I’ll try to keep this short, I’ve been tossing around the idea of a lion pride simulator in my head for my next project and I need some outside input and ideas to decide whether to go ahead with it.
Basically you’d start with a small group of lions, raise them, recruit other lions, breed and grow your pride. I’d probably add some sort of building aspect (not 100% on this… I mean, they’re lions).
Each lion would have a different look, personality and stats.
Basic tasks you would control
-Assign roles: hunters, defenders (of the young)… need more roles
-Define hunting areas, exploration areas, home areas etc
-Take direct control of a lion to give specific commands
-Some influence on how food is divided
-Some influence on who is the alpha
Challenges
-Finding food/hunting
-Protecting your young from hyenas/other prides (maybe poachers?)
-Finding (or building) shelter from the weather
I’m imagining something along the lines of Banished or Rimworld.
I feel this could make a cute mobile game, but I probably need to decide what the game really is before choosing the platform.
Any ideas on how I could turn this idea into a game are greatly appreciated!
Moderately related to what you’re suggesting: take a look at Sonic Adventure 2’s (1 or 2 really) Chao Garden. It has a fair amount of depth, though it’s very cutesy in style.
I was taking a look at making a “clone” but I’ve stepped away from it for now. Anyway, it seems related.
@Kiwasi Hmm I probably won’t be targetting children, I’d like to leave my options open for gore and realism.
I had a quick look at Nniche. Looks quite interesting with the different types of fantasy animals, I wonder if breeding different coloured lions with slightly different sized features would have the same appeal - I feel I’d have to stray from the realism if I wanted to allow further customization e.g. Black lions with giant ears and blue eyes
If you’re not targeting children, I’d make it based on a lion’s genetic line. Start out the game as a young male lion recently cast out of its pride as it reached adulthood. Band together with other cast out lions for mutual survival as you grow larger increasing your stats, on the look out for a weak pride to attempt to take over.
Once taking over a pride of your own, you wipe out all the cubs and begin producing new cubs of your own (this is exactly what real lions do by the way). All cubs from your genes are now also controllable by the player. Females remain in the pride into adulthood and help with defending the pride against other opportunistic males attempting to take your pride from you, and are controllable if they are of your genes. Cast out your male cubs as they reach adulthood to avoid competition, or switch your main lion to one of the young males to continue your pride when your original male reaches old age.
All along the game includes territory control, hunting, and defense of your main lion and pride. Defending against an occasional human poacher would also be a nice touch. Game ends if there are no male lions alive to control.
I’m working on a project that is very similar to this, but different species. In my project, I am aiming for an immersive level of realism – as much as reasonable.
@Joe-Censored That’s pretty much exactly what I was imagining. I just don’t understand why you would cast out the cubs from a pride you take over. Is this what happens in nature? I get the whole passing on your genes thing, but why not just keep them around for some extra muscle? Is it because they won’t be loyal?
@BIGTIMEMASTER Sounds interesting. I’ve got a lot on my plate atm but I’ll hit you up about it if I need something to do
Or the lion killing the cubs that aren’t his own in order to propagate his own offspring. Grim and dark, while being hunted by bow and spear. While being shot by dentists just because they can.
Yeah, that’s what I was referencing with my original post. New alpha lions kill or cast out (I’d heard they kill them) cubs to bring the female lions into heat to carry HIS cubs and propagate his genes.
@EternalAmbiguity Sounds like a brutal world. I could just make it an option in the game. You can keep the existing cubs around but they have a chance to turn on you! Sounds like an interesting game mechanic nonetheless.
And of course it would keep female lions from wanting to Woo Woo. Got to have Woo Woo in a creature sim - I was actually working a little bit on adding it to my game today.
Yeah in the real world the new dominant male kills all the cubs regardless of gender that aren’t from him. It is so he can replace them with his own cubs. The casting out of cubs only happens to males where he is the father, and happens as they reach adulthood so they don’t compete with him for the pride’s females and so they can go find their own pride to take over. Very few male cubs make it to full adults.
If the game was for adults it would be interesting to simulate all that. If it was targeting children I’d make it look more like the Lion King movie
@Joe-Censored That would definitely be an interesting mechanic. I’d definitely make it a decision for the player. Whether they keep the unrelated cubs to grow their population, or keep a smaller, more loyal population. Also you could choose to cast out males as they get older, or just watch them compete for dominance if you want a new leader.
Is inbreeding a problem in the wild? I imagine having a larger gene pool would be an incentive to move in on other prides to increase the genetic diversity and “healthiness” of your newborn lions.
