#0 - April 16, 2009, 5:52 p.m.
I'm going to send you a Gallon of Gin
#6 - April 17, 2009, 1:55 a.m.
Q u o t e:
But how do crabs reproduce?
Arthropods generally lay eggs. If you mean how do the eggs get fertilized, the same way they usually do. One catch with big crustaceans is that they can only mate following a molt. Males of some crabs will literally keep a claw on a female who is about to molt until she' sheds her skin. Molted crabs are soft, which is where softshell crabs come from. However because their mouthparts are also soft, they don't eat for awhile following a molt. This can make them difficult to catch say blue crabs (Callinectes spp.)through conventional methods, which use bait. Many crustaceans carry the eggs until they hatch. Larval crustaceans are very small and are carried through the water column as plankton. Insects by contrast tend to have a mobile adult form and a relatively immobile larval form (think butterfly v. caterpillar). Crustaceans have a mobile larva and adults that don't travel great distances (or in the case of barnacles, not at all).
This oceanographic moment has been brought to you by Blizzard Entertainment.
#46 - April 17, 2009, 6:47 a.m.
Q u o t e:
Ghostcrawler, are Malacostraca the class of crustaceans or a sub-class? Aren't crustaceans themselves just a sub-phylum of Arthropoda?
There are more types of Arthropods that any other multicellular lifeform, so the taxonomy gets pretty complex. For example, there are probably 300,000 species of beetles. There may be 50,000 species of crustaceans, but crustaceans are vastly understudied compared to insects -- something to do with the difficulty of sampling. :)
Phylum Arthropoda (armored things)
--Subphylum Crustacea (double legs)
----Class Malacostraca (antennae, mouthparts, head and thorax)
------Order Decapoda (10 legs)
--------Crabs, shrimp and lobsters are in this group.
Q u o t e:
GC, don't forget that alot of freshwater insects do move around. Dragonflies, Mayflies, and aquatic beatles come to mind as examples of where the larval form of the insect is much more mobile, and interesting, than the adult stage.
True enough. They aren't as planktonic (generally at the whim of water currents) as most baby crustaceans though. Interestingly (to me anyway) freshwater crustaceans like crayfish also skip over the planktonic larva. It doesn't work well for stream-dwelling critters. :)
Q u o t e:
on a side note, what is the yellow 'mustard' part of the crab? thats not crap is it?
It is called the hepatopancreas, and is a digestive organ that does some of the same functions as a vertebrate liver. It only looks that bad because you're usually looking at the cooked version. Some people like the taste. It isn't typically dangerous, but can accumulate contaminants depending on where the crab lives. Unless you eat crabs every week, it's probably not an issue.
#84 - April 17, 2009, 10:13 p.m.
Q u o t e:
the term 'lead systems designer' really is a lot of pretentious managerial wankery isn't it :P
Heh. Well, they didn't ask me what the title should be. :)
I resisted putting in on the sig for a long time because it does seem a little pretentious, but the nebulousness of my role seemed like it was causing confusion. Players would say "I love GC, but I hate the designers that nerfed me" or "GC doesn't know what the developers are really thinking." I will say that the CMs and other blues that post DO know what the developers are thinking though. We are in contact constantly. You should assume that anything blue is probably accurate, given the limitation that we all make mistakes sometimes.
In game design jargon, "systems" means mechanics -- usually the more numbers-oriented part of design. It is usually contrasted with "content" meaning the "stuff" you see in the game. A content designer would implement a level or hook up a creature. A systems designer would design how the combat formula works. The systems designers on WoW handle spells, classes, items, tradeskills, PvP, combat mechanics and UI. Basically everything except levels, lore, story, encounters, quests and world events.
#93 - April 17, 2009, 10:50 p.m.
Q u o t e:
Also, GC, surely you have a bit of influence over encounter design since it ties in with the class design, or at least communicate with them frequently to make sure everything comes together as fluidly as possible.
Totally. They are right across the hall and we work together constantly. I just didn't want to take any credit for their work. There are A LOT of designers who work here. I don't ever want to steal too much credit that I don't deserve just because I post a lot.