Games PC DARWINIA User Manual

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
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.
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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"
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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AA
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LL
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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
REFERENCE
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D
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S E
Q
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SHIFT
RETURN
TAB
H
ALT
ALT-TAB
CTRL-C
SPACE
Squad
Grenade
Rocket
Air Strike
Engineer
Officer
Armour
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