[Biota] World Architecture

[simplex]

So, a friend gave me the most wonderful/terrifying idea for Cerberus

This friend of yours should be in our team. Really.

[ShadowDimentio]

I dunno why, but I want Cerberus to have some kind of joke attached. No idea how this would work, but somehow the idea of just having three hounds- WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!

 

We have the three hounds put together like in Dana's post, only they aren't really together persay, rather they've just been tangled together with some of the Octoballoon's wreckage. This idea could be supported even further by having a large portion of the Octoballoon crashed into the gate (or skull), motioning that the poor hounds got hit even harder than you, with some of the wreck keeping them from straying far away. Once they reach low enough health, however, the binds are broken, and the hounds start attacking you individually-- only they're much larger and stronger than normal.

 

I have no idea, but that just dawned on me right as I was writing the post. Wasn't even planned. I'm a genius.

[TheDanaAddams]

This friend of yours should be in our team. Really.

I think she's a bit busy, with work and study, but I'll mention that you loved it. xP

 

 

I dunno why, but I want Cerberus to have some kind of joke attached. No idea how this would work, but somehow the idea of just having three hounds- WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!

 

We have the three hounds put together like in Dana's post, only they aren't really together persay, rather they've just been tangled together with some of the Octoballoon's wreckage. This idea could be supported even further by having a large portion of the Octoballoon crashed into the gate (or skull), motioning that the poor hounds got hit even harder than you, with some of the wreck keeping them from straying far away. Once they reach low enough health, however, the binds are broken, and the hounds start attacking you individually-- only they're much larger and stronger than normal.

 

I have no idea, but that just dawned on me right as I was writing the post. Wasn't even planned. I'm a genius.

I dunno about that... I think we've got plenty of opportunities for jokes... but a triple-hound Cerberus is just bloody terrifying and awesome.

 

I don't think we should diminish it to a silly joke.

[thelefthelix]

I think she's a bit busy, with work and study, but I'll mention that you loved it. xP

 

 

I dunno about that... I think we've got plenty of opportunities for jokes... but a triple-hound Cerberus is just bloody terrifying and awesome.

 

I don't think we should diminish it to a silly joke.

 

I agree, hopefully we've already got a silly joke in store for the hounds! Though a 3 hound cerberus would be pretty awesome.

[TheDanaAddams]

I agree, hopefully we've already got a silly joke in store for the hounds! Though a 3 hound cerberus would be pretty awesome.

If we opt for the completely helpless Balloon Hounds, I think that's our silly hound joke taken care of. x3

 

I just thought of how to do it, too! A spawn animation, where it floats up, poofing through the clouds, an idle animation, where it hangs limply, a "move" animation (though they can't really move) where it flails its legs helplessly, and the death anim where it plummets back through the clouds after the balloon pops. x3

Shouldn't be too difficult! As long as everyone else is on board with that idea, of course.

[debugman18]

If we opt for the completely helpless Balloon Hounds, I think that's our silly hound joke taken care of. x3

 

I just thought of how to do it, too! A spawn animation, where it floats up, poofing through the clouds, an idle animation, where it hangs limply, a "move" animation (though they can't really move) where it flails its legs helplessly, and the death anim where it plummets back through the clouds after the balloon pops. x3

Shouldn't be too difficult! As long as everyone else is on board with that idea, of course.

I'm completely on board with balloon hounds. Where to put them, though...

[thelefthelix]

If we opt for the completely helpless Balloon Hounds, I think that's our silly hound joke taken care of. x3

 

I just thought of how to do it, too! A spawn animation, where it floats up, poofing through the clouds, an idle animation, where it hangs limply, a "move" animation (though they can't really move) where it flails its legs helplessly, and the death anim where it plummets back through the clouds after the balloon pops. x3

Shouldn't be too difficult! As long as everyone else is on board with that idea, of course.

 

It was supposed to be a secret! NO CAKE FOR YOU! But yeah that's what I was hoping for.

 

Edit: I think level 1 would be best, perhaps non-specific towards any biome in particular.

[TheDanaAddams]

It was supposed to be a secret! NO CAKE FOR YOU! But yeah that's what I was hoping for.

 

Edit: I think level 1 would be best, perhaps non-specific towards any biome in particular.

W... what? N... n... no sweets for me??

 

I think they'd actually be a great little thing everywhere - just a random spawn to make you giggle!

[Craig_Perry]

I think they'd actually be a great little thing everywhere - just a random spawn to make you giggle!

I agree entirely, as otherwise it'd be too rare and not many would see it

[debugman18]

I'm currently going through this list and adding the biomes/biota as I go along. Would anyone object to posting what the subbiomes could be? I could use my best judgement here, but I wanted to know what some of the ideas were. Remember that a subbiome is almost a setpiece, locked to a particular biome. In the meanwhile, I'm just adding what is here. A lot of it won't be completely functional, but some of it will be. To give you an idea of when I'll be done, I've still got to add behaviour for Jellyshrooms, Flying Fish (Ponds?), Rainbowcoons, Octocopter, Octocopter Parts, Permahullications (I like this, thoughts?), Crystals (the regular variety), Cloud Algae, Cloud Coral, Aeronename, Golem, Cheshire Cat, Scarecow, and Skytraps. It's not going to be too problematic. No ETA, except as soon as I can.

 

In addition, @simplex pointed out that we can use lock and key systems for the biomes, meaning that a player will have to traverse particular biomes, in order to advance to 'locked' biomes.

 

One thing I'm hesitant to add yet, is the alchemy system. It's going to at least wait on the biota to be finished. This brings up a question: Should the alpha include some basic form of the alchemy system, or should that wait until beta starts, before being introduced?

[Craig_Perry]

I'd say wait till beta before you add the alchemy stuff, just so theres less work with tweaks in fixes for alpha.

I may be testing but Im sure there will be things that slip through my net

[ArcticFox789]

I'm currently going through this list and adding the biomes/biota as I go along. Would anyone object to posting what the subbiomes could be? I could use my best judgement here, but I wanted to know what some of the ideas were. Remember that a subbiome is almost a setpiece, locked to a particular biome. In the meanwhile, I'm just adding what is here. A lot of it won't be completely functional, but some of it will be. To give you an idea of when I'll be done, I've still got to add behaviour for Jellyshrooms, Flying Fish (Ponds?), Rainbowcoons, Octocopter, Octocopter Parts, Permahullications (I like this, thoughts?), Crystals (the regular variety), Cloud Algae, Cloud Coral, Aeronename, Golem, Cheshire Cat, Scarecow, and Skytraps. It's not going to be too problematic. No ETA, except as soon as I can.

 

In addition, @simplex pointed out that we can use lock and key systems for the biomes, meaning that a player will have to traverse particular biomes, in order to advance to 'locked' biomes.

 

One thing I'm hesitant to add yet, is the alchemy system. It's going to at least wait on the biota to be finished. This brings up a question: Should the alpha include some basic form of the alchemy system, or should that wait until beta starts, before being introduced?

 

Did you miss the Mantas there or have I missed them being implemented or removed?

 

Lock and Key will probably be needed for the Octocopters and other levelling up systems, if we want the Chimaera.

 

I think we go with the Alchemy System for the Beta not Alpha. I think we need to get the building blocks in place before we do any fancy stuff.

[debugman18]

Did you miss the Mantas there or have I missed them being implemented or removed?

 

Lock and Key will probably be needed for the Octocopters and other levelling up systems, if we want the Chimaera.

 

I think we go with the Alchemy System for the Beta not Alpha. I think we need to get the building blocks in place before we do any fancy stuff.

No, the manta is not missing. I didn't mention the manta because I'm currently implementing them. (They don't function completely the way they should, but they (along with everything else I listed) will be there in the next commit. After that is tweaking and bug-fixing, and alpha will be ready, I think.

 

Also, glad to see I'm not the only one who feels alchemy should wait until beta.

[Craig_Perry]

No, the manta is not missing. I didn't mention the manta because I'm currently implementing them. (They don't function completely the way they should, but they (along with everything else I listed) will be there in the next commit. After that is tweaking and bug-fixing, and alpha will be ready, I think.

 

Also, glad to see I'm not the only one who feels alchemy should wait until beta.

well alpha release is limited till stuttering is gone, but the biota I could see before the stutter worked perfectly

[debugman18]

well alpha release is limited till stuttering is gone, but the biota I could see before the stutter worked perfectly

Of course the stuttering is a major issue, it falls under the bug-fixing. That bug just so happens to (seemingly) fall into the hands of @Cheerio. I can't pin it down to any particular thing, either. With enough time, it just makes itself present.

 

Speaking of which, @Cheerio, any ideas? This bug is quite crippling, at the moment. I think you mentioned that you couldn't reproduce it? Have you tried turning on god mode and just letting the world do its thing until the stutter appears?

[Cheerio]

Of course the stuttering is a major issue, it falls under the bug-fixing. That bug just so happens to (seemingly) fall into the hands of @Cheerio. I can't pin it down to any particular thing, either. With enough time, it just makes itself present.

 

Speaking of which, @Cheerio, any ideas? This bug is quite crippling, at the moment. I think you mentioned that you couldn't reproduce it? Have you tried turning on god mode and just letting the world do its thing until the stutter appears?

This isn't the fix you're looking for but for I'm going to be enabling our profiling tools for the next public preview/update which means you'll be able to profile and record the game on your machine and that should help narrow down the cause of the stutter.

[debugman18]

@Craig_Perry

Major improvements have been made to the world generation. Let me know if you have any issues with it. Beanstalk exits are back again, and everything that I could find has a name now, so it'll be a little clearer what will eventually be there. I also did some minor changes to our main menu (and with those changes fixed the crash bug that was occuring.)

[Craig_Perry]

@Craig_Perry

Major improvements have been made to the world generation. Let me know if you have any issues with it. Beanstalk exits are back again, and everything that I could find has a name now, so it'll be a little clearer what will eventually be there. I also did some minor changes to our main menu (and with those changes fixed the crash bug that was occuring.)

okay then I'll get to testing right away

[debugman18]

Walls of text incoming.

 

Thought I'd drop a screenshot of the current world generation, and give an update on the upcoming commit. I'm going to make one or two more sizable changes to world generation. I haven't quite figured out how to force the beanstalk spawn to spawn in the generic biome, but I'll figure something out. A few places still feel empty, but I'm working on it.

 

There are a good variety of trees, flowers, and crystals now, so there's a lot to see. There is still a ton of work to be done, though. Every crystal type will have its own use. The different types are quartz, water, black, white, light, and relic. Each tree will have its own use, as well. Those are thunder, dragonblood, and cloudfruit. There are new flowers, as well. Those are golden sunflowers, gustflowers, skytraps, and golden roses. Everything listed above will have their own uses, and will probably interact in different ways with the vanilla balance.

 

Oh, and the weather machine should be fun to use. If used in the regular world, it will cause random weighted weather effects. I may make it so that you can put certain items in it, to somewhat influence what it will change, but I haven't come to a conclusion on that.

 

The refiner hasn't been worked on, but it's on the list. I plan on implementing a few features of the cauldron, as well, so that you'll be able to at least find (and somewhat use) it in the future, without having to generate a new world.

 

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this'll be a pretty large commit to the mod. Basically, I plan on this being very close to an alpha release candidate. I'm not pushing until I'm happy with it, though, so don't expect to see it until sometime next month. I'll make a post in the art thread soon, to bring attention to the looming alpha release to our artists.

 

Still aiming for the end of November, but that is by no means written in stone. It does seem feasible, though.

 

[Luggs]

Just curious. What's with the Christmas colored checkerboard?

[debugman18]

Just curious. What's with the Christmas colored checkerboard?

Placeholder map texture for the current cloudturf. The other three kinds of turf there will appear similarly in the very near future. (At least until there are art assets for them all.)

[simplex]

Walls of text incoming.

 

Thought I'd drop a screenshot of the current world generation, and give an update on the upcoming commit. I'm going to make one or two more sizable changes to world generation. I haven't quite figured out how to force the beanstalk spawn to spawn in the generic biome, but I'll figure something out. A few places still feel empty, but I'm working on it.

 

There are a good variety of trees, flowers, and crystals now, so there's a lot to see. There is still a ton of work to be done, though. Every crystal type will have its own use. The different types are quartz, water, black, white, light, and relic. Each tree will have its own use, as well. Those are thunder, dragonblood, and cloudfruit. There are new flowers, as well. Those are golden sunflowers, gustflowers, skytraps, and golden roses. Everything listed above will have their own uses, and will probably interact in different ways with the vanilla balance.

 

Oh, and the weather machine should be fun to use. If used in the regular world, it will cause random weighted weather effects. I may make it so that you can put certain items in it, to somewhat influence what it will change, but I haven't come to a conclusion on that.

 

The refiner hasn't been worked on, but it's on the list. I plan on implementing a few features of the cauldron, as well, so that you'll be able to at least find (and somewhat use) it in the future, without having to generate a new world.

 

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this'll be a pretty large commit to the mod. Basically, I plan on this being very close to an alpha release candidate. I'm not pushing until I'm happy with it, though, so don't expect to see it until sometime next month. I'll make a post in the art thread soon, to bring attention to the looming alpha release to our artists.

 

Still aiming for the end of November, but that is by no means written in stone. It does seem feasible, though.

Come on, the dev branch is meant precisely to encourage frequent pushing. I'd like to work on it as well.

And about the generic biome being the initial one: done and commited. Locks and keys, locks and keys.

[debugman18]

Come on, the dev branch is meant precisely to encourage frequent pushing. I'd like to work on it as well.

And about the generic biome being the initial one: done and commited. Locks and keys, locks and keys.

Alright, alright. Please don't bite my head off. D: I just feel like I push too many commits that don't really add much functionality.

 

Remember that a lot of the things aren't working yet, and much of it is in a state of 'construction'. So, testers, don't expect the newer things to work. Yet.

 

Edit:

@simplex

Here's a short summary of some effects I'm aiming for, if you want to find something to work on. Also, for discussion amongst the collaborators.

 

Whirlwinds will be spawned from gustflowers as a sort of attack. The whirlwinds will send you to a random place on the map. Gustflower seeds will be plantable in the regular world.

 

The skytrap will disguise itself as a flower, and when the player nears it will attack. (An immobile worm.)

 

The black and white crystals may encourage static and cause small lightning storms unless the player is within a certain sanity threshold.

 

I was thinking that water crystals, when mined, would actually become the flying fish ponds, and the flying fish would occasionally spawn and fly out of the broken crystal.

 

Golden sunflowers and golden roses will drop golden nuggets, and occasionally their seeds. However, they cannot be planted in the regular world, and will simply die there. This addresses the issue of not having basic tools in the cloudrealm.

 

Crystal spires are the 'regular' kind of crystal. Mining these will yield crystal fragments, but will upset the gnomes.

 

Gnomes will drop themselves on death, which can be burnt in a fire to create rubber, for use in various recipes. They are a pack animal, and will defend each other, and the crystals around them, to the death.

 

Colored glass corn will be transplantable to the regular world, and are winter resistant. Their food item will do a little health damage when consumed. They will encourage static around them. If in the regular world, they will encourage more frequent storms.

 

The kite is something I had planned since the beginning. Basically, when flown, occasionally the kite will force a lighting strike. This will force anything in the area to become charged. This is more for the overworld, but requires some cloudrealm ingredients.

 

A lot of things will be alchemy ingredients.

[zeropoint101]

I'm just getting into Don't Starve mods and modding. I've been browsing this thread and this whole project looks amazing. I have to ask about "poopturf" though... everything seems so wonderful and floaty and fanciful... I'm not at ALL trying to be insulting, but how did poopturf come about? It doesn't seem to fit.

 

EDIT: I'm not a collaborator on this project. If I'm not supposed to post here, my apologies. My understanding was that I could, but let me know if I'm wrong.

[TheDanaAddams]

I'm just getting into Don't Starve mods and modding. I've been browsing this thread and this whole project looks amazing. I have to ask about "poopturf" though... everything seems so wonderful and floaty and fanciful... I'm not at ALL trying to be insulting, but how did poopturf come about? It doesn't seem to fit.

 

EDIT: I'm not a collaborator on this project. If I'm not supposed to post here, my apologies. My understanding was that I could, but let me know if I'm wrong.

"Poopturf" is actually something that was already in the game - it's the ground you'll find in bat territory. (Unless I'm mistaken.)

The custom cloud flooring texture came to be nicknamed the "poopclouds" since it was based on that existing ground texture, and within the project, we all just kinda know what someone means if they talk about the "poopturf" 'or "poopclouds".

 

To the best of my knowledge, there are no plans for a poop-world.

We can leave that to Conker's Bad Fur Day.