Darwinia (computer game)

Darwinia is the second game made by Introversion_Software, the creators of Uplink (computer game). It is an action game, similar to Cannon Fodder, with graphics inspired by early arcade machines.

=Backstory=

The world of Darwinia isn t a natural phenomenon. It was created as a digital theme world by the mysterious Dr Sepulveda - a Jurassic Park for polygons. Housed in a massive network of surplus Protologic 68000 machines from the 1980s, Darwinia is a world where the single-poly Darwinians (a.k.a. DGs or DeeGees), with their simple, but growing AI, can grow and evolve. And where the world can visit to see them gambolling in their natural, fractal habitat. Except, when you arrive, something has gone horribly wrong. Darwinia has been infected by a virus, and Dr Sepulveda is panicking, watching decades of research being corrupted and consumed. Since you are the only other person there at the time, Sepulveda decides that you can help him, giving you access to the combat programs he d managed to prevent from being completely rewritten by the virus, simple tools that were meant to put the Darwinians through their paces. It soon becomes clear this isn t enough, and that triggers the third aspect of the gameplay - evolution.

=Media=

There are several screenshots on the official Darwinia website, as well as articles and reviews in many gaming magazines including PC Gamer and Edge (games magazine).

=Progress=

Initial beta testing on Darwinia started on August 27, 2004, and full game beta testing started on November 26, 2004.

A demo level was released on January 21, 2005 and can be downloaded from the Darwinia website.

Darwinia was released on March 4, 2005, while the Mac OS X version was released March 30, 2005 by publisher Ambrosia Software.

A Patch (computing) was released on April 28, 2005 for Microsoft Windows, bringing the version to 1.2. New features included an improved unit selection system, as well as numerous modding updates including the ability to create custom strings.

Another patch (version 1.3) has been announced, which will include the option of clicking icons to create units instead of using the current gesture system. Beta testing of this patch began on August 9, 2005.

Beta testing of a new demo, using features of the above-mentioned version 1.3 patch began on August 22, 2005 along with an entirely new level, to be released in a new demo.

=Critical Acclaim=

Scored 90% from PC Gamer UK and reached number 21 on it s Top 100 PC Games list.

Scored 8.5 from GameSpot.

Has to be played from [http://www.pcreview.co.uk/reviews/Gaming/Darwinia/ PC Review]

= External links =

*[http://www.darwinia.co.uk Darwinia Homepage] *[http://www.thenextgame.co.uk TheNextGame, a Darwinia fansite]