Evolution (MMOG)
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| Evolution | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | neonDragon |
| Engine | Geneone |
| Latest version | 5 |
| Release date(s) | May 2001 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Web-based |
| Media | Web interface |
| System requirements | Web browser |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse |
Evolution is a web-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG.) Evolution was created by Neondragon (Neon) after the game that he was playing (Planetarion) decided to start charging money to play each round. Neon didn't create Evolution to rival Planetarion, but just as something to do in his free time. The game of Evolution was started around May 2001.
Contents |
[edit] Game description
Gameplay procedes in 'ticks' which are one-hour increments synchronized to UTC time. ticks are counted sequentially, beginning at 1 and counting upwards as the round progresses. Players familiar with the game frequently refer to time in ticks, and refer to events by the tick(s) during which they occured. All acts in the game are measured in ticks as well as resources. The term 'resources' refers to metal, mineral or food, or some combination of the three. A player's allocated land yields resources at the beginning of every tick. Any purchases that are due during that tick will be available at the beginning of that tick. Battle Reports are delivered as 'News' at the beginning of the tick that follows the attack.
A "round" of Evolution may be considered one 'game' wherein all existing player accounts are restarted, and players are free to develop their continents as they choose. All players begin in nearly the same state of land and resources. A round typically lasts for 6 months, though individual rounds have lasted between 4 and 9 months. The duration of a round is solely the discretion of the game creator, and may not be known far in advance of the round's end date. At the end of the round, the ticker is halted, and progress ceases for a period of 2 to 72 hours. A 'reset' is the act whereby neonDragon clears all land, inventory and resources, and prepares all players to start again.
[edit] History and development
Neon started coding the game when he ws fifteen years old. He had not previously used MySQL/PHP so making Evolution 1 was a learning experience. It took about two weeks to code a functional (yet rudimentary) Evolution 1.
Over the last few years the game has evolved. The game of Evolution was started around May 2001.
[edit] Evolution 1
During the first few rounds, the game's population was very small. Due to the fact Neon was still learning MySQL/PHP, there were many glitches and loopholes that allowed some players to gain unfair advantages.
[edit] Evolution 2
This round started 8th August 2002. After a successful first round, Neondragon decided to keep the game running.
At this point, there were fewer than one-hundred players. Almost all players were brought to Evolution by friends, so the community was very close-knit . There were no alliances yet so success or victory was measured only by each player's rank.
[edit] Evolution 3
Evolution 3 was the beginning of its growth. No tool bars, scripts nor math calculations were used during this round or before, everything was done by experience.
This round had a very basic forum called "Consortium" where players could talk to other people on their forum. There was no proper alliance system and all alliances were unofficial.
[edit] Evolution 4
This round introduced various new features, including:
- World Forums
- Auctions
- Two new archeaology paths
- Alliance System (Introduced half way into round)
The average size of an alliance was about ten players. The largest alliances consisted of twenty players or more. There was now enough interest in the game for the creation of mini-rounds, including Evolution 4: Extreme.
[edit] Evolution 5
The current round in Evolution is round 5.6. Round 5.5 ended after 9 months of gameplay, and 5.6 is expected to be a shorter-than-average round. Neon has stated that a large part of his summer break from university will be devoted to coding version 6 of the game. Ev6 (as it is known) will be a complete rebuild. NeonDragon has stated that his software proficiency is far more sophisitcated now than it was when he began coding the game originally, and that starting from scratch will yield better results than continuing to repair Ev5's old code. It is for these reasons that many long-time players are not participating in 5.6. The current game population tops 1000.
