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Geek Culture / Darwinia - Best game of 2005?

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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 06:58
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Hey all,

I went on Steam to get Uplink, and found that Darwinia comes with Uplink for only $19.95. I just completed Darwinia tonight, and let me say it is up there in my top 5 games of all time--- maybe even close to #1. The game itself was not incredibly difficult, but there are people on the forums asking for help, so who knows.

It's an RTS set inside a computer program, with little green Darwinia dudes who have lived for over 10,000 of their generations. A virus breaks out in the system and all hell goes loose. Basically you have to get rid of the virus as a loss to the Darwinia people would mean over a decade of lost AI research.

Let me say the interface and controls are super easy to get used to. The first level is kind of an introductory-type thing to get you used to the layout. The game gives you this cool system of choosing what "software" to upgrade in the computer, i.e. the laser weapons, grenades, etc. So for example if you get the programmer to work on lasers, you may find he upgrades them to V2.0 where they have a further range.

And the graphics are retro in a modern 3D engine. The characters are pixelated when zoomed in, but that's clearly by design. There are tons of references to Tron and retro gaming (i.e. Space Invaders air-strikes!). The music just BLEW me away---- and when I beat it and saw that one of my favourite electronic bands, Trash 80 did the music, I was even more impressed.

The company, Introversion (same guys who did Defcon) received tons of awards (including best of IGF in 2005) and the game has a high 80s Metacritic score, which means a lot.

Get Steam, and download the playable demo pronto.


http://www.codercafe.com - My blog
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Raven
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 07:30
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It was a pretty cool game back in the day, and the remake is just as cool. Can't play it right now, due to a crappy notebook and no real free time.

But I would certainly recommend it to people who like RTS Sims.
on another note, why aren't you on msn Jeku?

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Gil Galvanti
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 07:33
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Sounds cool, could you post a link?

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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 08:06
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Quote: "and the remake is just as cool."


Are you sure it's a remake??? Of what game?

Quote: "on another note, why aren't you on msn Jeku?"


I'm at home relaxing-- I rarely go on MSN at home

Quote: "Sounds cool, could you post a link?"


Sure--- http://www.darwinia.co.uk

Steam has it for $19.95, including Uplink, the company's first game!


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Zaibatsu
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 08:35
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I wasn't so impressed with it. I got it in the sci-fi pack that came with Darwinia, Shadowgrounds (THAT game was fun), and X3.

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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 08:40
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How was X3?


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Chris K
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 11:15
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What is Raven on about? It's not a remake, and there isn't a remake of it...

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David R
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 12:37 Edited at: 14th Oct 2006 12:38
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Yep, Raven is talking poo. Darwinia is a completely original game which is designed to have a retro feel, but it definitely isn't a remake and doesn't have a remake either. It is similar is some ways to cannon fodder, but not a remake....


And yeah, Darwinia is a very cool game. I only have the demo, but I'm already very impressed with it

Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 14:37
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I tried Darwina and didn't like it... The conept was fantastic - but there was just something about it I didn't like which is a shame because Uplink was so fantastic it nearly cost me my first year at uni.

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Zaibatsu
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Posted: 14th Oct 2006 17:56
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Quote: "How was X3?
"


dont know. never tried it. still playing shadowgrounds almost in all my free time.

"If it weren't for monsoor here, this town wouldn't be here, and that kid would never grow up to lie about texas!"
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Les Horribres
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Posted: 15th Oct 2006 22:37
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Darwinia had a facelift durring its development, perhaps that is what she ment? Don't know, but this topic had emerged along time ago (perhaps was dazzag) where a person yelled about steam 'stealing' the program and to buy it from its original site.

If the demo is still the same, small hint. Forget what the ignorant fool tells you to do, once you can build the pi shaped programs send them all over seas and takeover one of the 'points' in the main island. You will need that shooter group (I think they will take over the constructor). Even if they don't take over the constructor, there will be a managable amount of reds so that they can kill them all. (I forgot if this actually won the end game though... but it was fun 'bending' the rules).

Then, if I remember the process correctly, It will build an large amount of the darwinians and subsequentally the red guys won't respawn after a certain point (wonder whos brilliant idea that was? If you really need an array limit then do a ratio change. Don't allow me to win simply because of program faults).

No 1 game? Questionable. Both demos (old and new) were way too easy, and the lack of AI (darwinians have NO path finding) makes it more annoying. Althouhg, this is one of those games where you just can't lose, the hardest part is controling an army that has little to no AI. The game, at most, is cute. Winning is just a matter of time, unlike most RTS' where winning is restricted by resources, land, and base attacks.

I simply can not see how a person can play a game that has no difficulty. It is like reading a book which nothing happens. (And a lot happens in much ado about nothing, further more its a play, but that is besides the point).

Wisemen are hard to find, they are tarnished by sayings and quotes that are not of their true nature.
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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 00:37
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Well, a lot of your descriptions didn't make sense, so I have no idea what you're talking about. I prefer to play games where you don't die every 5 minutes, and Darwinia was refreshing. At the moment most games are cookie-cutter clones, with zero storyline and average gameplay. Darwinia, for me, was like someone telling me that the game industry can still be fresh.

Quote: "It will build an large amount of the darwinians and subsequentally the red guys won't respawn after a certain point (wonder whos brilliant idea that was? If you really need an array limit then do a ratio change. Don't allow me to win simply because of program faults)."


An example of your description that doesn't make sense. The reds don't just stop respawning They stop respawning when you take over their respawn points, *obviously*. It has nothing to do with array limits. The devs had three years to build this game.


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Raven
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 01:52
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Fine whatever think what you want, but this is a remake of an Amstrad CPC464 game. Used to own it, was called Virii or something.. the game concept is identical, only difference is the graphics and much better AI.

In the original you had to get your little men to build up a space ship to escape the network, but they'd do their own thing if you left them alone. So you had to place down things to force them to work. As you got more done, they would get better at certain jobs.

Was a fun game, and this remake is just as fun (well except for the annoying tutorial guy). Shame that hardly anyone remembers how crazy an novel many of the 80s games were, for most of you games probably didn't exist until Playstation.

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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 03:39
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Quote: "In the original you had to get your little men to build up a space ship to escape the network, but they'd do their own thing if you left them alone. So you had to place down things to force them to work. As you got more done, they would get better at certain jobs."


That doesn't really sound like Darwinia, but whatever


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Jess T
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 04:40
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Sounds an awful lot like Bolt's Firewall...

Damn them games ripping off indie developers

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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 04:56
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If you go here you can read exactly how they came up with the idea. It slowly evolved (no pun intended) over time. It wasn't like, "Hey, we'll remake this old Atari classic!"


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Raven
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 11:17
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Jeku, it's not like they're going to sit there and go "well this game we've been awarded for really wasn't difficult to come up with.. we just took a game we thought no one would remember and updated it"

yeah that makes for interesting reading and makes them sound good.
it's quite classic for people to claim something was 100% their idea... then lawsuits generally ensue. Like the whole Ian Bell vs David Brabham thing.

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Van B
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 12:06
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I played it for ages and ages, then run out of green dudes and had no idea how to get more, or move them.

It reminds me mostly of Powermonger by Bullfrog, the way your vaguely directing troops. But it's not really my cup of tea, neither was Powermonger or Populous, it's too vague and trippy for me. Games like Virus and Sentinel, they looked like that because they had to. If you ask me, those guys planned a traditional but ambitious RTS like Shogun, but ended up opting for flat poly's and stuff and the retro look to combat performance issues. I know that Darwinia probably spends more performance on the retro look than it would with an upto-date look, but that's hardly the point, they did'nt start off using a textured terrain so they could get an idea of how it would look in solid 3D .

Fair play to any indi developer that will slug it out for 5 years, but Darwinia is over rated, dull, and frankly more people dis the graphics, even people who should know better by now. When it's like that, only 40 year old game reviewers appreciate the graphics to a notable extent. Really, instead of showing a terrain that an Atari ST could generate, why not make a special cartoon shader for terrain, that might make the looks unique, not dated. With games like Interphase, Hunter and Resolution 101, that solid 3D look came into it's own - save it for retro, not marketting bullet notes.

I'm kinda annoyed, I thought I'd like Darwinia, I thought it was new, or interesting, but really it's just another quirky RTS title riding round on the Steam-powered bandwagon. Like Ragdoll Kung-Fu - what is it with Steam and the OTT marketing everytime? - the gameplay is paper thin FFS there's about 1 weeks gaming in there, tops.
I seriously think Valve are marketing games they shouldn't, Gordon Freeman is not a pimp.

This is embarassing to say, but the best game I've played recently is Cooking Mama on the DS - chopping onions and frying steaks. It's got the boy away from Oblivion, and even the BF2142 demo can't keep me off it.

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Tinkergirl
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 15:30
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I too have been playing cooking mama, but it's easier for me to get away with it Still never been able to make a gold-rated bowl of rice, mind you...

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Chris K
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 20:46
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Can anyone find any reference anywhere to this Atari Darwinia?

"Virii" huh?

Sounds suspiciously like something made up by Raven.
It's not even an actual word.

Rather like:

Quote: "Brabham"


-= Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals =-
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David R
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 21:25 Edited at: 16th Oct 2006 21:37
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Quote: "It's not even an actual word."


Actually, it is. Its a correct English plural for virus.

Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Chris K
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 21:33
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Actually, it's not.

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David R
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 21:35 Edited at: 16th Oct 2006 21:36
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Quote: "In the English language, the normal plural of virus is viruses. This form of the plural is correct, and used most frequently, both when referring to a biological virus and when referring to a computer virus. The forms viri and virii are also used as a plural, although less frequently. "


Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Chris K
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 21:37 Edited at: 16th Oct 2006 21:44
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Well it sure looks like I was wrong

It's like how the plural of bus, is bii.



----------------

Ok, not only did you change the quote from the one that specifically said it wasn't correct English, you also changed you're original post from saying "THE correct English" to "a correct English way" or whatever.

Would have been good if it wasn't for the edit stamps.

And for the record, it isn't even a correct option. It is not English.

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Jeku
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Posted: 16th Oct 2006 22:26
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Darwinia wasn't initially made to "ride the Steam bandwagon", as they had released it initially from their website. However, when they moved the game over to Steam their sales quadrupled, so it was a good move.

And I don't believe the retro look was because it was too complicated to do realistic terrain, etc. In my eyes it just wouldn't be as good if the graphics were shader-based and running on the Unreal engine

Quote: "Jeku, it's not like they're going to sit there and go "well this game we've been awarded for really wasn't difficult to come up with.. we just took a game we thought no one would remember and updated it""


But it wasn't intended as a remake, like you said. Just admit it--- reading through their dev cycle notes specifically says how they came up with the idea of viruses, etc. A lot of it was through neat things they'd come up with graphically--- i.e. the little worms became the viruses, etc.


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indi
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Posted: 17th Oct 2006 04:50
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bii is not a plural in any reference i can find.

The usual plural of bus is "buses". "Busses" is sometimes used, but is also the plural of "buss", a dialectal word for "kiss" or a type of boat.

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David R
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Posted: 18th Oct 2006 22:03
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Sorry, for the massive bump here, but I just have to clarify:

Quote: "Ok, not only did you change the quote from the one that specifically said it wasn't correct English"

Originally, the quote said that; however, it said that it is not yet in the dictionary. The dictionary is fairly meaningless in what is and is not English. It is still a word, and it still has meaning (and I'm sure a lot of people here know exactly what virii means and implies, so I'm not the only one)

On a second note, the original quote was from Wikipedia. I then looked on a proper dictionary site, and it provided the quote that is currently in my post: personally, I trust an official dictionary site much more than Wikipedia.

Quote: ""THE correct English" to "a correct English way""

This was purely a mistake. I know 'viruses' is also valid. My original statement would imply otherwise, which is obviously incorrect.

Quote: "And for the record, it isn't even a correct option. It is not English."

Think what you like; lots of words take centuries to enter and also leave the dictionary. I'm not the only one who knows this word: Raven does, the dictionary site does, and I'm sure plenty more do. It is English (albeit not 'official', but who says the dictionary decides?) and it has a meaning.

Case closed.

Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Chris K
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Posted: 18th Oct 2006 22:39
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Yeah great logic.

Everyone knows what teh, means. Everyone knows what evreyone means, everyone knows what u means.

They're still spelling mistakes!

-= Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals =-
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David R
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Posted: 18th Oct 2006 22:51 Edited at: 18th Oct 2006 23:21
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http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/virii

As it notes, it is technically a mistake; but then again, since when did the English language (let alone Latin) never break its own rules?

On a further note: stop being a stubborn old [prune] for Christ's sake. This is all borne out of you trying to prove Raven wrong on every word he says: and it kind of has a slingshot effect when you are in fact are wrong; the effect you are currently experiencing

EDIT: I did not edit this to invalidate the below comment. Simply to comply with rules. I wasn't aware this was seen as so offensive, bearing in mind what other colourful language comes from various other users.

Well, I finally decided to create a website that really reflects what kind of programmer I really are: OneManBand software: http://www.ombsoft.com
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Jeku
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Posted: 18th Oct 2006 23:19
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Quote: "On a further note: stop be a stubborn old git for Christ's sake."


@David R - Please don't use that kind of language here, as it's offensive. If you have issues with it please email me.


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Chris K
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Posted: 18th Oct 2006 23:52
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OK, well call me stubborn or a git or whatever else you want - I think it would be pretty clear to any neutral, given the Wikipedia page, that virii is not, in fact, correct English.

There is simply no way of contradicting your argument that any word anyone understands can be considered 'correct English'.

The only way I can demonstrate the flaws with that belief is such:

Here is a word:

asfjsiaj802rr21jpafs

It is correct English.
Only I know what this word means.
But it still has a meaning.
It is therefore correct English.

While you're at it, it's correct French and Urdu as well.

It's like "could of" and "to all intensive purposes", loads of people say them, and understand them, but they are still wrong.

-= Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals =-
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