goo grotto dev

slime training regimen

Slimes seem to have a pretty remarkable capacity for learning and improvement - which makes sense, they're quite literally very malleable. (Kind of like memory foam.) They actually try to develop through play: they get stronger, smarter, and more agile the more they goof around with each other. I've taken to calling these qualities

BRAWN

BRAIN

and

BOUNCE.

A Brawny slime can out-muscle its opponents (and I'll talk more about these contests during the next field report!), a Brainy slime can use their cunning to trick them, and a Bouncy slime is quick to react and dexterous. Some slimes definitely seem better suited for some tasks than others, but they all have their little niche!

born this way

In addition to the way that slimes can work towards improving themselves, each slime has other physical qualities that make it unique too! Whereas a brainier slime will almost always beat out one that isn't so brainy, these qualities seem kind of more neutral, or have some trade-offs.

Some are more transparent and some are more opaque; the transparent ones are a harder to see but the opaque ones seem to have a little bit more structural integrity.

Some are sticky and pick up more stuff while they're rolling around, whereas some are more juicy and produce higher quantities of valuable slime juice. (More on that in a few weeks!)

Some are big and some are small, with the bigger ones getting to throw their heft around and the smaller ones getting to flit around more nimbly.

personality

Additionally each slime has their own little personality! After being among them I've noticed that some are more clingy and social whereas some are more independent, and tend to do their own thing more often.

Some are bold and a bit braver, even to the point of silliness, whereas some are more cautious.

Some are calm whereas some are a bit more excitable. The calmer ones like to be pet, but the more excitable ones are happier going on adventures.

And finally it seems some slimes just have that… je ne sais quoi… I could get lost in their vacant little eyes… ah, sorry, what was I saying?

next time

There are a couple more topics I want to cover, but I think I'll have to save them for next time. I really should work on fixing the distress beacon. It's hard and slow work hard - the slimes just get so upset when I climb up on the roof without them for whatever reason.

what's a slime?

Kind of an animal, kind of a plant, kind of a fungus. I think. I'm not a biologist.

They are gel-bodied and a little firmer than you might think, though their structural integrity varies from slime to slime. They range in size from about eight inches tall to about two feet. Their colour also varies a lot; I've seen slimes in every colour of the rainbow and even more besides. Some of them are even transparent, and this means I can say with confidence that they have absolutely no internal organs or bones to speak of.

Candidly, the fact that they don't have typical brains is not surprising. Not that they never exhibit cleverness, but their behaviour tends to come off as naive, innocent, and overly trusting. Clearly they have no predators.

slime activities

What do they DO all day? They seem to like:

foraging - They like to wander. Some slimes are pretty sticky and come back to my shelter just covered in weird little odds and ends from the ruins. It seems intentional, but maybe they also just want me to help get the junk off of them. racing - They're not the fastest or most coordinated creatures out there, but I see them sometimes race with each other! I've even seen tracks worn in the grass or dust that indicate it's something they do regularly. just kind of hanging out - They seem pretty social with each other for the most part. After a while I've been able to pick out that they have different friends, acquaintances, and even rivalries.

slime reproduction

They're so secretive about this that it's hard to tell, but once I walked in on a red slime and a blue slime with a smaller purple blob between them and they both seemed pretty bashful about it.

I suspect they take a little bit from each parent and kind of squish them together and eventually a new slime is created by that process, um, somehow. I'm just gonna call it "squishing."

bye!

That's all from me for now, sorry. I've got a site to write and a shelter full of fresh babies that need employee orientation.