iOS, Android, PC/Mac
I like to poke fun at the guys from North Star Games for being the Blizzard of board game app development. After all, it took Blizz 10 years to bring us Diablo 3, whereas North Star has been working on Evolution for the last five. Of course, that’s board game years, so its roughly equivalent.
Still, Blizzard games are known for their polish and sheen right out of the box, and that was North Star’s plan with this elongated dev cycle: make the board game app that all others will be (unfavorably) compared to. Well, it’s out in the wilderness now, so you can go see if they accomplished their dream.
Evolution is a game about crafting species and doing what we all do best: eating. Food is the victory points in Evolution and the goal is to craft species that can gobble up as much grub as possible and, if you’re really good, starving your competitors.
The digital version of Evolution is like a greatest hits album of all the great features from other board game ports brought together. We have a lengthy single-player campaign, multiple AIs, online play, seasonal tournaments, ranked matches, etc. It covers all the bases except for asynchronous play, but we’ve been promised that it’s coming in a future update.
NATURAL SELECTION IN ACTION
In the game Evolution, you adapt your species to survive, and stay one step ahead of opponents.
-Watering hole running dry? Evolve a long neck to reach food in the trees.
-Staring down a Carnivore? Develop a hard shell to fend off an attack.
-Evolve up the food chain to become a the most successful species.
CHALLENGING AND ADDICTIVE
Do you evolve protection from Carnivores, or find a way to eat if there is no Food in the Watering Hole? The ecosystem is constantly changing, and you’ve got to figure out what your opponents are up to.
INTERACTIVE TUTORIAL
Our friendly professor will guide you from one watering hole to the next on our learn-as-you-play tutorial, showing you how to survive before sending you off to make a name for yourself. Hone your skill as you progress from lowly Biology Intern to competing for the Nobel Prize!
EXPLORE THE CAMPAIGN
Explore the mysteries of Evolution Island and discover distinct Boss opponents. As you move through the campaign you’ll unlock new “Apex Species” that are masters of specific strategies; defeat them to add them to your menu of single-player opponents.
MATCH MADE MULTIPLAYER
One click and the game will match you with players of similar skill in a fast paced online game. Make friends in the game and set up custom games, or rank up in the ongoing seasonal tournaments and see how far you can go.
ENDLESSLY REPLAYS, ONE PRICE
This isn’t a collectible card game, the full set of cards are included in the base game. Thousands of possible species combinations evolve from 17 unique trait cards, meaning no two games are ever the same.
PACE & POLISH
With a smooth user interface and fast, informative animations, Evolution was built to satisfy a quick fix of intense strategic battles. Easy to learn, almost impossible to master, one game and you’ll find yourself addicted. Evolution isn’t just a top tier strategy game – it’s a whole new animal.
That’s not all, however. North Star is also running a contest with the launch of the app. They’re giving away 1000 copies of the cardboard version, 10 copies at a time. For the next 100 days all you need to do is login and play a multiplayer game and it’s possible for you to get chosen to receive the physical game in the mail. You have to pay shipping, but it’s still a pretty cool deal.
The game is available for PC/Mac via Steam, iOS Universal, and Android. The Steam version is $15 but the mobile versions are free to download and try with a $10 (currently on sale for $8) IAP to unlock the full game.
I was going to have a review up and ready on launch day, but we received about 10 inches of snow overnight and now my kids are all home from school so writing isn’t going to be that easy. Will hopefully have it up tomorrow!
- Evolution: The Video Game for iOS Universal, free
- Evolution: The Video Game for Android, free
- Evolution: The Video Game for PC/Mac via Steam, $15
I grabbed it for free last night and don’t see any IAPs in the app… did I steal a kickstarter copy?
The game is fun. Havent played the cardbord version before, but I really like it.
Only seems to drain my battery a bit.
I had to buy it, but you can play a bit free and even join online games. But for (most of) the campaign and to be able to create online games the purchase is needed, at least in my version on Android.
It’s in there, but not easy to find. It’s also not very clear what’s behind the paywall. I think you only get one free multiplayer game a day if you don’t buy, but not sure if anything else.
If you’re in the campaign, click the button “Normal game” in the upper right. Apparently the “hard” campaign is behind the paywall, because when you click it asks you to pay.
I asked North Star Digital about this directly - alongside the 1 MP match a day, you can also play the campaign up to around level 7 (according to what I was told). Apparently they were having issues with the paywall button today but it should be fixed soon.
It appears to be working now…I just bought the unlock without any issues.
Seems pretty awesome! I’m still figuring out the basic strategy but hopefully will be ready to try out multiplayer soon, feel free to invite me.
I’m out on vacation so can’t get around to this at the moment, but I thought multiplayer wasn’t planned for launch. That has changed, apparently?
No, multiplayer was always there. No async at launch, though. That’s coming later.
The multiplayer is real time, which I think was always planned for launch. Asynchronous multiplayer isn’t currently available, but I read that it likely will be in a few weeks in this interview:
Interestingly, they reviewed the game over at TouchArcade and gave the game 5 stars (not surprising, from what I hear), but also claim that is should give games like Hearthstone and Elder Scrolls Legends a run for their money. I don’t see any board game adaptation doing that, but it would be nice!
You know what else isn’t easy to find? The rules. And yes, I’m sure I can find them online, but that’s not the point.
I don’t know if this is a rant, or a rhetorical query, or what, but I was browsing the App Store for this game - it wasn’t mentioned on the games front page in any category including new releases; it wasn’t mention in the card game sub-page in any category including new releases (though Smash Up is apparently still a new release…) and was not listed in the top 200 free card game apps; ditto the board game sub-page; ditto the strategy game sub-page.
If you didn’t know this game existed, how would you ever stumble across it? How does an app like this not have any presence in the store? How can a metric ton of pure digital garbage have more visibility than this?
I hate Apple.
I had a similar experience today, when I finally decided to download the thing so as to buy it before the price goes up. Went to the app store, and it was impossible to find. So I entered the title in the search box, and a bunch of other games showed up, but not that. So I scrolled down. And down. It was buried scrolls below a bunch of kids’ games with “evolution” in the title. This game is just called Evolution–how is it not first?
I hate Apple.
It’s as though they have hung a sign in the app store window that reads, “Hey serious gamers–go buy a Switch, we don’t want you.”
Well, serious gamers aren’t as profitable as F2P whales … or something stupid like that.
the patch notes in the appstore tell us: “visit evolutionvideogame.com for more information on version 1.0.3”
but i can’t find any info on the website, nor in the forum on digital.northstargames.com
do i miss something?
They’re listed within the app on the Home tab under Notices.
It’s always been like this on the App Store. Searching for a recently released game will invariably give zero results. I’ve found that searching by the developer (or publisher) works a lot better. So, I searched for North Star Games and it popped up right away. I do the same for Asmodee, CGE, Playdek, whatever. I rarely search by game title, and instead go to the dev page and find it there. Not sure it helps, but that’s my workaround of Apple’s incompetence.
i have read that apple makes billion dollar profits by search ads.
but no intention or ability to fix the mess called appstore.
instead eliminating the small payouts for third party websites which link to appstore games which can’t hardly be found without such service.
kudos apple, for being such a badass company!
For the next week, the full game unlock is 20% off. That’s $8 on mobile. I haven’t yet purchased the unlock because the game is of little use to me without asynch, but they have promised it and I might cross my fingers and take the plunge.
They’ve promised it, but there’s been no update on it. I’m not holding my breath…
i have a bad feeling about this.
please not another broken promise!
North Star Games sent out an e-mail survey sometime today or yesterday and interestingly it mentioned beta testing for pass-and-play and asynchronous play near the end.
The survey itself was slightly worrying because it was shaped in a way that made it sound like they were trying to come to grips with why the game isn’t doing as well as they hoped.
That was the exact gist I got from it too… I stressed the lack of async multiplayer in just about every response. The app is really well done otherwise and the game is a ton of fun, but sync games just don’t do well. Guess it’s hard to wrap your head around that when all the devs are sitting around the same table playing lol
Evolution just updated again to include single-player challenges, which I’m sure are fine. The game is pretty polished, plays well, and is overall a good digital adaptation.
I finally broke down, though, and left a 1-star review on app store with a direct quote from the developer promising asychronous play “in a couple weeks” - back in February. North Star brags about the months spent beta testing single-player challenges but hasn’t delivered on their promises from launch.
Yep. I could write a book about Evolution and how not to make a board game app.
Definitely in the running for disappointment of the year. I had such high hopes for this game, but without multiplayer it’s merely a puzzler.
I’d read that book! And then post about it in our boom thread!
That is some stiff competition. Scythe’s complete absence, Terraforming Mars falling into limbo…there were some big disappointments.
Eesh, forgot about those… I’m sure there’s something else lurking out there…
Widower’s Sky comes to mind…
As long as Dire Wolf comes through with an awesome version of Mage Knight, all will be well.
Oh my god. It’s the first time I hear about this!
I think there’s definitely something bigger to dig into regarding digital board game adaptations on mobile. Asmodee Digital were bringing everything of theirs to mobile at one point and now they’re… not.
And then you’ve got all these indie people who’ve games have been a mix of really good to not as good as they could be. Say Raiders of the North Sea on one end and then Evolution on the other.
I k ow very little about the industry but it seems the profit just isn’t there for most board game adaptations. That said, I believe @RachetAcram has stated that the bulk of their sales come from mobile. I’m also going to (wildly) guess that a nice chunk of board game app sales come relatively close to release, driven by hype and the board game community who is eager to gobble up any new apps from their respective hobby. That would explain why so many board game apps fall by the wayside and aren’t maintained as well as they should be (ahem, Asmodee). This is why I tend to be more loyal to developers these days than to any specific game adaptation; you know the quality you are getting. CGE could come out with a Monopoly app and I’d buy it sight unseen, for example.
The problem with evolution is that is was in development for 4 years which is what you’d expect from an AAA title, not a niche board game that’s going to sell for under $10 on the App Store.
there was no way they would recoup the Dev costs unless the app was as polished as…well something from CGE. That was their intention by polishing and polishing. Hell, we saw the app working and playable for 2 gen cons before it came out and kept getting told that they wanted it to be the board game app to beat all board game apps. Then to release without the main feature (online multiplayer) that could have made it a contender?
It’s as if they’d never played another board game app.
Anyone trying to make a BG app (that’s not based on a solo game…I will take my Black Sonata or Mage Knight app sans online multiplayer, thank you) should be worshipping at the altar of Playdek and CGE and, if you can’t pull off something at least close to their online model, don’t bother.
Can confirm, PC is still a token of what iOS or Switch do for us.
In terms of multiplayer - it’s a journey to develop that, make it actually work and keep it working. We (Acram) are improving ours slightly game after game, and I myself am one of the main combatants here to keep it running.
On one hand I do realize why studios don’t. As I said, it’s a ton of work and inconvenience. On the other, if you promised players a working multiplayer, or they simply expect it due to the nature of the game, say, oh I don’t know, a DIGITAL BOARD GAME, you kinda need to deliver. Else, in my opinion, you’re releasing an incomplete product.
At least half of the appeal, at least in my opinion, comes from an operational multiplayer when it comes to digital board games.
Actually not really the case. Sure, the release is a spike, but our games keep selling at a steady trickle, so to say. I’m not in on the exact numbers, and even if I were I would not be sharing those, but yeah, our stuff keeps selling, and it’s definitely not counted by “this better pay for itself on release”. Then again there’s never been a hype around any of our releases like there was around Scythe or Terraforming Mars so
P.S. I should probably write all that from my personal account rather than work account, but I don’t have one so… oh well!
Thanks for the insight! I’m not fishing for any closely held inside information; I do think it is interesting to hear industry insights, though.
Oh yeah, totally. I was more saying that to myself so I don’t say something silly that I should not have
I might be naive, but can you “buy” the playdeck online package and weave it into your game? Buy/licence whatever?
If I remember correctly, Acrams port of Steam released without online multiplayer. I think there was a ‘coming soon’ type promise too. But then Acram actually delivered. That just about blew my socks off. Delivering in that kind of promise seems to be the exception rather than the rule sadly.
In other news, I played evolution at the table the other day and it played pretty well. I managed to out score the intelligent pack hunting carnivore player, which is handy because the table seemed to think that combo was a bit OP.
quite the contrary.
designer Dominik Crapuchettes was a very engaged and successful Ascension player in the early BGG tournaments.
so he knows very well how important online playability is and how well it can be done.
the less i can understand the Evolution debacle.
For what it’s worth, the developer responded to my review and said thy at they’ve got their asynchronous bugs worked out plan on beta testing it “on or before Dec. 6.”
Well sure, yeah, we use two third party thingies for this, but they still need to be put into the game, innit.
Good point
@whovian223 @js619
The asynchronous menu in our game is telling me that it is my turn, but there is nothing for me to do in-game. It looks like @js619 might be up, but it is hard to tell.
It was telling me it was your turn as well when I checked this morning
Well, this may be another lost game, then. When I log in, it shows me @js619 creatures highlighted and I can’t do anything. With the problems this game has had, it wouldn’t surprise me to find another bug like this.
This is too bad.
I was hoping for better than this.
Agreed, especially for something that’s been in development for what seems like a forever.
eta: Apparently it was my turn to feed when I logged into the game, it just didn’t show as such in the menu. Ate one of @Mirefox’s creatures, your turn now.
Lol, that’s my reward for getting us back on track?!
It’s the Darwinian equivalent of killing the messenger.