:::::Introduction:::::To return to the game, click hereA strategy game where your army of creatures compete for dominance over the world by attacking your opponent's species and evolving your own to become the dominant phylum on the planet! There is no pressure to commit - you can leave the game at any time, your creatures will still continue to inhabit their areas until another player affects them.
:::::How do I join?:::::In order to join, you need to make a starter species (only one starter per player to prevent future dominance of a player based on multiple starters). No species in the game are pre-determined - the appearance of the ecosystem will be determined entirely by the players. So what you need to do is design and draw your own species in any way you like, following just two rules for the starter - It must be small and simple (if you're not sure, look at images of small fish, molluscs or insects for some ideas). You will be able to evolve them into bigger, more advanced forms later on.
Once you have it uploaded and ready to go, you can now give it a few stats. Numbered stats should always add up to no more than 10 points for the starter. How you allocate your stats can determine who gets the upper hand in play:
Name: Could be anything, even a number.
Attack: This stat is what you use to attack opponent species. If its higher than your opponent's creature's defence, you can kill it off.
Defence: This stat is what you need to resist attack. If its higher than your opponent's creature's attack, it cannot kill you.
Agility: This stat is what you use to evade attacks. If your agaility is higher than the opponent's, regardless of defence and attack, then you are safe from attack, and you are also fast enough to attack the opponent.
Size: Your creature needs to be within 10 points bigger or smaller than the opponent before you can attack it. Big opponents easily loose small opponents, and small opponents are too small to hurt their foes.
Intelligence: Please read 'habitat' below. See where it says that if your creature is in a secondary habitat, its stats are disabled? Well, that's only if it has 0 intelligence. In secondary habitats, your creature can use its stats up to the value of its intelligence. So if its attack is 10, and its intelligence 5, its attack in a secondary habitat would only have the effectiveness of 5.
These stats don't need any points allocated to them:
Habitat: The world is covered in habitats - ecosystems with their own unique climates and plant-life. They are represented on the world map by coloured areas on the land's surface. A creature of any species can only inhabit 3 types of habitat. In 2 of those 3 habitats its stats are completely disabled, so in short it has only 1 optimum habitat and 2 secondary habitats. Pick wisely which 3 habitats your creature will inhabit.
Terrain: In any habitat there are different places creatures could dwell in - the trees, the ground, the river, etc. Your creature's terrain type will determine which sort of creatures your own creature can attack or be attacked by. For example, a tree-dwelling animal cannot be harmed by an exclusively ground-dwelling animal. So creatures can only attack creatures of the same terrain type.
These are the terrain types:
Terrestrial: Creatures that dwell on the ground.
Sub-terrestrial: Creatures that dwell underground.
Aquatic: Creatures that dwell in water.
Aerial: Creatures that can glide, float or fly.
Arboreal: Creatures that can move in the trees and vegetation.
Your creature can have multiple terrain types but if a few players express concern over another player's species (e.g. a species that is 'terrestrial' but looks like a legless fish) then I will speak in person with that player to find out why. To avoid misunderstandings its encouraged that you explain any unobvious terrain types in the species' description.
Feeding type: Your creature can either be a carnivore, a herbivore or an omnivore.
Carnivore: Carnivores need other creatures within its killing range living in the same tile on the map to be able to survive there (tiles will be explained shortly along with habitats). It doesn't need to actually kill the other creature to survive - it just needs to be on the same tile. The advantage of having a carnivore is that they can use their full attack and size stats in secondary habitats, regardless of intelligence.
Herbivore: Herbivores feed on the vegetation of their 3 habitats - they don't need any other animals living there to feed on, but have no other special advantages.
Omnivore: Omnivores are the first creatures to get wiped out on a tile when that tile becomes overcrowded with creatures, but have the advantage of predators without the dependancy on other species to survive.
Description: Any additional information you would like to add, such as feeding habits and behaviour or notes on terrain.
Starting area: The co-ordinates of your creature's starting position (the map has a grid with tiles - each tile has its own co-ordinates).
The above form is used for any new species you evolve.
::::I've made a creature, what do I do now?::::Now you're ready to choose an area on the map for your creature to inhabit.
Click here to see the world map - there will always be a world map available to refer to:
As you can see there are coloured areas - these are the habitats. The habitats can be explained as so:
Tundra: Icy deserts, represented by white. Little food or water available, may be covered with deep glaciers.
Conifer forest: Cool seasonal conifer forests, represented by dark teal green. (if anyone doesn't know what a conifer is, its typically an evergreen tree with needle-like leaves and many produce cones)
Temperate forests: Mild seasonal forests with a mixture of deciduous and conifer trees. Represented by a lighter teal green. (if anyone doesn't know what a deciduous tree is, its a tree with broad leaves, many shed their leaves in winter and produce blossoms and fruits)
Open woodland: Areas made up of scattered shrubs and trees, much open space and smaller plants like herbs and ferns. Typically drier, warmer and less seasonal. Represented by light bright green.
Open plain: Open areas of low-lying plants like herbs and grasses, may be accompanied by contrasting seasons of dry and wet. Represented by yellow.
Desert: Hot environments with little rainfall so little plant growth. Bare baked rock and sand is frequent. Represented by orange.
Tropical rainforest: Areas where rain falls almost every day, seasons are hardly evident, and climate is hot and humid all year round. Very lush and tropical, with tall towering deciduous trees with wide bases. Represented by dark deep green.
Tropical swamp: Hot, humid swamp habitats. Land is waterlogged and often flooded, ground is thick with mud and the water is thick with aquatic plants and swamp grasses. May be affected by droughts where the swamp dries up. Represented by a muddy brown/green.
Shallow sea: Areas of sea close to coasts, there may be lush corral reefs and sandy bottoms. Represented by light blue.
Open ocean: Areas of open ocean, wide and deep, with possibly miles between food sources. To those not specialised for oceans, it seems like a deep blue desert. Repreented by medium blue.
Deep sea: May be in deep ocean trenches, areas of sea where the sunlight doesn't reach. It may often be pitch black. Fragments of organic material may snow down from the levels above. Represented by dark blue.
Barren rock: This type of habitat tends to occur where all life has been obliterated by a natural disaster (it will recover with time). This area is represented by gray.
The world map is further seperated by a grid, the x axis in numbers and the y axis in letters. Each tile on the grid can hold a certain number of creatures (see the red numbers). For example, if (2,A) could hold 5 creatures maximum, it could hold for example 2 Frogs, 2 Birds and 1 Mouse. If a new creature sets foot in a full tile, a creature is removed based on priorities (it could even be the new-commer). Here they are:
1) Any creature who's habitat type is not optimal for that tle, they are wiped out.
2) If after step 1 the area is still full, then omnivores are removed.
3) If after step 2 the area is still full, then creatures are removed from biggest first to smallest last until there is room.
You can refer to each tile individually to check what lives there and how many creatures can live there at any one time.
When choosing an area for your creature, you need to ask yourself if it's the right habitat, then decide on which tile to start your creature in, and make those co-ordinates your creature's starting area.
Sometimes there may be changes in the map, and natural disasters can occur. These are chance happenings dictated by a random number generator played every day. The chance of a disaster is average 1 in every 50 These are the environmental and physical changes which can occur:
Meteorite impact: A metiorite smashes into the world. A random point on the map is generated and a random severity (from 1 to 5). The greater the severity, the more tiles around the impact site that get reduced to barren rock, and creatures living there die except those who have barren rock as a secondary habitat. Some tiles may be changed to different habitats, some creatures who are not prepared for those habitat change die. If the impact site is at sea, then the land surrounding is reduced to barren rock.
Greenhouse disaster: Greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere causing rapid global warming (perhaps from volcanic activity). The severity is chosen at random between 1 to 5. This determines how severely the habitats in the tiles will change.
Ice age: Perhaps due to a change in the world's tilt or solar issues, the world goes into a glacial period. The severity is chosen from 1 to 5 at random. This determines how severely the habitats in the tiles will change.
Continental drift: At random, approximately 1 in every 20 days, the continents will shift ever so slightly - when this is announced check to see which habitats have changed.
:::::Now that I've decided on a habitat, I can start!:::::You can make strategic moves in order to gain control over the world by posting them. You are limmited to being able to make 5 moves per day, and I will update the game as fequently as I can with everyone's new moves. Here's an explanation on which moves you can make.
Move: You can transport one of your creatures to a new tile. That new tile has to be of a habitable habitat to that creature or it will die. The new tile must also be directly next to the tile the creature is being taken from.
Reproduce: You can select an individual creature and make a new duplicate of it, so you will have more than one creature of the exact same species. The new duplicate will inhabit the same area as its parent, until you make another move to shift it. While this is an almost essential move for the game, use it with caution - if the area is full, the duplication will not be successful if your creature is not fit enough to compete for space (see priorities under world map explanantions).
Kill: In order for your creature to attack an opponent's creature, the opponent's creature must be in the same tile as your own creature and your creature must have the appropriate stats. If your creature's attack for example was 5, and your opponent creature's defence was 4, your creature can kill it. If the oponent creature's defence is 6 however, your creature's attack will fail. You also need to have higher agility than your opponent and be within 10 points bigger or smaller than your opponent.
Adapt: This is the way you evolve creatures - first you select which creature you're going to evolve. In one move, you will only be evolving one creature - not the whole species. Once you have selected your creature, you can decide how you are going to change it for the better. The most noticable change will be the design - how it looks - but once you are done with that there are other aspects you might want to change:
For the following 5 stats you can add a total of 5 new points, but you can swap (1 point per stat) and remove stats too:
Attack: Add more if you need more killing power.
Defence: Add more if you need to defend.
Agility: Add more if you need to be able to attack faster or avoid being attacked.
Size: You can add or remove size points to take advantage of an opponent's size.
Intelligence: Add more if your creature is not doing well in its secondary habitat.
The following stats don't get altered by points:
Habitat: You can change one habitat - you can change one of the secondary habitats or you can swap the primary habitat with one of the two secondary habitats.
Terrain: You can add or remove one terrain type (but you can't remove a terrain if it's the only terrain left that the creature can inhabit).
Feeding type: You can change the feeding type to any other.
Description: The description might change along with the species' design.
Starting area: The new starting area will be the co-ordinates of the creature you chose to adapt.
Because you are only adapting one creature of a species, there may still be members left of the old species, that could be used to evolve again. Because of this, one species can take several different evolutionary paths.
Once you've made your newly evolved species put all of its details on your post so that other players can see them.
:::::I have a question:::::I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or run you through step by step as you go if you need me to. Just post and ask!
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