no breeding required), and regeneration (who needs babies?)
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Girlinhat

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2011, 12:45:44 pm »

Sadly this isn't possible.  The raws allow for egg-laying, live birth, no reproduction, and some small control over the size of each birthing.  Eggs don't work for wild creatures, so these will all be live birth.  There's also no control over courtship.  Civilizations use marriage only, and will only spore with their partner, while wild animals breed via spores indiscriminately.

Naryar

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2011, 12:53:12 pm »

Yeah.

Anyways, I'd like an advanced demon and forgotten beast generator. Most demons/FBs are kinda ridiculous (giant winged koala with blue feathers, towering hairy pink leech, etc). And it's not as satisfying to face a towering hairy pink leech that breathes itching gas that to face, say a giant red sauropod with crimson scales that breathes fire magma !!Fun!!

ThrowerOfStones

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2011, 12:53:52 pm »

The leech is way more frightening.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2011, 12:54:57 pm »

I'll work on making a horrific generator after I get this one running properly, alright?  For now, common animal ideas please!

Naryar

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2011, 12:58:38 pm »

Salamanders ?

Cotes

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2011, 01:10:10 pm »

Well, I suppose tusks are missing from your list. Also, long necks (or otherwise unconventionally proportioned body parts?).
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Well if you remove the [MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE] tag from dwarves I think they have like 2-4 children each time they give birth. And if you get enough mothers up on the pillars you can probably get a good waterfall going.
Ashes are technically fire-safe.

Girlinhat

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2011, 01:14:10 pm »

Tusks, will add, but it's hard to find convenient animals to put those on, otherwise they seem a bit tacked-on.  Be useful for shrubland and forest herbivores, to rend open trees and dig up roots, but predators will more likely have fangs and canine teeth.  And long necks would be interesting, but there's actually not much in the raws to allow them.  Giraffes are structurally identical to a bull, pretty much.

Naryar

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2011, 01:18:31 pm »

8 legs for arachnids, also for mouth parts

Proboscis (stinger)
Circular mouth (see octopi, lampreys, starfishes, etc)
Chelicerae (arachnid special mouth parts)
Beak

etc, etc.

Askot Bokbondeler

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Re: Random Creature Generator
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2011, 01:22:21 pm »

i am the kind of guy that's really bothered by llamas and kangaroos in my game, it's not that i'm europocentric, it's just that if you're using european mythology it's only fair to use european fauna, and having kangaroos cohabitating with pandas and creatures from completely unrelated ecosystems is just absurd, so for several times i tried to make a mod where i would replace all the animals in df with sane counterparts, then i would be faced with a scarcity of creatures, eventually i came up with an idea to populate the strangest parts of the world: i'd have a list of basic creatures to which i would apply variations acording to the biome they'd live in, so one could have wolf, bears, eagles, vultures, ravens, deer, etc. in their natural biomes, then we'd have mountain bears and highland wolves in the mountains, black eagles and carrion deer in evil lands, frost boars and white wolves in tundra, etc.
i never managed to complete that mod, so i'm highly looking forward to this
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