had a dream about a possible ecosystem and wanted to write it down. Since creatures and most game ecosystems have a few flaws. In c1 the ecosystem was always statit and only made things extinct. In c3 it tried to be an exosystem but things always gone extinct to quick. Some critters i found only in the sprite files, because they where as fast extinct. And c2 was in the middle….

Bit an ecosystem should feel alife and the creatures should be the cornerstone.

Therefore once we get one (waaaay down the line) a cornerstone species should trive and multiply once the bollys/norns are around (eq mosqitos sucking blood or plants spreading when eaten). The next wave on criters should increase their numbers according to the previous (birds eating the mosquitos or bees polinating the plants) and so on. This would make the ecosystem  explode once the bollys/norns choose that habitat. Optimising performence and feeling of a world. And downregulate once they leave that ecosystem for an other one.

Each species should habe a hard coded upper limit number of individuals (learned that the hard way in creatures by not making that) as well as a lower limit (spawning a new one every 5-20 minutes “wandering” in from a neighbouring field oitside of  the game)

Oh and a random thougt that also crossed my mind, a way to dig. A big earth wall compleatly filling oit a premade hole in the ground. Labeled as “door” for the creatures and emmiting “home smell” from it’s center. Around 10-50 activations need to be made to “dig down” into that area. Allowing to create their own shelter, removing the “door” earth wall layers one by one. And if not used for 2-20 hours, earth wall slowly “colapses” (refills) the layers there.