I do think that occluded vision has to be there, if we allow creatures to see further than one square. It is easy to handle for the server, and not that complex for the clients. As soon as the networking is sorted out, I will try and write a sample C++ client that will hold its state information correctly.
The concern about the facing of the creature is to allow for 'sneaky' manouvers, so that you can get attacked from behind. It does add a bit of complexity to the clients, nothing much on the server. But I do not think that it would be so hard that we need to take it off.

Let me summarize the environment and rules I propose for the initial version:
  • Possible moves:
    1. Move forward one square
    2. Attack a creature in the square in front of you
    3. turn 90, 180 or 270 degrees
    4. Harvest food in the current square
    5. Rest in the current square
  • At initialization, the Creature tells the server how it set its stat points. There are 40 points in total, distributed in the 4 following stats:
    1. Attack strength
    2. Defense strength
    3. Food consumption
    4. Life Points

    I propose to maintain the relationships between stats that I outlined in my first proposal.
  • At each turn, the creature is told:
    1. How many life points it currently has, and how much food it carries.
    2. What occupies the 8 squares in its vision range, including the percentage of life-points of any ennemies.
  • At the start of a turn, the server sends out this information to the creatures and waits until they respond. When all creatures have responded, then the creature with the most life points will have their move executed first. If there is a tie, the selection of which one moves first is random.
  • There are four types of cell contents:
    1. empty cell
    2. wall cell
    3. food cell
    4. another creature