Duuuude, I am getting into this!!!
I dont really think that having random animals around the world would be a good idea. That would require way to much programming for something thats really only useful a few times. I would sacrafice some of the realism in order to make the game more enjoyable. I mean all the animals can be in the game, but instead of seeing roaches and stuff running around, maybe you have to go search for it when you need it. I mean maybe you have to do a little sidequest everytime you want to find a new morph.
Perhaps an interaction device is needed in the gameplay to 'let the computer' know 'when you're after a specific'. A morph-search can be done (a side-quest would be good every now and then; like the computer making the minor morph the player is on face a predator, or the computer presenting alternative morphs for aquiring or a sub-mission of some kind) and end with the desired morph being acquired.
...Gafrash I was thinking, why would you need to limit the players morphing, if they are both already programmed in the game, the character should be able to morph both. Only the more you use them the stronger/faster they get....
How do you mean?! The idea of the-more-morphing-the-more-experience-the-better-you-get is a good one. But what kind of a programmer is going to do 100 different sets of graphics for 100 different types of morphs?!
If there is any need, do you think there is game console that can hold that much information?!
...The thing is how does the programmer choose which animals to put? I mean between the animorphs and the auxillary one they have at least 20 battle morphs just between them...
There's no proposing for amount limit, but for letting the gameplay decide how many morphs the player acquires. One would need to sit down and meticulously plot the play.
One can draw out a list of necessary morphs:Each one of these would have their own resilience, damage, stamina, agility, that makes their overall health. Each one of these would have their own buttons to make a range movements and a range of attacks.
LARGE GROUND MORPHS; horse, bulls and cows,
Now that I think about it, the Anis didn't really make use of this category much, either than for battling, so this is where the battle morphs class would fall, I imagine.
BATTLE MORPHS; all the main 'fire-power' animals the Anis used. AS WELL AS the ones which weren't really emphasized like all the different snakes, crocodile, polar bear, jaguar, leopard/panther, hyena, giraffe, puma, buffalo, etc...
Most of these would be found at The Gardens.
I would give more emphasis to details in these, because 'battling as animals' is one of the guimmick elements of the game.
The rest I wouldn't really use for melee combat against Controllers. So the computer would HAVE TO take the choice away from the gameplayer. You don't want a dog to go up against The Abomination kind of thing.
I would select them for monitoring or infiltration or evading missions. So the player could acquire more of these, but not necessarily all.
MEDIUM-GROUND MORPHS; dog, cat, ... capable of stuff humans couldn't do, but not large enough to be battle Controllers.
SMALL-GROUND MORPHS; squirrel, mouse, rat, anole lizard, mole, possum, wolf-spider. But also house spider, scorpions, earthworms,
I would include only the morphs needed for infiltration missions.
I would exclude eels.
Also under this class I would include:
GROUND-INSECT MORPHS; ant, termite, ****roach, beetle.
Definitely ****roaches.
AEREAL MORPHS; A selection of the Birds of prey used by the anis (including owls and bats, for the nocturnal missions). But lots of seagulls, pigeons and crows in the background. These would be the minor birds.
Most of these would be acquired at the Barn.
High-definition of detail and sound would be the emphasis here. But also the movement and the range of perspectives. The tapping to flap for altitude is a good idead.
But also under this category falls:
AEREAL-INSECT MORPHS; fly, mosquito, dragon-fly, bee.
I would scratch butterfly or wasp.
UNDERWATER MORPHS; whales, dolphins, giant-squid, I would pick either one of the great-white or the hammerhead sharks (no need for both I don't think).
I would add a 'sea world' section to The Gardens, EVEN IF IT DIDN'T EXIST IN THE SERIES. You want the big animals, GO TO THE GARDENS, no need to make things more complex.
There would be no need for lobster, eels, badger, anteater (PLEASE NO HELMACRONS... Nghaaaaaaarrrrrrrrg
h!!!!)
And the Visser's morph wouldn't really be available to the player. But would still need to be designed nevertheless.