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Natural Selection v1.4b

Natural Selection

Summary:
Create your species and evolve your creatures from simple land animals to unique and powerful beasts. Fine-tune their genetic code in singleplayer, and then unleash them against others online!

Natural Selection is a sandbox game in which you design you own unique species of creature. At first your species is basic, with a preset size, colour and behaviour. Over time however, your creatures will adapt to their competition; potentially developing a wide array of abilities - anything from fire-breathing wolves to berserker polar bears is possible!

Features:
-Thousands of possible creature combinations
-Adapted save/load system for storing your creations (based on a script by TriggerHappy)
-Advanced creature AI, that controls everything from hunting to mating and nesting.
-Unprotected version can be found here. Mappers are welcome to take a peek under the hood and learn how everything works


Changelog:
v1.0 - Uploaded
v1.1 - Fixed an issue with loner AI. Baby aggressive creatures no longer flee. Fixed ability levelling issue.
v1.2 - Added 5 new abilities, 6 New creature models, fixed allied vision issue, more ai tweaks, pack hunting ability, new save/load system, numerous other bug fixes.
v1.3 - AI improvements, multiple bug fixes.
v1.35 - Fixed pack ability, added -fog and -cap commands, various other bug fixes/balance tweaks.
v1.4 - New terrain added! Credit goes to Saken for making this for me!
v1.4b - Revised terrain by Saken. A little more height variation added.


Keywords:
natural selection, evolution, sandbox, god, sim, creation, creator, toy, creature, species, adapt
Contents

Natural Selection v1.4b (Map)

This map is very interesting. The terrain and AI need improvement.

Terrain:
First step to improve the terrain would be height variations. Higher the ground under the trees a bit and add some random heights. Use more different textures. And use another tileset. I think that Ashenvale is ugly (but thats only my opinion) Search for some terrain templates.

AI: I made a giant lizard, carnivore, aggressive, lone hunter species. But most of them were just idle in the nest and starved until it was extinct. One of my lizards was attacked by a signle herbivore, tiny, cautious creature thing. AND IT RAN AWAY. that doesnt make sense at all. The medium-sized, carnivore, small pack-hunter creatures functioned very well, though. (if it helps you fixing it, I can send you the replay)

The map is very interesting and innovative. Keep working on it!
 
Level 4
Joined
May 1, 2008
Messages
80
Very interressing map.

I had fun making species, but i think there isn't enough choice.
I randomly made a middle herbivore creature who hunt in small pack and they took control of the whole map... I tryed to stop them with big lone hunter carnivore, large pack of small carnivore or herbivore... but nothing stopped them .. they extinct something like 5 species before i leave the game.

4/5.

I suggest you to add terrain influence, like animals who run faster in a swamp or who gain bonus damage in some rocky mountains. Or to made a random terrain.
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
i have found a bug

when a creature atemps to cast frost breath but before it is cast the target creature runs away the casting creature becomes "stuck", and unless commanded to do something, remains stuck.
 
Level 4
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
104
The map has great potential and I loved playing it.
Although there is plenty of stuff to improve, because it is very hard to control your units. (I know the point is to let them do it themselves)

* the hunting pheromones work kind of slow so there is no use for carnivores since the prey will be gone long before they arrive.

The creatures usually don't do a lot and without any influence it gets boring.
Besides its useless to control 1 creature when fighting a fast breeding type.

I think this game would do fine, and still keep it's point if you could set up hunting groups to locations etc. So you can still influence your units instead of seeing them get owned by the AI
 
Level 5
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
179
There was a bug with the loner AI's for both herbivore and carnivores, this has now been fixed. I'd be happy to add terrain effects once I get the current terrain looking prettier. As for balancing the ecosystem; more creatures seem to work best, you need a nice balance between herbivores and carnivores. One species will become the most dominant eventually however.
 
Level 3
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Messages
66
You say creatures grow till size 200, but.. Look at my humongus hydralisk!



Btw, the creature gave a false code. I left my pc a whole night open only to realise on the remake that the code was bugged (there goes the humongus hydralisk with four lvl5 abilities), so it is kinda gameruining.
 
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Level 1
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
2
Really interesting concept, I really like this map. Original and unique, it's interesting watching your species trying to survive and adapt with new abilities.
 
Level 10
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
409
I greatly enjoy the concept of this map and I look forward to trying it out, I'll edit this post after I do.

Edit: great map I enjoyed it, ended up with wind walking, stomping, bashing scorpions. I'd like to see spiders as a selectable unit as well.

I did notice that herbivorous will use their abilities on plants, my scorpions would stomp them and the flaming mammoths on the map would cast breath of fire on them.

Also, my cautious lone hunter scorpions would never defend themselves, EVER! They were the number 1 source of food in my little environment, because even though they would deal about 20 damage, they never fought back.

It would also be nice if there was a mode to make it so species didn't respawn when you made them extinct. Maybe it's only present in the unprotected v cause that was what I was playing, but it's kind of annoying when the comps just kept coming back after I eliminated them.
 
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Level 4
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
112
single player creating and fighting multiplayer? These types of map will need A LOT of anti-cheat systems.
 
Level 10
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
409
I noticed that all the players can see the other player's creature selection, making it hard for them to choose their own species because the other player's species selection is in the way.

Also, player 1 red has full view of the map, and the AI will cause player carnivores to go straight to other player's species, even if they've never met. Hunting shouldn't send them straight for the enemies, it should cause them to prowl the map.
 
Level 7
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Messages
257
Wow! i played this over 2hours, watching on my evil snapdragons how they increase theri numbers! But only spell i evolved was Frost bolt, Fire bolt, Wind walk and shadowmeld. But very original! i dont mind the terrain, at least it dont lag.
4,8/5, because i thing there are some problems with the Code loading, and the pheromones dont work very much. it reminds me of "Wiggles". and some other things.

(in wiggles, when you ordered your unit to do something, he was so lazy that he started working after 20minutes. really.)

but awesome.
 
Level 10
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
409
Annnnd it would be nice if my species would follow those pheromones that are supposed to make them do things. And it would be good if there was a way to control a squad instead of just one unit, as it is right now there isn't a way to destroy a nest if it's species are at it.

I had the whole map with my turtles and couldn't wipe out the enemy because of their single nest with three guys, my herbivores wouldn't respond to the hunt pheromones so I had no way of getting them to attack the nest.
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
bug: when people make thier speices, all exept red have thier species "stacked" with the others, so that you cant see what your doing, all you see is a comglomerate of different creatures.

also, sometimes creatures just stay there and dont do anything and die of starvation.
 
Level 2
Joined
Feb 22, 2010
Messages
14
Well. this map sounds great, but I hope it WILL be.. :D

Gotta admit it... This site is WAAAAAAAAAYYY better than Epicwar...... screenshots, long descriptions, and awesome approved maps... :D

Give me daily tips please

[email protected]

Daily tips please!!

<[email protected]>

Give me tiiipppss!!!
 
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Level 4
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
104
WOW great idea,
I was thinking of amphibious creatures myself but PLANTS , wow that would really rule.

I also think you should be able to select your creatures to see their hp and damage more easily. Also you could give them skills which would make them return to a target nest or something. It is a pain to see your specie split up in camps and eventually dying because they are with too little to defend their own nest.
 
Level 5
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
179
You say creatures grow till size 200, but.. Look at my humongus hydralisk!]
Btw, the creature gave a false code. I left my pc a whole night open only to realise on the remake that the code was bugged (there goes the humongus hydralisk with four lvl5 abilities), so it is kinda gameruining.

Woa! How did that happen!? A creature just lay a gigantic egg or something? It won't be able to load any creatures with size above 200.

I think the issues lie with a few memory-heavy triggers, such as the mating, spawning and loading. These tasks are done instantly, and if there isnt enough memory, they don't complete fully and you can end up with a broken genetic code. All sorts of crazy stuff could happen. I'm going to try and make these triggers happen over a few seconds, which should eliminate the problem ^^

Edit: Oh and I've already gotten a volunteer for the terrain, but once the main fixes are done I see no reason why we can't have multiple terrains if people still want to contribute (the save/load codes should work across them all).
 
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Level 5
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
117
This is a very interesting game. I just spent half the day evolving a Lizard creature. It got to size 94, and had shadowmeld and Forked lightning when a new ability came in. Windwalk! I was all set to release the windwalking forked lightning size 94 lizards upon the world of Battlenet, but my code didn't work.

Besides that one odd bug that has codes occasionally not work for whatever reason, I found this game very fun. I didn't experience anything that was destructive to the gameplay. The fact that the save/load codes are supposedly transferable is nice.

In general, I recommend playing this.
 
Level 4
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
84
I have been playing this and bot hosting this for awhile now and i have come across some possible places this could improve on.


OTHER STUFF:
--When you info stuff give more info, like how much mana they have.
--You Might have your own reasons against this, (because i have often been in that situation) but able to designate groups of up to like 3 or 4, as long as they aren't loners :D
--"mutal alliances" aka you can ally with one other unit (and a max of one) And become like lets say the hippo and the flamingo (or the specific kind of monkey i forget the name of and the kind of nut, maybe the brazil nut, that i also forget the name of) And this might entail interracial breeding? keeping the fathers form of course.
 
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Level 3
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Messages
66
Woa! How did that happen!? A creature just lay a gigantic egg or something? It won't be able to load any creatures with size above 200.

I think the issues lie with a few memory-heavy triggers, such as the mating, spawning and loading. These tasks are done instantly, and if there isnt enough memory, they don't complete fully and you can end up with a broken genetic code. All sorts of crazy stuff could happen. I'm going to try and make these triggers happen over a few seconds, which should eliminate the problem ^^

Edit: Oh and I've already gotten a volunteer for the terrain, but once the main fixes are done I see no reason why we can't have multiple terrains if people still want to contribute (the save/load codes should work across them all).

I dont know how that happened. I just alt tabbed and saw this monster infront of me. I was selectively breeding them based on size factor.
 
Level 4
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
84
Oh and it is pretty easy to get a size 999 monster. You just . . "breed" stuff with 200 or even 196 (highest i ever got before 999 size) and then start a new colony with them. Their offspring WILL be size 999. Also sometimes black :p

And speaking of a glitch

When something is 10 10 10 color wise, it wont' show up black, but the clones will. ANd could color be changeable when making your creature? :D
 
Level 5
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
117
Two Possible Factors

Freaks of nature (the size 201+ Mutant Babies) seem to occur every time the 99-100 barrier is crossed. I haven't yet evolved a creature beyond 99, but when I have a creature close to that barrier, it evolves a Mutant baby.
This can be seen with this Herbivore:
0E1T-255I-00UK-0000-0000
It is size 99, and shells out mutants. The same Herbivore at a smaller size:
0E1S-1XCY-00UK-0000-0000

I also think the problem I experienced with an Invalid code was due to abilities. I -believe- that abilities change the RGB up or down by a certain amount. That is generally fine, except I don't think that the game accounts for it right. As such, my 30/100/30 Lizards really have a RGB of 10/100/30. So when I evolve their red down lower than 20, the color becomes negative, even though the values show positive due to an ability. This invalidates the code. I am not certain, having not spent enough time looking at the custom map code, but I believe that this is probably the source of it.

I also think the reported bug of the cluster for everyone except player 1 comes from the fact that all players except player 1 shares vision. Eliminating shared vision will fix that problem. I do think that player 1 can see the entire map, but no others can, should be addressed ASAP, since it creates an Imbalance situation. The effects of it are minor, especially with shared vision on for the rest, but the perceived imbalance could cause problems.
 
Level 7
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Messages
257
also, you could add some ally system (to be ally with other animals!), just make some ability "peace" and war" with triggers

unit casta ability, equal to Peace

make (owner of ability beign cast) treat (owner of targeted unit) as ally
make (owner of targeted unit) treat (owner of ability beign cast) as ally

i tried to make this myself, but i got "older" version of editor, so error occured.
and add it to toolkit.
I would be very happy to see this in next version :p
 
Level 4
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
84
Two comments, if you save a game and then load it you can freely select any unit and your tool box :D

Also when loading a lot repeativly it can get messed up. I was looking at all ym codes and trying to label them, and a bunch of them ended up having abilities (i found an annoying way around this, i had to save another random monster, then use the code for the one i want for it to work).

Also along those lines while i was doing that someone made a monster and it STOLE my abilities! Or at least he ended up with perma immo spikes electric charge andWW.

Also along those lines, how does one lvl an ability? The only lvled one i have ever seen was a lvl 5 electric charge (it was just there one mutation, and i have never seen a lvl 1 of it)

Also idea, not sure if this is there or not because i didn't pay attention, but maybe make it so depending on the size of the creature they get less/more mana from plants/corpses. So larger sized species have smaller populations, this might also require a buff for big monsters :p But that would allow for giant (t-rex like) creatures to roam around and be "unf!ckable" but have few of them. OF course that would probably go hand in hand with the "avoid pheromone" someone mentioned (now that just reminded me of Majesty).
 
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