INTRODUCTION

E at. Evolve. Avoid being eaten. Evolve some more."Brain the size of a peanut,"
huh-if you were that smart, you'd rule the world for millions of years! Evolve
again. Now you're going...Oops, where'd that giant asteroid come from? OK, find
Introduction 3 something, anything, that survived and try again.

Welcome to Evolution, the game in which you climb the tree of life in pursuit of
Hardware Requirements 4
intelligence. You start 360 million years before the present day, as one of the earli-
est amphibians ever to slither onto l a n d . You've got to find the right terrain, the
Installing Evolution 5
right climate in which your species can prosper, multiply, and evolve into leaner,
meaner creatures able to win the struggle for existence. T h e ultimate goal is to be
A Guided Tour of Evolution 7
the first to evolve an intelligent species-be it mammal, bird, or something else.

Game Controls: The Interface 15 The road to intelligence has many t u r n i n g s . T h e appearance of a particular species
can either open or close the door for others, and the first player to evolve that
Strategy Guide 44 species blocks all others from occupying its niche. Survival of the fittest is not just
driven by the presence or absence of rival species. T h e world constantly changes
Multiplayer Gaming 48 as plate tectonics creates and breaks up giant continents, resulting in dramatic
possible shifts in climate. Natural disasters also abound-volcanoes cook the world
Troubleshooting 55 through greenhouse gases, giant asteroids impact the Earth with devastating effect,
nearby supernovae nuke the globe with gene-smashing radiation.
Technical Support 58
It's a tough world out there-but it's your world, if you can adapt fast enough. Go
forth, multiply, evolve!
Design Notes 59

Appendix l: The Scoring System 65

PACKAGE CONTENTS
Appendix II: Vegiary 68 One Evolution CD-ROM with Quick Start instructions.

This Player Manual.

Credits 78
One Bestiary Booklet.

One Evolution Tree of Life Poster.

Scanned and compiled by Underdogs README FILE

Home of the Underdogs Check out the ReadMe file for any notes or instructions added to the game after this
http://www.the-underdogs.org/ manual went to p r e s s . You can view the ReadMe file from the Autoplay window when
you install the game.
M I N I M U M S Y S T E M R E Q U I R E M E N T S To install Evolution, you need two things: A PC running Windows 95 (see
"Hardware Requirements") and your Evolution CD-ROM.
Processor Intel Pentium Processor (60 MHz)
Operating System Windows 95 native
RAM 16MB Step 1: Put the CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive.
Free Disk Space 10 MB uncompressed Step 2: In a few moments, the Evolution Autoplay window will
Video SVGA graphics (8-bit color) appear. If you have disabled the autoplay feature, double-
Sound Windows-compatible sound card click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and
CD-ROM Drive 2x Speed then double-click on the CD-ROM i c o n . This will open
Other Peripherals Mouse the Autoplay window.
RECOMMENDED Step 3: Once the Autoplay window appears, click the "Install" but-
S Y S T E M R E Q U I R E M E N T S
ton and follow the screen prompts.
Processor Intel Pentium Processor (166 MHz with As installation begins, you can choose the type of installation you
MMX Technology) want. When "Installation Options" appears, choose from Minimum
Operating System Windows 95 native Install or Normal lnstall-256 Color and High Color Graphics, 256
System RAM 32MB
Color Graphics Only, or High Color Graphics Only.
Free Disk Space 40 MB uncompressed
Video SVGA graphics (32-bit color) 256 Color and High Color Graphics installs graphics
Sound Windows-compatible sound card for play in all display modes-256, High, Full, and True
CD-ROM Drive 8x Speed C o l o r . This is the recommended option.
Other Peripherals Mouse 256 Color Graphics Only installs graphics for play in
256 Color display mode. If you run Evolution in higher
color modes, graphics will be read from the CD with
some impact on performance.
High Color Graphics Only installs graphics for play in
High Color display mode or higher. If you run Evolution in
256 Color mode, graphics will be read from the CD with
some impact on performance.

DIRECTX
Evolution and many Windows 95 games require the installation of DirectX system
drivers (Evolution requires DirectX version 5 or later). The installer prompts you
to install DirectX. If you are certain that you have the required version installed,
you can skip the DirectX installation; however, we recommend that you install
DirectX anyway. (If you already have more current versions of DirectX installed,
the Evolution installer will not replace them.)
 If you skip the DirectX installation and Evolution does not run, you can install
DirectX separately by clicking the "Install DirectX" button on the Autoplay
window.
If, in the future, Evolution stops running, your DirectX drivers may have been
removed or replaced with earlier, incompatible versions. If this happens, reinstall
DirectX as described above.
GAME START
STARTING THE GAME
Once Evolution is installed, you can start the game from the Autoplay w i n d o w . T h e
Autoplay window will appear whenever the Evolution CD is inserted into the
drive, or when you choose the Evolution shortcut in your Start Menu. Choose
Start New Game if you want to play against the computer, or Start Network
Game/Join Network Game if you want to play a network game.
Note: You must have the Evolution CD in your CD-ROM drive when you play
the game.
WINNING
When you begin a game of Evolution, you start with a "creature" representing a
primitive vertebrate species-the ancestor, you hope, of the world's first intelligent
species. You see an animated icon roam the map in search of food-this icon repre-
sents a breeding population of your species. (The game uses "creatures" to indi-
cate the animated icons, but always keep in mind that a single creature icon actu-
ally represents many individuals of a species.)
You must discover your creature's characteristics and preferences, so that you can
guide your creature to a suitable habitat-a place where it can feed effectively. The
better it thrives, the more quickly it will reproduce. As its population increases,
you will control additional creatures of the same species, which you can send to
colonize other habitats.
The species as a whole-that is, all creatures of a given species-also evolves over
t i m e . T h e species can gradually improve its feeding ability, optimize its combat abil-
ities against other species, and evolve an entirely new species. You control this
evolution by selecting the features you think will best allow your species to
prosper.
Your original species and all species descended from it are your "clade." You con-
trol one clade and play against up to five other clades, which are controlled by the
computer or by other human players when playing over a n e t w o r k . You see the
other clades' creatures roaming the map alongside yours. Only one clade can
win-as soon as one clade evolves an intelligent species, the game ends and
declares the w i n n e r . T h e clade that wins the game is not necessarily the clade that
first evolves intelligence-although intelligence does count a lot. Winning is deter-
mined by the player who does the best at:
Having large populations of creatures ("biomass"). Once every one to four
million years (depending on the era), the game awards points to each clade
based on the overall population of all creatures in that clade.
Evolving new species. T h e game awards points to a clade each time it
evolves a brand-new species.
Evolving particular kinds of animals. T h e game awards points to the clade
that evolves the first kinds of certain animals such as the first dinosaur, first
bird, first mammal, etc.
 Evolving the first intelligent species. The game increases by 50 percent the
points of the clade that evolves the first intelligent species.
The clade with the most points wins the game. For more details on the scoring
system, see Appendix I.
Time passes continuously in the game, unless you pause play or a special alert
window appears. Time moves at a rate of approximately two million years per
minute of real time during the Carboniferous and Permian Eras, one million years
per minute during the Early Mesozoic and Cretaceous Eras, and 500,000 years per
minute during the Cenozoic Era.

THE WORLD
In Evolution, not only do your creatures evolve, but the world does, too! Because a
game of Evolution takes place over so great a sweep of time, the world is constant-
ly changing:

The effects of plate tectonics are visible during play: Continents are slowly
but constantly moving across the surface of the world. Sometimes a conti-
nent tears apart, opening up a new ocean that slowly widens. Sometimes
continents collide, creating enormous mountain ranges. T h e changing pat-
terns of the continents affect climate conditions.

While plate tectonics can build mighty mountain ranges, erosion relentlessly
tears them down.

Climate can change due to a variety of factors, affecting world temperatures

and sea levels. Disasters can have immediate and profound effects on the cli-
mate, such as massive volcanism heating up the world through greenhouse
gases, or a gigantic asteroid strike smothering the atmosphere with dust and
cooling the world, triggering the advance of massive glaciers.
Plant life evolves over t i m e . There are five eras in the game, each with its
characteristic dominant plant life. From most ancient to most recent the
eras are:
The Carboniferous, with spore-bearing trees, club mosses, ferns, other
spore-bearing plants, and early seed-bearing trees and other plants.
The Permian, with the spread of conifer trees and the decline of various
spore-bearing plants.
The Early Mesozoic (which includes both the Triassic and Jurassic peri-
ods), with the decline of many early plants and the expansion of seed-
bearing trees like conifers and gingkoes.
The Cretaceous, with the domination of conifers and the appearance of
early flowering plants, grasses, and hardwood trees.
The Cenozoic (which includes both the Tertiary and Quaternary peri-
ods), with the widespread expansion of flowering plants, hardwood
forests, and grasses.
The Globe Window
The Globe window (world map) resembles the surface of a globe that has been
peeled and flattened. T h e Earth's spherical surface is displayed on twenty equally
sized triangles, using a Fuller Projection (invented by the creator of the geodesic
dome, Buckminster Fuller).
While both the northern and southern regions appear to be split into isolated tri-
angles, that's just an artifact of mapping a sphere onto a flat surface (try flattening
out a complete orange peel without folding or tearing any of it!). For both the
northern and southern triangles, territory along the edge of one triangle is actual-
ly adjacent to the next triangle over, and creatures can move back and forth with-
out hindrance. When you start playing, you'll notice that we "zipper" together
adjacent triangles as you move toward the poles so you don't get lost in the void
areas.
On the Map View, the gaps between these portions of the map are shown as black
areas, and, again, creatures move across those black areas as though they were not
there-because they aren't.

All of the above conditions can have tremendous effects on the survival and evo-
lutionary goals of your creatures.
 There are ten types of terrain in the game:
A variety of factors affect terrain, in particular:
Era, which denotes which types of plant life are dominant.
S WA M P
Global temperature, which-with latitude and elevation-divides the world
into tropical, temperate, and arctic zones.

Rainfall, which determines how much vegetation is present.

WOODLAND
These factors determine the type and abundance of plant l i f e . This in turn pro-
foundly affects your species. Species feed off the terrain. For example, a species
well adapted for tropical Carboniferous swamps will likely feed very poorly in
arctic deserts or in temperate Cenozoic plains dominated by grasses.
FOREST
The map is enhanced with various plant graphics to indicate the type of vegeta-
tion predominating at that time, given the temperature and rainfall in that area.
The graphics have no direct effect on play, but they make the map prettier and
PLAINS give you a better idea of what you should be watching out for. See Appendix II
for descriptions of these graphics.

DESERT CREATURES IN ACTION

All creatures have a feeding radius-a range from a central point where the crea-
ture spends most of its t i m e . T h e creature's feeding radius can move over time.
As the creature senses better feeding opportunities elsewhere, it gradually
LOW
migrates there (use the Stay command if you don't want it to do this). When you
M O U N TA I N S
move a creature, its feeding radius remains centered on the creature as it moves
and then centers on the destination once the creature arrives.

HIGH Your creatures can take care of themselves, but you can and should intervene to
M O U N TA I N S help them. Left to their own devices, they will gradually move their feeding radii
to new parts of the world, reproduce, and over time improve their feeding abili-
ty-but not necessarily in the most effective way. Nor will they evolve new species.
This is where you come in-to propel your creatures to success and your clade to
GLACIER intelligence, you must take a c t i o n . The key actions you can take are:

M o v e m e n t . T h e Move command allows you to relocate creatures from

one area to another, such as from an area where they are feeding badly to
SHALLOW one where they will feed well. Move appears on the Creature Command
SEA window and the Command Menu.

S t a y . T h e Stay command orders a creature to stay in its current location.

Stay appears on the Creature Command window and the Command Menu.
DEEP SEA C o m b a t . T h e Attack command orders a predator-a creature of a predato-
ry species-to attack another creature. (Only predators may attack.) Attack
also appears on the Creature Command window and the Command Menu.
Color representations of these terrains can be found on the back cover of this manual.
 Evolution. Evolution isn't a single, instantaneous command like Attack or
Move that affects a single creature. It's a process that takes time and affects
an entire species. Evolution lets you control how the species evolves-for
feeding, for combat, and for creating a new species. You control a species'
evolution via the Evolution Information window (which you can select from
the Info Menu). Use the slider bar to allocate Evolution Points to that
species' evolutionary goals, choosing among Improving Feeding, Optimizing
Combat, or Evolving a New Species.
Improving Feeding. Part of the species' evolutionary progress is directed
to improving the species' ability to feed.
Optimizing Combat. Part of the species' evolutionary progress is directed
to optimizing the species' combat abilities versus a specific species.
The Predator's Claw
If the species is a predator species (indicated by a claw on its portrait) and the
optimization target is a prey species, optimization increases its attack ability and
predation effectiveness against that species. If the optimization target is another
predator species, optimization increases only its attack ability against that species.
(Predators rarely prey upon other predators; prey species are much easier game.)
If the species is a prey species, it can only optimize combat versus a predator
species. This optimization increases its defense ability against attacks and predation
by that species.
Evolving a New Species. Part of the species' evolutionary progress is directed
to creating a new species. Choose which species you want the current
species to evolve to by using the pull-down list below the sliders. Use all
the information available to you when evolving a new speciescheck out
the Tree of Life to see which evolutionary paths are open, examine the
world and its current habitats to see what niches your new species can
occupy, estimate how likely it is that the world will enter a new era that
SCENARIOS
brings in new climate conditions and vegetation.
Each species generates a number of Evolution Points proportional to its total
population. As such, species with more creatures of higher populations will tend
to evolve more quickly.
Complete Game
Keep in mind that you set evolutionary goals for an entire species, not for individ-
ual creatures within a species-each of your species can evolve differently from
one another, but all creatures within a species, regardless of how many separate
creatures a species may have, will have that species' evolutionary goals.
CLADES IN ACTION
There are several ways to knock rival clades out of contention:
Occupy key positions on the Tree of L i f e . T h e Tree represents the pathways
of evolution. Only one species can occupy a key position, so if your clade
has that species, you block the other clades from that evolutionary path.
Remember, however, that there are multiple paths on the Tree of Life, and
that extinction of a species can open up a key position.
Create ecologically efficient species that compete with species of rival
clades. If your weasel-size creature that thrives in high-altitude deserts is far
more efficient than the other clade's, yours will crowd its rival out of that
habitat, and perhaps out of existence.
You can achieve best results here by creating species designed to do your
dirty work. However, these species probably won't be best suited to further
your clade's drive toward intelligence, so concentrating too much on this
can waste valuable evolutionary time.
Resort to violence-have your predatory species attack your opponents'
species. As above, creating customized predatory species can result in the
most ferocious attacks, but these species can be dead ends on the road to
intelligence.
Outlast your opponents. Design creatures that adapt best to changing envi-
ronments. In Evolution, natural disasters-and unnatural ones-alter the envi-
ronment. Continents crash together or tear asunder. Ice ages sweep across
the world. Greenhouse effects heat up the atmosphere. And there is the
specter of a possible asteroid collision great enough to exterminate the
majority of the world's animal species. If your species can survive this suc-
cession of threats and the other players' can't, you'll gain important headway
on them.
When you start a new game, you have the option of beginning a complete game
or a shorter scenario.
The complete game lasts for up to 390 million years, from the start of the
Carboniferous period 360 million years ago to 30 million years into the future
(although the game will end sooner if an intelligent species appears). T h e
complete game takes about six hours to play.
 The game ends when the first intelligent species comes into existence. The clade
of that species does not necessarily win the game the clade scores a 50 percent
bonus for developing the first intelligent species, but that won't necessarily be
enough to overcome another player's consistently superior play.

Other Scenarios You control your actions in the game through the main window, secondary win-
dows, keyboard, and mouse.
The other scenarios provide shorter-playing games. (For network play, a shorter
All action in the game occurs via the Main W i n d o w . T h e Menu Bar appears at the
scenario rather than the complete game is strongly recommended.) Each scenario
top of this window and the Status Bar at bottom (both are described b e l o w ) . T h e
takes from about two to four hours to play. At the end of a scenario, the highest-
main window contains the secondary windows, which display the various ele-
scoring player wins the game.
ments of the game. Upon starting play, the Main Window will open, displaying a
In the Paleozoic Scenario, play begins in the same way as the complete game, large Map View window (showing the terrain and creatures of one part of the
about 360 million years ago with each player starting with a single c r e a t u r e . T h e world), a Globe window (showing the entire world at reduced scale), and a
scenario ends when the first true dinosaur appears or when the first intelligent Creature Command window (from which you can give orders to your creatures).
species appears; the player who evolves this species scores a 50 percent bonus.
(The regular bonus for evolving the first dinosaur species is not awarded in this
scenario.) The game automatically ends if no player has developed a dinosaur or
intelligent species by the end of the Paleozoic, about 140 million years ago.

In the Mesozoic Scenario, play begins about 250 million years ago. A major
extinction has just taken place; each player starts with two or three amphibian or
amniote species, with only one creature per species. T h e scenario ends upon the
end of the Cretaceous Era or when the first intelligent species appears (an event
that is possible but not likely in this scenario). Players score points and win the
game in the same manner as in the complete game.
In the Cenozoic Scenario, play begins about 65 million years ago. As above, a
major extinction has just taken place; each player starts with two or three
amphibian, reptile, mammal, or bird species, with only one creature per species.
As in the complete game, the scenario ends when a player achieves intelligence or,
if no intelligent species appears, after 30 million years have passed from the pre-
sent day. Players score points and win the game in the same manner as in the
complete game.

The Main Window

You can open, move, resize, and close the various secondary windows as you
wish. You can have several different Map View windows open at the same, each
displaying a part of the world. You can open as many of these windows as you
want, subject to the system constraints of your computer's memory and
processing capability.

14
 All windows use the standard Windows 95 controls for options like minimizing,
maximizing, and closing windows or selecting particular tabs in windows that have
tabs. (If a control is inappropriate for a window-maximizing the Globe window,
for example-then that control simply does not appear on the window.) Consult
your Windows 95 manual or help file if you need more information on windows
controls.
Many windows have Close buttons. When you're done using the window, click its
Close button to close it. Some windows have Cancel buttons. If you want to close
the window without implementing any of the selections you may have made in the
window, press Cancel.
Some game controls use slider bars-a bar with several individual sliders on i t . To
set a slider, click and hold on it, sliding it to the setting you want.
STARTING THE GAME: AUTOPLAY WINDOW
Once you've installed Evolution, you can start the game from the Evolution shortcut
on the Start Menu or by inserting the Evolution CD in the drive. The Autoplay
window will appear with the following choices:
Start New Game. Select this option to start a new g a m e . T h e New Game
window will appear and you can select your new game preferences.
Load Saved G a m e . Choose this option to load a game that you saved.
Start Network G a m e . Choose this option to start a network game-a
game you play on a network against human opponents. (See the "Multiplayer
Gaming" section for details on network play.)
Join Network G a m e . Choose this option to join a network game. (See
the "Multiplayer Gaming" section for details on network play.)
Install Evolution. Choose this option to install or reinstall the game. See
the Installing Evolution section above for details on installation.
View Read Me File. Choose this option to view the ReadMe file, which
contains notes or instructions added to the game after this manual went to
press.
Install DirectX. Choose this option to install or update your DirectX
drivers. See the Installing Evolution section above for details on DirectX
installation.
Uninstall Evolution. Choose this option to remove the Evolution files and
directories from your hard drive.
Exit. Choose this option to exit Evolution and return to the Windows 95
desktop.
16
Note: You must have the Evolution CD in your CD-ROM drive when you play the
game.
After you Start a New Game, you are presented with the following controls:
Game Selection: Click the button to select the type of game you want to
play: the complete game or one of the shorter scenarios (Paleozoic,
Mesozoic, or Cenozoic). Descriptions of these options appear in the
scrolling box next to these choices.
World Selection: Click the button to select the type of world in which you
will p l a y . T h e Random World uses randomly generated continents, plate tec-
tonics configurations, and other conditions such as c l i m a t e . T h e Historical
Earth follows the course of Earth's geological history. Descriptions of these
options appear in the scrolling box next to these choices.
Random World Parameters: If you selected a random world, you may
choose to customize that world. If so, you can set your preferences using
pull-down lists for two world characteristics.
Land Coverage lets you set the percentage of the world that is land-the
remainder of the world will be ocean. Note that the Land setting is an aver-
age value: the actual amount of land can increase or decrease during play
due to changes in the sea level. Increasing land area will increase the feeding
opportunities for the game's species, but can also create megacontinents
with potentially severe effects on world climate.
Continental Drift Speed lets you set how fast plate tectonics moves the conti-
nents across the surface of the world. Fast-moving continents allow species
to colonize new areas more easily, but can cause the world's climate to fluc-
tuate more quickly, while slow-moving continents allow species to develop
in more isolation.
Disasters Preference: Select your preference for how disasters will occur
in the game: Random Disasters (disasters will occur at random intervals),
Historical Disasters (disasters will occur as they did in Earth's geological his-
tory), or No Disasters (no disasters will occur during play). Descriptions of
these options appear in the scrolling box next to these choices.
Name Selection: You may enter a 12-character name for your clade. (If you
do not enter a name, the computer assigns it a name by default.)
Opponents Selection: You play against up to five computer-controlled
clades in the game-you must play against at least one clade. Rival clades are
named after famous biologists-e.g., Darwin's clade (for Charles Darwin, who
originated the modern theory of evolution) or Marsh's clade (for O.C.
Marsh, a prolific paleontologist who discovered many dinosaur fossils).
Start Game Button: When you've made your selection, press the Start Game
button to start play.
Cancel Button: If you want to cancel any selection you made and return to the THE MAP VIEW W I N D O W
Autoplay window, press the Cancel button.
The Map View windows appear in the Main Window.

THE GLOBE WINDOW

The Globe window appears in the Main Window.

The Globe Window

The Globe window shows the entire world in miniature, from pole to pole, with
continents and oceans readily visible. You can set this view to show the world by
terrain type, temperature, elevation, precipitation, or feeding for the selected crea-
ture (when no creature is selected, terrain type is displayed instead); each view
shows different information you'll find handy during play. You can toggle among the
view settings via the Globe Display option from the View Menu on the Menu Bar
or by right-clicking on the Globe window to pop up a menu.

If a Map View window is active, an outlined rectangle is present on the Globe win-
dow, showing what portion of the world the Map View is displaying. If you left-click The Map View Window
on a location in the Globe window, the Map View will center on the location
The Map View window shows a portion of the world in detail, displaying the differ-
clicked.
ent types of terrain present and the movement and actions of creatures. T h e win-
dow's title bar displays the latitude and longitude of the center of the map view.

You can have several Map View windows open. Only one can be active at any given
time. Various other windows, such as the Globe window, display information based
on the active Map View window.
The Map View window shows only a part of the world. You can move the win-
dow's viewpoint to different places on the world as follows:
 Left-Click on the Globe Window. Left clicking anywhere on the Globe THE CREATURE COMMAND WINDOW
window centers the active Map View window on that location.
The Creature Command window appears in the main window.
Right-Click on the Map View. Right-clicking on the Map View window
centers the view at that location.

Use the Cursor Keys. Pressing the cursor keys scrolls the active Map
View in the indicated direction:The up-arrow key scrolls the map to the
north, right-arrow east, down-arrow south, and left-arrow west.

Use the Numeric Keypad. If Num Lock is off, pressing the number keys
on the keypad scrolls the active Map View in the indicated direction: 4
scrolls the map to the west, 8 north, 6 east, and 2 south.

Center on Creature and Track Creature. "Center on Creature" cen-

ters the active Map View on the selected creature. If the creature moves, the
Map View does not. If a window is set to "Track Creature," the view shifts
each time the creature reaches the edge of the Map View so that the crea-
ture always remains on screen. (When a window is set to "Track Creature,"
the creature's identification is displayed in the window's title bar instead of
the latitude and longitude readout.) Both commands appear in the View
Menu and are described in detail below.

When you start play, one Map View window appears, centered on one of your
creatures, with that creature "selected." The selected creature has colored
brackets around it. Your mouse cursor appears in this window as a set of white
brackets.
You select a creature by left-clicking on it. Once a creature is selected, brackets
appear around it (and disappear from any previously selected creature), indicating
that you can give orders to it. Basic information about the selected creature
appears in Creature Command window.
You can right-click on one of your creatures in the Map View to pop up a menu of
options for the creature:
Command options (Move, Attack, Stay, Clear) that work like the command
buttons on the Creature Command window (see Creature Command
Window below).
Species Information and Evolution Information options that call up these
options from the Info Menu (see Info Menu below).
Note: Right-clicking on the map in general recenters the map, while right-clicking
on one of your creatures pops up a menu.
The Creature Command Window
This window displays information about the selected creature in the Map View
window. The window displays a picture of the creature and the following
information:
The creature's type: predator or prey. Predator species have a claw icon on
their picture.
The creature's clade, species name, and creature identification. (Each crea-
ture icon in a species has a distinct number to aid identification.)
The creature's optimal conditions for survival, including terrain, temperature,
and era.
The creature's Population bar. The longer the green band is in the bar, the
higher the creature's population is. If the green band drops to the minimum,
your creature's population is wiped out, and the creature disappears from
play. If the green band reaches the maximum, the creature reproduces-splits
into two creatures, each with a population of half of the maximum.
The creature's Feeding bar. The length of the bar shows the creature's
overall feeding (a longer bar means more food is available). T h e color bands
on the bar indicate how well the creature is feeding. If the bar has only a
red band, the creature is feeding poorly (and you'll see its population decline

20
 on the Population bar). If a yellow band appears on the bar after the red
band, the creature is finding enough food to maintain its population (and the
creature's Population bar will be stable). If a green band appears after the
yellow band, the creature is feeding well (and the creature's Population bar
will be increasing).
Once the game is over, you cannot continue play. You may continue to examine
the situation in the game, opening windows, scrolling around on the map, etc., but
play is over. You can, of course, always start a new game.

If the creature belongs to your clade, you can use the buttons on the window to
THE MENU BAR
issue commands to i t . T h e Move, Stay, and Attack buttons let you issue these com- The Menu Bar is always available on the Main Window. Choices are:
mands to the creature-see Creatures in Action in the Guided Tour above for what
Game Command World Window
these commands do. (If the selected creature is a prey species rather than a
predator species, the Attack button will be grayed out and unusable.) The Clear View Info Tree of Life Help
button clears any commands the selected creature is currently following. These
Many menu options also have keyboard shortcuts, allowing you to call up the
four commands also appear in the Command Menu.
option by pressing keys. In the following sections, if a menu option has a keyboard
Right-click on the picture of the creature in the Creature Command window to shortcut, this is indicated after the option name.
pop up a menu that allows you to call for additional information:
Various menu options allow you to set game or display conditions to a particular
Species Information calls up the Species Information window for the choice. A checkmark next to such an option means that particular option is the
creature's species (see Species Information in the Info Menu section). You. one currently in use in the game. For example, the Globe option in the View Menu
can also call up the Species Information window immediately by left-clicking allows you to set the Globe window to display terrain, temperature, rainfall, etc.
on the picture of the creature in the Creature Command window.

Evolution Information calls up the Evolution Information window for the THE GAME MENU
creature's species (see Evolution Information in the Info Menu section).
Game options are:
Creature List calls up the Creature List window with information dis- Pause Space
played on all creatures of this species (see Creature List in the Tree of Life Speed Pause (Keyboard: Space Bar)
Menu section). pauses the game and displays a win-
dow noting that the game is paused.
Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window with information about the crea- New Game Ctrl+N
Click on the Resume button to
ture's species (see Bestiary in the Tree of Life Menu section). Load Game... Ctrl+L resume play.
Save Game... Ctrl+S Speed changes the game speed. At
GAME OVER WINDOW the moderate speed setting, time
Score passes at rate of approximately two
When the game ends, the Game Over window appears. This window displays: million years per minute of real time
Options...
Who won the game. during the Carboniferous and
Permian Eras, one million years per
The final scores of all players. Exit Ctrl+X minute during the Early Mesozoic
Whether or not the world's first intelligent species evolved. and Cretaceous Eras, 500,000 years
The Game Menu
per minute during the Cenozoic Era
If one did evolve, pictures of the intelligent species and the species from
up to the present day.
which it evolved. Press the Play Movie button if you wish to view a movie
celebrating the appearance of intelligent life. The following three options only appear in solitaire play.
For the Paleozoic Scenario, whether or not the world's first dinosaur New Game (Keyboard: C T R L - N ) closes the current game and starts a
species evolved. If one did evolve, pictures of the dinosaur species and the new one. (If you haven't saved your current game, you get a chance to do so
species from which it evolved. when you select New Game.) See the Starting the Game: Autoplay Window
section above for the choices available when you start a new game.
 Load Game (Keyboard: CTRL-L) allows you to resume a saved game. Note: If you performed a minimum install or did not install the graphics
for your current display color mode, CD Audio is not available; the
Save Game (Keyboard: CTRL-S) allows you to save your current game. program must access graphics on the CD, preventing CD Audio from
In the window that appears, you may name or rename the games you are
playing.
saving.
The volume of sound effects and music.
The following two options only appear in network play. See the "Multiplayer
Gaming" section for details on network play. Exit (Keyboard: C T R L - X ) exits from the game. If the current game has
not been saved, you may save it, if you wish, before exiting.
S t a r t Network G a m e . Choose this option to start a network game-a
game you play on a network against human opponents.

Join Network G a m e . Choose this option to join a network game.

The following options always appear.

Score brings up a window with three tabs: Score, Game Rankings, and
Chain of Being.

The Score tab lists the current score of your clade, broken down by the
various scoring categories-biomass, species evolved, and evolutionary firsts.

The Game Rankings tab displays a bar showing the game's time line, divided
by era, and charts the scoring progress of all clades over time.

The Chain of Being tab displays your clade's level of accomplishment on the
great chain of being.

Options brings up a window with two tabs, Alerts and Sound. Most
options have check boxes next to them. If the option is turned off, the box
is blank; if the option is turned on, it contains an "X." You can toggle an
option on or off by clicking in the box.

Alert options lets you set whether or not the game will display an alert win-
dow when:

Another player evolves a new species.

A new creature appears in the game through reproduction.

A species become extinct.

A creature dies.

Sound options lets you set:

Whether or not sound effects in general are on.

Whether or not creature, terrain, or alert sound effects are on.

Whether or not music plays during gameplay. This option also has a
pop-up menu allowing you to choose the game's music source: CD
Audio or Compressed (which plays lower-quality music files saved on
the hard disk).
 THE VIEW MENU These options control the Map View:
Z o o m allows you to set the amount of area the Map View displays. High
zoom settings show large areas, while low zoom settings show details close
New Map View up.
Center on Creature Zoom Out One Level (Keyboard: PgUp) and Zoom In One Level
Track Creature (Keyboard: PgDn) change the zoom setting by one step.
These options control the Globe window:
Terrain View
Globe Display brings up a menu with the following choices:
Feeding View
Terrain shows the types of terrain on the world. Deep and shallow seas
Zoom are dark and light blue, respectively. Swamps are yellow-green, while
Zoom Out One Level forest and woodlands are dark and light green, respectively. Plains are
brown; deserts yellow. High and low mountains are dark and light
Zoom In One Level purple, respectively. Glaciers are gray.

Globe Display Feeding shows how well the terrain can feed the Map View's selected
creature. Greener colors mean the creature will eat well; redder colors
Globe Size mean it will eat poorly. If no creature is selected, terrain is displayed
instead.
No Feeding Radii
Temperature shows the temperature ranges across the world, from blue
Selected Creature's Radius (coldest) to red (hottest).
All Feeding Radii Elevations shows the altitude of the world's terrain, from dark green
(lowest) to brown (highest).
Population Graphs
Precipitation shows the rainfall levels of the world's terrain, from dark
Gridlines blue (lightest) to yellow (heaviest).
Ownership Key
Globe Size allows you to toggle the Globe window between three differ-
Find ent sizes: Small, Medium, and Large.
On the active Map View, the following options display information about the
The View Menu selected creature's Feeding Radius, which is the area through which the creature
View options include: wanders and feeds:

New Map View (Keyboard: CTRL-M) creates a new Map View window
centered on the last selected creature.
Center on Creature (Keyboard: CTRL-C) centers the window on the
selected creature in the active Map View window.
Track Creature (Keyboard: CTRL-T) tracks the selected creature in
the active Map View window. If the creature reaches the map edge, the Map
View automatically recenters on the c r e a t u r e . Track Creature is turned off
whenever you select a creature other than the one being tracked.
No Feeding Radii does not display the feeding radius of any creature.
Selected Creature's Radius displays the feeding radius of the selected
creature.
All Feeding Radii displays the feeding radii of all creatures on the map in
the Map View.
Note: The + and - keys on the numeric keypad let you cycle through these three
options, + adding more radii until all are displayed, then cycling back to none, and
- reducing the number displayed then cycling back to all.
The following options toggle on or off the additional information displayed on the
active Map View:
Population Graphs displays a small graph beside each creature in the Map
V i e w . T h e graph shows the creature's current population and is updated
each time its population changes.
Gridlines displays gridlines on the Map View.
Ownership Key displays which clades own the various creatures by color
(the brackets that appear when a creature is selected are color-coded).
The Find command is a powerful way to find creatures:
Find (Keyboard: CTRL-F) allows you to locate a creature that belongs to
a particular species. Selecting this option brings up a window with a pull-
down listing of all species in your clade currently in existence. Scroll through
the list to find the species you want, then click on the Find button to find a
creature of that species.
The Find command finds the first creature of that species (the living crea-
ture with the lowest creature ID number). Once this creature is found, the
Find button changes to Find Again. Press Find Again to find the next creature
of that species. Pressing Find Again repeatedly will cycle you through all the
living creatures of the species.
Move m both creatures lose population to combat. Combat continues until one
Attack a
Stay s
Clear c you choose another option, such as Attack, Move, or Clear.
The Command Menu
This menu allows you to issue commands to your creatures (but not to
creatures of other clades). Options here are the same as the commands you
can give creatures in the Creature Command window:
Move (Keyboard: m) allows you to move the selected creature to a new
place (a new feeding radius).
To move a creature to a place in the active Map View, select the creature,
select the Move command (arrows are added to your mouse cursor to
show that you've selected this command), and left-click on the spot where
you want the creature to go.
If you have more than one Map View open, you can click on any location in
any Map View to have the creature move to that location.
To move a creature to a place not shown in the active Map View, select the
creature, select the Globe window, click on a spot on the Globe window to
have the Map View display that area, select the Move command, and left-click
on the spot where you want the creature to go.
Once ordered to move, the creature begins to move toward its destination,
feeding as well as it can along the way. When it reaches its destination, it
establishes its feeding radius there.
Note that the creature will move across the intervening terrain in a more-
or-less straight line on the way to its new destination. Be careful of ordering
the creature through too much inhospitable terrain, as it may starve before
it reaches its destination. This particularly applies when ordering creatures
to cross oceans-many land creatures feed very poorly in ocean habitats! In
general, flying creatures can cross oceans faster and farther than terrestrial
creatures can.
Attack (Keyboard: a) allows you to order the selected creature to attack
another creature. Only a predator species can attack; if the selected crea-
ture is not a predator, you cannot give it an attack command.
To attack, select a creature, select the Attack command (crosshairs are
added to your mouse cursor to show that you've selected this command),
and left-click on the creature you want to a t t a c k . Your creature moves to
the vicinity of the targeted creature and attacks it. When it gets to the tar-
get creature, small population graphs appear next to both creatures.
Combat animations and sounds play; the two graphs gradually decline as
creature dies, until you change your creature's commands, or until the target
creature's controlling player moves it away.
Stay (Keyboard: s) tells your creature to remain its current position until
Clear (Keyboard: c) clears any Move, Attack, and Stay command current-
ly affecting the selected creature.
Note: To deselect a selected creature or to clear a Move, Attack, or Stay
command that has not been implemented, press ESC.
THE INFO MENU Map View, the name of its species appears in the drop-down box.) Scroll
through the list and select the species you wish information about. Each tab
displays a picture of the selected species plus additional information.

Species Information F2 The Feeding tab is automatically displayed when you first call up the Species
Information window; it contains the following information:
Evolution Information F3
A list of eras, showing which era is optimal for the species' feeding, along
Creature List F5 with how its feeding is reduced in other eras.

How well the species feeds in the various terrain types.

The Info Menu
This menu has the following options:
The Combat tab displays the following information:
Species Information (Keyboard: F2) calls up a Species Information win-
dow with two tabs, one for Feeding and one for Combat. Each tab has a
drop-down list of all species in the game. (If a creature is selected in the
THE SPECIES INFORMATION WINDOW
What temperature the species is best suited for.
The species' size and combat value. A high combat value means the species
can cause large reductions in its opponents' population when attacking or
being attacked.
The species' defense value (in combat) and predation value (for feeding),
based on the opponent's size. High defense values mean the species can
well withstand attacks from predators of the indicated size. High predation
values mean the species feeds well on prey of the indicated size.

Why are these values different? Well, take as an example a Megazostrodon

(a rat-size Cretaceous mammal) attacked by a Tyrannosaurus (a huge
Cretaceous dinosaur). T h e Megazostrodon would have a high defense value
(since a huge predator has trouble simply catching such tiny prey) while the
Tyrannosaurus would have a low predation value (since a huge predator gets
little nutritional value from any tiny prey it does manage to catch).

The species' combat optimizations-if predator, the species it is optimized to

attack and predate; if prey, the species it is optimized to defend against
attacks and predation f r o m . The multiplier indicates how well the attack or
defense is optimized over normal values.

Right-click on the picture of the creature in the window to pop up a menu

that allows you to call for additional information:
Evolution Information calls up the Evolution Information window
for the creature's species (see Evolution Information in the Info Menu
section).

Creature List calls up the Creature List window with information

displayed on all creatures of this creature's species (see Creature List
in the Tree of Life Menu section).

Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window with information displayed

about the creature's species (see Bestiary in the Tree of Life Menu
The Species Information Window
section).
 Evolution Information (Keyboard: F3) displays the Evolution
Information window for the selected creature if it is in your clade. (You
can't see the evolution information for creatures in other clades!)
THE EVOLUTION INFORMATION WINDOW
The Evolution Information Window
This window contains:
A picture of the selected creature with its name.
Bar graphs showing the creature's current progress toward evolution (in
millions of years) and its feeding improvement.
Slider bars with which you can control the progress of the creature's
evolution, allocating Evolution Points among improving feeding, optimiz-
ing combat ability against other specific species, and evolving a new
species. T h e slider bar uses percentages, indicating the percentage of
Evolution Points that are allocated to each goal.
Use the blue slider on top of the bar to change the allocation used to
evolve a new species, and the red slider on top of the bar to change the
allocation used to optimize the creature's combat against other species.
The green slider beneath the bar automatically moves as you move the
other sliders; it shows remaining evolutionary progress allocated to
improving feeding.
When optimizing combat, choose which specific species your creature
will optimize against from the drop-down list of species.
For evolving a new species, choose which species your creature will
evolve toward, from the drop-down list of species. Once you've started
evolving a new species, you can change your mind and choose a differ-
ent species as your evolutionary target-but be careful when changing
your mind. Each time you change your target, you lose all of the species'
evolutionary progress devoted to evolving a new species (feeding
improvement and combat optimization are unaffected). If you've target-
ed a species and another clade evolves it first, you will have to change
your target (but you will only lose half of the species' evolutionary
progress).
Right-click on the picture of the creature in the window to pop up a menu
that allows you to call for additional information:
Species Information calls up the Species Information window for the
creature's species (see Species Information in the Info Menu section).
Creature List calls up the Creature List window with information dis-
played on all creatures of this creature's species (see Creature List in
the Tree of Life Menu section).
Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window with information displayed
about the creature's species (see Bestiary in the Tree of Life Menu sec-
tion).
Creature List (Keyboard: F5) calls up a window allowing you to find
information about any of the creatures belonging to any species you control.
Select the species you want from the drop-box list. When you select a
species from the list, a scrolling list of each creature in that species is dis-
played, showing the creature identification, its Population bar, and its Feeding
bar.
To center the active Map View on a creature in the list, select it in the list
and click the Find button.
Right-click on the picture of the creature in the window to pop up a menu
that allows you to call for additional information:
Species I n f o r m a t i o n calls up the Species Information window for the
creature's species (see Species Information in the Info Menu section).
 Evolution Information calls up the Evolution Information window
for the creature's species (see Evolution Information in the Info Menu
section).
Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window with information displayed
about the creature's species (see Bestiary in the Tree of Life Menu
section).
THE WORLD MENU
Note: This menu item is grayed out in network games; no player can trigger
a disaster in net play.
No Disaster, if checked, indicates your preference for no disasters
occurring in your g a m e . This option and the two beneath it show the
disaster preference choice you made.
Historical Disasters, if checked, indicates your preference for disasters
based on Earth's history.
Random Disasters, if checked, indicates your preference for disasters
occurring randomly-you won't know ahead of time when a disaster will
occur or which one it will be.

Living World Note: In a network game, the Disasters Preference-none, historical, or ran-
dom-is set at the start of the game and cannot be changed during play.
Physical World
Disaster Options, when using Random Disasters, lets you specify which
Trigger a Disaster disasters might occur during play. Normally, any or all of the disasters includ-
ed in the game can occur; Disaster Options lets you exclude various types
of disasters from those that can occur.
No Disasters
Historical Disasters Note: Disaster options cannot be changed during a network game.

Random Disasters
Disaster Options THE TREE OF LIFE MENU
The World Menu
This menu has the following options:
Tree of Life F6
Living World opens a window showing information about all species cur-
rently living in the game. At the top is a drop-box list of the clades (players) Bestiary F7
in the game; this starts by showing your clade, but you can switch to see the
species of the other clades. Within each list, you can see each species' name, 1 Player's Clade
the number of creatures of that species currently in the game, the total pop- 2 Cope's Clade
ulation of all such creatures, and the time (in millions of years) until the
species evolves into a new species. 3 Darwin's Clade

Physical World opens a window displaying the time line of the game, with
4 Huxley's Clade
the geologic eras indicated and all past disasters noted. Below the time line, 5 Marsh's Clade
two graphs chart the changes in global average temperature and sea level
6 Mendel's Clade
over time.

Trigger a Disaster triggers a disaster that materially affects conditions

The Tree of Life Menu
throughout the world-the disaster will make it more difficult for many
species to survive. Normally, the game automatically triggers disasters based This menu has the following options:
on the disaster preference you selected at the beginning of the game;
Tree of Life (Keyboard: F6) brings up the Tree of Life window, with which you can
choosing this option lets you trigger a disaster immediately. Disasters
trace the possible evolutionary pathways in the game.
include comet and asteroid impacts, volcanism, supernovas, and ice ages.
 Species Information calls up the Species Information window for the
creature's species (sec Species Information in the Info Menu section).

Evolution Information calls up the Evolution Information window

for the creature's species (see Evolution Information in the Info Menu
section).

Creature List calls up the Creature List window with information dis-
played on all creatures of this creature's species (see Creature List in
the Tree of Life Menu section).

Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window with information displayed

about the creature's species (see Bestiary in the Tree of Life Menu
section).
Bestiary (Keyboard: F7) brings up the Bestiary-a window with informa-
tion about every species included in Evolution. Select the species you want
information about from the drop-list in the window. (If there is a species
selected in the active Map View, calling up the Bestiary will display informa-
tion on that creature's species.)

The Tree of Life Window

The picture in the middle shows the species of the currently selected crea-
ture. Below it is a list of the species that this species could possibly have
evolved from. Above it is a list of the species that this species could con-
ceivably evolve into. (Color codes indicate what clade the species belongs
to, if it is living, or if it is extinct or not yet evolved.) Double-clicking on any
of these names centers the Tree of Life on this species and allows you to
further trace its ancestry or descendancy.

Note that the Tree of Life shows all possible evolutionary paths in the game,
not just the one taken on historical Earth.

Buttons at the bottom of the window allow you to call up the Species
Information or Bestiary windows with information about the species cur-
rently depicted in the window.

Right-click on the picture of the creature in the window to pop up a menu

that allows you to call for additional information: The Bestiary Window
The various Clade selections bring up windows showing information about the Creature List calls up the Creature List window.
particular clades. Each window lists the total number of species the clade has
Bestiary calls up the Bestiary window.
evolved and the number of species in the clade that are currently living.

THE WINDOW MENU

Globe
Creature Command

1 Map-centered at (53*E,7*N)

The Window Menu

The Window Menu allows you to open and switch to the Globe and Creature
Command windows, as well as switch to any open Map View window.

THE HELP MENU

Contents F1
Search for Help On...
Index
The Clade Window
About Evolution
The left half of the window contains a tree list of all creatures in the c l a d e . T h e
tree structure shows how your species have evolved in the game; that is, a species' The Help Menu
parent is above it in the tree. Selecting any species on the tree displays a picture
This menu has the following options:
of the species on the right side of the window, together with its name, when it
evolved, and (if extinct) when it became extinct. Contents (Keyboard: F1) calls up a window with a list of help topics.
Choose a topic from the list to see its help file.
You can expand the tree structure by clicking on the " + " boxes and collapse the
tree by clicking on the "-" boxes. Search for Help On...allows you to search for help about a particular
word or p h r a s e . Type the word or phrase into the window that appears and
The buttons below the picture allow you to access additional information about press the Search button to see the help available on this item.
the species:
Index calls up a window with an index of help key words. Choose a key
Info calls up the Species Information window. word from the list to see its help file.
Evolution calls up the Evolution Information window. About Evolution calls up a window displaying the credits for the game.
Tree of Life calls up the Tree of Life window. Make sure you check this out!
ALERT WINDOWS THE STATUS BAR
Various alert windows will appear during play, alerting you to various events: The Status Bar appears at the bottom of the main window. It displays the follow-
ing information:
When a creature reproduces, a New Creature window alerts you. You can
use the Find button in the window to find the new creature. At lower left, the type, elevation, and temperature (in Celsius) of the terrain
under the mouse cursor in the Map View.
When a creature dies, a Creature Dies window alerts you. You can use the
Find button in the window to find where the creature died. The current date (MYA indicates millions of years ago, MY indicates millions
of years from now).
When a species in any clade becomes extinct (all creatures in the species
die), an Extinct Species window alerts you. You can use the Find button in The current era.
the window to find where the last creature of the species died. The percent probability that the era will change in the near future.
When a rival clade evolves a new species, an Opponent Evolves Species win-
dow alerts you. You can use the Find button in the window to find the new
creature. THE KEYBOARD
When your clade evolves a new species, a New Species window alerts you. You can call many game functions through shortcut keys:
From the list in this window, you select one of the originating species' crea-
Key Command
tures to become the first creature of the new species. (Population and
Feeding bars for each of the originating species' creatures are shown to help Space Bar Pause pauses the game.
you make your selection; the creature with the highest population is select-
PgUp Z o o m Out One Level zooms the active Map View out
ed when the window opens.) You can use the Find button to find any of the
one level.
creatures on the list. Press the Evolve button to change the selected crea-
ture into the first creature of the new species. Make sure to call up the PgDn Z o o m In One Level zooms the active Map View in one
Evolution Information window to set evolutionary goals for the species. level.

You can right-click on the picture of the creature in the window to pop up a CTRL-F Find allows you to find creatures.
menu that allows you to call for additional information from the Info and
CTRL-L Load Game loads a saved game.
Tree of Life Menus.
CTRL-M New Map View opens a new Map View window.
When a rival clade evolves a new species you've targeted, a window alerts
you to this fact (only one clade can have a particular species). You must CTRL-N New Game closes the current game and starts a new
change your evolution target species in this window. Don't forget that you
one.
lose half your evolutionary progress when you voluntarily change targets.
CTRL-S Save Game saves the current game.
Note: You can set two or more of your species to evolve the same new
species, but when one evolves the species, the other must change its evolu- CTRL-X Exit exits from the game.
tion target. F1 Help Contents opens the Help window.
When a disaster occurs, a window opens telling you what type of disaster F6 Tree of Life opens the Tree of Life window.
occurred. You have the option of playing a movie illustrating the disaster.
F7 Bestiary opens the Bestiary window.
When an alert window appears, the passage of time in the game continues.
+ , - Feeding Radii in the active Map View change, cycling
Exception: When a disaster occurs, the game pauses until you close the window
through None-Selected Creature Only-All. (Note that
(by pressing the Resume button in the window). Most alert windows can be
when the Clade window is active, these keys will expand
turned off through the Options choice in the Game Menu.
and contract the tree structure in that window.)
The following keys work only if a creature is selected;
THE MOUSE
Key Command Action Result
ESC Deselect deselects the selected creature. If a Left-Click, With Move command, directs the select-
Creature Command order has been selected but not Map View Window, ed creature to move to that spot.
implemented (e.g., the Move command selected but not on creature
no destination yet specified), ESC clears the order. Left-Click on Creature Default: Selects creature.
CTRL-C Center on Creature centers the active Map View (Map View Window) If Attack command is engaged, directs
window on the selected creature. already selected creature to attack left-
clicked creature.
CTRL-T Track Creature tracks the selected creature in the
active Map View window. Right-Click, Centers the active Map View at the posi-
Species Information. Calls the Species Information Map View Window tion of the mouse cursor, unless right-
option from the Info Menu. clicking on the selected creature, in
which case it pops up a menu allowing
F3 Evolution Information. Calls the Evolution you to give an order to or get informa-
Information option from the Info Menu tion about the creature.
F5 Creature List. Calls the Creature List option from Left-Click, Creature Brings up Species Information window if
the Info Menu. Command Window picture in window is clicked.
You can use the numeric keypad to scroll the map in the active Map View (make
Right-Click, Brings up a menu with options from the
sure Num Lock isn't on!):
Any Creature Portrait Info and Tree of Life Menus.
Key Command
Left-Click, Centers the active Map View at the posi-
2 Scroll South Globe Window tion of the mouse cursor.
4 Scroll West Right-Click Brings up a menu with Globe window
6 Scroll East Globe Window options from the View Menu.

8 Scroll North Double-Click, name in Centers tree on that species.

9 Zoom Out One Level Tree of Life

3 Zoom In One Level


STRATEGY GUIDE
CREATURE REPRODUCTION
Soon after you start the game, switch the Globe window to Feeding to see how
well the creature can feed in its current l o c a t i o n . Your creature may have started
in an area that is less than optimal for feeding. If so, you want to get it to a good
feeding area quickly, so it will survive and begin to reproduce. Red areas have poor
feeding; yellow areas have better feeding; green areas are the best. Initially, there
may not be any green areas, because your species needs to improve its feeding a
bit first.
Every species is rated for how much food it can draw from its surroundings. T h e
type of terrain matters-for example, a nut-eater will find much more food in a
forest than in a desert. Every creature is also rated on its feeding efficiency-so
improving a species' feeding through evolution will improve how well it uses what-
ever food it does find.
To see how well a creature is feeding, select it and examine its Feeding bar graph
in the Creature Command window:
The length of the bar shows the creature's overall feeding efficiencya
longer bar means greater efficiency. (If the bar is short, consider concentrat-
ing most or all of the species' evolutionary progress on improving feeding!)
The color bands on the bar indicate how well the creature is feeding:
If the bar has only a red band, the creature is feeding poorly. You'll see
its population decline on the Population bar. You should find more food
for the creature-if the Population bar drops to the minimum, your crea-
ture's population is wiped out, and the creature disappears from play.
If a yellow band appears on the bar after the red band, the creature is
finding enough food to maintain its population. T h e creature's Population
bar will be stable.
If a green band appears on the bar after the yellow band, the creature is
feeding w e l l . T h e creature's Population bar will be increasing. When the
Population bar reaches the maximum-when the whole Population bar is
green-the creature will s p l i t . You'll have two creatures of the species,
both with populations of half of the maximum.
A creature draws food from all locations within its feeding radius, regardless of
the current location of its animated icon. If the feeding radii of different creatures
overlap, a square in the overlapping region will be used exclusively by the creature
that feeds the best in that square's terrain, at the expense of the other creature.
The creatures will share the square only if both creatures feed equally well in the
square's terrain. So if you have a species that feeds better in a particular kind of
terrain than an opponent does, you can crowd out the opposing creatures by
moving your creatures of that species into the enemy creatures' feeding area.
The feeding radius of carnivores (predators) and herbivores (prey) can overlap
without interfering with each other. Both predators and prey can feed in the same
s q u a r e . This may affect the populations of both species as the predator begins to
feed on the prey, as described in Predation and Combat below.
You also want to try to ensure that your own creatures' radii don't overlap.
Creatures shift their feeding areas slowly over time; but if an area of good feeding
becomes crowded, the radii will start to overlap. When this happens, see if there
are other areas you can reach where members of this species can thrive, and
move some there.
EVOLUTION IN ACTION
Once your starting creature has reproduced and you have several creatures in a
species, call up the Evolution Information window (press F3 or select Evolution
Information from the Info Menu). As a default, 100 percent of the species' evolu-
tion is going into improving feeding, which is what you need to do initially. But
once your species is doing well, you will want to devote some of its evolution to
evolving a new species. And you may want to improve its resistance to a particu-
lar predator species, if something is eating it, or its ability to prey on a particular
prey species, if there's an enemy species you want to obstruct.
Call up the Species Information window for your species also (press F2 or select
Species Information from the Info Menu). It will show what terrain types and tem-
perature your species likes best. Drop down the creature's "evolve t o " box on the
Evolution window to see what creatures it can evolve to. Check out the Species
Information for those species, too.
You want to decide what creature to evolve next from the available options. Here
are some reasons you may want to evolve a particular species:
It prefers a different terrain type or temperature range from your current
species, meaning you can then start to exploit new areas of your continent.
It is a predator, allowing you to prey on or attack the creatures of other
clades.
You have lots of your current species, and the new species likes the same
terrain type or temperature range, but draws more food value than the old
species-meaning it will hold up better if an opposing player starts to invade
your feeding area.
 It is on the path to another species you'd like to evolve such as an early
mammal. You can check this with the Tree of Life window (F6 or use the
Tree of Life Menu) or by examining the Tree of Life poster that comes with
the game.
Decide what you want to evolve from the available options and choose it on the
"evolve t o " list in the Evolution b o x . Then use the sliders to allocate part of the
species' Evolution Points to evolving a new species.
The feeding information in the reeding View does not reflect the presence of
potential prey. A predator might be able to feed very well in a location with oth-
erwise poor feeding if it is populated by a defenseless prey species.
Size matters for predation (and in combat). For example, a mouse-size predator is
extremely unlikely to bring down any elephants (but can feed like a king if it suc-
ceeds!), while a tyrannosaur is unlikely to be able to catch many frogs (or derive
much nourishment from the ones it does catch!).

Once you've started evolving a new species, you can change your mind and Predators are also useful as attackers, to kill opposing creatures. You will need
choose a different species as your evolutionary target-but be careful when chang- some if only to defend yourself against the attacks of other players-your preda-
ing your mind. Each time you change your target, you lose all the species' evolu- tors can attack their predators. But be careful to retain a breeding population of
tionary progress devoted to evolving a new species (feeding improvement and predators and not risk them all in combat.
combat optimization are unaffected). If you've targeted a species and another
clade evolves it first, you will have to change your target (though you lose only
half your evolutionary progress in this case).

The game allows players to re-evolve species that become extinct-when a species
becomes extinct, it reappears in the "evolve t o " lists and any clade can evolve it
again. (Why? Otherwise, important evolutionary paths in the tree of life might
become permanently blocked off. While it is true that evolution cannot actually re-
evolve an extinct species, think of what's happening as new, different species
appearing, but ones that are very similar to the extinct species. For convenience,
the game simply reuses the old species' name, art, and place on the tree of life.)
Watch for the extinction of important species in other clades, as this can give you
an opportunity to re-evolve that species yourself and thus occupy a valuable posi-
tion in the tree of life.

PREDATION AND COMBAT

At first, improving defense isn't very important, since there will be few creatures
on the world and very few or no predatory species. This changes over time as
more and more species appear, so keep in mind that defense will become more
important later.

Predators, like prey, derive food value from the terrain-they are assumed to be
eating various species that are not shown as part of the game. However, when a
creature from a predator species overlaps its feeding radius onto that of a crea-
ture from a prey species, the predatory creature is getting part of its food from
the prey creature.

This can affect both creatures' populations, increasing that of the predator and
decreasing that of the prey. If you have a substantial population of a prey species,
you can probably support some predators on it without too much problem. But it
is better, of course, if the predators can prey on the creatures of another player.

You can play Evolution against other human players (or a mix of human and com-
puter players) over a local area network, through the Internet, or by modem or
serial connections. One player organizes the game and is the game host; the other
(human) players will join the host's game. When all human players have joined, the
host starts play.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Each human player must have Evolution installed on a computer capable of running
the game. (See the Hardware Requirements and Installing Evolution chapters.) In
addition, for:
LAN Play: The computers of all the human players must be connected to
the local area network, and the LAN must use either of the following two
common LAN protocols: Internet TCP/IP or IPX. To set up play, you must
know which protocol your LAN uses for the network.
Internet Play: The computers of all the human players must have Internet
connections, such as dial-up connections via modem to an Internet Service
Provider.
Modem Play: Both computers must have modems connected to telephone
lines.
Serial Play: Both computers must be connected to one another via a serial
cable and null modem. Use either a null modem serial cable (a serial cable
with built-in null modem wiring) or a standard serial cable with one null
modem connected to one end. (One and only one null modem is required.)
Evolution uses the DirectPlay functions of DirectX for handling network play. All
network players need DirectPlay version 5 or later installed on their computers.
This is installed when you install Evolution, If for some reason it is not installed, you
can install DirectX (including DirectPlay) by using the Install DirectX option from
the Autoplay window. See the Installing Evolution chapter or the Starting the
Game: Autoplay Window section for more details.
GETTING ORGANIZED
Up to six human players can play a LAN or Internet game of Evolution; two human
players (only) can play Evolution together by modem or serial connection. One
player organizes the game and will be the h o s t . T h e host should contact the other
players (the guests) and arrange a common time when all will be available to play
the game. For Internet play, the host needs to supply the guest players with the
Internet address of the host's computer. (If you do not know your Internet
address, you can view it in the Start Network Game window.)
The host player must first create the game on the host's computer. From the
Autoplay window or the Game menu, click on Start Network Game to do this,
and the Start Network Game window will appear.
The guest players must join the game created by the host. From the Autoplay win-
dow or Game menu, click on Join Network Game, and the Join Network Game
window will appear. See below on how to use these two windows.
If you're playing by Internet, and you have a dial-up connection (must use a
modem to connect to the Internet), you should dial up and connect to the
Internet before clicking on Start Network Game/Join Network Game.
THE START NETWORK GAME WINDOW
The host player uses this window to create a network game. Open this window
and make your choices at or just a little before the agreed-upon time to play, so
that you have the game created and are waiting for players to log on.
See the illustration of the Start Network Game window on the following page.
Use the Session Settings section of the window to set up the game session:
Connection Type: From the pull-down list, select the type of network
connection you will use to play the game. Choices are:
Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for Internet play or
for play on a LAN that uses the TCP/IP protocol.
IPX Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play on a LAN that uses the
IPX protocol.
Modem Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play by modem between
two computers.
Serial Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play on two computers con-
nected by a serial cable.
 T C P / I P Address: Your computer's TCP/IP address automatically appears Evolution chapter for details on the complete game and scenarios.) Due to
below the Connection Type setting when you select Internet TCP/IP the length of the complete game (typically six hours or more when played
Connection for DirectPlay. This is the address you give the guest players by network), we recommend playing one of the shorter scenarios in net-
when playing by Internet. work play.
Disasters: Choose whether you will have random, historical, or no
disasters.
Session Settings Note: Once the game begins, you cannot change the disasters setting, unlike
Connection Type: in solitaire play.
World: Choose a random world or the historical Earth as your playing
Player Name: Your TCP/IP Address: 127.0.0.1 field.
Maximum Players: Choose the maximum number of players for the
Game Settings
game, including yourself, all guests (other human players), and all computer
Game: Complete Game Disasters: Random Disasters players. You can have a maximum of six players. (For modem and serial con-
Paleozoic Scenario nection play, you can only have two human players.) For example, if you and
Mesozoic Scenario No Disasters three guests will play and you also want one computer player in the game,
Cenezoic Scenario select 5 here.

Note that you don't distinguish between human and computer players when
World: Random World Maximum Players:
making this setting. When the game starts, the game counts the number of
human players logged on. If this is fewer than the Maximum Players setting,
Random World Parameters: it creates computer players to make up the difference. For example, if
Maximum Players is set to 6 and three human players log on, the computer
Land Coverage Continental Drift Speed creates three computer players.

If, for some reason, one of the intended human players fails to log on, the
game simply assigns a computer player in his or her place.

When you are done with this window, you may press the Create Game
button to create the g a m e . The game's Start Network Game Waiting Room
window will appear (see below) and other players will be able to join.
The Start Network Game Window
You may also press the Cancel button to close the Start Network Game
Note: If you connect to the Internet via modem, you most likely will not window without creating a game.
have the same TCP/IP address each time you connect. Since you are proba-
bly using your only phone line to connect, e-mail is a good way to give your
address to the other players. THE JOIN NETWORK GAME WINDOW
Player Name: You may type in a name for your clade. If you do not enter a The guest players use this window to prepare for a network game. Open this win-
name, the game will assign you a default name when it begins. dow at the agreed-upon time to play.
Use the Game Settings section of the window to set up the type of game you will
p l a y . These settings are similar or identical to those for a solitaire game (see the
Starting the Game: Autoplay Window section for details). The options are:

Game: Choose whether you want to play the complete game or one of
the three scenarios. (See the Scenarios section in the Guided Tour of
 Waiting Room window will appear, see below.
If for some reason DirectPlay cannot connect to the host's computer, it will
display an error message. Follow any connection instructions that may
Session Settings
appear, or cancel and click Join Network Game again. Note that if you try to
Connection Type: Internet TCP/IP Connection For DirectPlay join a game that the host hasn't created yet, you will get an error message,
and you cannot connect until the host has indeed created the game.

Enter host TCP/IP Address: Player Name: Or press the Cancel button to close the Join Network Game window
without joining a game.

THE START NETWORK GAME WAITING

ROOM WINDOW
When the host presses the Create Game button on the Start Network Game
The Join Network Game Window window, the Start Network Game Waiting Room window appears. This window
displays a list of the human players logged on to play. At first, only the host's Player
Use the Session Settings section of the window to set up for the session:
Name will appear in the list. As other players log on, their Player Names will also
Connection Type: From the pull-down list, select the type of network con- appear in the l i s t . W h e n all players are logged on, the host starts play by pressing
nection you will use to play the game. Choices are: the Start Game button. (The Start Game button only appears on the host player's
window.)
Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for Internet play or for
play on a LAN that uses the TCP/IP protocol. If for some reason one or more intended players do not log on, the host can sim-
ply start the game without them. Computer players will take their places.
IPX Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play on a LAN that uses the
IPX protocol. The host can press the cancel button to cancel the game. Note: When the host
presses Cancel, it cancels the entire game!
Modem Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play by modem between
two computers. When you join a game using this type of connection,
DirectPlay will prompt you for addition information (such as a phone
number to the host's computer) needed to make the connection.
THE JOIN NETWORK GAME WAITING
Serial Connection for DirectPlay: Use this for play on two computers con-
ROOM WINDOW
nected by a serial cable. When you join a game using this type of con- When a guest player presses the Join Game button on the Join Network Game
nection, DirectPlay will prompt you for any addition information needed window and connects to the host's computer, the Join Network Game Waiting
to make the connection. Room window appears. A "Status" field reports the current state of the game:

Enter Host TCP/IP Address: If you are playing over the Internet, enter Waiting for start....indicates that the guest player has successfully joined the
the TCP/IP address of the host's computer. (The host must tell you this g a m e . T h e game will start when the host presses "Start Game."
address ahead of time.) The number will be four separate numbers separat-
Game starting...appears for a few moments as the game is starting. Get
ed by periods but containing no spaces or other punctuation (for example,
ready!
000.000.000.000). Type in the address exactly as the host gave it to you.
Game cancelled...indicates that the host has cancelled the game.
Player Name: You may type in a name for your clade. If you do not enter a
name, the game will assign you a default name when it begins. If for some reason one or more intended guest players do not log on, the host
can simply start the game without them by pressing the Start Game button.
When you are done with this window, you may press:
Computer players will take their places. If you are late logging on and the host
The Join Game button to join the g a m e . T h e game's Join Network Game
 SUMS without you, you cannot join the game. (Wish your computer player good
luck and find a good time for another network game!)
A guest player can press the Cancel button from this window. Doing this will drop
the player from the game.
Note: When a guest presses Cancel, it cancels only his or her participation in the
game! If a guest reruns the Join Network Game window after pressing Cancel
here, he or she can rejoin the game if the host player hasn't started the game in
the meantime.
If the host player cancels the game, the "Game cancelled... " message will appear in
the Status f i e l d . You might as well press the Cancel button at this point; the host
has canceled the game for some reason, and no play will occur until another net-
work session is set up.
PLAYING A NETWORK GAME
Playing a network game is very similar to playing a solitaire game against the com-
puter-except that competition may be fiercer from your human opponents.
Remember that you are playing a clade of unintelligent species, so there's no way
in the game to negotiate directly with the other players. Note that cooperation is
still possibleyou just can't directly communicate in the game. (If you arrange to
communicate among one another by other means, that's fine. Have fun!)
At the end of the game, the highest scoring player wins. Good luck!
Some of the game's functions and commands are modified for network play:
There are no Save Game or Load Game functions. You play the game in one
session. (This is why it's a good idea usually to play one of the shorter sce-
narios rather than the complete game.)
If you Exit the game, you're out. A computer player takes over your clade.
This is true even if you are the host player-the host is needed to set up and
start the game, but after that he or she doesn't need to stay in the game for
it to proceed.
The game plays at the slowest speed setting selected by any player.
You cannot Trigger a Disaster, change the Disasters Preference (random; his-
torical; none), or change the Disaster Options during play.
54
TROUBLESHOOTING
The game doesn't work or doesn't work right. What's wrong?
Check these first:
Make sure your computer system meets at least the minimum hardware require-
ments, particularly for processor type and speed, RAM requirements, and video
system.
Make sure the Evolution CD-ROM is in your CD-ROM drive when you play
the game.
Will other programs conflict with Evolution?
We recommend not running any program in the background w h e n playing
Evolution, particularly:
Antivirus programs that stay resident in memory, like Norton or VShield.
RAM enhancers like RAM Doubler or SoftRAM.
Font managers, like Adobe Type Manager.
Shell programs like Norton Desktop or Packard Bell Navigator.
Uninstallers like CleanSweep or Removelt.
Hard drive compression software like DoubleSpace or Stacker.
CD-ROM acceleration software like FlexiCD or D-Time.
The game won't run at all. Or, the game starts but immediately
returns to the Windows 95 desktop. What should I do?
Did you install DirectX during installation? (Evolution requires DirectX system dri-
vers, version 5 or later). If you skipped the DirectX installation and Evolution does
not run, you can install DirectX separately by clicking the "Install DirectX" button on
the Autoplay w i n d o w . T h e Autoplay window will appear when you insert the Evolution
CD in your CD-ROM drive and when you select the Evolution shortcut from the
Start Menu.
The game used to run but now won't run at all or starts but
immediately returns to the Windows 95 desktop. What should I
do?
Your DirectX drivers may have been removed or replaced with earlier, incompatible
versions. If this happens, reinstall DirectX as described above. If you have changed
your hardware, you may need to contact the manufacturer for up-to-date drivers for
the hardware.
The game runs slowly or has other performance problems.
What can I do?
Here are some general tips on improving performance:
Close all other applications and turn off screen savers, virus programs, and
wallpaper.
Set your display to 640x480 and 256 Colors. Note: If you did a Minimum
install or a Normal install with the High Color Graphics Only option, setting
your display to 256 Colors may be counterproductive, as the game will have
to access graphics from the Evolution CD during play.
Reinstall Evolution using the Normal install and "256 and High Color
Graphics" o p t i o n s . This will prevent Evolution from accessing graphics on the
Evolution CD during play.
Get the latest drivers for your video card from the manufacturer (most
have Web sites from which you can download driver updates).
Add more memory to your computer. (Evolution runs best with 32 MB of
RAM.)
The game starts but then stops and tells me to reset to "256
Color or higher." Why is this?
four display is set to 16-color mode. Evolution requires at least 256-color mode.
from the Windows 95 desktop, open your Display control panel and reset your dis-
play settings to 256 color or higher.
I'm getting an error message telling me that I'm out of memory.
Or I'm not, but the game keeps crashing, or moves really slowly.
What should I do?
Chances are your memory resources are stretched to capacity. T r y closing all other
applications before starting this program. Also, verify that virtual memory is turned
on (open the System Control Panel and press the Virtual Memory button). If prob-
lems persist, you may need to add additional memory to your system.
I'm trying to host a network game over the Internet. When I
select "Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay," no TCP/IP
address appears. What should I do?
Make sure your computer really has an Internet connection. If you dial into an
Internet Service Provider, establish your connection before selecting Start Network
Game in Evolution. Contact your network administrator or Internet Service Provider
if you're having problems with this.
I have some other problem. What should I do?
Be sure to read the README file on the Evolution CD; it has the most up-to-date
information on the program at the time of release. Also, check out the Evolution site
on the World Wide Web for future patches, upgrades, and other helpful information
(http://evolution.discovery.com).

My audio isn't working. What should I do?

"his game should produce audio through your sound card:

If you are not getting sound from your speakers or headphones, check the
following: Make sure that the cables from your speakers or headphones are
properly connected to your sound card, that the speakers have power, and
that the volume is turned on.

Is your sound card properly configured for Windows? Are the right sound
drivers loaded? To test for sound, open the Sound Control Panel. Select a
sound file, then click the Preview o p t i o n . You should hear a sound. If not,
your sound card is not properly set up. Refer to your sound card user's
manual for instructions on proper configuration and installation.
 DESIGN NOTES
by Greg Costikyan/Crossover Technologies

Evolution deals with the history of tetrapodal life on land.

If you are having a problem installing or running Evolution on your computer, first
And as with much science, we find that, from the very first sentence, we need to
check the "Troubleshooting" section in the Player Manual.
qualify and e x p l a i n . W h a t , after all, is a tetrapod?
If you are still unable to resolve your problem, call technical support at
The roots are Greek: tetra is four, and pod is f o o t . Tetrapods are "four footed"
1-800-780-6044 or 214-776-2650 for international callers. Hours of operation
creatures. Except that somesnakes and whales, for instance-have no feet at all.
are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST, seven days a week. You can also send e-mail to
But all evolved from the earliest land creatures.
Tech_support@discovery.com.
Well, not the earliest. Bugs were here before us; athropodsjointed, exoskeletal
creatures-colonized the land before tetrapods.

And paleontologists actually define "tetrapod" in such a way that some of our
earliest creatures-like Ichthyostega and Acanthostega-aren't included. But never
mind.

But notice the subtext of the first sentence: Evolution doesn't, we imply, deal with
evolution.

Oh, evolution takes place; one creature leads to another. But we aren't actually
simulating the process. We don't have a scheme whereby creatures vary slightly in
attributes, with attributes tested by the environment and creatures with favorable
attributes breeding the next g e n e r a t i o n . We don't have "periods of high evolution-
ary pressure" in which small populations may suddenly and greatly change over
short periods of time.
So if it doesn't deal with evolution, what then does it deal with?
With paleontology; with geology; with the struggle for existence. Our goal is to
impart a sense of the vast panoply of life on land, of the enormous plasticity of life
over time, of the amazing variety of past life, of the fact that evolution and extinc-
tion are processes that extend to historic times, that we are linked back to life's
earliest origins.
No, I l i e d . That's not our goal; that's a secondary goal. Our goal is to design a good
game-a game, moreover, that remains fun even though (perhaps partly because) it
involves a degree of intellectual content.

Could we have designed a game that dealt specifically with the evolutionary
process? Yes, we could: but the evolutionary process is something that happens
from generation to generation. And, depending on the species in question, genera-
tions change on a time span ranging from a few hours to a few decades. To show
the evolutionary process in action, you need a game in which a generation occurs
in a few seconds or minutes; in Evolution, depending on era, between 2,000 and
8,000 years pass every second.
 In short, a game on a scale that allows the entire history of tetrapodal life to be
shown in a reasonable period of time cannot also demonstrate the evolutionary
process. And the history of life on land is actually more what we're interested in.
Simulating evolution has another problem: Evolution is a process that occurs with-
out any conscious guidance and without any predetermined goal. Evolution has
not been "striving" for intelligence, humanity is not the crown of creation; being
smarter isn't always a prosurvival trait, and evolution never looks ahead. It's purely
a process of winnowing; what survives, survives, and breeds another generation.
But the foundation of every game is decision-making-presenting a player with a
situation and requiring him to decide what to do and how to solve the problems
he faces as he struggles toward a win.
If there is no volition in evolution, if it is purely an automatic process, then any
real simulation also has to be automatic-which rules out any role for a player. In
other words, there ain't no game.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS
How to make it a game?
A better way to phrase the question is: What decisions do the players make?
Obviously, the players should decide which creatures to evolve next. And the
players should work to get to the point where they can evolve something, by mak-
ing their creatures successful in competition with others."Success" means repro-
ducing and establishing large, stable populations; so the feeding system is key.
Ergo, we need a game in which evolution is planned by the players, and in which
they can determine when and how their creatures feed.
That's tricky: We wanted Evolution to be a real-time, continuous movement game,
as opposed to a more static, turn-based game. In a turn-based game, you could
put feeding entirely under a player's control and allow him to micromanage his
creatures for maximal feeding. But in a real-time game, creatures must feed auto-
matically, at least most of the time, without dying.
But we still want the player to have some input into the feeding process, to give
him a management role, to present him with decisions to make. Our solution is
straightforward: make the creatures feed automatically but make them dumb. In
Evolution, creatures do feed automatically and do drift toward areas where they
feed best-but they won't drift across poor feeding areas to more attractive ones.
So the player still must monitor the game, see how the creatures are doing, and
guide them to new feeding areas where they can thrive.
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
It would be really cool if we could somehow start with the earliest land animal
and allow it to evolve in any direction-somehow to smoothly morph it as it
evolves, allowing slow, gradual changes over t i m e . That is-or might be-how evolu-
tion works.
But it's not possible given the current state of animation and modeling technology.
Games with real-time 3D rendering are increasingly common-but they start from
simple, unchanging m o d e l s . To make gradually changing models work, we'd not only
have to render and animate in real-time-we'd also have to figure out how to cre-
ate the models that get rendered and animated algorithmically. This might be feasi-
ble, some day, but not any time soon.
And actually, there's an argument for evolution by large jumps, rather than by slow
changes. By the theory of punctuated equilibrium, species are stable and change
rather little over long periods of time-but new species arise very quickly, in a few
hundred thousand years or even a few tens of thousands of years. Bats, for
instance, appeared on the scene out of nowhere and have changed very little
s i n c e . T h e paleontological record seems to say that, contrary to neo-Darwinist
theorists, evolution is not a slow gradual accretion of changes, but sudden and
dramatic changes under evolutionary pressure.
So perhaps we can justify the game by claiming it is closer to punctuated equilibri-
um than to neo-Darwinism in approach. One species suddenly spawns another-a
descendant that can be quite different from its parent."Sudden" is of course rela-
tive; but in Evolution, thousands of years pass every second.
If we're prerendering creatures, we obviously want to hit the high points: the
dinosaurs everyone knows, the creatures that are key to the evolution of life on
land, creatures that people don't know very well (like Indricotherium) that just
look really cool. And there's a limit to how many we can supply; in Evolution, there
are more than 100 frames of animation for each species in the game. Keeping all
the animations for one species in memory takes up close to a meg. It doesn't take
a genius to realize that we can't have too many.
THE TREE OF LIFE
Evolution has a "Tree of Life," which you can see in full in the poster with the
game, or experience interactively through the Tree of Life window in the software.
Species on the Tree can evolve into one or more descendant species. Certain
species are key not just because they can feed well in a particular environment or
are fierce predators with which you can attack your enemies, but also because
they lead to other cool creatures.
But Evolution's Tree of Life, unlike the real world's, is polyphyletic.
Say what?
THE WORLD, SHE IS A CHANGIN'
Here's the thing. You and I and every human being on the planet descend from
We know that the world today looks drastically different from the way it looked
Australopithecus. That means we're monophyletic: Our phylum (the species Homo
in the Paleozoic. Evolution begins with the Carboniferous era-360 million years
sapiens) derives from a single (mono) other phylum.
ago. Can you say "Gondwanaland"?
If you descended from Australopithecus, but I descended from the chimps, and she
So continents must move, mountains must rise and fall, terrain must change,
descended from giant lemurs from Madagascar, we'd be polyphyletic. Of course,
glaciers must advance and retreat....
things don't work that way.
It was a lot to bite off, more so than we had anticipated. But the upshot is cool;
But, in Evolution, sometimes species Z can have several potential ancestors-call
not only is there a "Historical Earth" scenario showing how our planet has
them W, X, and Y In any particular game, only one of those potential ancestors will
changed, but on randomly generated worlds, continental drift produces plausible
evolve into Z - W this time around, maybe X next time we play-but any of W, X,
results, too.
and Y could wind up being the parent of Z, depending on what the players do.
And, of course, there are the disasters. T h e asteroid-impact hypothesis may still be
Why? Consider this. At the end of the Permian era, 96 percent of all the species
controversial, but the fossil record clearly indicates that enormous catastrophes
on the planet became extinct. At the end of the Cretaceous, 60 percent of them
have reshaped the biosphere pretty regularly. If Evolution is plausibly to claim to
died.
represent the planet's history, we must have disasters: asteroid and cometary
If our Tree of Life followed that of the real world's completely, then all but one of impacts, enormous volcanic events explosions of nearby supernovae And
the species available in the early part of the game would be dead ends, incapable we do.
of leading to anything in the future, because they died off in the real world, and we
never knew what kinds of descendants they might have led to.

Would you, as a gamer, bother to develop a species that leads nowhere?

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS
So instead, everything can lead to something, until you get to the modern day.
That's not implausible, by the way; evolution tends to re-create the same basic
forms over and over. If the diapsids hadn't led to the dinosaurs, quite possibly an
anapsid or synapsid would have evolved into something remarkably dinosaurian.
But the polyphyletic Tree of Life solves another problem as well. In Evolution, each
species is controlled by a single player. If I evolve Tyrannosaurus first, you can't get
Tyrannosauruses. If you want a fearsome dinosaurian predator, you'll have to go
for something else.
In the real world, of course, the Mammalia is monophyletic; all the mammals in the
world descend, ultimately, from a single species of early Mesozoic therapsid.
If Evolution worked the same way, then one player would develop the earliest
mammal first-and only she could control mammals for the rest of the g a m e . This
would, to put it mildly, make the end game rather boring for the other players.
So in Evolution, there are five "early mammals," each of which can derive from dif-
ferent ancestors, and each of which can lead to later mammals. So up to five play-
ers can wind up with mammals, preserving competition into the Cenozoic.
The sheer amount of human effort involved in designing and creating a computer
game is staggering. At present, eighteen people are working full time on
Evolutionincluding three animators, five programmers, three producers, an art
director, a testing supervisor, and a designerand additional animators, testers, a
composer, sound designers, writers, etc., are working on the game on a more lim-
ited basis.
Game design is a collaborative form: Even the simplest board game involves a
graphic designer as well as a game designer and quite possibly others as well. But
computer games approach the complexity and shared responsibility of film.
Evolution is far from the most elaborate computer game on the market, but even
with this game, many person-years have gone into its production. At this late
moment, there is palpable excitement; the game is coming together, and game play
feels like it is supposed to.
If we have done our joband you, reading this, with the software on your
machine, are a better judge than we, caught in the chaotic throes of develop-
mentwe hope you'll find Evolution compelling, enjoyable, and possessed of a
degree of intellectual merit. And it is our pious hope that, motivated by your
enjoyment, you will examine the game's credits. We work on games because we
love them. And much of our satisfaction from working on them is the ability to
put a box on the shelf and say, "I did that, I helped create this, it is something of
value, something worthwhile." For us, credits aren't a matter of egotism; they're a
matter ol justice, a recognition that all works of art and that's what wo hope
Evolution is are ultimately created by people.

In the final analysis, of course, the play's the thing. We trust your judgment to
determine whether we have succeeded in the goals we set ourselves, and whether
those goals were worth accomplishing. Therefore, we humbly submit for your con-
sideration, this game, Evolution.
As soon as one clade evolves an intelligent species, the game ends and announces
We hope you have fun.
the w i n n e r . T h e clade that has done the best wins the game-this is not necessarily
the clade that first evolves intelligence, although intelligence does count a lot.
Winning is determined by the player who does the best at:

Having large populations-biomass-of creatures.

Evolving new species.

Evolving particular kinds of animals.

Evolving the first intelligent species.

BIOMASS
Scoring checks for population occur periodically throughout the game, based on
era:
Paleozoic: once every four million years.

Mesozoic: once every two million years.

Cenozoic: once every one million years.

Each clade receives points based on the overall population of all creatures in that
clade: one point for every 1,000 population points of all creatures in the clade.

NEW SPECIES
The game awards 50 points to a clade each time it evolves a brand-new species.
No points are scored, however, for re-evolving a species that previously existed
but became extinct, whether that species belonged to the player's clade or anoth-
er clade.

EVOLUTIONARY FIRSTS
The game awards points to a clade if it evolves the first particular kind of animal:

First Amniote: 200 points. (Amniotes lay eggs that can survive out of
water.) Potential First Amniote Species: Pareiasaurus, Sphenacodon,
Edaphosaurus, Hylonomus, Petrolacosaurus. Thadeosaurus.
 Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain

Beech tree Cretaceous temperate woodland

temperate forest

arctic forest

Cenozoic temperate woodland

You caught us; there didn't used to be such a word as "Vegiary." But, since we had
temperate plains
a "Bestiary," we thought some players might like to know the names of the vegeta-
tion that appear on the map. Internally, this vegetation and other graphics that are temperate low mountains
overlaid on the base terrain are known as "tchotchkes." That is a real word, in
temperate forest
Yiddish (they're those plates, picture frames, figurines, vases, etc., which seem to
multiply of their own volition and choke every inch of shelf space in your home). arctic forest
While the tchotchkes have no effect on play, they are placed based on tempera-
ture, as well as terrain type, and as such, can provide you with a quick idea of how Flowering bush Cretaceous tropical woodland
hot or cold an area is. temperate woodland

Alongside the name and graphic of each tchotchke are the periods, terrain, and Cenozoic tropical woodland
temperatures in which it is p r e s e n t . There are three temperature rangesfrom hot
temperate woodland
to cold: tropical, temperate, and arctic. Note that the planet has been gradually
cooling over the last 360 million years, so there is more tropical terrain in the Barrel cactus Cretaceous tropical desert
Carboniferous than in the Cenozoic. Like everything in nature, there's an excep-
temperate desert
tion: the Permian is quite a bit colder than the Early Mesozoic, which it proceeds.
Cenozoic tropical desert
Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain temperate desert
Vegetation Club moss Carboniferous tropical swamp
Aspen tree Cretaceous temperate tall mountains tropical forest

temperate low mountains Permian tropical swamp

temperate forest tropical forest

Cenozoic temperate woodland Cordiates Carboniferous tropical woodland

temperate plain temperate woodland

temperate tall mountains arctic woodland

temperate forest temperate tall mountains

Baobab tree Cretaceous tropical plains temperate low mountains

Cenozoic tropical plains tropical forest

temperate forest

arctic forest
 Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain
Thin upright Cenozoic Cretaceous
cactus tropical desert temperate swamp
tropical desert tropical plains
temperate plains
tropical woodland
Cycad cluster Early Mesozoic tropical temperate woodland
swamp
tropical plains Early Mesozoic tropical swamp
Cretaceous tropical swamp temperate swamp
Cenozoic tropical swamp arctic swamp
Cycad tree Early Mesozoic tropical tropical plains
woodlands
tropical plains temperate plains
tropical low mountains tropical woodland
tropical forest temperate woodland
Cretaceous tropical woodlands temperate forest

tropical low mountains Cretaceous tropical swamp

tropical forest temperate swamp

Cenozoic tropical woodlands arctic swamp

tropical low mountains tropical plains

temperate plains
Swamp cypress Early Mesozoic temperate tropical woodland
swamp
Cretaceous temperate swamp temperate woodland
Cenozoic temperate swamp Cenozoic temperate woodland
Fern tree Carboniferous tropical woodland
Carboniferous tropical swamp tropical low mountains

temperate swamp tropical forest

tropical plains temperate forest

temperate plains Permian tropical swamp

tropical woodland temperate swamp

temperate woodland tropical woodland

Permian tropical swamp tropical plains

7 1
 Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain

tropical low mountains Swamp grasses Cenozoic tropical swamp

tropical forest temperate swamp

temperate forest arctic swamp

Early Mesozoic tropical swamp
tropical woodland tropical plains
Horsetail (ground) Carboniferous
tropical forest temperate plains
Gingko Permian tropical woodland Permian tropical plains
temperate woodland temperate plains
tropical forest Early Mesozoic tropical plains
temperate forest temperate plains
Early Mesozoic tropical woodland tropical swamp
Horsetail (tree) Carboniferous
temperate woodland temperate swamp
temperate plains tropical plains
temperate low mountains Early Mesozoic tropical swamp
tropical forest temperate swamp
temperate forest Permian temperate plains
Juniper bush
Cretaceous tropical woodlands temperate plains
Early Mesozoic
Glossopteris Carboniferous temperate woodland Cretaceous temperate plains
temperate plains Cenozoic temperate plains
temperate forest Magnolia Cretaceous tropical forest
temperate woodland Cenozoic tropical plains
temperate plains tropical forest
temperate tall mountains
temperate low mountains Mangrove Cretaceous tropical swamp
temperate forest Cenozoic tropical swamp
Plains grasses Cenozoic tropical plains
temperate plains
tropical woodland
temperate woodland
 Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain
Oak tree Cretaceous temperate plains Rhododendron Cretaceous tropical plains

Cenozoic temperate temperate plains

woodland
temperate plains Cenozoic tropical plains

temperate forest temperate plains

Scrub pine Permian tropical desert

temperate desert
Palm tree Early Mesozoic tropical desert
Early Mesozoic temperate desert
Cretaceous tropical woodland
Cretaceous temperate desert
tropical desert
Cenozoic temperate desert
Cenozoic tropical woodland
Scrub oak Permian tropical desert
tropical desert
temperate desert
Pine tree Early Mesozoic arctic woodland
Early Mesozoic temperate desert
temperate tall mountains
Cretaceous temperate desert
arctic low mountains
Cenozoic temperate desert
arctic forest
Redwood Cretaceous temperate forest
Cretaceous arctic woodland
Cenozoic temperate forest
temperate tall mountains
arctic low mountains
temperate forest
Saguaro Cretaceous tropical desert
arctic forest
temperate desert
Cenozoic arctic woodland
Cenozoic tropical desert
temperate tall mountains
temperate desert
arctic low mountains
Sigillaria Carboniferous temperate swamp
temperate forest
temperate forest
arctic forest
Permian temperate swamp
Pine bush Permian arctic plains
temperate forest
Early Mesozoic arctic plains
Spruce Early Mesozoic temperate woodland
Cretaceous arctic plains
arctic woodland
Cenozoic arctic plains
arctic tall mountains
 Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain Tchotchke Era Temperature Terrain
temperate forest Non-Vegetation
arctic forest Snow peak All Eras arctic tall mountains
Cretaceous temperate woodland arctic low mountains

arctic woodland

arctic tall mountains

Rock All Eras temperate tall mountains
temperate forest
arctic arctic tall mountains
forest
Cenozoic tropical low mountains
temperate woodland
arctic temperate low mountains
woodland
arctic arctic low mountains
tall mountains
Snow All Eras arctic swamp
temperate forest
arctic arctic woodland
forest
Wild flowers Cretaceous tropical arctic plains
plains
Cenozoic tropical arctic - desert
plains
temperate arctic forest
plains
Willow tree Cretaceous temperate Swamp water All Eras tropical swamp
swamp
Cenozoic temperate temperate swamp
swamp

Yew bush Permian temperate woodland

arctic woodland
arctic tall mountains
arctic low mountains
temperate forest
arctic forest
Early Mesozoic temperate woodland
temperate forest
Cretaceous temperate woodland
 FOR CROSSOVER TECHNOLOGIES
Game Design Additional Design
OR DISCOVERY CHANNEL MULTIMEDIA Greg Costikyan Kevin J. Maroney
Production Localization Executive Producer Bestiary
Executive Producer, Original Game Leonard C. Quam Lisa Sita
Operations Manager
Concept, Contributing Design Andrea Downing Associate Producer Editing
Al Roireau Project Manager Matthew Blumberg Debbie Notkin
Director of Production Christopher Baer
Technical Director Production
Harry Moxley Damon Osgood Patricia H. Elwell
Technology Group Manager, Installer Web Master
Dave Harmon Avram Grumer
Vice President, Sales and Marketing Programming
Production Coordinator Tom Burke
Jill Strampel Andy Hickmott
Director, Retail Marketing Kim Moser Cut Scene Animations
Testing Manager Andrea Roberson David Moxon
Jason Piette Production, Direction
Dave Storrs
Senior Manager, Consumer Marketing Matthew Blumberg
Kari Bloom
Environment Modeling and Design
Art Director, Interface Art, Terrain
Marketing Assistant Jens Scott
Dave Johnson
Allyson Alt Brendan Hart
Creature Modeling and Textures
Michael Bolotin 3-D Creature Animation and Art
Jeff Waddell
Andrew Boyd Frank Lam
|ason Brown Special Thanks to: Storyboards, Motion Studies, Creature
Michael Crafferty 3-D Creature Modeling and Textures
Textures
Chester Foster Senior Vice President, Discovery Jeff Waddell
Ian Spence
Carlos Fyfe Interactive Media End Game 3-D Animation,Terrain
Martin Hage Andy Sharpless Particle Effects, Additional Lighting
Kim Stoddard
|osh Levy Jose Sanchez
Doug Nerad Vice President, Special Projects Art Production
Peter O'Leary Liddy Manson Cam Plummer
Michael Panetta Character Animation
General Manager and Publisher Jay Howell
Christopher Rollins
Tom Porter Music Carl Edwards
Director, Consumer Marketing Patrick Zimmerli David Corrado
Valerie Rice Shyr Lan
Audio, Sound Design Kim Dail
Jared Blume (Interlock Post) Todd Juro
Contributing Design, Player Manual Steve Roselle
John M . Astell Frederick Gaston
Testers Special Thanks to:
Robert V. Armstrong Ray Sterner
Stuart Blavatnik Johns Hopkins University Space
Mike Brodie Oceanography Group
Kirt A. Dankmyer
Lori Marino
Graham Gelling
Emory University Department
Spencer Grey
of Biology
Scott Hamilton
Harold H. Hersey Glen Ledingham
Stefan Jones
David Langendoen
Michael Parker
Kevin Steppe
Stephen Tihor
Dave Willkomm

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(c) 1997 Discovery Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Uses Smacker Video Technology. Copyright 1994-1997 by RAD Game Tools, Inc.