[Originally written July 10 2020]
I spent a good long while mulling over my Grendel problem. As much as I’d like to be able to selectively breed for gentleness, I fear that would be an exercise in futility. At this point in the population, I suspect non-genetic factors have played a larger role in each Grendel’s tendencies than genetic ones, and there would be way too much chance involved – not just in waiting for the right mutations, but in trying to measure tendencies through observation; logging non-fatal incidences of violence would just be a measure of which Grendels I caught in the act. I was stuck for a good while.
Until I started thinking like a Shee. If I can’t wait for the right genes to arise in the population, perhaps I could add them manually… give the gene pool a little nudge in the right direction! True, I’ve never done any genetic engineering before, but there’s a first time for every new skill learned, and at least I had some experience reading the genomes.
So in true Shee-like fashion I jumped straight into a full-blown project with no preparation beforehand, looking things up as I went. No following Getting Started tutorials, no practice projects, just a dozen or so Google tabs, a bowl of M&Ms, and a copy of the Grendel genome. Meanwhile my friend was trying a new encounter in Monster Hunter World and had determined that hiding behind rocks did not protect him from the beast’s area of effect damage. We found the contrast amusing.
I altered the DNA to reduce aggression as much as possible, and make some simple pigment changes – partly to make the modified individual stand out, partly so I’d know immediately if my edits hadn’t stuck, and partly because why not? After a couple hours, I was ready to see how my first foray into genetic engineering turned out! I spun up a test world and hit the Inject button. To my surprise, I got not an error, but an egg that yielded a small blue Grendel! As a programmer, having something work on the first try was a new and exciting experience.
Well, for a programmer’s definition of “working on the first try,” at least. That is to say, it worked as designed, but not quite as needed. I watched the test Grendel for a while with a test Norn, and determined that I had some additional tweaking to do; I had gone a bit overboard with my edits, and the poor Grendel actually seemed a bit afraid of him!
The goal was not to create a perfect pacifist, just to make a Grendel who wouldn’t kill my Norns on a regular basis. In fact, I had tried to avoid making Grendel Ghandi. I didn’t want to make too many alterations to the genome. That would defeat the purpose and excitement of taming the scaly beasts! In effect, I wanted them on meds, not in straitjackets. Of course, “not too many” is still quite a lot!
Rotation: 128, Swap: 128
Rotation: 0, Swap: 128
These changes are what made the Grendel blue! Rotation moves all the colors around the color wheel, with 128 being the default. Values less than this rotate colors such that what was originally red moves toward green, and values above move what was red toward blue. A value of 0 means that all colors are rotated exactly a third of the way around the wheel so that red becomes green, as in his eyes, and green becomes blue, as in his skin. If he’d had any blue on him before, it would have become red. I’ll be honest, I have no idea how mucking around in his coloration will affect the gene pool, and while I normally wouldn’t want to “cheat” at pigmentation, with only two sprite sets in the Grendel population, coloration differences, even if artificially induced, will be welcome!
Stimulus: “Creature slaps me”, Significance: 0.059, Reaction: “Hit it”, Intensity: 0.098,
[S] Anger +0.024, [S] Fear +0.008, [S] Pain +0.008, [S] Wounded +0.032
Stimulus: “Creature slaps me”, Significance: 0.059, Reaction: “Retreat frm it”, Intensity: 0.098,
[S] Anger +0.024, [S] Fear +0.008, [S] Pain +0.008, [S] Wounded +0.032
Stimulus reactions are not simple if-then statements. The reaction is essentially suggested to the creature as a possible response, weighted according to the intensity. This change should make the Grendel more likely to flee from conflict rather than strike back.
Stimulus: “I’ve performed a hit”, Significance: 0.114, Reaction: “Hit it”, Intensity: 0.075,
Anger -0.065, Crowded -0.056, [S] Tiredness +0.024, Boredom -0.016
Stimulus: “I’ve performed a hit”, Significance: 0.114, Reaction: “Hit it”, Intensity: 0.035,
Anger -0.040, Punishment +0.024, [S] Tiredness +0.024, Boredom -0.016
As I said, I don’t want to completely eliminate Grendel aggression, just reduce it. I lowered the intensity of the “hit it again” suggestion and made striking other creatures less effective as a means of reducing anger. The third change was probably the most “cheaty” of my alterations: I replaced the reduction in crowdedness with a small dose of punishment. Essentially, the Grendel will feel a bit “guilty” upon striking another creature.
Stimulus: “Creature pats me”, Significance: 0.078, Reaction: “Hit it”, Intensity: 0,
[S] Anger -0.024, [S] Crowded +0.040
Stimulus: “Creature pats me”, Significance: 0.078, Reaction: “Activate2 it (pull)”, Intensity: 0.020,
[S] Anger -0.040, [S] Crowded +0.040
Apparently the genetically coded response to being patted in a Grendel is to hit the poor soul that showed it affection – although, the intensity of this response suggestion is 0, so as I understand it, it has no effect. However it does mean it’s harder for this gene to mutate into something nice; if the intensity changes it makes the Grendel likely to strike creatures that are kind to it, and if the reaction changes, there’s no visible effect.
I altered both of these to give the Grendel a slight inclination to return the kind gesture. I also made being patted a slightly more effective means of reducing anger. Shoooooosh. *pap pap*
4 CA smell 12(Norn smell) + 1 Nothing → 1 Anger + 1 Nothing
4 CA smell 12(Norn smell) + 1 Anger → 1 Nothing + 1 Nothing
Not anymore they don’t! Now Norns make you calm. Reactions can’t have negative values, so I moved the Anger to the input side and had nothing on the output – this way Anger gets “used up” and disappears when reacted with the scent of Norns.
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 36>(Norn)”, and you… “Hit it”, then Anger -1
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 21>(toy)”, and you… “Hit it”, then Anger -1
I have been trying to encourage the Grendels to take out their anger on the mechagrendel, and this replaces their instinct to vent their frustration by beating up Norns with exactly that.
It’s important to note that the rewards and punishments specified in an Instinct are not what actually happens in the world. They are what a creature instinctually believes will happen if they take a certain course of action. Creatures do, in fact, dream, which is when their instincts influence what they think the correct actions should be in various scenarios. So, in a sense, the reaction specified in an instinct is what happens when the creature takes this action in their dream world.
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 36>(Norn)”, and you… “Hit it”, then Crowdedness -0.5
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 36>(Norn)”, and you… “Retreat frm it”, then Crowdedness -0.5
Apparently Grendels instinctively believe the solution to having too many Norns around is to attempt to kill them off. I’ve altered this to simply wanting to walk away.
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 36>(Norn)”, and you… “Hit it”, then Fear -1
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 21>(toy)”, and you… “Activate 1 it (push)”, then Fear -1
It seems the Grendel’s instinctual response to every problem is to hit a Norn. Well, I can’t really fault them for that; my instinctual response to most problems is to try turning something off and back on again. At any rate, I altered this instinct so that a frightened Grendel will want to seek out a teddy bear rather than beat up a Norn.
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 29>(creature egg)”, and you… “Get it”, then Boredom -1
When... Lobe: “Tissue 2: noun”/Cell: “IT is <ID 21>(toy)”, and you… “Activate 1 it (push)”, then Boredom -1
Okay, so this one probably wasn’t strictly necessary, but I want to encourage bored Grendels to find an appropriate outlet, like playing with toys, and hopefully also avoid having to constantly tell them to Drop when I go to collect a newly-laid egg.
Stimulus: “Got creature egg”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0,
Boredom -1, [S] Comfort +1, Coldness -0.073
Stimulus: “Got creature egg”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0,
Boredom -0.065, [S] Comfort +1, Unused
In the same vein I made picking up eggs slightly less entertaining. Also I removed the Coldness reduction because… why? I did leave Comfort alone though; it should be noted that “Comfort” is actually “Need for Comfort” or “Homesickness” and not, in fact, a comforting sensation!
Stimulus: “Hit machine”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0, Boredom -0.145, Unused
Stimulus: “Hit machine”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0, Boredom -0.145, Anger -0.145
Grendels are already inclined to smack gadgetry around and find it quite entertaining. I’ve made it also an outlet for anger.
Stimulus: “Played with toy”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0, Boredom -0.202, Unused
Stimulus: “Played with toy”, Significance: 0, Reaction: “Default”, Intensity: 0, Boredom -0.202, Anger -0.024
Same as with hitting gadgets, I’ve made playing with toys slightly reduce anger, though not as much as hitting gadgets.
Satisfied with the results of these alterations in the test Grendel, I deemed my modified genome ready for introduction into Verona’s population! Welcome to the Shee Ark, Caliban! I can see you’re already guiding the other Grendels in the right direction. Keep up the good work!
No comments:
Post a Comment