Miscellaneous Creatures 2 Genetics Information
Image Planes, Sprites and Attachments, Sprite FIle Arrangements, Pose Genes, and the Seven Stages of Norn.
Here is a collection of various bits of information relating to the creatures and their genetics.
Image Planes
Creatures occupy image planes 1000-3000. The reason they occupy a range
of planes is obvious when you realise that they are made up
of arms and legs - which must neccessarily have an ordering
to them. If you make a vehicle for Creatures to ride in you
must make sure
you have enough space within the vehicles front and back
to completely enclose it - otherwise arms and legs may appear
hanging out of
the sides!
Sprites and Attachments
The sprite and attachment files for a creature are named using a formula
which describes the body part, gender, stage of life and variant. The table below shows the values:
|
LXYZ . extension
|
| L:
Body Part |
X:
Gender |
Y:
Stage of Life |
Z:
Variant |
.extension:
S16 or ATT |
| Body
Part |
Gender |
Stage
of Life |
Norn
Variants |
| A:
Head |
0:
Male Norn |
0:
Baby |
A:
Brown mouse |
| B:
Body |
1:
Male Grendel |
1:
Child |
B:
White haired pixie |
| C:
Left Thigh |
2:
Male Ettin |
2:
Adolescent |
C:
Devil/Blondie |
| D:
Left Shin |
3:
Male Geat |
3:
Youth |
D:
Santa |
| E:
Left Foot |
4:
Female Norn |
4:
Adult |
E:
Purple Mountain |
| F:
Right
Thigh |
5:
Female Grendel |
5:
Old |
F:
Forest |
| G:
Right
Shin |
6:
Female Ettin |
6:
Senile |
G:
Ron |
| H:
Right
Foot |
7:
Female Geat |
|
H:
Hebe |
| I:
Left
Humerus |
|
|
I:
Malay |
| J:
Left
Radius |
|
|
J:
Alba |
| K:
Right
Humerus |
|
|
K:
Goldy |
| L:
Right
Radius |
|
|
|
| M:
Tail
Root |
|
|
|
| N:
Tail Tip |
|
|
|
Sprite File Arrangement
Each sprite file for each body part needs to be arranged in a consistent
order to allow the correct facial expressions, for example, to
be displayed. The ordering that is used can be summed up by describing
it as having each body part arranged in the following order: Face
Left - 4 poses, Face Right - 4 poses, Face Front, Face Back. But
this doesn't describe the specifics of, for example, how the 4
poses for each direction are arranged - or mention how the head
graphics use the previous ordering
per facial expression. The
easiest way to explain is to illustrate, and each body part in
the table above is linked to an example image showing the ordering
of the parts of the sprite file.
Pose Genes
Pose
Genes are made up of a 15 character string, the ordering of each
element is as follows: Direction, Head, Body, Left Thigh, Left
Shin, Left Foot, Right Thigh, Right Shin, Right Foot, Left Humerus,
Left Radius, Right Humerus, Right Radius, Tail Root, Tail Tip.
The
meaning of each pose gene element is explained below:
Direction
- 0: Face away from screen
Direction
- 1: Face out of screen
Direction
- 2: Face right
Direction
- 3: Face left
Direction:
- ?: Face towards _IT_
Direction
- !: Face away from _IT_
Head
- ?: Look towards _IT_
For all Parts - 0, 1, 2, 3: Furthest down/back pose to furthest up/forward
pose. Each body part has 4 degrees of rotation on it to the left and right.
For all Parts - X: No change in part arrangement
The Seven Stages of Norn
Well, all creatures really - but the play on words would have got too
lengthy :-)
Each creature has 7 life stages that they pass through, these are:
| Stage
of Life |
Number |
| Baby |
0 |
| Child |
1 |
| Adolescent |
2 |
| Youth |
3 |
| Adult |
4 |
| Old |
5 |
| Senile |
6 |
These numbers are used for sprite/attachment naming (as mentioned above), but also come into play during genome creation - switch on times, for example. Not all life stages need a graphical representation - and as shipped C2 does not use them all. Instead the creature will use graphics for the previous life stage, if it can not find
ones specifically for the stage it is in now. This explains why if you use the testing menu, and use 'Force Ageing' you wont always see a graphical change in your creature - it all depends on whether
new graphics are provided for that life stage.
Topic Keywords: creatures2 genetics
