Just reposting from the other thread that sort of got a bit trollish: Based on what I've seen so far in this game and its engine, it seems like keeping the main game mode as a creative sandbox and adding in "mini game" modes with updates would be a really cool way to go. Creative types get their fix in, FarmVille types get their time management, murderous Pino butchers can have their fun, etc. It would keep the game open and could easily involve the community in its future direction through suggestions and feedback (as you guys are already doing!). An idea for a game mode: start with X resources. Each critter and land deformation costs resources. You gain resources by creatures reproducing. See how large a herd you can manage on a preset world. Occasional predatory incursions can be fought off by spending resources on the Lightning tool (or disintegration button, whatever you wanna call it ) or deforming land to isolate your herd (but now there is less food to go around, less room to grow, etc). Give a timeline to reach certain goals. Seems like it wouldn't be super hard to implement based off of what's already in game. Flip the tables a bit. Have random preset worlds already populated (kinda like Solitare apps that keep score based on the "puzzle" number) and give the player something like 3 predators they can place on the world. Once placed, time how long it takes for them to devour everything! Poor placement = slow reproduction and longer time to travel between herds. Just a nifty way to watch everything get butchered and get a score for it haha!
I'd like to see more depth and configurability for lifeforms both flora and fauna. While it doesn't need pre-set goals trying to create dominant lifeforms be they plant or animal would be interesting. Or maybe trying to create the largest amount of stable different lifeforms, habitat tailored specifically for certain lifeforms, the largest group of symbiotic lifeforms... Maybe something like Simlife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7NZmv38Gk8
+1. I was thinking additional to animals, the vegetation could grow in it's niche micro-climate and if different variations can be pollinated then a new hybrid or new species of plant can be grown in particular environments/niches, thereby increasing the complexity of vegetation -> which could have a knock on the animal ecosystem. Certainly topology, near water, mountains, other types of veg combinations and idk about aspect even, could all factor in as well as ground type eg marsh near water, alpine near mountain and above tree line etc.
Or what about a creature counter? Keeps a count of the number of creatures per species, births per minute, deaths per minute, predator kills, etc. I think just that would give people some creative options to do on their own
I've been playing with this for a while, so, here's a small sugestion: zooming doesn't feel natural. Once the camera gets closer to the planet, zooming feels unresponsive; maybe you can do some tweaking with the formula that controls how close the camera gets to the planet. Something that depends on how close you are once you start zooming... I would try to post a trigonometric equation here, but I don't have any experiencie with iPhone apps
I would really like to see more variety in the animals and a sentient species which can build settlements. would it be possible i think so but i am no game programmer its just the game has so much potential
Check out the facebook Topia World Builder Page and the thread in my sig, they are far more up to date than this one. New update any day now, much much bigger update coming soon...
Some raw footage from the video i'm making, illustrates some of the world building tools: Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
