Creating Realistic Digimon Mechanics
Typically, all the mechanics of a video game are hard-coded in one place, which controls all operations in the game. There will be a game state tracking levels, experience points, health, inventory, etc., as well as all the physics and other rules. You can think of this as the "Kernel" which controls the world.
In operating system design, "Kernel vs User Space" refers to how the system has full control, but the user's applications are limited in what privileges they are given by that system. The applications dictate what they themselves do without direction from the kernel.
This is the concept I am considering when piecing together how Digimon can realistically operate. My goal is to build Digimon and a Digital World which is reasonably—not strictly—conforming to all official canon mechanics across Digimon media, without hard-coding those into the game's 'kernel space.'
Consider this page a living document of concepts as I brainstorm them.
Structure of the Digital World
In short, all data in my implementation is built the same, and nested like russian nesting dolls. And that data tells itself what to do.
The Kernel
The Kernel is a concept and location which is canonically part of the Digital World. According to the Digital Monster 25th Anniversary Book, Confidential Report, Chapter II: Structure of the Digital World, the Kernel can be compared to the CPU of a computer, or the Digicore of a Digimon. It states that researchers are unsure of the exact function, but also that any disruption there could damage or destroy the Digital World itself. Other media mention or utilizes the Kernel in their own storylines, where it is essentially the seat of power for the 'god' of the Digital World and the source of tremendous amounts of energy. In all depictions, the actual location is not part of the three-dimensional structure of the depicted Digital World and may only be accessed through special means.
To achieve our goal, our 'Kernel' will be the root of an object-oriented structure that contains all other data in the program. The program will directly call only one necessary function contained in this object, which will in turn initialize a game loop which itself calls the nested objects' functions, and thus the entire simulation. If the structure of the nested objects are all treated the same way, the entire structure can be scale invariant—Servers, Zones, Digimon, and inanimate data.
More details
The physical space which represents the Kernel, in accordance with canon, will be structural and graphical data also attached to this object, in the same way as a Zone. If desired, the ticking of the game loop can be represented as a literal Pendulum in this space, the swinging of which determines the clock speed of the entire Digital World within—and provides an interactable way of implementing the synchronization and desynchonization of the time seen in Digimon Adventure.
We will also need to touch on whether there is one Kernel for the entire Clustered Digital World, or one for each Server within it, such as Yggdrasil and Homeros. The distinction at the conceptual level might not be important, and instead these details can be configured by implementation or even within the simulation itself due to its scale-invariant nature.
The Kernel may have a so-called "Host Computer" entity managing the Digital World, e.g., Yggdrasil or Homeros. Just as a Digimon 'is' its Digicore, the Host Computer 'is' the Kernel. Whatever type of Artificial Intelligence is implemented, the entirely of that code is nested on the Kernel object.
Another important point is that the Kernel is the 'uppermost' conceptual space in the simulation, and there is one concept that is universally present within every (or even independent of every) continuity: the Evolution Database containing the template for the Digicore of every Digimon species available for evolution. This mechanic needs to be within the Kernel so it is accessible from every other aspect of the simulation. Furthermore, the ability to access that database, aka the Digi-Entelechy, may need to itself be a subroutine of the Kernel.
So let's summarize what needs to be represented on this object:- The Game Loop
- The loop which is continually activating nested code, driving the simulation. Optionally, a literal pendulum swinging within the Zone using its physics, which activates each nested object upon each swing. The main 'hard coded' part is the initialization of this motion.
- The Evolution Database
- The template for the Digicore of every species of Digimon available via evolution.
- Digi-Entelechy
- A subroutine which may be necessary to actively provide access to the evolution database at the appropriate moments.
- "Host Computer" Entity
- The intelligence which is managing the given Kernel, e.g., Yggdrasil or Homeros, will be part of this object the same way a Digimon's AI is part of its Digicore. These AI come from the "Life Simulation" which will be discussed later.
- Structural and graphical data of itself
- An implementation just like a Zone, including context-dependent graphics and physics. Independent of the nested zones.
- Nested Zones
- One or more planet-like Servers which are clusters of Zones, and/or independent Zones. These in turn contain the nested objects of every item, character, or other data in the simulation.
Some details of these operations will become clearer when I go over Digicores.
The Net Ocean and the Clustered Digital World
Host Servers and Zones
Inanimate Data
Each of the 10 Elements is a categorical grouping of reactive physics rules. Packets of those rules in specific ratios form 'DNA' which classifies families of Digimon. Digimon remember Traits (crests and sins) they observe, and that data becomes appropriate DNA for determining evolution paths.The 10 Elements
The 8+2 Fields
Traits
Digicores and the Life Simulation
Digicores are like onions. We'll start with the simplest form of a Digimon and build our way up.
Primordial Digimon
V-Pet Mechanics