DARWINIA...
VISIT DDARWINIA...
THE WWORLD S FFIRST VVIRTUAL TTHEME PPARK
Darwinia... a land of contrast.
Purchase your ticket now. Only 29.99
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
2
Innovation
Imagination
Intellect
D
R
. S
EPULVEDA
PPRROOTTOOLLOOGGIICC EENNTTEERRTTAAIINNMMEENNTT
designer of the
PROTOLOGIC
68000
A promotional magazine advert from July 1986, two months before Protologic
Entertainment filed for bankruptcy
CONTENTS
3
OVERVIEW
PROGRAMS
VIRUSES
BUGS
STRUCTURES
TECH SUPPORT
CREDITS
REFERENCE
4
6
10
11
12
14
15
16
OVERVIEW
4
Darwinia is a Virtual Themepark, built by Dr Sepulveda out
of malfunctioning Protologic 68000s.
Darwinia is populated by a sentient evolving
life form called the Darwinians.
Unfortunately, the systems of Darwinia have been overrun by an evil red
Viral Infection.
Your task is to destroy the Viral Infection and save the Darwinians.
CAMERA
Use the W,S,A,D keys to move the camera.
You can move the camera up and down by scrolling your mouse wheel,
or by pressing Q and E.
You can zoom by pressing the middle mouse button, or by pressing Z.
To speed up the camera, hold SHIFT.
SQUADS
Your primary weapon against the Virus is the Squad.
To create a Squad, hold ALT to access the
Task Manager and then draw this gesture:
Release the ALT key and click in one of the highlighted
areas to place your Squad in the world.
Squads are controlled by Left Clicking to move, and Right
Clicking to fire lasers.
5
ENGINEERS
To create an Engineer, hold ALT to access the
Task Manager, then draw this gesture.
Engineers can capture research, reprogram
buildings and collect souls.
RESEARCH
From time to time you will find Research Items scattered
around Darwinia. These may be captured by Engineers to
provide new weapons and upgrades.
BUILDINGS
Most buildings in Darwinia are controlled by a nearby
Control Tower.
You can use Engineers to reprogram Control Towers, enabling
you to use the building that the Control Tower is connected to.
SOULS
Whenever a creature dies in Darwinia, be it a Darwinian or an evil
Virus, it will leave a Soul behind.
Use Engineers to gather these Souls and take them to the
nearest Incubator, where they will be reborn into Darwinians.
TASK MANAGER
Y ou can swap between running programs (e.g. Squads and Engineers) by
holding ALT to access the Task Manager, and then pressing TAB.
You can terminate a program by pressing CTRL-C.
For a list of objectives, hold ALT then scroll right. For a list of research,
hold ALT then scroll left.
PROGRAMS
DDAARRWWIINNIIAANN
These cute little fellows are the native life forms of the world, and
the subject of a decades worth of research into digital life. What
they lack in strength and speed is made up for in courage and
spirit. It is Dr Sepulveda's dream to evolve the Darwinians into
an intelligent species capable of sustaining themselves in a
digital world.
SSQQUUAADD
Dr Sepulveda long feared that his work with Darwinia would be
overlooked, simply due to a lack of exciting action for visitors. To
solve this problem he designed a series of videogame style mini
games, mostly involving guns and blowing things up. The
Squad, made up of several Squaddies, came out of this design.
LMB
RMB
RMB and tap LMB
Move
Fire Lasers
Fire Secondary Weapon
GRENADES ROCKETS AIRSTRIKE
EENNGGIINNEEEERR
Originally designed as simple diagnostic tools to aid Dr
Sepulveda in the construction of Darwinia, the Engineer was
gradually developed over time until he was capable of performing
numerous helpful tasks. Engineers will reprogram nearby
buildings that have become damaged. They will also collect up
the Souls of creatures that have died.
LMB Move
The Squaddies’ default Secondary Weapon is the Grenade. You
can draw these gestures to change the current Squaddie
weapon. Not all of these weapons are immediately available.
Each Squaddie can only throw a single Secondary Weapon at
any one time, and must wait for it to detonate before he can
throw another.
6
OOFFFFIICCEERR
The Officer is used to directly control the nearby Darwinians. An
Officer is created by promoting an existing Darwinian. To
promote a Darwinian, draw the gesture for an Officer then Left
Click on the Darwinian. Once promoted, an Officer can issue
orders to the nearby Darwinians by waving specially designed
signal flags.
LMB
RMB
RMB near the officer
Move
Set GOTO order
Toggle orders
NONE ABSORBGOTO FOLLOW
AARRMMOOUURR
Once the Construction Yard is online you will be able to construct
Armour. Originally intended as another of Dr Sepulveda's mini
games, Armour can be used to transport large numbers of
Darwinians around the world. It can also be converted into a
stationary Battle Cannon, for moments when extreme violence is
required.
LMB
RMB near the Armour
RMB on the landscape
Move
Toggle loading/unloading
Convert to Battle Cannon
NONE DEPLOYLOAD UNLOAD
7
Not all of these orders are immediately available - they must be
researched.
It seems it is barely possible to
open a paper, switch on the
radio, channel hop on the TV
without hearing the name Dr
Sepulveda.
Yes, Dr Sepulveda has returned.
And what a return it is. After
languishing in the depths of
computer obscurity for nearly 20
years, he has pulled himself
back from his disastrous
Protologic fiasco, and
remodelled himself as nothing
less than a Digital Deity. And
Darwinia is his creation. Avirtual
theme park populated by
thousands of sprite-like
creatures, the Darwinians,
Darwinia is undoubtedly the leap
that will take the meaning of
computing to a new level. Not
just computing; Darwinia is
causing us to ask ourselves all
over again those fundamental
questions about life itself.
Not the kind of thing you'd
expect from a self-proclaimed
"computer geek" who
spectacularly failed to sell every
single one of his 50,000 stock of
Protologic computers back in
'86, when otherwise the world of
computing could do no wrong.
Pronounced Sep-ul-vader - a bit
like a distant relative of Darth,
maybe, the first we heard of our
most recent god was way back
in the early 80s with his first
Protologic computers. Hailed
(by Sepulveda himself) as "the
console to rule all consoles", the
launch of the Protologic 68000 in
'86 however was far from plain
sailing. Undoubtedly innovative,
the 68000 was doomed to a dark
future. Minor technical problems
in the lead-up to the launch
escalated beyond all control,
leading to a media frenzy and
the eventual collapse of
Protologic Entertainment in the
most "glorious public failure" of
the decade.
Left with nothing but
warehouses full of unsold
machines, Sepulveda became a
recluse - or even more of a
recluse; he has always shied
from public attention. But it
seems he has just been biding
his time, waiting for the right
moment to unveil the true genius
of the 68000s.
With nothing left to lose, the
scientist in Sepulveda was
awoken and he began to
experiment. First linking tens,
then hundreds, then thousands
of Protologics he began to
realise that something very
special was happening. In
Sepulveda's own words, "an
unintended design quirk […]
causes adjacent systems to
resonate on a quantum level".
This phenomenon, which he
terms "Hyperprocessing", is a
cumulative effect, with
A brief history of
Sepulveda
On the e-Sofa
All life begins
with an accident.
Some curious
interaction occurs
between lifeless
chemicals, in the right
conditions and under
the right temperatures,
and suddenly you have
life. Darwinia is no
different - it just
happened in the digital
domain, rather than the
biological.
"
In his first interview for
almost 20 years, the once
infamous Dr Sepulveda
talks exclusively to TMagazine.
Dr Sepulveda talks with pride about his Creation
8
"
processing power increasing
dramatically as units are added,
each making use of quantum
interference to share data with
their neighbours.
Realising he was standing on
the brink of a digital revolution,
Sepulveda founded Darwin
Research Associates with what
little money he could scrape
together. He set to work
creating a massive grid of
computing power that was "more
akin to a human brain than any
form of supercomputer".
Equipped with his newly forged
tools, Sepulveda crafted himself
an intricate fractally generated
world, aptly named Darwinia.
And with that, the first tender
shoots of digital life began to
appear. The dark age of the
Protologic was over. Let there
be light!
It seems, in his fall, Sepulveda
was given quite a reality check or at least an ego check. Once
described by an unnamed friend
as "unbearably arrogant",
Sepulveda, in creating his new
world, realised that the key to
Darwinia could not be designed
purely from his own knowledge
or experience. The missing
ingredient to stir into the digital
primeval soup was a system of
evolution, that would eventually
equip Darwinia's fledgling
inhabitants, the Darwinians, with
the intelligence to flourish by
their own means.
Each assigned a strand of digital
DNA or a "Spirit", the Darwinians
are imprinted with individual
characteristics, as well as the
ability to learn through their
successes and failures in their
virtual world. Upon their death,
the Spirit is released and returns
to a central repository affectionately called "Heaven"
by Sepulveda - situated
beautifully at the centre of the
Darwinian world. Here, the
Spirits are ordered, parsed, and
re-imprinted on a new creature
for the life cycle to begin again.
This endless cycle of spiritenrichment has been the
cornerstone to evolution within
Darwinia, which has now been
running for over a decade representing thousands of
generations of Darwinians,
"each more intelligent and aware
than the last".
It's not hard to see why Darwinia
has caused such great waves.
Not only has Sepulveda
unwittingly "discovered"
quantum computing, the holy
grail of computer scientists
world-wide, but his work has
ramifications across the
spectrum of scientific disciplines:
from physics to biology;
palaeontology to sociology. Not
to mention the simply
overwhelming reaction among
theologians and ethicists.
Unsurprisingly, creating a new
life-form, digital or not, is not
without controversy. Thousands
of people are expected at the
official public "opening" of the
Darwinian theme park later this
year, and not all of them wellwishers. Security is going to
have to be very tight.
Already there has been harsh
criticism from various religious
groups, and even some faint
mumblings from animal rights
activists. They fear the poor
Darwinians are being exploited
by their "god", caged up in a
virtual zoo for all to come and
ogle at, unprotected by real
world laws.
And of course there are many
who are sceptical that what we
are seeing in Darwinia is even
Darwinia
Dr Sepulveda
Managing Director, Darwin Research Associates
life at all; that Darwinia is merely
an elaborate publicity stunt
dreamt up by a struggling
eccentric in need of an egoboost. Sepulveda himself has
no such doubts, and seems
almost unaware of his many
critics:
"By any definition that I have
read, the Darwinians are most
definitely alive. More than that, I
believe them to be as alive as
you or I or anyone else on this
planet. They are born, they live,
they communicate, they
reproduce, they die. They
learn."
He has spent the last decade
watching the Darwinian way of
life evolve, watching them pass
on stories, watching them
develop religious beliefs and
customs. It is clear that he sees
himself as a benevolent but
distant father-figure to them.
Sepulveda proudly claims that
the Darwinians have a
"fundamental respect for each
other that is far more caring than
anything I have witnessed on
this Earth".
Love him or hate him, genius or
madman, one thing that we all
have to agree on is that
Sepulveda, with his work in
Darwinia, has brought us with a
jolt headlong into a new era. An
era that is both exciting in the
new technologies that it brings,
but also sobering and even
frightening with the new
responsibilities placed upon us.
And we all have a responsibility
in this; benevolent eccentric or
not, Sepulveda has opened he
door to a new world, reaching far
beyond the realms of the mere
computer geek, and will
undoubtedly impact all of our
futures in many new and
unpredictable ways.
A new era
words by P.Perkins
"I believe the Darwinians to be as alive as you or I"
9
T
VIRUSES
VVIIRRIIII
A destructive corruption of the native Darwinians, these evil
creatures will attack anything that comes within range. They're
fairly weak and don't do much damage on their own, but they
can be found to have replicated in very large numbers, posing
a much greater threat. Virii can replicate rapidly by fertilising
Eggs (layed by Spiders and Spore Generators) with the Souls
of dead Creatures.
CCEENNTTIIPPEEDDEE
SSOOUULL DDEESSTTRROOYYEERR
Additional mutations within the Virus structure granted some of
the larger Centipedes the ability to fly, and these fearsome
creatures now haunt some of the worst infected areas of
Darwinia. They earnt their name when it was
discovered the Souls they consume are actually
obliterated - something which Dr Sepulveda
believed was simply impossible.
TTRRIIFFFFIIDD
These plant like creatures will launch Eggs
every few minutes, which burst open to form new
Virii and evil creatures. They are normally dormant
but will activate when they sense enemies in their
presence. Their main weakness is that they are
stationary and defenseless at close range.
An early mutation of the basic Virii pattern caused them to
expand into three dimensions. These Centipedes are stronger
than the Virii they mutated from, but are also more concerned
with their own survival. They will flee from an attacker if they
take damage. Unfortunately as each part of their body is
destroyed, they will simply break up into smaller and
smaller components until fully wiped out. Centipedes
are capable of consuming any Souls they find lying
around and regrowing parts of their body.
10
BUGS
BBUUGG
The Darwinians used to hunt these cattle-like
creatures during the early years of Darwinia. The
Bugs would just fumble around the landscapes,
occasionally breaking the subsystems that made up
the world or corrupting the textures they came into
contact with. Until recently it was believed that the
Bugs had all been eradicated from Darwinia.
SSPPIIDDEERR
SSPPOORREE GGEENNEERRAATTOORR
During mutation, some of the Bugs gained the ability to lay
vastly greater numbers of Eggs than the Spiders.
These bloated and cumbersome creatures were
gifted with the ability to hover above the ground
out of danger. They are able to seed entire areas
with dormant eggs that will hatch into hundreds of Virii if
fertilised by the Souls of dead creatures. Thankfully the Eggs
they lay cannot survive large falls, so the Spore Generator must
descend to within weapons range in order to seed the ground.
AARRMMYY AANNTT
Many of the smaller Bugs that existed were corrupted
into these creepy nuisances. Individually the
Ants are dumb and weak, but when placed
together with hundreds of their kin they can be a
serious threat due to their Hive intelligence. The
Ants will attack anything in range of their Nest, and
will carry Souls back for replication into more Ants.
The Viral outbreak was able to find and mutate the last of the
Bugs that existed within Darwinia, and the Spiders are the
result. They are blessed with extremely strong rear
legs and are capable of leaping great distances.
They prefer to pounce on prey from a distance,
and appear to be invulnerable to standard
Laser blasts. They can also lay Eggs, which will hatch
into many more Virii if they are fertilised with a Soul.
A
N
I
NVESTIGATION
I
NTO
T
HE
R
ITUALS
A
ND
H
UNTING
H
ABITS
O
F
T
HE
N
ATIVE
D
ARWINIANS
by Dr. Sepulveda
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the emergent hunting
behaviour of the inhabitants of the virtualworld, Darwinia, and the tendency towards
creating a self-repairing system.
11
CCOONNTTRROOLL TTOOWWEERR
Almost all buildings in Darwinia can be reprogrammed using
nearby Control Towers. Many of the buildings have been
corrupted by the Virus and need reprogramming before they
can be used. To do this you must create Engineers nearby and
they will do the job. Control Towers will flash red if they are
infected with the Virus, and Yellow if they have been
successfully reprogrammed.
RRAADDAARR DDIISSHH
These buildings are used for short range transportation
between islands. Most of them are initially offline due to the
Virus outbreak, so their Control Tower must be reprogrammed
before they can be used. Once this is done you can align a
Radar Dish by clicking on it to select it, then clicking on a
receiving dish. The dishes will align, forming a communication
tunnel down which you can transport Squads, Officers, or
Darwinians.
When a creature dies in Darwinia, it's soul will linger
around for a few minutes before floating away to the
Soul Repository at the centre of the World. However,
this process can be interrupted and the Soul can be
immediately reconstructed into a Darwinian if it is
collected in time. Engineers will pick up the Souls of
dead creatures and carry them to Incubators,
which will slowly reprocess them into Darwinians.
IINNCCUUBBAATTOORR
TTRRUUNNKK PPOORRTT
All locations in Darwinia are connected by Trunk Ports. Once
enabled they form a two way link, allowing access both ways.
Most of the Trunk Ports have been disabled by the Virus
outbreak, and must be re-enabled by the reprogramming of
their Control Towers.
12
STRUCTURES
Recently, it has come to the attention of the
general populus that the previously affluent
but now destitute Dr. Sepulveda has created
what can be regarded as a purely artificial,
yet completely self sustaining and learning
digital universe. While the computer science
regarding this creation is apt for debate, the
philosophical implications of this new most
amazing advance are equally susceptible for
multiple levels of impassioned analytical
analyses.
The first question that we have
to consider is whether or not the creatures
present in this world, quite appropriately
named "Darwinia", are alive in any sort of
meaningful sense. Previously in history, life
has been defined as the presence of
cognisance, or the availability of a level of
biological and chemical activity. This new
creation has thrown all this into question.
Does a Darwinian, one of those fastidious
little sprite creatures, have what can be
referred to or acknowledged as life?
In my opinion, one has to keep
in mind the classic mantra of Descartes, "I
think therefore I am." Darwinians certainly
do think, as evident through their increased
level of development through time. Sources
assure me that Darwinians do learn, and
learning is a mantle of cognisant mental
processes. But does the ability to think make
these digital creations alive? It seems that this
question is yet to be answered.
The question of life has
several implications in our analogue world.
Primarily, there are many questions as to the
legal implications of Darwinians. Do
Darwinians have legal rights in any sort of
technical sense, the right to citizenry, even
rights to receive welfare? Are Darwinians
technically employed? When they reproduce,
what procedures lead up to and follow this?
Do Darwinians get married? As a
philosopher, I have to admit that these
questions do "boggle the mind." The subject
THE PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE
CREATION OF A PURELY DIGITAL UNIVERSE
By Tokugawa Iesuwa
Written originally for The Weekly Philosopher
of Darwinia is simply too large to address in
a single article.
Allow me to be concise on this
subject. The only thing completely certain
about Darwinia is that the creatures therein
have the ability to think, ipso facto have the
ability to make decisions, and therefore are at
an equivalent level to human beings.
Ironically enough, this revelation does not
assist in simplifying this analysis in any way
whatsoever. Instead, this only adds to the
layers of this philosophical conundrum.
For example, it may be
possible in the near future to access Darwinia
and participate in events therein. The ethics of
this are disputable. If one believes that
Darwinians are truly alive, then to disrupt in
their affairs is questionable. Kantian
philosophy makes it explicitly clear that
rational beings can not be exploited, and
therefore to actively intervene in Darwinian
affairs is equivalent to "pre-emptive war."
This being said, I have entered
Darwinia, and have taken a quick look
around. Despite all my ethical qualms, it
proved to be fantastically interesting to see
these little creatures in action. They are truly
amazing, building, creating, and surviving.
Recently, a virus has managed to infiltrate the
Darwinia system, and now we must assist the
Darwinians in their struggle against this most
menacing of foes. I have to say, it is great fun.
Quite quickly I was taken in by the action and
strategy of this remarkable world.
While ethical and
philosophical questions certainly remain as to
the precise nature of this new world, I have no
qualms in saying that I am happy to
participate therein. I would advise, as a
philosopher, that this is certainly open to
examination. However, as a fan of the digital
medium, I would recommend that anyone
with an interest should purchase a ticket to
this most interesting of worlds.
13
14
TECH SUPPORT
PRIMARY SUPPORT PAGE
http://www.darwinia.co.uk/support/
PROBLEMS GETTING THE GAME TO RUN
Make sure DirectX9 or later is installed. DirectX9 is included on the CD. Alternatively you
can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/
Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card:
NVIDIA (GeForce range) http://www
.nvidia.com
ATI (Radeon range) http://www.ati.com
Perform a Windows Update (from your Start Menu).
If the game still will not run, try looking on our Support pages for similar problems and
solutions.
PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
If the game is running too slowly, try reducing some of the graphics and audio quality. To do
this, press ESC to bring up the main menu, then click Options.
In Sound Options, try disabling Realtime Effects and Hardware3D. If that doesn’t improve
things enough, try reducing the number of channels and the mix frequency.
If you have only 128Mb of memory, try reducing the Memory Usage of the sound system.
In Graphics Options, try disabling the Pixel Effect as this can run very slowly on certain
hardware. Reduce each of the graphics sliders to Low until you find a comfortable frame
rate.
In Screen Options, try reducing the Screen Resolution.
Ensure there are no other tasks running in Windows that are not required.
Ensure full-screen Anti-Aliasing is disabled. You will find the option for this in your
Graphics Options panel (right click on the desktop, click Properties,
then click Advanced).
Installing the latest drivers for
your graphics card
can provide a big
speed increase.
PROBLEMS
WITH ALT-TTAB
If you are running
Windows Power
Tools, try disabling
this as it can cause
problems with the
ALT-TAB in game.
If you are running any
other program that uses
Alt-Tab in some special
way, try disabling this.
HH
HH
EE
EE
MM
MM
PP
PP
DD
DD
AA
AA
II
II
LL
LL
Y
Y
By Charmonger
Wow man, there has been a new invention
man, that is so fabulous that it like takes the place of how to
smoke more! But dude, in this world your like green man!
Green, think of it man! Green like pot…Like dude!
But anyway man, in the world you like do
things, its amazing man. And Dude! I just realized that when
you die man, you go up man, like your high!
Dude, I just realized, I live on Sepulveda
Boulevard man! Wow man, its like, I'm living in Darwinia.
Man, I'm scared man…I'm scared…
Wow man, I just realized something
else…Darwinia kindof rhymes with bong…Wow!
CREDITS
CREATED BY
Chris Delay
Andrew Bainbridge
PRODUCED BY
Introversion Software
Mark Morris
T om Arundel
Chris Delay
John Knottenbelt
SOUND DDESIGN AAND
PRODUCTION
Alistair Lindsay
Michael Maidment
MUSIC
Trash80 (www.trash80.net)
Mathieu Stempell (Dma-Sc)
Paul Slocum
ADDITIONAL SHAPES
Michelle Jones
Kelvin Liew
STARRING
Peter Hutchison
as Dr Sepulveda
and Maddie the cat
as the voice of the Darwinians
ADDITIONAL GGRAPHIC
DESIGN
Jo Stansfield
MAC AAND LLINUX PPORTS
John Knottenbelt
ADDITIONAL BBACKGROUND
STORY
Jonathan Bender
Jeremy Bender
UK DDISTRIBUTION
Pinnacle Software
MAC PPORT PPUBLISHED BBY
Ambrosia Software
BETA TTESTERS
15
Joshua 'Miah Helpmann' Clayton
James 'vibroaxe' Kinsman
Philip 'Darksun' Chillag
Robb 'Rkiver' Dunphy
Jack 'film11' Dudman
Mark 'LLamaBoy' Vine
David 'Stewsburntmonkey' Stewart
Allan 'Starfyre' Cornwell
Richard 'Hektik Sniper' Salmon
Richard 'Superpig' Fine
Richard 'false' La Charité III
Darkshine
Paul 'Deepsmeg' Evans
Eric 'sysrq' Gillingham
Leander 'elDiablo' Hambley
Christopher 'Phydaux' Kent
Dave 'Dave2' Wickham
Derek 'Punisher Bass' Schott
Dimitri 'cyph' Teresh
Jason 'WolfLord' Crisman
Gary 'Icepick' Chambers
Andrew 'andcarne' Carne
Stephan 'Iwudacus' Lintvelt
Ryan 'Soulkeeper' Trevett
Kevin 'Janus' Gadd
Jared 'Lord Doskias' Nyman
Adrian 'Slayer' Wood
Mouse
Monkeyfood
Anael 'Kirreip' Verdier
Nathan 'Bruce' Parslow
Christian 'Dimpfinator' Dimpfl
Duncan 'Cap'n Hector' Harris
ToeBee
Alec 'Hamster2' Ingulsrud
Pieter 'GeniusDex' Bootsma
mikemystery
Kung-Fusion
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