Survival Points

Survival Points are a resource acquired in Beasts of Bermuda by surviving in the game world. These points can be obtained in several different ways that will be explained here. Currently, Survival Points only serve the purpose of granting a player bragging rights. The Player List sorts players in descending order according to who has acquired the most Survival Points, placing the most well-survived players with the highest scores on the top of the list at all times.

Survival Points will likely serve greater purpose in the coming future of Beasts of Bermuda. A developer blog post was created on the topic here, and represents the very first blog post ever written by the developers of Beasts of Bermuda. The Skin Customization System is planned to require these Survival Points in order for players to create particularly spectacular, bright, vivid, well-decorated, or highly accessorized skins. As a player accumulates more Survival Points, they will be able to continuously throughout the life of their creature improve and add to the look of their creature's skin. The exact algorithm that will be used to determine skin cost has yet to be created by the developers of Beasts of Bermuda, and the current system is fully accessible to players regardless of Survival Points at this time. It is also planned that players will be able to permanently use the skin they have unlocked once they die, but will be unable to further improve upon the skin once their fate has been sealed.

Here I will explain the reasoning behind adding a Survival Point cost behind the full use of the Skin Customization System. First and foremost, most players enjoy the psychology of working towards a goal. This is generic across most genres of gaming, and nearly every successful game has some sort of goal set in mind for the player. Even building simulators such as Sim City have unlockable rewards for players who create successful cities. Often times, without a feeling of progression or accomplishment, players will quickly grow bored of a game, regardless of whether or not the game environment and mechanics are enjoyable. Almost every game has some sort of goal, and Beasts of Bermuda needs a goal of some sort. Our goal will be to allow players to accumulate an increasingly large library of customized skins they have created during creature lives lived in our game world.

Juggling the notion of rewarding players for good play and success without penalizing less fortunate players to the point of making the game experience unenjoyable and frustrating for them was a very heavily pondered problem during the game's earliest days. Beasts of Bermuda strives to be a game enjoyable and accessible to a wide array of players. One potential purpose of Survival Points that I have been very heavily against is any sort of power gains or direct gameplay advantages granted by accumulation of a high score. A player should suffer no survival, gameplay, or combat disadvantage for having a low score or being a newcomer to the game. This allows players interested in riskier or more exploratory behavior to have full power and enjoyment out of the creatures they are playing, regardless of death count. In fact, such behavior may even be rewarded for the particularly adept. Experienced players will likely have accumulated more cosmetic upgrades, but will never, ever have a stats or power advantage over one who has not accumulated game rewards.

Gaining Survival Points

Points from Creature Health

Every five seconds, a player will receive additional Survival Points. The amount of points received is computed as the sum of the percentage fullness of their current food, water, and comfort. For example, if the player has 50% of their hunger filled, 100% thirst filled, and 50% comfort, they will receive the sum of 200 total Survival Points every five seconds. As these resource fullness values increase or decrease, their point gain will adjust accordingly. The reasoning behind such a dynamic system for gaining Survival Points was such that it motivates players to keep their creature fed, watered, and comfortable without providing harsh punishment should they be unable to meet these needs at some point in time. A player who is having difficulty finding food, finding water, or enduring a stressful scenario will see their rate of point gain slow down during these times of distress. It is not possible to lose Survival Points by having low food, water, or comfort.

The Player List Displaying Survival Point Information on Players

Both the total amount of Survival Points a player has accumulated as well as the rate at which they are gaining survival points are displayed on the scoreboard. One can see the total accumulation of Survival Points clearly on the scoreboard. The rate at which a player is gaining points through food, thirst, and comfort, however, is displayed chromatically as the color of the background behind their name. Omnomnomnivore, for example, has a cyan bar. She is rapidly gaining points because her Acrocanthosaurus is well fed, well hydrated, and likely very comfortable. Anomalocaris and mrmaskedman are also playing quite healthy creatures, as their names are displayed in green. Though all ranges are not displayed on this particular screenshot, the total color spectrum ranges from an unhealthy crimson red, to orange, yellow, green, and then bright cyan to represent a very healthy creature. Red bars represent players who are likely undergoing some duration of extreme stress such as crossing an Ocean or suffering the full brunt of a very nasty storm. These players will be gaining very little points in comparison to a healthier creature.

Carnivorous players receive Survival Points for successfully hunting other players under certain circumstances.

When a hunt is successful, the players in the pack that were nearby when their prey died will be rewarded with Survival Points. The total sum of points awarded is computed in a somewhat complicated manner.