At this point, I think I've incorporated most of what I want for RA's Standard Genome 2.0 from the CFF and beyond. Watching my new testing feral run, I feel pretty satisfied with the direction it's taking so far. At the start they did seem a little reluctant to leave their hatching area for lack of need and most of them still haven't strayed far, but at least they're actually doing interesting things otherwise.
So now the question is: how much more do I want to incorporate from the CFF/2017s/TWBs/TCBs? Do I want RAS to be the ultimate combo of all the improved genomes that have been made over the years, striving to be the most realistic creature I can possibly strive for (seeing I still don't understand the brain very well and I'm not sure if I ever will, barring a "The Creature Brain For Absolute F-argh-ing Morons" guide being published in the future)?
Well...as I said at the end of my breakdown for the initial test release of the 2017-based RAS, I'm not setting out to push the boundaries of what the game can do. There's a breed that is doing that; they're called the TWBs/TCBs. And I'm definitely not setting out to make the new standard base genome.
My ultimate goal is to create a genome that I feel comfortable basing future genetic breeds on, but works just as well as a breed in its own right. I'm hoping to create creatures that are capable enough of tending to themselves, while being interesting and fun to watch (again, as much as possible without needing to make brain edits). I'm hoping to create a genome that's more compatible than my last base genome was.
Do I need my base genome to be ultra-realistic? After all, Creatures is a game that has the fandom it does in part because of how realistic it manages to be, especially for the time in which it was made. However...it must also be said that Creatures is a game. While it's setting out to replicate real-world biology, it's also not meant to be a super-complex simulation scientists use to help them study the real world and solve real problems. It's a pet/life simulation game that at the end of the day is meant to be entertaining.
So in a way, I'm looking at this like a game designer and not a biologist. I have a vision in mind for what I'm looking for with RAS and thinking hard about what will and won't help me reach it. If that means sacrificing realism here and there, so be it.
There's also my motivation to consider, too. Just how far can I push this while not burning out? How much testing and tweaking the same set of genes over and over again can I do without just getting frustrated? I already ran into that wall once; it's partially why I decided to restart RAS from a CFE/Gizmo base instead of pushing onwards with the 2017 base.
So with all this in mind...let's take a look at what I have so far, what I know I still want, and the things in CFF and beyond I haven't incorporated and might want to.
As of this writing, here's the full list of everything I've incorporated into RAS 2.0 thus far:
- The base, as I've already stated, was Darcie's Gizmo Norn genome. I plan on keeping most of this base as intact as possible, albeit with some changes here and there.
- I've incorporated almost all of the CFE edits, barring what conflicted with the Gizmo edits. The major thing I left out was the elevation lobe as that doesn't actually work, as noted in my last post.
- From the CFF:
- I've added in the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ (leaving it at the end of the genome this time to avoid compatibility conflicts).
- I've also added in the Lactate Cycle in its entirety this time; I did some testing with the 2017 norns versus norns that didn't have it, and decided that it was a preferable alternative to the issue of drowning to just making RAS 2.0 amphibious regardless of whether the breed was meant to be aquatic or not. Also, lactate-based mutations are very common due to lactate being chemical 1, and pre-CFF creatures have no way of getting rid of lactate whatsoever, so a lactate-based mutation more often than not winds up killing the muscles and results in permanently-limping creatures.
- I also added in the reproductive changes; I like the pace 2017 breeds at, so I kept it for RAS 2.0.
- And from the 2017s and TWBs I've added in the new hunger system that's based on nutrient levels rather than the old one that's based on permanently-active emitters and arbitrary stimuli. This way they're much less prone to eating themselves out of house and home.
- A new organ called the "Enhancement Gland" was created and put below the Hunger Overwhelmsion organ and used to hold all the CFF genes that originally were dumped in the brain, and will be used to hold any other genes . The name is a reference to the Enhanced ChiChi Norn, who have a very similar organ and who I've also been referencing quite a bit (I've been thinking about making a post breaking down their genome at some point).
- As opposed to going with an Activase-based system like the 2017s and TWBs/TCBs to help build muscle tissue, RAS 2.0 fixes the vanilla Anabolic Steroid emitter so that it actually functions.
- And anything that was unable to mutate in the original version of RAS is unable to mutate here.
- Based on some research done in the Norn Nebula Discord, RAS 2.0 has an instinct to return home when lonely, and the loneliness/other drive drop provided by the "Found company/Reached peak of <Species Smell>" stim has been silenced. With any luck, the combination of the two will help solve the problem of lonely creatures never thinking to go find each other when they're the same species; something that turned out to be a problem with C3/DS creatures in general and not just the 2017s like I originally thought.
And here's everything I know I'm going to implement at some point.
- While there's no need for Activase anymore, I still plan on adding the TWB's system of activity-related stims consuming a small amount of glucose. This is to serve the goal of making RAS 2.0 fun to watch and to better balance their hunger drives.
- I'm also re-adding the TWB/TCB facial expressions. They were helpful and also pretty charming.
- Rather than sticking with the base Gizmo's muted boredom instincts, I'm adding in a wide variety of boredom-related instincts ala the 2017s and TWBs/TCBs instead. This includes the 2017's tendency to use teleporters as well as portals (which are two separate things; DS's teleporters are classed as "teleporter" while the Warp Portals are classed as "portal").
- In a similar vein, I also plan on adding the 2017's wider variety of instincts in general, to help encourage more varied behaviors.
- I'm also adjusting the Gizmo's life stages as they feel a little wonky to me (for one, they effectively skip the Youth stage and age to Adult immediately after adolescence, and they spend a lot longer in the old/ancient stages than I'd like).
- Any original RAS edit that wasn't specific to the way 2017s handled things is also making the jump to RAS 2.0.
So that leaves the other things CFF and beyond added that were perceived as fixing errors. Let's take a look at that list again, and also this list of features across the common base genomes. Some of these, particularly requiring glucose for antibody production, might be interesting to have but will also take a while to test out for something that doesn't feel entirely necessary for what I'm aiming for (I never play with bacteria anyway, so the chances that'll be relevant for me personally are pretty low). Some of it also probably wouldn't matter that much in the long run but also wouldn't take much effort to implement. And some of it (the alcohol variants in particular) just feel outright extraneous.
So ultimately, I think my time's best spent implementing and balancing the features I know I absolutely want for right now. Once that's done, I'll see how I feel about adding in anything else.
Until the next one, folks.
