CREATURE CONTORTS

The team is currently discussing the level of information to give the player when they encounter a creature. There’s particular debate over whether or not explorers should be informed if a creature is hostile. “We had a printout that would display that information and it removed some of the [mystery],” says Murray. “Maybe we’ll just do it for the creatures that have been discovered already, but at the moment we’re thinking that you won’t have it.”

Duncan suggests that the game’s visual language will be enough to inform players. “You’ll be able to look at creatures in the same way as you can look at a certain ship and [know] that it’s going to be very fast and very manoeuvrable. It will come down to how we author those things. If you were walking around in Africa, there are certain creatures where you’d think, ‘I’m going to stay away from that,’ like a lion. But if you see a zebra plodding around, you know it’s all right.”

The likely decision to remove the information, says Murray, is about respecting players’ intelligence. Smart players naturally exercise caution when encountering something that’s much larger than them. There may, however, be the odd surprise. “I do really want to have a little white rabbit that kicks your arse,” laughs Duncan.

These are all variants of the same animal type, or rig, that have been generated with a single mouse click. Out in the wild, you’ll notice they vary more in size. Each mutation changes the beast’s underlying bone structure, and the animation will be adjusted accordingly