Sample Starting Sloth Sanctuary: (plants are *'s, sloths are @'s)
["###################",
"# ** ***** ** #",
"# @ * * * #",
"#** *** * @** #",
"# * *** @ * * #",
"# ** **** * #",
"# * @ **** * * #",
"###################"]
I started this primarily as a personal challenge with two simple markers of success: a self-contained environmental status quo within the 'sanctuary' (following patterns of population rise and fall characteristic of healthy ecosystems), and a semblance of what one could call 'purpose' in the lives of the sloths--such that they achieve a variety of 'life'-enhancing goals over their lifetimes. This has not yet been achieved in full, but it is in sight.
Future Enhancements:
- Greater awareness within the sloths of their surroundings and the properties of the nearby inhabitants
- Variety of plants
- Predatory creatures and poisonous plants
- Environmental changes (drought, rainy seasons, etc)
- Sloth maturation scale -- alive for a certain number of turns, and their abilities change in some degrees. (ie. Cannot reproduce until aged 3-4; Get more nutrients aged 0-4; Travel further aged 1-3; Time between movements) decreases from 1-5, then decreases from 5-end
- Simple evolution, through inheritance from parents during mating. (ie. Sexual selectivity -- will not mate with sloths too closely related.)
- Randomised numbers of all characters in each simulation