Hermit Crab Critter

[locusts]

Hello, hermit crabs are extremely cute. I floated this idea in IRC it was well liked so here it is.

The idea is that the hermit crab critter would use various discarded items as a shell. Beakers, toolboxes, backpacks, boxes, bike horns and lots of other things besides. The name of the hermit crab changes depending on its shell (Electric toolbox hermit crab, Championship Wrestling Belt hermit crab etc.). When picking up an item with a hermit crab in it, it retreats inside. In the case of fillable items (beakers, glasses) chemicals cannot be put inside while the hermit crab is in there. In the case of storage items (boxes, backpacks etc.) it takes up a slot in the item and cannot be removed. When the items are put down again the hermit crab emerges once more and wanders around again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1dnocPQXDQ

[ChaseSP]

Yes please.

[Mageziya]

space hermit crabs that dwell in the severed butts and scuttle about

[misto]

the chef will catch them and cook them. watch out space hermit crabs

[Nnystyxx]

This sounds adorable.

[The Grim Sleeper]

Do you have any hermit crab sprites?

[locusts]

I am attempting a sprite now but I am also incredibly bad at spriting and urge anyone else who wishes to attempt it to please do so.

[locusts]

Here is my attempt at a naked hermit crab. In the meantime, you can just use the standard container sprites as placeholders for when it's occupying something.



I've thought more about this idea and would like to expand it a bit by adding in the option for hermit crab eggs. You could probably find them in the debris field in an unmarked crate somewhere and from merchants that visit. I would also like it there was just one hermit crab that came with the ship, likely in the swimming pool.

[BBEG]

Here is my attempt at a naked hermit crab. In the meantime, you can just use the standard container sprites as placeholders for when it's occupying something.



I've thought more about this idea and would like to expand it a bit by adding in the option for hermit crab eggs. You could probably find them in the debris field in an unmarked crate somewhere and from merchants that visit. I would also like it there was just one hermit crab that came with the ship, likely in the swimming pool.

That sprite is so cute DAAAAAAWWWWWWW.

[Wire]

A note that with the proposed list of "containers" the crab can scuttle within, it's unlikely we'll be able to simply use transformations on existing sprites to give the appearance of the crab poking out of said container. As a result, we'll probably need separate overlay sprites for every single container it's possible for it to make it's home within.

I love the idea I'm just saying it's a non-trivial amount of work for someone to sprite all this shit.

[Mageziya]

Alternatively, don't make any new sprites. Part of the ideal with the crabs seems to be that you wouldn't realize that the item is unusable. So, just use the normal item sprites, and then use a crab sprite as it scuttles between items.

[Wire]

That works I suppose. I mean if someone does want to go through spriting dozens of crab containers it would probably be better (watching a bike horn scuttle around would be hilarious ok) but I concede that that's probably not going to happen.

[locusts]

Yeah, I did the glass jar one as sort of a proof of concept. You could have certain sprites cover a subset of containers, the idea with the glass one is that it would cover beakers, glasses, bottles, champagne flutes and anything else that was transparent. Other sprites will be harder, solid containers such as mugs will need to match colours, and there's a lot of unique containers which will make it a lot of work, and ones for bags and such will be more difficult to match the sprite I made. It also opens up a lot more fun opportunities if the sprite of the container doesn't alter, you can have people screaming that there's a wraith around when they see a wine glass moving, or a traitor wondering where the hell their stealth storage has gotten to because a crab got into it and wandered off with it.