Procedurally generated alien life forms

[Cathy]

I can imagine being sat in my cockpit, landed on some exotic alien world looking at the scenery and thinking this is a nice place to retire to.

Then one of these critters stomps by and ruins it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfb_fJWlF0A

That movie does not end well

 

[Patrick_68000]

I am sure such a large creature put a dent into your shore leave

I am less worried about large creatures which you should be able to see miles away.
Imagine small creatures slipping in your ship and you cause later possible parasite issues on agricultural places because YOUR ship brought space herpe to their world...oops...wrong movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-me2inj1nNw
In space no one can hear your scritching...until you reach custom ;p

I hope that there will be a disinfection program in the washing stations, for the spaceships. For the small creatures, I would also like to take my cat for monitor the cargo compartment.

 

[Magma]

That movie does not end well

To be fair, the whole thing is a massive depression-fest. Never live in a Stephen King novel.

On the alien front, I don't mind if they're created by procedural generation or by the staff at ED, just please never allow mods that let users make their own designs. I still remember the horror of what happened when Spore was released and the awful, awful abominations of nature and general good taste that appeared on Youtube.

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

Can this be programmed? seriously? It's just amazing how technology developed so far!

I don't see why not. If you think ED will have 400 billion systems, and possibly trillions of unique planets and moons, it shows you how powerful procedural generation is. The parameters would take into account the gravity and atmospheric conditions the life-form evolved in.

Just look at the amount of weird creatures living on this alien world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLRijkhDqRU

Imagine finding a gas giant and flying through its upper atmosphere scooping fuel, and seeing a gigantic balloon-type creature coming into view - something 10 times bigger than a blue whale!

I wonder if it'll be friends?

 

[Cosmo Bozo]

To be fair, the whole thing is a massive depression-fest. Never live in a Stephen King novel.

It's a long time ago since I read it but didn't the book end differently to the film?

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

That movie does not end well

I thought it was a brave ending for a movie. Lets face it hollywood usually churns out stuff that has to leave you with a feel good factor (good for US sales apparently). So it made a refreshing change to come out of the cinema as miserable as sin

Almost as good an ending as Blake's 7.