- MOOBREEDER HELP
- ===============
-
- MooBreeder is a simple cowbreeding game designed for educational use at
- Key Stage 3. It demonstrates the basic principles of selective breeding.
-
-
- AIM
-
- The aim of the game is to breed a cow that is `excellent` for your chosen
- use. At the start of the game, you are asked to select this goal from
- the options "dairy", "meat", or "plowing". You will be notified once you
- have achieved your goal, and told how many generations you took to do so.
-
-
- COWS
-
- Each cow may be male or female and has four traits: "milk", "meat",
- "strength" and "aggression". Each trait is given an integer value -
- generally, higher is better (except in the case of "aggression").
- Each cow also has a unique ID number and a record of its generation
- and who its parents were.
-
-
- THE HERD
-
- The herd is the accumulation of all the cows you own. Initially, it
- will consist only of four cows that are not very good at anything;
- as if you had just tamed four wild buffaloes. As you breed your cows,
- your herd will continue to grow.
-
-
- BREEDING
-
- When a bull and a cow breed, they produce either one or two calves.
- The calves' traits will depend on their parents', modified by a random
- factor. So if you breed a strong bull with a strong cow, you are more
- likely to get a strong calf.
-
- There are some restrictions to which animals may breed together.
- Obviously, you need a male and a female. Secondly, they may not be
- direct siblings, as in real life this would be likely to lead to
- genetic and developmental problems. Thirdly, they may be at most three
- generations apart.
-
-
- INTERFACE
-
- On the left you see a list of your entire herd. Double-click on an
- animal to have it added to a parent slot on the top right. When you
- have selected two parents, click on the `Breed` button to have them
- mate. Their offspring will then appear in the bottom right area.
- Double-click on a calf to add it back to your herd. Right-clicking
- on any animal will bring up a context menu that allows you to remove
- this animal from your herd.
-
- If you wish to save your game progress, you may do so via the
- `File` menu. Restoring a previously saved game may be done from the
- same menu.