Anyone know if the generation of monsters will be related in some way to the planetary environment? Eg. Green skin to blend in with plants
I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but I assume there will be something like "eco-systems" in which there is a group of the same type of plants and animals. You can look at the list of announced game information, maybe I missed something explaining this.
Good question, I don't remember reading anything in this regard and the List doesn't seem to have any hints. I would expect it to be so, since it makes sense to use the planet's details to restrict spawning to those creatures that make sense for it, to avoid volcanic penguins or aquatic creatures on a desert for example. Having them blend with the environment would be only a step forward from that, since color is simply another of the procedurally generated "stats" for creatures.
It probably will -- seeing the sticklers for detail that Chucklefish are, I believe they won't omit such an important part of planetary exploration. But, of course -- lava fish.
I would expect there to be restrictions as well, both to build a believable ecosystem and to ensure variety. It will make the worlds much more believable when creatures look like they belong, and it would damage this if a planet had nothing but birds for instance.
Oh, but wouldn't it be terrifying if a planet had "only" small, extremely aggressive carnivorous birds that hid in trees and swarmed you thirty-to-one? Ones that had razor-sharp claws and beaks, striking from all sides with swooping attacks with such agility that, coupled with their small size, it would be very hard to hit them with anything but AoE weapons. Only a flamethrower would be a good enough defense. They could get in through single-tile holes in any structure, or even better: make them super woodpeckers, so they would eventually break through any building that wasn't strong enough (like steel or better). Now that would be a challenge. Want to make it worse? Make them nocturnal. I would be scared to go out by night, you couldn't even see them coming. Imagine coming down to a planet for the first time and building a temporary house out of some weak material, only to hear, after sundown, the noise of their little beaks having at your refuge, being barely able to see them, knowing that it's only so long before they get in. Of course, this doesn't mean the planet would have no other creatures, just that those would have to live underground. Man, so many possibilities for the procedural generator... if something like this is not on the finished game, I think I'll have to mod it in myself.
Sounds interesting. Indigenous Red/Blue/Green monsters, ya know? Would work for the creatures, I suppose, but humanoid enemies would of course remain whatever color they were. Sentient species adapt their environment to fit them, not the other way around =P.
