Sunday, January 20, 2013

Creatures Heatmap

I know, I've been totally inactive lately, sorry.

I haven't much to show for myself, but I have been working on this:


It's the buggiest and slowest thing in existence right now and I'm not sure it'll ever be in a releasable state, but it's functional, at least. It's just a sort of overlay that tracks where creatures hang out over time. The yellow-to-pink areas show where creatures have spent more time, and the green-to-blue areas where creatures rarely linger. Not too surprisingly, the hotspots are where the food is! Ignore the floating orangish blocks; just one of many bugs.

I may do a few studies with this in different metarooms to find out what parts of the rooms creatures are using and which they might be totally avoiding. It might also be used with different breeds of creatures to see which ones tend to travel around more. Any other uses you guys can think of?

I've also been considering re-starting Hera in a different world and with a slightly different twist, if anyone is interested. I'd like to ask you guys though: do you prefer "world update" sorts of posts to be in picture-and-explanation format, like most of my posts, or might you prefer a video format?

Lastly, a post over at Grendel Man's blog reminded me that there are a few areas of the CC that need attention. Sadly, there's really not a whole lot of activity in the community lately, let alone motivation to contribute or help out. I'll admit I've kind of been stuck in the same rut. I've been brainstorming an idea that I hope might kick us into action, but it's going to be up to you: Would you be willing to contribute something to the community as a means of earning agent releases for all? I've posed this question on Creatures Caves, and would be really interested to know what you guys think.

And for all you reading this... thanks for not giving up on me just yet!