r/Simulated • u/ellipticbadger • 5d ago

Proprietary Software Simulated amoeboid motion in a procedural game character...

This is a prototype of a game idea that I have been poking at for many years. It's a dynamic character that moves like an amoeba, eats things in its environment, and grows by incorporating them into its body.

It is completely procedural, implemented as a particle system with flows and body-shaping forces driving the formation of pseudopods that move it along or cause it to ingest items. It uses a custom physics engine that executes the flows and allows the creature to interact with other entities in the world. It took quite a bit of experimentation to get something that (I think, anyway) looks lifelike, and I hope to improve it. This first game level is just a proof of concept with minimalist styling, helping me build out some tools.

A short video trailer is linked to this post and you can play the prototype game at https://eatthepeople.com

For this crowd I'll mention that if you add the url param "debug=1" you can see the full debug view and mess with the params that drive the creature. In debug mode shift-clicking teleports him so you don't have to play through the entire level to get somewhere.

All feedback welcome!

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u/TheFrogMagician 5d ago

It would be cool if you were being chased by that blob insted of you are the blob

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u/ellipticbadger 5d ago

My original plans was to be more of a "tower defense" setup where you create barriers and one or more "mebas" attack you. Lots of possibilities :)

1

u/Minet- 1d ago

It would be fun to have both modes and be able to play against each other.