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[QuQuasar]

Hi guys,

Have been looking forward to this moment for a while. I've never released a game on steam before, so it's kind of a big deal for me. Species ALRE is a passion project: an incredibly nerdy, niche game that I've been working on by myself for the better part of a decade now. I never expected it to have much appeal to anyone who wasn't me, but after much berating from the wonderful people around me (who are even more passionate about species than I am at times) I finally took the step to steam.

​https://store.steampowered.com/app/774541/Species_Artificial_Life_Real_Evolution/

​Species simulates evolution from the ground up, by simulating a bunch of creatures in a natural-ish environment. They are born, grow, breed and die, and their genes determine how effectively they do so by influencing their speed, stamina, diet, etc. Populations speciate and go extinct and the clade diagram grows in real time. Literally, the game has an actual clade diagram. I did say it was nerdy!

You can also apply artificial selection pressures to design the creatures, if you prefer a more hands on approach, or mess with the climate and commit unspeakable acts of omnicide, which I think will appeal to at least some Dwarf Fortress players.

​I hope you'll take a look and, if you like the idea, maybe consider getting the game or spreading the word.

​Cheers,
Qu

[Fleeting Frames]

I'm slightly curious (nice graphic), though my laptop just doesn't have the resources it demands.

[Kagus]

Oh hey, it's wiggly worm simulator again!

I remember playing around with ALRE several years ago, although at the time I felt as though the food and diet systems were possibly a bit poorly modeled (no real plants/vegetation to speak of). I've been looking around for environment sims again lately, and it's very nice to see that ALRE is still developing. Congrats on getting onto Steam as well!

[George_Chickens]

What are the differences between this and the last free version? Is this just the continuation of development, or is it more of a Caves of Qud model where, initially at least, updates come to the paid version a few months early?

[QuQuasar]

What are the differences between this and the last free version? Is this just the continuation of development, or is it more of a Caves of Qud model where, initially at least, updates come to the paid version a few months early?

It's a continuation of development. This version introduces aquatic life, biomes and creature parts, new tail types, and some usability features like tutorials. The entire game engine has also been ported to OpenGL, which should open up quite a few options in the future.

Additional features will be added to the steam version as they are developed.

[Cyroth]

Ah, I remember this fondly. I played around with it some years ago, maybe back in 2014 or 2015.
Was actually looking for updates earlier this year and saw that the free version was gone, glad to see that the Steam release is available now and I'm going to get it as soon as I'm off work today.

[Yoink]

Ooh, this looks interesting. Something about the graphical style reminds me of Noctis. That's a good thing!

[smjjames]

Coolness, hopefully it'll perform better as it was rather crashy previously (though understandably it was still in alpha).

[Icefire2314]

Hi guys,

Have been looking forward to this moment for a while. I've never released a game on steam before, so it's kind of a big deal for me. Species ALRE is a passion project: an incredibly nerdy, niche game that I've been working on by myself for the better part of a decade now. I never expected it to have much appeal to anyone who wasn't me, but after much berating from the wonderful people around me (who are even more passionate about species than I am at times) I finally took the step to steam.

​https://store.steampowered.com/app/774541/Species_Artificial_Life_Real_Evolution/

​Species simulates evolution from the ground up, by simulating a bunch of creatures in a natural-ish environment. They are born, grow, breed and die, and their genes determine how effectively they do so by influencing their speed, stamina, diet, etc. Populations speciate and go extinct and the clade diagram grows in real time. Literally, the game has an actual clade diagram. I did say it was nerdy!

You can also apply artificial selection pressures to design the creatures, if you prefer a more hands on approach, or mess with the climate and commit unspeakable acts of omnicide, which I think will appeal to at least some Dwarf Fortress players.

​I hope you'll take a look and, if you like the idea, maybe consider getting the game or spreading the word.

​Cheers,
Qu

Hey Qu!

I don't know if you remember me but a long time ago I was trying to manage the Wiki for Species along with a few other people.

In all honesty I thought it had died/you gave up and I'm super excited to see it come back!

[sambojin]

Since it's now in OpenGL, any thoughts of porting it to mobile? It sounds like the kind of thing I love running in essentially screensaver mode for hours on end. Or is it just not feasible due to UI and CPU power constraints?

[smjjames]

Since it's now in OpenGL, any thoughts of porting it to mobile? It sounds like the kind of thing I love running in essentially screensaver mode for hours on end. Or is it just not feasible due to UI and CPU power constraints?

I'd imagine not feaseable due to UI and CPU power constraint would be a concern.

[QuQuasar]

Since it's now in OpenGL, any thoughts of porting it to mobile? It sounds like the kind of thing I love running in essentially screensaver mode for hours on end. Or is it just not feasible due to UI and CPU power constraints?

Unfortunately the CPU constraints on mobile make it unfeasible. Simulating artificial life is expensive! I can't do any of the 'tricks' devs do with other games, like simplifying or unloading the simulation in places the camera isn't looking, for fear of affecting the evolution of the creatures.

Hey Qu!

I don't know if you remember me but a long time ago I was trying to manage the Wiki for Species along with a few other people.

Hi Icefire, I remember you! I think your name might even still be in the game, as one of the syllables occasionally randomly injected into the latin-ish species names.

The game never died, but I did lose motivation on it for a while. That's changed now. I'm determined to keep moving forward!

[Icefire2314]

Since it's now in OpenGL, any thoughts of porting it to mobile? It sounds like the kind of thing I love running in essentially screensaver mode for hours on end. Or is it just not feasible due to UI and CPU power constraints?

Unfortunately the CPU constraints on mobile make it unfeasible. Simulating artificial life is expensive! I can't do any of the 'tricks' devs do with other games, like simplifying or unloading the simulation in places the camera isn't looking, for fear of affecting the evolution of the creatures.

Hey Qu!

I don't know if you remember me but a long time ago I was trying to manage the Wiki for Species along with a few other people.

Hi Icefire, I remember you! I think your name might even still be in the game, as one of the syllables occasionally randomly injected into the latin-ish species names.

The game never died, but I did lose motivation on it for a while. That's changed now. I'm determined to keep moving forward!

Aw, I'll blush.

I'm glad to hear its still trucking along! Excited to start following development again

[Cruxador]

A question of clarification here: Is this a game? I see lots of simulation but no actual gameplay. If it's going to be a game, what is the core gameplay loop going to be like?

Right now good reminds me of Sim Life, but with gaits/movement and other spore bits, but I don't see the top down god game aspect of Sim Life looking as fully realized.

[askovdk]

A question of clarification here: Is this a game? I see lots of simulation but no actual gameplay. If it's going to be a game, what is the core gameplay loop going to be like?

Right now good reminds me of Sim Life, but with gaits/movement and other spore bits, but I don't see the top down god game aspect of Sim Life looking as fully realized.

I bought it and am happy, but I dare say it's hardly even a simulation, but more a very intersting screensaver. 

My current (and only second) run is in an oasis, and now after I guess 4-5 hours at x10 speed I have 2 different and stable 'gill' populations in the two lakes, and a dominant land species roaming the land. It has been interesting to follow how for a long time there was only a single strand of surviving species. It would attempt mutations and splits, but (as in real evolution) such splits would in almost all cases be eliminated due to limited resources in a shared niche.

So if anything, then I might wish for a map with bigger diversity (which may already be possible by fiddeling with the settings), e.g. having a very hot corner (with lots of food) and a very cold corner (also with good food), where alternatives to the main land species could get a foot/strong-hold.

Anyway, I will definitely enjoy running this 'screensaver' for many more hours. 
It's really lovely to see some sensible creatures envolve out of chaos.