LIFE is an Open-Source Project opened to design a virtual Rain Forest. Where you could play God and create a new living virtual world.

LIFE (http://sourceforge.net/projects/rainforest) is one of those projects you come across very infrequently that simple hits you as being good experience. Which is probably why I’m joining. As more frequent readers will know this makes the number of side-projects I’ve joined 2.

So why LIFE?

LIFE has the potential to simulate a full environment – not in real terms, but in an approximation sense. I find the project interesting because it intersects with one of my own longer term needs – the simulation of an environment in a PHP strategy game. The game is of course “The Talisman Wars”.

Now what exactly has environment simulation to do with a game? The answer is everything. The Talisman War is aimed at being a semi-closed source (i.e. it will have delayed open source releases) project I intend working on in the future. One of its design goals is to set the game in a fully simulated environment, complete with plants, animals, and “the Natives”. Why? Because I want to avoid adding in layers of configuration options, random variables and ad-hoc balancing mechanisms. Let the game run wild and lets see what happens!

The basic setting is a game where the player competes with other player – and the surrounding environment. For example, a player would start by creating a settlement somewhere on the game map (possibly fixed). Choosing the area would be their initial choice (or automated for newbies). From the start that settlement would have to adapt to the surrounding environment.

What if the settlement is place in a valley region, with plentiful water – for say 3 months. Followed by a 9 month drought? How would the player adapt? Trade, negotiations, banding together with other players to share resources?

What if the local Natives got a little restless because of this drought, and attempted to migrate south and…oops, there’s a player’s Fortress in the way.

I love “what if” analyses like these because they tease out a lot of interesting ideas and possibilities. Over the years, sustained drought could kill off forestry, leaving local settlements with limited supplies of firewood and timber – or it could expose something like a coal seem for exploitation (after the soil is eroded away).

I really hope to get this game started into its planning phase soon… I like where its going…

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