You need a thing for create-a-pet, where you piece together adjectives and an animal type on you explain what it would do.
You said Spectral MageBear, right? (This is following the second example, in case anyone viewing this is wondering) Also, is this format different from this format? Or is that just me being confused?
I agree that creating equipment or sprite-based augmentations to pets of any sort would be rather difficult to achieve, whereas making modifications to their type would be easy enough. You'd just let the random creature generator combine the two blended creatures in some new and interesting ways. Perhaps each trait that you acquire has a random chance to create a part related to the types of animals that have that trait, and you need 3 or 4 or perhaps 5 traits in order to synthesize an entirely new creature, whereas you would only need 1 or 2 traits to augment an existing creature. Also, due to the radiation and imprecise sciences involved, horrible accidents make occur and make your augmented or synthesized pet/creature into a horrible monstrosity that may or may not try and attack you on sight. Upgrading your equipment and assigning additional scientists to the Mutation Array would increase the chance of you getting what you want. Umm, also, I think that the "Stock" pet would just be a small-sized randomly generated monster with entirely heterogeneous traits (Hh, Jj, Bb, etc.). This way it won't be useless in breeding efforts, but it won't possess any unique or special characteristics for that species on its own. Finally, the "Mature" form of a pet could just be a variant of that creature that possesses similar traits (two legs, horns, long tail, etc.) but has a larger body frame. It might look odd, but it's like P*kemon, where the evolutions don't necessarily have to just look just like their smaller, less developed kin. Basically, the name of the pet is highlighted in whatever color I felt was appropriate. His actual name/title combination would be Killdeath(Field Bunny) the Fishslayer. The name of the pet is really unimportant, I suppose. Spectral could be a title conveying additional dodge chance or something, or perhaps stealthiness, etc, and Mage(Sub-type) Bear(Type) would be his species. Though, after reviewing the monster creation bits... I believe that perhaps two Subtypes could be applied, such as a Cybernetic(Subtype) Jungle(Environ) Mongoose(Type) named Alphabetsoup, whose titles is Jumper. Cybernetic: Provides resistance to heat and cold while taking additional damage from water and electricity. Jungle: Provides a passive bonus to stealth and allows for a pouncing attack. Mongoose: Provides a large critical chance when attacking an unaware target. Jumper: Grants the creature a +2 bonus to jump height.
So would that be displayed as <Prefix> <Name/Nickname> the <Suffix>? Though, Killdeath the Fishslayer would still be different then Bartholomew the Shadow Deer, right? Wouldn't that be <Name/Nickname replacing Type/Sub-Type> the <Suffix> and <Nickname> the <Type> <Sub-type>?
Yes, when in-game, the name of your pet would be "<Prefix> <Name/Nickname> the <Suffix>". The name would display instead of the nickname if none has been given. Examples: Newly caught Shell Penguin would simple be "Shell Penguin" Full name of a Nicknamed blank(no titles) would be "Donatello the Shell Penguin" Same Shell Penguin who spawned with a Environ Tag(Which is fairly rare) would be "Aquatic Shell Penguin" Again, the same Shell Penguin with a incredibly lucky two titles would be "Omniscient Aquatic Shell Penguin the Mighty" And finally, the Nicknamed Shell Penguin, same as in the last example would be "Omniscient Donatello the Mighty
So basically.. Elemental type, Animal Species, Unique suffix? I like that, but the suffix part I dont really understand.
Suffixes are earned, just like I said in the original post. They are earned by the pet's own actions, not yours, so you'd have to let your pet do the work for these titles. Doing things like killing certain types of mobs or spotting cloaked or sneaking mobs would grant the pet a portion of the required number for the Suffix. These are all things the pet might be doing normally, so you have to be careful about which pet you have active, as a pet can earn multiple suffixes, but only the first one earned will be displayed unless you exchange it at the Mutation Array for a hefty fee. Examples: The Hasty (+25% movement speed), earned by walking over X blocks. The Stalwart (+15% HP, +5 Defence), earned by taking X hits from hostile mobs. The Ignorant (-15% Energy Damage Taken), earned by not dying to a gravatic anomaly. Prefixesare titles that you earn for your pet by performing certain actions while they are active. They allow the pet to perform certain non-combat tasks such as spotting rare ore and treasure chests, or even glowing in the dark. Prefixes are ranked, so the first rank of "Seeker"(Spot treasure and rare ore) might only provide a 40-block search range for said items, whereas rank 3 would provide a 120-block search range. Rank 3 prefixes are permanent, so be careful to track the progress of their prefix ranks to avoid getting the wrong one to maximum rank and being stuck with it. Before you attain a rank 3 prefix, you can switch through all earned prefixes at any time. Examples(Values are per rank, max 3): Seeker (Grants 'Rare Find', 40 Radius), earned by being active while X rare items are found. Adorable (+5% sell value, -5% buy value), earned by being active during X pixels worth of transactions. Changeling (Grants Rank 1 'Morph'*), earned by being active while [???] *Allows the user to morph into a random small/medium/large(1/2/3) mob that the player has in their logbook. The effect breaks upon entering combat.
It gets revived back at the Mutation Array, so you have to go fetch it, wherever it is. Pretty much works the same way as your own respawning. All titles and ranks, etc. are kept through this process, but a small fee might be incurred, similar to being resurrected in Borderlands 2. EDIT: Perhaps it revives back on your ship. That would be a bit easier.
Say you had an extra pet - because we would never trade our dearly beloved pet who saved our lives on multiple occasion while carrying tons of our bits and bobs - would you be able to trade your pets with your friends?
Epicful..... Now all we need is a dev to say the go-ahead. Jungle Hasty Swooping Crow The Stealthy, it's time to give this post a +1!
Acid Centipedes huh? Meh, they're kinda overrated... The Blackhole Spiders on the other hand... they could be fun...