If you are reading this, thank you for sticking with the project through the long period of radio silence!
We are very much alive and have been hard at work on a new version of the game. It is supposed to turn what we had before into a comprehensive gaming experience and make all the AI/artificial evolution related things happen in real time, locally, on your platform, without a need for a network connection.
At the moment we are about halfway there, and if you are interested in seeing what we got so far in exchange for some feedback, we welcome you to participate in a beta-testing that will take place during the following month.
Contact us at houndlog@gmail.com with the word "Beta" in the subject of the letter, and we will get back to you with details!
'Wanna have lunch' update
This long-awaited update refines every aspect of the game's interface and finalizes the network protocol - genetic data will now be updated at regular intervals and is projected to be 95% renewed every couple of weeks!
We also got rid of the grid of coloured squares and introduced a new concept in the game - "The Cloud of Genes". Genetic data of all the organisms in the system, organisms themselves and the user now share the same physical space.
This allows for scenarios like an organism being inside its own chromosome, said chromosome being larger than the environment that the creatures normally occupy, the process of genetic recombination being interrupted by an organism eating one of its key components...
It also visualizes the entire process of artificial evolution and lets users literally get inside the genome.
The update includes:
|New interactive visualisation of the genome that lets the user perceive it the way AI does.
|New robots and new designs and functions for the old ones that incorporate creature generation in the environment as a physical process.
|New panels in the user interface that include navigation, tools for creature analysis and management of the genetic database.
|User rating system that allows for competition of players in the global ecosystem.
|Redesign of all the elements of the user interface, including creature editing, nervous system design, and robot management.
|Improved physics for the organisms and atoms' options.
|Optimisation of all the processes in the environment.
|Updated guides and tutorials with new more comprehensive explanations.
Some of these things haven't been tested once, so, expect new major bugs - the old ones supposedly have been taken care of.
"...Alright, alright, fine" Update
Well, that took a lot longer than expected...
Nevertheless, it's here!
This update brings voiced guides on game mechanics, both map and model editing, and expands the tutorial with detailed instructions on how to utilize various options, build nervous systems and architect the environments. All of the voiced parts now have subtitles, which can be turned on in the 'settings' menu, if you don't have them activated by default.
It also deals with 95% of bugs, we are aware of. The game is now supposed to run a lot smoother.
Some of the UI elements in model editor have been updated, and now you are able to easily change creature's size, rigidness and atom's mass, use the scroll wheel as well as +- buttons to change neuron's characteristics in neural editing (you kinda could do that earlier, but it was very finicky)...
We also changed the mechanics of the blue iterator neuron - it now has to be charged by another neuron to cycle.
Now, to the interesting part:
In this update we also made another genetic infusion. This is the last time, we do that, and from the next update the thing will be adding new stuff gradually instead of completely reloading it. As before, you can see our hands up in the air - 97% of the genetic material was already there, but now it is recombined, giving all of the genes environmental markers, which will make the system pick the genes so that they fit a specific map - you can now easily switch between environments and get different creatures from one to another!
Note that the old maps don't have any markers assigned to them, so if you already own the game and want to see the changes right away, delete the prebuilt maps before updating. And If you are building a map from scratch, it will take time for it to get its own environmental signature.
Research notes:
|Even though the genome is the same, we have registered several new creatures that appeared after we updated the aerodynamics option.
|Also some of the creatures are getting bigger and becoming more rigid. We don't know, why, but research guys say, it is a good sign(?)
|It seems that the nervous systems are also changing and becoming more stable.
|We noticed a creature that was using communication options, but did not have any receivers to get the signals from its peers. This trait is persistent and is still considered advantageous. We don't know, what it means.
Coming next: "Wanna have lunch?" update
The next update fully activates the network and makes your game connect to the cloud every time, something changes in the system - a creature is designed by the user or the enrironment shifts out of balance - which means new creatures appearing real time as well as a huge boost in evolutionary process. Research guys are saying that it will take two weeks tops to finish, so you will have to multiply that by 2.5 to get the actual time of release...
Bug solving and bug reporting
While we are making final tweaks to the big tutorial (that we had to expand to address all the feedback), here is a small but important feature that will make our cooperation easier: you can now report bugs or give feedback on things, you feel, should be explained better, in the 'report bugs' section of the help section of the main menu. If you can't figure out, what a button does, and you can't find out in three clicks or less, using the 'help' section or the 'Q' tips, we will address it!
Also here is a list of addressed issues:
|Crash when loading an operator during runtime
|Crash when entering map editing with 10+ creatures loaded
|Generating new organisms taking up to 3 minutes (now 5-7 seconds)
|Clumsy movement of the helper bot (can't really help with that - the thing has its own nervous system. It is a bit less wonky now though...)
|Inability to type in several characters in 'robotic testing' application
|That strange thing, where you can't create a connection between a neuron and an actuator, right-clicking a neuron and dragging, and have to counter-intuitively click the actuator panel first
|White flashes in the backgound
...Also robots
First of,
Ladies and gentlemen, we had our first genetic insertion! Basically, this means a restructured genetic database with lots of new creatures. If you look at your genome, it will be separated into sections, which represent now fully formed organisms. Technically, 95% of this information was already there, the thing just restructured itself. So, turn on your operator, check it out - maybe, some of it will actually survive!
Second of, we as a project do robots as well as software. If you go to 'help' section in the main menu in the game, you'll see 'robotic testing' option. It lets you apply for a program, where we make a robot out of one of your organisms and ship it to you!
We decided, it would be fair to make the first one for free. So, if you have something, you would like to be made in plastic, load it and hit that send button!
Just make sure that the thing is at least somewhat technically possible and note that each app is allowed to send only one application.
Even if your creature does not end up in a robot form, we'll still make a free tech-sketch of it:)
"No idea what I am doing" update: vol 2
HOUND has been updated with map editing tutorial!
As before, let us know if it got you stuck anywhere.
Also you can now switch window size in windowed mode with the same button, you use to toggle full screen:)
Coming up next week:
"Alright, alright, fine" update brings one huge voiced tutorial with subtitles that will lead the player through everything from the first minute.
And we wanted it to be a puzzle game so much...
Both organism creation tutorial and map creation tutorial will be extended to explain and show on practise all the special abilities for the organism atoms and map mechanics in the most spectacular way possible!
"No idea what I am doing" update: vol 1
HOUND has been updated with organism creation tutorial!
It can be accessed in the help section of the main menu. Tell us if it does a good job in explaining basic creature editing mechanics and if we should expand it with more creature types.
Also let us know if you want other parts of gameplay and mechanics explained aside from the 'Q' tips and the info in the help section.
Upcoming Friday: "No idea what I am doing" update: vol 2
This Friday we will introduce a similar tutorial for map creation and something called 'overseer protocol' - no idea, what it is yet.
Upcoming Monday: "No idea what I am doing" update
We are currently working on a branching tutorial on how to create various organisms and edit maps. It will be introduced in the next update along with subtitles for the voiceovers on Monday. Until then, tell us, what got you stuck or what mechanics should be explained better!
