I’m not sure. This whole thing came out of me wanting to create a version of LCP for modern platforms but with an old-school look.
My main problem with LCP as it stood was that he needs you to look after him. You have to provide food and water when he is low to stop him being sick and play with him to keep him happy.
It’s possible to automate that (which I’m planning on doing and sharing via a twitch stream or something) but it’s very very clunky in practice.
Yeah… there’s lots of Tamagotchi-style things where you have to tend to your creatures (be they people or animals).
The vision I had – which might be similar to what you’re thinking – is just something running in the background, people living their lives, and you can check in on them and see how they are doing. I already have plants I have to water and kids I need to feed, I don’t need artificial neediness :)
Nostalgic and fun - thanks for sharing on the 38th anniversary of the first Amiga.
Inspired by your article I installed FS-UAE and booted your disk image - whoa, the emulator even has realistic floppy disk sounds! Now I have a little computer person called Orville nattering at me in the background.
I remember finding this game and thinking about the underlying algorithms like this. It’s great to see it demystified and the possible LCPs opened for enjoyment.
Ironically, the original game would have been a lot more fun and replayable if the creators added a tool like this themselves.
Pshaw, who would want to watch little semi-randomly-generated computer people wander around doing arbitrary nonsense? :-P
goes back to playing Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress scares me - I just don’t have a spare life to devote to it. The level of detail the devs have put into it is insane.
Are there good examples of modern games like this? Not higher fidelity so much (ala Sims), but simple and even better hackable…
I kind of like the idea of it similar to an ant farm, creatures you tend to but are mostly autonomous
I’m not sure. This whole thing came out of me wanting to create a version of LCP for modern platforms but with an old-school look.
My main problem with LCP as it stood was that he needs you to look after him. You have to provide food and water when he is low to stop him being sick and play with him to keep him happy.
It’s possible to automate that (which I’m planning on doing and sharing via a twitch stream or something) but it’s very very clunky in practice.
Yeah… there’s lots of Tamagotchi-style things where you have to tend to your creatures (be they people or animals).
The vision I had – which might be similar to what you’re thinking – is just something running in the background, people living their lives, and you can check in on them and see how they are doing. I already have plants I have to water and kids I need to feed, I don’t need artificial neediness :)
Nostalgic and fun - thanks for sharing on the 38th anniversary of the first Amiga.
Inspired by your article I installed FS-UAE and booted your disk image - whoa, the emulator even has realistic floppy disk sounds! Now I have a little computer person called Orville nattering at me in the background.
Love it! Glad you found it useful and fun!
I remember finding this game and thinking about the underlying algorithms like this. It’s great to see it demystified and the possible LCPs opened for enjoyment.
Ironically, the original game would have been a lot more fun and replayable if the creators added a tool like this themselves.
Yeah totally agree. A bit short-sighted, and that is probably why the game didn’t garner the recognition it deserved.