I posted about how to handle small sessile organisms like algae, seaweed, fungi, corals or grass two days ago:
Since then, my train of thought about the topic of handling scale ran parallel to what @HyperbolicHadron layed out in this thread. A generalized LOD system for different scales in the 3D stages will be necessary anyways. That system will not only handle graphic simplification of small objects, but also the simplification of their simulation.
I’ve realized that this LOD system (the graphic part of it) will also be helpful for depicting anorganic environment assets at different scales (tying into the 3D anorganic environment design document I’ve written a while ago). I may come back to this point in a later post.
To get back to the topic of simulating smaller organisms: The system which will simplify microscopic organisms as clouds and microbial mattes (as layed out in this post by @Buckly) can and should be reused to simplify small macroscopic organisms when playing as a large macroscopic organism. Krill-like (macroscopic) plankton will function exactly the same for a whale-like organism as microbial clouds will function for a krill-like 1cm sized filter feeder. A field of gras will function exactly the same for a cow-like organism as microbial mattes will function for a slug-like 1cm sized grazer.
I’ve realized that my “3D anorganic environment design document” should probably be complemented by two additional future design documents: The “3D organic environment design document” and the “3D LOD system design document”. The latter will be relevant for both the organic and the anorganic assets, but I will talk about this concept more in the future.
To conclude, I sympathize with people who advocate for a transition which is as smooth as possible such as @HyperbolicHadron and @Bolsa as I’ve done so earlier in this thread. But in the last days I realized that it probably isn’t as important in which order we tackle the various scales of 3D gameplay. If these systems can be as universal as I think, we can easily go back to a smaller scale later and smooth out the transition by applying these systems, even if they were developed with a focus on gameplay as a larger organism.