Rough approximations of the vision of two aliens. The first is the maluwi, and the second is an alien I haven’t introduced yet, cause I created them quite recently and they’re not a native of the maluwi moon.
Maluwi have six simple eyes. The first pair is the primary pair, and does most of the functions that human eyes do. These eyes are binocular and have vision comparable to that of most reptiles, with high resolution and focusing ability. Unfortunately, these eyes also have mediocre night vision at best (they do have some adaptations to maintain color vision during both night and day, but their resolution goes way down).
The second pair is in charge of peripheral vision, partially since maluwi necks aren’t very flexible. They also serve as the primary source of vision in darkness, since they have a high density of rod-analogous photoreceptor cells. Maluwi are more diurnal than most life on Zoalula, but due to the ridiculously long nights on the moon, and the uncomfortably hot temperatures after midday, they are forced to be active at dawn and dusk as well. Maluwi switch to much slower behavior when it’s dark out, since they need to conserve energy, and since their secondary pair of eyes doesn’t have as good resolution as their first, even during the night.
Their third pair of eyes is angled upwards. This pair watches out for aerial predators, monitors weather conditions, and helps in regulating their circorbital rhythm. They do have more resolution in these eyes than, say, the ocelli of flying insects, but their use is still more so to tell light, shadow, and movement than to pick out details.
I’ll give some basic info about the second alien too. These aliens, called Lindworms, have two large complex apposition eyes. They have good night vision despite this, with adaptations to nocturnality. Due to having eyes larger than any living arthropod’s with magnitudes more ommatidia, Lindworms have pretty decent resolution, though they are still quite nearsighted. As nocturnal predators, they compensate by relying on their good senses of hearing and smell to hunt for prey. (They are also a sophont species, though one that is much less fleshed out. They’re also probably close to the most humanoid alien I’ll ever design, which is fun.)
