Added health, hunger, climbing, and insects
Health, hunger, injury, food, crash damage, climbing, and woodland insects connected the creature to the consequences of moving through the lake.
The project crossed an important line this week: movement stopped being something I tested in a beautiful scene and became something the creature has to survive. Health and hunger now sit beside the player, not as abstract meters but as pressure on speed, jump height, and flap power.
The food chain has several physical answers. Fish can be caught at the waterline or underwater. Ladybugs, grasshoppers, beetles, and ants live on the ground and bark, each on articulated legs. Golden fruit came later, but the basic rule was already in place: the creature restores itself by reaching something that exists in the world.
“The creature became believable when the world could feed it, support it, and hurt it.”
The world can answer back. Hard ground, tree, and rock impacts cause damage; an uncontrolled belly-first glide becomes a dusty crash and recovery instead of a clean landing. Injury increases hunger use. Rest and a fed body recover health slowly.
Climbing ties those systems together. Bark and real rock lips can be held, traversed, and climbed using actual contact points. Each hand can choose its own support, the feet can rest on shelves, and a blocked top keeps the original grip so the player can retreat instead of falling because an animation committed too early.