Mattcrampy
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This creature moves like a roach queen, but every 10 turns it emits a sonic attack, which spreads out in a square shape.

The logic is this:

The sonic attack is treated as a monster made up of soundwaves. When it spawns, it is assigned a direction based on what direction from the howler beast it starts at. Every turn, it will move in that direction, and it will spawn a duplicate, moving in the same direction if there is a blank space next to it. If it can't move in that direction, it dies. If, however, a space next to it is not either blank or another soundwave, it will not spawn when it moves next turn. If Beethro is in the way, he dies.

This means, basically, that walls and monsters can be used as a cover from the soundwaves, so you can set up rooms that require you to fight roaches and place yourself so you're dodging soundwaves at the same time. It's complex, but then so are goblins.

Matt

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krammer
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I can see this as a very good monster, although 30 turns would fit in better and make it a little easier to dodge the waves.

Also, does Beethro have to wait till all the waves die to complete the room? Or are they, like tar, not technically monsters?

I don't fully understand the logic behind the wave movement - you say it moves in a square shape which seems clear enough, and cannot travel through or over other objects.
I presume the duplication is to make sure a continuous square shape is maintained.

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Mattcrampy
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30 would fit in with the rest of the game, true, but unlike roaches or tar, it doesn't travel around corners. Maybe 10 is too much, especially if you want to introduce extra elements, but the balance needs to be made between challenge and interest.

Of course, if it is too often, you can't kill the damn thing. On its own, it doesn't justify the 30, but with other creatures, the 10 gets a bit tricky (but then you can use creatures to block the waves, so it don't matter).

We could make it like tar, but the soundwaves do kill themselves if they can't move, so the difference between making them compulsory and not is about 15 hits on the '5' key. I'd prefer it if Beethro didn't have to wait, as you can't kill the things, but it depends on how easy that is to code.

Well, the movement should mean that the waves move in a square shape, but they'll leave a space when they pass solid objects. In reality, this won't happen, but I was thinking more along the lines of hiding behind objects to block wind, but I couldn't exactly call it a 'farter beast'.

As you say, the duplication is to ensure a square shape is maintained. If not, it just means the waves go off in one direction, leaving huge gaping holes and not being very difficult to dodge.

Matt



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zex20913
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Why couldn't you call it a "farter beast"?

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StuartK
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zex20913 wrote:
Why couldn't you call it a "farter beast"?

Because then somebody would have to be designated the terrible, onerous task of recording the sound effect

'Wind beast' might also work, and has the advantage of some subtlety.

'Flatus beast' if we don't mind getting all latin