Episode 3
Going back to the same AI he’d used for King Dagon, Andy programmed the Spidrons to incorporate the code of everything they consumed into their own code. Most brought only added girth, or new weapons, but as the growing horde reached more living planets, Andy was astounded to see the array of new adaptations the Spidrons took on, which would be passed and amplified through the bigger Spidrons that devoured the smaller Spidrons. Andy was careful to remove any codes or side-programming that would allow the Spidrons to gain consciousness and spark world-wide rioting. Andy had never been found responsible for the damage King Dagon had done, and he would like to avoid a repeat.
The Spidrons started as an egg hatching a simple soldier that adapted the physical traits and abilities of any player, monster, or NPC it devoured, while maintaining a mantis theme. As Spidrons ate and adapted, they grew larger and larger. The monstrosities that dominated the planet in the last weeks of an invasion were larger than the greatest cities and war machines ever erected in the game. When the invasion was complete and a planet had been reduced to bare rock, those monstrosities were devoured by the larger monsters that remained in orbit. These in turn were devoured by the princes and then the queens in the center of the storm. All the smaller Spidrons were drawn to the princes and queens, who drove the storm of subordinate Spidrons before them as the subordinates waited to be devoured. The Spidrons were so close to free-standing beings that Andy once joked with a co-worker that if the Spidrons could exchange gasses, they would be considered a living thing.
The Spidron Swarm started near the TAO Fantasy planet and was programmed to go forward across the galaxy and grow larger as it moved. The trajectory was carefully considered to make sure the advance flew past TAO Fantasy and never looked back. They were a mindless wave passing through the universe from one end to the next, advancing on the new planets that expanded the galaxy every week. Eventually, the swarm would reach those planets and pass on to oblivion. Nothing remained behind the swarm worth investigating, and the TAO universe would be ever recycled.
Prior to the release of the game, Andy pushed to have the two games run on different engines to be mutually exclusive. The real reason Andy’s plan was denied was because an entry-level programmer in the Hayes, KA office could be paid minimum wage for an hour’s worth of work cutting and pasting new levels into the existing game engine. Instead, The reason given to the public was that SpectraCom wanted TAO to be an ever-expanding universe of limitless possibilities.
The Spidrons started as an egg hatching a simple soldier that adapted the physical traits and abilities of any player, monster, or NPC it devoured, while maintaining a mantis theme. As Spidrons ate and adapted, they grew larger and larger. The monstrosities that dominated the planet in the last weeks of an invasion were larger than the greatest cities and war machines ever erected in the game. When the invasion was complete and a planet had been reduced to bare rock, those monstrosities were devoured by the larger monsters that remained in orbit. These in turn were devoured by the princes and then the queens in the center of the storm. All the smaller Spidrons were drawn to the princes and queens, who drove the storm of subordinate Spidrons before them as the subordinates waited to be devoured. The Spidrons were so close to free-standing beings that Andy once joked with a co-worker that if the Spidrons could exchange gasses, they would be considered a living thing.
The Spidron Swarm started near the TAO Fantasy planet and was programmed to go forward across the galaxy and grow larger as it moved. The trajectory was carefully considered to make sure the advance flew past TAO Fantasy and never looked back. They were a mindless wave passing through the universe from one end to the next, advancing on the new planets that expanded the galaxy every week. Eventually, the swarm would reach those planets and pass on to oblivion. Nothing remained behind the swarm worth investigating, and the TAO universe would be ever recycled.
Prior to the release of the game, Andy pushed to have the two games run on different engines to be mutually exclusive. The real reason Andy’s plan was denied was because an entry-level programmer in the Hayes, KA office could be paid minimum wage for an hour’s worth of work cutting and pasting new levels into the existing game engine. Instead, The reason given to the public was that SpectraCom wanted TAO to be an ever-expanding universe of limitless possibilities.
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