Hoffmann's Blobs (WARNING - picture links broken :-( )

Active development of content (Art, story, etc.). Content slated for inclusion will be listed in the parent forum.

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pincushionman
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Post by pincushionman »

I personally prefer the slow, cruising spread over jump. Ripping apart space-time and maintaining that tear should be an incredibly energy-intensive process.

And I'm not sure so much about the "hive mind" concept -- Ants and wasps have near zero individual intelligence and can't combine these intelligences in any way (other than simple communication, which isn't really "collective intelligence") -- they just have instincts to do the job they do and they do it well -- and they have worked and spread over the globe for perhaps longer than we have.

As for discovering them, having the discovery happen during game-time might be cool, but it would be unrealistically fast in terms of development. Real research of this kind takes months, years, and decades. Perhaps they are often-encountered entities, but no one knows where they come from.

*The following relies on two things: 1) a single nebula can extend over several star systems. 2) Nebulas are generally avoided; there are no planets w/in them and the "denseness" fouls up long-range tachyonic sensors. So trade routes generally go the long way around them, leaving nebulas as fairly empty space w/in Confed territory.*

the player picks up an urgent delivery mission. In order to reach the destination in time, the player MUST fly through the heart of one of these multi-system-wide nebulas. Since nobody goes there, nobody knows that this is one of the "breeding grounds" and YOU are the first ship to be attacked by these beings.

With this the player's actions can thus be the trigger to launch large-scale mapping and exploration of these large nebula groups to find which ones contain these beings and which do not, which will result in more discoveries about the creatures, as well as "open" new save trade routes through unnocupied nebulae. It could also trigger increased pirate activity.

It would also be cool to come up with things their dead bodies could be used for -- then the player could take missions to either participate in or patrol against poaching.
Conquer space!
-pincushionman

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Kansas really is flatter than a pancake!
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jackS
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Post by jackS »

I think that aspects of a "hive mind" are fine, so long as we don't expect it to be just a big analog of a giant mult-part human mind - namely that the hive/collective nature of the beings does not result in amplification of all, or even most, dimensions of the mental abilities of the single entity.

I'm particularly keen on collective memory being the most powerfuly amplified aspect of the group awareness. Awareness is also a key issue with respect to communal intellect - I'd go for the communal mind being something only very dimly aware of its own existence, without particularly ascribable ego or identity, less an issue of all of the constituent beings wandering around going "we are one" than all of the constituent beings knowing on some level that "I am two". The commonality would have character and identity in the same way that the aggregate written works of all mankind over all our years have a character and identity that one imagines to be uniquely human. In some way, it would almost be like having the blended voices of one's ancestral ghosts always whispering in your ears.

Changes and reactions to anything on a group level would be necessarily slowed by the distribution of the individuals that make up the commonality and the time-lags in communication between elements. Time, unlike the simple ordering of events we are accustomed, to would be more abstract in such a distributed system. Perhaps they do not even comprehend the discreteness of the present and the past in the same way that we do.

I'd also see them, at least some of the subspecies, as being individually quite more intelligent than dogs, much more like the cetaceans, and others being much less intelligent than even the most inbred canine. But I'd like to see the intellects as not being possessed of the time-driven, goal-oriented rush of human existence - of beings awash in memories and unhurried to greet the future. Beings less obsessed with the concreteness of existence, being themselves each part of something without fixed or particular form. Handicapped (in the Niven sense of not having dextrous manipulators) and atechnological, their lives are uncomplicated by advancement or (each creature intensely in need of many other beings cooperating to be able to pass on its genes) individual bouts of avarice. Those with the capacity to be so, curious, those without that capacity, steadfast in supporting those that are. Capable of violence, but not of anger, intense cooperation, but neither love nor friendship. Arcane without deception or obfuscation, unquestionably alien and mind-bogglingly old, wandering slowly through void and frolicking through great clouds of gas.
Anax
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Post by Anax »

how about genetic memory? (could be in addition to or instead of other theories). Like the go'ald things in stargate. so it could be not so much really old, just reproduce with the same memories etc...
jackS
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Post by jackS »

Anax wrote:how about genetic memory? (could be in addition to or instead of other theories). Like the go'ald things in stargate. so it could be not so much really old, just reproduce with the same memories etc...
Personally, I'm not really a fan of genetic memory. ... maybe I'll explain why later (in a bit of a rush at the moment) but... not really a fan at all.
Fendorin
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Post by Fendorin »

i don't know what is look like

because i never see the Picture ( the link was broken before i discover VS)

but i did a nice blob:
if its possible to use Procedural texture with VS engine?

the blob was made with 3 "eggs" with different transparency
and i thought why not animated this 3 eggs for turning in different and slow mouvement for create a light effect?
but for the moment i don't know how to use the animate tool's part of blender
next time maybe i will learn and animate this Blob

if some body want do it
i will send him the blend.file

say me the one you prefer:

Image
Image
Image
Image
loki1950
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Post by loki1950 »

It was broken when i joined too :cry: but i like your conception now hopefully le Minister does as well :wink:

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Post by Deus Siddis »

Fendorin wrote: if its possible to use Procedural texture with VS engine?
Yes from what I understand, but I am not sure about Voronoi applied to the glow shader in particular.

What might work great for these though is that ramp shader used for planets that makes them bluish around the edges to simulate the scattering effect of the atmosphere. Maybe that is only set to work on spherical objects though?

Anyway, regardless of VS' procedurals, you can bake a procedural texture to a UV texture in blender. It works the same way for AO or Normal bakes except you hit "Textures" in the bake panel.
the blob was made with 3 "eggs" with different transparency
and i thought why not animated this 3 eggs for turning in different and slow mouvement for create a light effect?
but for the moment i don't know how to use the animate tool's part of blender
next time maybe i will learn and animate this Blob
JackS told me that you have to choose between using LoDs or animations in VS, which means choosing between a static or a faceted looking model. Or wait until the game is ported finally to the OGRE graphics engine, it supports skeletal animation and I would think vertex animation as well.
say me the one you prefer:
I prefer numbers 2 and 4.
jackS
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Post by jackS »

There's no need for them to all look exactly the same, so feel free to keep trying out additional textures - we can end up taking more than one, perhaps assign different textures to different models representing different life-stages and such. All 4 current ones certainly have some charm. 1&3 are a bit busy and 2 & 4 are somewhat plainer, but I'd be happy with any of them
Neskiairti
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Post by Neskiairti »

i like the busy ones :P but i have a thing for the 'ripple shadow' texture >.>

otherwise, yo might wanna try different shapes too.. like make it squat some times.. malformed in another.. tapered and long like you have them now.. and so forth.
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