Nanotrasen Xenobiology Research Foundation

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:47 am #762

The original idea I had posted in the old forums still stands. Whilst I am still seeking sprites in the sprite request forums for the aliens involved, any and all feedback is welcome, particularly in suggesting more alien ideas.

Design doc is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QdC ... sp=sharing

bandit · Post by **bandit** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:37 pm #820

is acro supposed to be this li'l guy

http://www.spriters-resource.com/resour ... 3/2816.png

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:56 pm #827

NO BUT THAT'S ADORABLE :3

bandit · Post by **bandit** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:44 pm #833

also:

A note on “pet” creatures: They will arrive with collars in their crates. The collars can be scanned with a player’s id and placed on the pet. Whilst the collar is worn, if the pet locates its “owner”, it will rush up and nuzzle them.

there is approximately a 100% chance this will be used for ERP.

that said this is p. cool

Rumia29 · Post by **Rumia29** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:07 am #873

bandit wrote:also:

A note on “pet” creatures: They will arrive with collars in their crates. The collars can be scanned with a player’s id and placed on the pet. Whilst the collar is worn, if the pet locates its “owner”, it will rush up and nuzzle them.
there is approximately a 100% chance this will be used for ERP.

that said this is p. cool

I didn't know you were into bestiality. Unless I yearned something somewhat off from what you said.

bandit · Post by **bandit** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:53 am #875

there are other uses for collars besides bestiality

*dougies out of topic*

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:18 pm #922

bandit wrote:there are other uses for collars besides bestiality

*dougies out of topic*

I'm the first person here to appreciate that, but they'll be strictly for the research foundation creatures. The only lewdness would come about by badmins changing mob types.

Kelenius · Post by **Kelenius** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:36 pm #924

fleure wrote:
bandit wrote:there are other uses for collars besides bestiality

*dougies out of topic*
I'm the first person here to appreciate that, but they'll be strictly for the research foundation creatures. The only lewdness would come about by badmins changing mob types.

Mind-controlling collars.

Psyentific · Post by **Psyentific** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:49 pm #926

Mind-controlling collars is one of my myriad fetishes.

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:59 pm #930

Guys please ;_;

Nienhaus · Post by **Nienhaus** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:12 pm #946

... I couldn't resist myself
Also fuck images only being able to be 700 wide.

Kelenius · Post by **Kelenius** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:59 pm #964

No, really... what if... there was a syndicate version of this collar that works on humans?

Psyentific · Post by **Psyentific** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:00 pm #965

Kelenius wrote:No, really... what if... there was a syndicate version of this collar that works on humans?

Make it an implant or something equally not immediately obvious.
"Do what I say or I explode your fucking head"

Kelenius · Post by **Kelenius** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:03 pm #967

Psyentific wrote:
Kelenius wrote:No, really... what if... there was a syndicate version of this collar that works on humans?
Make it an implant or something equally not immediately obvious.
"Do what I say or I explode your fucking head"

No, no, it's a mind-control collar. You are forced to do everything that guy says, kind of like silicon laws.

Psyentific · Post by **Psyentific** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:06 pm #968

Oh. Also acceptable, but less fun/cool.
I still say it's something that shouldn't be immediately obvious.

Kelenius · Post by **Kelenius** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:11 pm #1031

Psyentific wrote:Oh. Also acceptable, but less fun/cool.
I still say it's something that shouldn't be immediately obvious.

Let's be honest, how many people are going to follow order on the treat of being exploded?

AseaHeru · Post by **AseaHeru** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:00 pm #1125

The roleplayers.

Many people would probably charge the implanter.

tunderchief · Post by **tunderchief** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 2:56 pm #1635

AseaHeru wrote:The roleplayers.

Many people would probably charge the implanter.

This.

Plenty of shitters will deny an antag their cooperation just for the lulz.

Drynwyn · Post by **Drynwyn** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 11:02 am #2416

Most shitters would rather take the license to kill.

AseaHeru · Post by **AseaHeru** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:16 pm #2426

Yah, the antag.

Bluespace · Post by **Bluespace** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:20 pm #2428

Why not explosive mind-controlling implants?
They're slaved much like an AI would be and once they're finished, they can explode their head.

AseaHeru · Post by **AseaHeru** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:24 pm #2430

That is... Sort of what was suggested...

And there is still the "hurr hurr, kill valid antag"

Fuzzeldorf · Post by **Fuzzeldorf** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:52 am #2808

AseaHeru wrote:That is... Sort of what was suggested...

And there is still the "hurr hurr, kill valid antag"

Make it policy to follow the guy's orders like goon, and on top of it, make it so that if you attack the guy who implanted you, you recive 150 toxin damage

AseaHeru · Post by **AseaHeru** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:19 pm #2916

People follow policies? I had no idea. /sarcasm
But really, how many shitters do you see everyday shitting on everyone else in the game by doing moronic shit that violates policies?

The tox damage might be an issue to get working.

Drynwyn · Post by **Drynwyn** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 5:45 pm #2979

The tox damage would be doable for melee attacks, but it would be costly and indirect attacks or projectiles would still bypass it.

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:40 pm #2990

It's nice seeing my thread bumped but this should clearly move to a new topic.

AseaHeru · Post by **AseaHeru** » Thu May 01, 2014 12:23 pm #3079

Point is a good one.

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Sun Nov 23, 2014 2:47 pm #45405

So after like six months I get these suggestions

Spoiler:

Thanks you too

Lo6a4evskiy · Post by **Lo6a4evskiy** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:32 am #45551

Huh. I actually had similar ideas floating in my head. Have xenobio grow aliens of all kinds. Aliens would have traits and like stats, determining what they eat (perhaps their favorite food, allowing for better offsprings, faster growth, less aggressive behavior, etc.), how much they need to eat (imagine a creature that eats quite literally anything of its size, eats A LOT and reproduces really fast), shit like hp and attack obviously, how aggressive they are, special traits (oozing acid that eats through non-reinforced floors). I think that randomization is the key in all of the science (which is why I believe that currently the whole department sucks balls), so I'd probably have few different species with typical stats and behavior, however still randomized in all specimen, and then may be unique race abilities. So it's a bit chaotic and I didn't think much through, but like I said I just had this in my head.

miggles · Post by **miggles** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:46 am #45560

after like six months i would have thought youd be through the suggestion-taking-phase

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:58 am #45576

miggles wrote:after like six months i would have thought youd be through the suggestion-taking-phase

I posted this around the same time I got burned out on SS13 and coding. Plus I was hoping for some more critical feedback beyond "mite b cool", which is nice, but I'd like to have an interesting and engaging implementation from the start.

deathhoof · Post by **deathhoof** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:31 pm #45594

Make player controllable aliums and I'll be all for it. My advice would be an intelligence stat which when brought to a certain treshold will allow communication and then later player controllability

Wyzack · Post by **Wyzack** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:35 pm #45595

I like this, they can be like drones and let ghosts jump in

Also keep it up, xeno is the best part of science!

Lo6a4evskiy · Post by **Lo6a4evskiy** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:25 pm #45616

So did you actually make anything or not?

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:29 pm #45617

Nah, not yet. I might implement the basic slime core currency and ordering system first, then we can focus on what kinda aliens you can get, basic mechanics, specific alien behaviours etc.

deathhoof · Post by **deathhoof** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:17 pm #45631

Make sure to make things that are lethal as fuck so that traitors can trait m8

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:07 pm #45636

deathhoof wrote:Make sure to make things that are lethal as fuck so that traitors can trait m8

Maybe the order console could be emagged to allow connecting to a black market of lifeforms.

Lo6a4evskiy · Post by **Lo6a4evskiy** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:17 pm #45639

fleure wrote:Nah, not yet. I might implement the basic slime core currency and ordering system first, then we can focus on what kinda aliens you can get, basic mechanics, specific alien behaviours etc.

Well I'm asking mostly because I wanted to try and do something with it myself. Not that I have the time currently.

fleure · Post by **fleure** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:19 pm #45640

I don't mind collaborating. The goal of the design doc's phase section was to split the workload into (mostly) encapsulated functionality, so if you wanted to get stuck in to one particular aspect, like alien attributes and care, that's fine with me.

deathhoof · Post by **deathhoof** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:41 pm #45644

What will happen to the mobs that can be spawned by botany or gold slime cores? What about mining asteroid lifeforms?

Lo6a4evskiy · Post by **Lo6a4evskiy** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:46 pm #45647

Your current way of doing things has the same problem almost everything in science has. It will have the same set of objectives, the same set of rewards and guides on how to get most of it in least amount of effort and time (though in this case slimes do provide some sort of randomization, but still).

What I think should be done is randomization wherever possible. Random central command objectives/requests that give rewards, rather than just a straight up table with how much each core is worth. Black market offers, with potential punishment by central command. Some emergency mandatory tasks that you have to accomplish. Something like that. It will make things a lot more dynamic and interesting.

Rather than having specimens as a reward (I don't even see how it makes sense that xenobiology staff receives xeno life forms as a reward), have them be a center of the actual job. Receiving eggs (or larvas or even baby monsters) and growing them into creatures, studying them in the process.

I thought of three ways of doing this. The first is very much like yours, being that species have their own fixed set of typical traits with possible minor randomizations. Sprites could obviously show their traits in their full glory, like making a big slimey creature that leaves a trail of acid everywhere it goes.

The second way would be to make a bunch of sorta generalized sprites and just go all random on it. The creatures would have less character to them, but it would allow for fun shit like those cute pets gobbling up monkeys by dozens and going on rampage if you fail to provide those monkeys.

The third way, probably the one I'd go with, that or the second one, is some middle ground. Perhaps creatures would have a few traits fixed to their species, but still have some major ones randomized.

The goal of it all could be raising a potent (potency sure could be a thing, like in botany, determining how acid that trail from example above is, for example) creature, having some rare specimen reproduce and sending offsprings to centcomm, actually studying (by determining the traits) an unknown creature, stuff like that.

So I guess my idea of xenobiology is scientists in bio suits slipping on acid trails and stumbling on explosive poo while running from rampaging human eating rabbit. It's basically a rough sketch that I had in my head.

deathhoof · Post by **deathhoof** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:10 pm #45651

Lo6a4evskiy wrote:Your current way of doing things has the same problem almost everything in science has. It will have the same set of objectives, the same set of rewards and guides on how to get most of it in least amount of effort and time (though in this case slimes do provide some sort of randomization, but still).

What I think should be done is randomization wherever possible. Random central command objectives/requests that give rewards, rather than just a straight up table with how much each core is worth. Black market offers, with potential punishment by central command. Some emergency mandatory tasks that you have to accomplish. Something like that. It will make things a lot more dynamic and interesting.

Rather than having specimens as a reward (I don't even see how it makes sense that xenobiology staff receives xeno life forms as a reward), have them be a center of the actual job. Receiving eggs (or larvas or even baby monsters) and growing them into creatures, studying them in the process.

I thought of three ways of doing this. The first is very much like yours, being that species have their own fixed set of typical traits with possible minor randomizations. Sprites could obviously show their traits in their full glory, like making a big slimey creature that leaves a trail of acid everywhere it goes.

The second way would be to make a bunch of sorta generalized sprites and just go all random on it. The creatures would have less character to them, but it would allow for fun shit like those cute pets gobbling up monkeys by dozens and going on rampage if you fail to provide those monkeys.

The third way, probably the one I'd go with, that or the second one, is some middle ground. Perhaps creatures would have a few traits fixed to their species, but still have some major ones randomized.

The goal of it all could be raising a potent (potency sure could be a thing, like in botany, determining how acid that trail from example above is, for example) creature, having some rare specimen reproduce and sending offsprings to centcomm, actually studying (by determining the traits) an unknown creature, stuff like that.

So I guess my idea of xenobiology is scientists in bio suits slipping on acid trails and stumbling on explosive poo while running from rampaging human eating rabbit. It's basically a rough sketch that I had in my head.

This reminds me of many good rounds in dungeon crawl stone soup where I died to some mundane creature that happened to be carrying stupidly robust artifacts that completely changed how the creature would normally function. Fund it.