The only one that I know of is Shelter 2 on PC.
I want a multiplayer animal simulator with a fully functioning ecosystem that revolves around evolution. Something like what is written above about Shelter 2. For example, I want to be able to start as a baby gorilla and survive relying on my mother then grow up to find a mate to reproduce with. As a male gorilla, I would be focused on mating with as many female gorillas as I can and as a female gorilla, I would focus on taking care of my gorilla babies. The goal would be to ensure that your genes are passed on because your gorilla will eventually die and when that happens, you will play as the baby gorillas. There can even be stat progression that is passed onto the offspring under the guise of evolution.
The game should also focus on finding food. Each species should have different energy requirements that are satisfied based on what they should eat. For example, gorillas are primarily vegetarian so eating meat would not help much in meeting their energy requirements but eating vegetation would. Hyenas are assholes and scavengers so they should get more energy from eating animals killed by other animals (stealing food), including their own kind since they are cannibals. Lions are powerful hunters so they should have LARGE energy requirements that are satisfied by animals that they hunt themselves or with their pride. This would ensure a reasonable population and it would allow for them to be "overpowered" when it comes to fighting other animals (but that would be balanced by the amount of hunting they would need to do to survive). It might also encourage lions to work together as they do in real life. These are just a few examples.
The idea is to use gameplay mechanics to encourage (but not completely force since this should be a sandbox) real life animal-like behaviour. A male gorilla may be monogamous and help take care of his offspring like a penguin if he wants, just as a lion can hunt alone. Hopefully, this would lead to similar social structures to real life animals. To help facilitate that, communication between players (and animal AI) could be limited to emotes (barks, growls, etc.).
Players might be able to spawn as any animal they want but depending on their population and other factors, survival could be harder. I would want as many species in an ecosystem to give a realistic feel. I'm not a game designer so maybe someone can think of more moment-to-moment gameplay things to do as different animals. I think tree climbing, swimming, flying and swinging from tree to tree should be a no-brainers for traversal.
I don't think an animal simulator of this kind would work with every player playing as every animal because some animals might be boring and the game would require too many players to have realistic populations. It could work using something like For Honour's or MOBA's mechanic where a bunch of the animals are AI but some of them are players (and the players might be stronger?).
With the recent popularity of stuff like DayZ, Rust and other open-world sandbox survival games, a game like this could do really well. Ark is actually what inspired me with this because I looked at it and thought "I don't want to play as a human, I want to be a dinosaur!". I understand why we follow humans in movies like Jurassic Park but I think it's a missed opportunity for games.
TL;DR: Imagine being able to play in different ecosystems (Amazon rainforest, African savannah, Antarctica, East Asia, North American temperate forests, East Asia, AUSTRALIA!, etc.) with different climates, fully functioning weather system that affects resources and survival, as different animals in an open-world multiplayer sandbox with a fully functioning ecosystem. I think this would be incredible. What do you guys think?
I want a multiplayer animal simulator with a fully functioning ecosystem that revolves around evolution. Something like what is written above about Shelter 2. For example, I want to be able to start as a baby gorilla and survive relying on my mother then grow up to find a mate to reproduce with. As a male gorilla, I would be focused on mating with as many female gorillas as I can and as a female gorilla, I would focus on taking care of my gorilla babies. The goal would be to ensure that your genes are passed on because your gorilla will eventually die and when that happens, you will play as the baby gorillas. There can even be stat progression that is passed onto the offspring under the guise of evolution.
The game should also focus on finding food. Each species should have different energy requirements that are satisfied based on what they should eat. For example, gorillas are primarily vegetarian so eating meat would not help much in meeting their energy requirements but eating vegetation would. Hyenas are assholes and scavengers so they should get more energy from eating animals killed by other animals (stealing food), including their own kind since they are cannibals. Lions are powerful hunters so they should have LARGE energy requirements that are satisfied by animals that they hunt themselves or with their pride. This would ensure a reasonable population and it would allow for them to be "overpowered" when it comes to fighting other animals (but that would be balanced by the amount of hunting they would need to do to survive). It might also encourage lions to work together as they do in real life. These are just a few examples.
The idea is to use gameplay mechanics to encourage (but not completely force since this should be a sandbox) real life animal-like behaviour. A male gorilla may be monogamous and help take care of his offspring like a penguin if he wants, just as a lion can hunt alone. Hopefully, this would lead to similar social structures to real life animals. To help facilitate that, communication between players (and animal AI) could be limited to emotes (barks, growls, etc.).
Players might be able to spawn as any animal they want but depending on their population and other factors, survival could be harder. I would want as many species in an ecosystem to give a realistic feel. I'm not a game designer so maybe someone can think of more moment-to-moment gameplay things to do as different animals. I think tree climbing, swimming, flying and swinging from tree to tree should be a no-brainers for traversal.
I don't think an animal simulator of this kind would work with every player playing as every animal because some animals might be boring and the game would require too many players to have realistic populations. It could work using something like For Honour's or MOBA's mechanic where a bunch of the animals are AI but some of them are players (and the players might be stronger?).
With the recent popularity of stuff like DayZ, Rust and other open-world sandbox survival games, a game like this could do really well. Ark is actually what inspired me with this because I looked at it and thought "I don't want to play as a human, I want to be a dinosaur!". I understand why we follow humans in movies like Jurassic Park but I think it's a missed opportunity for games.
TL;DR: Imagine being able to play in different ecosystems (Amazon rainforest, African savannah, Antarctica, East Asia, North American temperate forests, East Asia, AUSTRALIA!, etc.) with different climates, fully functioning weather system that affects resources and survival, as different animals in an open-world multiplayer sandbox with a fully functioning ecosystem. I think this would be incredible. What do you guys think?
