Aah, genes. The core of Creatures. Without them Creatures would all look and act the same. Without genes, there would be no difference between a Grendel and an Ettin, or any other creature. Without genes, creatures simply could not live.
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What is a genome?
A genome is what specifies different creatures. Every time a new creature is bred, the resulting genome is a combination of both parents'. Some genes are passed on, and others die out. In this way, no two creatures are exactly the same, unless they are clones. Let's start at the beginning.
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The Genus Gene
The genus gene simply tells the game what species the creature will be. The only difference this makes is the creature's voice, so it isn't too important.
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Organs
Organs are what make creatures tick. Just like in humans, the organs dictate special processes in the organism. All organs are the same gene type, but they each have different attributes. However, they only function as organizers, so if one dies, all genes that use it shut down. -Clockrate function to be added later- The Life Force Repair Rate says how fast the organ heals if injured. Life Force Start Value says when the organ starts working. Set to 255, it switches on when the creature is born. As it ages, the creature may have new organs turn on, and others may die, all because of this value. -Biotick Start and ATP Damage Coefficient to be added later-
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Receptors
Receptors are difficult to figure out, but once you get it you'll never forget it. They tell what certain chemicals are. For example, in my Phoenix Norns, I couldn't make the females die of a normal toxin, because they would die like normal norns. So, I made a new receptor for chemical 249, and made it be injected when the female lays an egg. It took me 45 tries before I figured I needed a receptor, and another 5 to get it right. But they work today, and that's what matters.
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Appearance genes
Appearance genes dictate which slot a creature uses. If a norn has Norn slot A arms and an Ettin slot A tail, the norn will have Bruin arms and a normal Ettin's rear (posterior, bottom, whatever you call it).
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Half-Lives
There is only one half-life gene in every creature. It just tells how fast or slow a chemical decays. If chemical 43 has a decay rate of 5, half of the total chemical will decay in 5 ticks (I think). Normally the decay of "Life" is set at 99, but I'll let you in on a secret. If you set "Life"s decay rate to 198, the creature ages twice as slow. If you set it to 47, the creature ages twice as fast as it normally would.
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Reactions
Aah, my favorite gene type. These take two of fewer chemicals and combine them, and the result can be two completely different chemicals. For example, in my Flower Norns, I have a reaction that turns Light Smell into Energy. This makes them effectively "live" off the light given off by certain objects.
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Emitters
Emitters release certain chemicals into the creature when certain conditions are met. If a creature senses that they are on an upward slope, then "Upatrophin" is released. Some emitters are always going. These control hunger, boredom, and many other feelings. If you don't want your norn to ever be bored, delete all its Boredom emitters!
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Initial Concentrations
These say how much of a given chemical is naturally in a norn. When a normal norn is hatched, it has hunger, boredom, energy, and to an extent antibodies. The Initial Concentration genes control which and how much chemicals go into a newborn norn.
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Pigments
Pigments are just that - they say what color a norn is. Less colors gives you a darker norn, more gives you a lighter norn. Like, if you wanted a light blue norn, set Red and Green high, and set Blue really high. On the other hand, if you want a dark red norn, set Red low, and set Green and Blue even lower. If you want the norn to stay the same color in each life stage, delete all of them except the ones that switch on at "Embryo".
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Pigment Bleeds
Rotate and Swap control how much the colors are rotated or exchanged for their opposite according to the color wheel. If you want the creature to stay the same color thru each life stage, see "Pigments" above.
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Stimulus genes
Stimulus genes activate when the creature performs an action. They have 2 selections. The "Stimulus" one just tells what action to turn on at, and the "Chemical Adjustments" one says which chemicals are injected. The coolest thing about them is that they can add some chemicals, and they can remove them too! If you want a creature to die when it sneezes, have Involuntary Action 2 on page 1, and have it severely lower ATP. On a less morbid thought, you could have a Norn that gets energies when they run from stuff, which is what I did with my Imp Norns.
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Instincts
An Instinct tells a creature what to do if two conditions are met. The first, their attention must be on something, like another norn or a drive, like Coldness. The second is that a certain drive must be high. A norn might have its attention focised on food, and if the hunger drive is high enough, they should eat it. This proves that the norn doesn't always listen, but this decision is more likely to be made.
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Gaits & Poses
I combined these because they are so similar. Poses specify, well, what pose a Norn is in, and Gaits take up to 8 poses, and show them over & over to make a certain kind of walk. In a pose, there is a string of numbers, but all I know about it is that they correspond to body part positions.
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Neuroemitters
Neuroemitters tell what chemicals are released when the creature does something. If a norn looks at a grendel, it gets scared. That's because in the Neuroemitter, when the norn is stimulated by a grendel, usually by speech or a punch, the Fear chemical is released in the norn. Usually this makes it run away, but since a bit of Anger is also released, the Norn might decide to stand its ground and fight.
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The End
This is the end of Turrtle's gene tutorial. Hope I didn't confuse you too much. Thanks for reading, and I hope I helped!
