Casey's Page 2

"AN ANIMAL LIFE"

A new game proposal by Casey Lantz

A FUN, YET CHALLENGING GAME THAT TEACHES YOU ABOUT ANIMALS BY VIRTUALLY LIVING THE LIFE OF AN ANIMAL!!! ("It may help you with a quiz on animals!!!")

This game is not about winning, but you can do many things. First you sign your name in. Then you go to a screen that gives you the choice of night or day animals, say you choose the daytime. After that, there is an area in which you have many different types of animals to choose from, say you pick the cat. Then there is a selection of cat (even stray cats) breeds, say you picked tiger. Then you get all the different kinds of tigers, say you picked Bengal. Then you get to pick where it lives. After that you select the population of predator and prey.

You must have a population of at least 45 predators and at most 70 for the population of prey. Then you can play the game! When you start you will start as a baby with your mother (maybe the father.) Your selection of animal will include your ability to choose the color or pattern. When a final selection has been made, you will get a 360* rotating view of the animal including the many facts that you will need to know.

The same process will exist for the predators and prey and their environment will be matched. As an example, a camel selection would put you in a desert region or a panda bear would place you in the Chinese forests. A second version of this game would be called "Life of a Dino." In this game, you would pick a dinosaur or sauropod and the appropriate era in history would display. You could choose between a carnivore and herbivore and even choose the season of year.

SPECIAL ICONS

You will find in the menu screen it does not list the major endangered species. To do this press CTRL button and at the same time press the E button when at the menu screen. You will also find that some of the animals around you can overpower you. If you do not know if you can overpower it press the CTRL button and at the same time press the O and P buttons and it will tell you if you can attack it. YOU CAN ONLY USE THIS BUTTON ONCE ON EACH KIND OF ANIMAL YOU WANT TO ATTACK!!! In the game you will usually be surprised when a gun shot hits you. To avoid being hit, press the CTRL button and the L button at the same time and you will see the hunter in full view, it will also automatically send a warning call to the rest of the herd, pack, chouder, etc. if you are the leader of the group (a chouder is a group of house pet sized, wild cats). Some animals can also rear and buck. To do so, stand still and press the right button on your mouse to rear, to buck simply go at a walk or trot and click the right mouse button.

THE PREDATORS

1. PEOPLE (HUNTERS, POACHERS, TRAPPERS, FISHERMEN, WHALERS, ETC.)

2. OTHER ANIMALS

3. WEATHER CONDITIONS (FLOOD, FIRE, AVALANCHE, DROUGHT, ETC.)

4. DISEASES, BACTERIA, INFECTIONS & INJURIES.

5. MASS MOVEMENT

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

There are a lot of details, so you won't feel like it's not real. Like a fish has scales, you will be able to see them (and gills). It may also be too detailed because if you're a shark a person might look like a tasty seal or a sea turtle, so be careful of what you attack. And if you do charge a person you will forever be escaping the humans. Also be careful of what you eat, it may be poisonous.

PRACTICE MODE

If you are a newcomer there is a practice mode you can go into when you go to areas screen. You will still be the animal you chose, too. It will give you practice on hunting, ambushing, moving (walking, running, jumping, swimming, flying), eating, sleeping, and most importantly to fight. It also gives you a chance to battle human/s in four different ways, easy, medium, hard, and intermediate. Another thing it helps practice is escaping, jumping over fences, getting out of barns and cages, and getting out of traps(it is very, very, very hard to do all of it).

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO LEARN ABOUT ANIMALS AND HAVE FUN AT THE SAME TIME!

1. Even if you are captured in the game it will keep going. For example, if you were a wild horse and you got caught and sold somewhere, the game would go on. If you were a rat and got captured and sold, it would also keep going. If you were a tiger and got caught and sent to a zoo it would keep going. If you are caught, the place you go to is very detailed, and it is hard to break or jump over it. If you are a horse you will be ridden a lot. So you better watch out!

2. If you chose an animal that migrates you get a choice if you want migrate or not. You can tell it is time to migrate if you see the rest of your kind leaving. On your journey if you are a wildebeest, gazelle, zebra, or any other animals in the Savannah, you need to be careful while crossing the Nile River.

3. If you can fly and walk/run or swim, the main thing that animal does is controlled by the joystick. If it is used less, it will be controlled by the keyboard. If you want jump, use the spacebar. You can fly (if you're something that can fly), press the spacebar repeatedly. If you can dive, push the joystick down and press the spacebar repeatedly. If you want to run, push the joystick forward if there is no water in front of you. Unlike other games, you cannot pause, but you can save it.

4. The animal you choose can also molt, or shed. You also leave hoof prints, paw prints, or regular animal prints which make it easier for animal hunters to find you!!

5. Day will turn to night and night to day. Night is harder unless you are an animal that sees in the dark.

6. Depending on the animal that is chosen, your home may be destroyed by many things, such as construction work.

7. If you do die in the game you will just go back were you died but this time no people would be there. In order to live you must eat right, so if you're an herbivore press G and E. If you're a carnivore look for food running around then the chase is on. If you are successful press E and M. But maybe you have not been successful on catching your meal so you don't eat.

8. You cannot be an insect.

9. All, animals (other than you) act real. If you are hunting, other animals may hunt with or against you. If you are a cheetah, the lion or hyena may steal your food.

10. Chose your own weather to! Snow to rain, sun to fog.

11. You will find that you will get dirty, press the G button twice too groom(it takes 1 min. in real time to groom).

12. Some animals can camouflage so press the C button three times to do so.

BATTLE THE HUMANS!

Escape gunshots, darts, knives, nets, and the human itself! Watch out for hunting season, you might be on the list for the day! If you press the R button you will have a radar pop up and it can measure up to 1/4 of a mile. Fish and whales are fished so be careful of nets! All sea creatures (except the deepest ocean dwellers) have a 42% of being over catch (over catch is being caught in a fishing net when your not supposed to be caught in it). You also should smell (to smell press the S button twice) the food first. Water in some cases can be as dangerous as the food, but there is NO way to tell (water and food are dangerous because of human waste, chemicals, and litter.) Accelerating. Some animals go faster than others, so to do so press the S button to accelerate (accelerating is to go faster than the animal's normal speed). You should only accelerate if you are on a chase with a very fast animal or if it is an emergency.

GROWING UP FROM BABY TO ADULT

When you start you are a baby. To avoid being killed at a young age, do the following: Stay close to MOM AND NOT DAD, do not chase larger animals, stay in the middle of the group (if your animal lives in a group), follow directions from mom, and do not get lost. The only way to grow to normal size is to learn to do things that will help you survive as an adult animal. Some of these skills take a while to memorize, while others take much less time to learn to do. Also, to learn most of them you must learn it from mom, so to talk press T button. You also need to hunt at a certain age and up if you are a carnivore.