How much Evolution is involved with Warning Forever?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

How pre designed are the bosses in Warning Forever? I guess I'm wondering if anyone has actually taken the time to look and see whether you are sent to pre designed bosses based on your ability or if the engine actually creates bosses dynamically in response to your action? Or if you get pre designed bosses with slightly changing weapon placement.

I'm considering making a shmup like this but want to know to what extent the creator has let the creations evolve.

[captpain]

I don't know the answer to your question, but do you care to share your idea in a little detail? I'd be interested to hear what twists you'd make to the WF formula.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I love the game and would certainly credit the creator as inspiration. I would favor a more reactive style of evolution. I think I would like to try having pseudo symmetry with the bosses. I would defiantly want to note what direction of the boss was taking damage most and beef up the section while adding some slight weaponry to the other areas with each iteration. I don't want the boss having an unprotected ass and sprout a giant ass arm due to over attack on one side. I've always wanted to try a similar art style but with selectable colors. This is a very long shot but I would also like to give an editor where the player can make parts and the boss would randomly add them. I think it might be nice to have a sort of loadable profile so the boss can really evolve from each game to game. In this way you have an evolution enemy that has seen how you have played for hundreds of games and forces you to keep growing as a player.

Overall though my main interest is the boss randomly evolving and keeping the best iterations for the next iteration. I let the bosses randomly have small evolutions and then let is send the best ideas on to the next boss.

(for the first time the game is played)

Player gets compleatly random small boss
player defeats boss
boss adds weapons at random and keeps most effective weapons while ditching innefective weapons

Basically I would just keep adding a small amount random weapons and keep efficient weapons.


I would never have the know how but it would be cool to have a world wide project where players play the game and their bosses that kick their asses get sent into a huge database of "breeding" stock so that bosses are constantly getting more challenging. It is very possible to breed bosses. Actually scientists have been "breeding" ideas for some time now. I remember one experiment where they had a computer randomly generate antenna designs for a radio and the computer through natural selection choose a super efficient design by breeding successful randomly generated parent antennas.

[Ghegs]

Or if you get pre designed bosses with slightly changing weapon placement.

I think this is the case. All I really have to back it up with is this chart and my recollections of the game which I haven't played in quite a while, though.

[Taylor]

Wikipedia, which is never wrong, has a description on the evolution. And this flowchart is referred to by the official site (and Ghegs' post wasn't there, honest!)

The initial form of the boss is called the Pure Heart. The Pure Heart will take on new characteristics in response to the player's assault.

The top and bottom halves will gain characteristics based on the order of destruction of parts that are attached to the side of exactly one part , provided that there are available extensions to add for that half. The boss always has a vertical line of symmetry, so any destruction on one side of the boss is considered to have happened on the other side as well for extension purposes.

The Pure Heart has 8 vulcan cannons, and 4 corner pieces. Because the corner pieces are introduced as being attached to multiple parts, their destruction has no bearing on extension placement. The guns, however, do, being each attached to a single corner piece. For example, if a player destroys the gun that is lowest on the right, by the symmetry rule the gun on the left that matches is also considered destroyed. The boss will be extended at that point on both sides next round. Destruction of the other gun attached to that corner piece at this time will not cause an extension, because an extension is already being made to that piece. Destruction of the guns on the opposing piece also has no effect because the extension for that piece has already been chosen.

The next form adds a new body piece and two guns to each side of the bottom. If the player destroy one of the original guns left on the bottom before destroying the new body piece, it will cause an extension. However, if the new bodypiece is destroyed first, then the destruction of the original gun will NOT cause an extension, because another piece that was attached to the one it was destroyed first. However, there will be an extension on the new body piece, unless it is somehow destroyed without destroying either of its guns.

Note that if the original gun is destroyed first, and then one of the ones attached to the new piece is destroyed, it results in two extensions.

Once a certain number of extensions have been made to a side (top or bottom), that side evolves.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Thanks so much. Now I feel a bit better about this design. More reactionary dynamic evolution with less symmetry.

[zaphod]

There is much information missing from wikipedia.

Many factors affect evolution.

If a waepon kills the player, more of it is used in the next model, and it's efficiency is upgraded.

Conversely, if a weaon fails to kill the player, it is replaced with a different one on new parts.

the main form of randomness in the game is what new weapon is introduced when the ship is extended, if an old weapon has failed to kill the player.

Double armor (ISE-ONE) is of course the hardest one to get, as to get it you have to extend all parts equally, without extending too quicky.

[ROBOTRON]

There is much information missing from wikipedia.

Many factors affect evolution.

If a waepon kills the player, more of it is used in the next model, and it's efficiency is upgraded.

Conversely, if a weaon fails to kill the player, it is replaced with a different one on new parts.

the main form of randomness in the game is what new weapon is introduced when the ship is extended, if an old weapon has failed to kill the player.

Double armor (ISE-ONE) is of course the hardest one to get, as to get it you have to extend all parts equally, without extending too quicky.

That my friend is what makes "WARNING FOREVER" such a great shump.

(Dam that "GIGA BEAMED" Phoenix).