I have been wanting to write a mod to add a lot of animals to DDA and also make add the option to start as any of those said animals instead of being a human survivor you play as say a snow leopard that was in the zoo and when the shit hit the fan the keepers let all the animals out and you start out in with all these other zoo animals loose around friend and foe.
Just a thought I just think it would be cool to go around mauling random NPCS as bear so you can know what it feels like for the bear every time he sneaks into your bed and wakes you up softly.
I think it sounds like it would be a lot of fun, at least for a little while. Animals could get the scentmap bionic effect by default so they could see scent and a claw-bionic equivalent. It could possible be very neat. I’ve played and loved games like Wolf.
Doing so would be a bit of work, but not actually all THAT much thinking about it - making sure the combat makes sense, disabling the picking up and using of equipment and a variety of skills.
I’m not sure how long it would stay interesting, but I’d definitely give it a try. The more work you put into it (animal-only mutations? Different starting trait options?) the better it would be, obviously.
Well the main reason I wanted to work on this is how the wild life would interact with each other in a way that would feel like they were different besides just stats.
The first time I met a jabberwok it was surrounded by wolves and I thought to myself how would a pack of wolves react to that disgusting mass of parts.
personally when I see he jabberwok I think of the creature from ‘The Thing’ and how the guys dogs reacted when the thing stated freaking out.
edit: implementing a fear system for the animals would be fun as well seeing as I think explosions would scare a bear away from you
Or, you could hook up to a Matrix-like device in a secluded lab to assume a form of a pack animal, such as the one you’re talking about. Upon defeating the threat that lies within and finishing the tactical phase of the game, you would want to step on a pressure plate that opens up a door to whatever place it happened at, and spend the next month or two trying to find it across the map.
We already have a system like this in place actually, many animals are afraid of fire for example. It needs more triggers and whatnot added to it though.
...a snow leopard that was in the zoo and when the shit hit the fan the keepers let all the animals out and you start out in with all these other zoo animals loose around friend and foe.
Merely agreeing with your idea of having an ingame zoo, I imagined someone snatched a pair or two to partake in some gruesome experiment with mutagens, electroshocks and mutilation, essentially all the wrong things. For the sake of the experiment, they even had an arcane device plugged in to try and understand better what's gonna be happening to those poor beasts; you get to have a first person experience with just plugging in, Matrix-like. Now, the quest can be more interesting, and the character can hack the system, slide open the bars and unleash the predators to deal with their captors. Furthermore, he can coordinate the actions of the few besides him, as to try and finish the mission more efficiently, ensuring the outcome without casualties. After a fierce battle, the beast you're playing with can step on a pressure plate and release himself along with the others into the wild, leaving a door to an unknown science facility widely open. A pack of animals runs free, you plug out of the system having successfuly completed a task, only to try and locate the hidden location.
In a nutshell, can you agree, your idea with a little twist in the plot. I dig it as an interesting one.
how about a zoo area? you can add exotic animals that got out of there cages. could be a big area and they can wander?
lions,tigers, and gorrilas oh my?
since we have radiation and a sci-fi theme also, you can add some form f sci-fi mutant animals. OR possibly animals inspired from the science lab content (genetically spliced together. So GorillaLions.
We already have a system like this in place actually, many animals are afraid of fire for example. It needs more triggers and whatnot added to it though.
Well, the ones that are discussed here are actually the hardest to code. The territorial ones, that take some sort of wildlife pride, and joy, with a scent of being vein about other species. I know for sure that lions would never partake in anything above their intelligence that involves the salvation of them, and their kind. I imagine them always getting up killed, even terrible as they are, as a result of their own mistakes. Guys at the Animal Shelters Worldwide go into superhuman efforts to get them to be healthy and reproductive and dedicate years and years to it, and they live to see only some results.
I reckon that coding such a thing, other than the usual wildlife that's based on survival instincts, is maybe harder than making up the physics for the Netherworld.
I've just been clobbered by a moose, so I'm just fired up to talk about all that. :-)