Done for the day, too!
Whew, I managed to finish all the things I wanted to do today!
Even the genetic system.
Hurrah for biodiversity!
Only thing is, dynamics-wise I’m not quite feeling it right now. Around stage 10 or 11 it gets frantic and enjoyable, but the more tactical aspects of (mis)guiding the aliens’ evolution aren’t really coming through.
For tomorrow, I’ll be mulling over some possible gameplay changes:
(1) Adjust the mutation rate. Currently each new alien will always be based on a genome from the survivors of the previous generation, with one of its 34 genes “flipped” (mutated). I might want to introduce the possibility of a double mutation, or no mutation (to counterbalance).
(2) Adjust the spawn pattern. The aliens currently have a tendency to spawn in vertical columns. This makes them sitting ducks for the player’s straight-firing vulcan. To make matters worse, the last alien in the column often gets to escape regardless of the merits or demerits of its genome, simply because its siblings happened to go first and act as bullet absorbers.
(3) Implement recombinant DNA. I really don’t want to do this because it’s a pain in the behind, but it might help. In particular, if the most successful alien in each generation became the “king” or “queen” and bred with all the other aliens, it might yield interesting results. Currently all survivors have an equal chance to pass their DNA on, resulting in a very diverse but somewhat characterless environment.
(4) Possibly in combination with (3), give advantages to specific aliens in passing their DNA on. I’m thinking along these lines:
– Aliens who manage to shoot the player down get a chance to pass their DNA on, regardless of whether they end up dying. (This will be horribly tough to track. Currently the bullets don’t have their shooter’s name on them.)
– When an alien survives, its chance to reproduce is directly tied to the number of bullets it managed to shoot (okay, that sounds REALLY wrong) during the level.
Well, time to go sleep (it’s 11:30 here). Will continue tomorrow.