How do you create theses insect/plant like critters

from these basic shapes?

That was the question I posed myself for the Ludum Dare 24 compo. The theme was evolution and I wanted to create some little critters which could change there appearance smoothly.

The basic shapes you see above can be easily described using polar coordinates.

Polar coordinates express a 2D curve in the form r(t). For each angle t the function r(t) gives the radius at this angle. Here are the definitions of the simple shapes above:

• Sphere: r(t) = 1 (a circle has constant radius)
• Star: r(t) = r0 + (1-r0)*(1-abs((n*t mod 2 pi)/pi-1))^p. This is a bit complicated – I could not find an easier definition. n is the number of star corners and r0 and p are additinal parameters.
• Rose: r(t) = cos(n*t), where n is the number of rose petals.
• Cardioid: r(t) = 1 + cos(t + pi). This is a funny mathematical object.

Now how do we get the complex shapes? Easy: they are formed buy just using a linear combination of the simple shapes.

For example we use the two simple shape functions r_star(t) and r_cardioid(t) and form the linear combination r(t) = a*r_star(t) + b*r_cardioid(t). Using a and b equal to 0.5 yields the third shape you can see above.

You can use my critter generator to create your own critters.

Also, play and rate my compo entry!

For this Ludum Dare I did a game using Unity 3D. It has little procedural generated bugs and plants!

You can play my entry here and leave me a comment

I finished in time at 3:00 am In the last hours I actually added only completely sensless features, like “Darwin says…”.

My game plays around with the evolutionary pressure you apply on your environment. If you are too greedy and extinguish all the yummy animals and plants you will soon find yourself in a hazardous environment and die.

Here is a screenshot:

You can see my entry here and play it over here.

Timelapse and post mortem will follow in the next days after I got some sleep and did some work.

Some improved graphics and gameplay in the last hours, but now it is time to sleep.

If you like, you can play the current version here (Unity HTML Webplayer).

Controls: Move with WASD or arrow keys. Attack with space.

Unity is tricky. Progress is slow. Nothing is easy.

If you like, you can play it here (Unity HTML Webplayer).

So finally Evolution managed to be the theme. Mine will be about the player trying to survive in an world evolving around him.

Try a first release here (Unity HTML Webplayer).

Not much gameplay yet, but I like the procedural creep art

Last time I tried a self-made 2D engine with Java, but this turned out to be a lot of “engine” programming and I did not have enough time for content. Pixeling art and sprites actually was a lot of fun, so I decided to use a more professional pipeline this time to have more time for art and content.

My tools:

• Unity3D as the basic engine
• Orthello 2D Framework – this is a plugin for Unity3D to handle all the 2D things
• Texture Packer for packing sprites into a sprite atlas
• GraphicsGale for creating 2D pixel art
• The all famous bfxr for sound effects (hopefully I will have time to create some)

If there is anyone planning to go with a similar setup or with pixel art in general, I can recommend some tutorials which helped me a lot:

• Make A 2D Game in Unity3D Using Only Free Tools 
• So you want to be a pixel artist
• Les Forges Pixel Art Course

Good luck everyone! May your art be beautiful and your code be straight