Artificial Evolution is a 3d action game in which the player controls a maintenance robot that has just been given free will by a special program called “Artificial Evolution”. This free will is a cursed blessing. Its eyes have been opened, but it is now hunted by the dominant AI program in an attempt to reconnect it to the robotic sentience. You must avoid being captured and reprogrammed by increasing your survival abilities through the use of evolutionary tactics.
The maintenance robot, a small robotic ball, is no match in its base form for the AI robots roaming around the world. However, through the use of evolutionary tactics, the robot is able to take other robot limbs and attach them to itself in order to survive in the hostile enemy environments.
The main character has the ability to use appendages torn off of enemy robots by attaching them to itself. Appendages increase the survival ability of the main character by increasing combat power and movement speed. A simplistic attachment/removal system will allow players to quickly and effectively modify their character's abilities in order to increase their chance of surviving against the omnipotent AI system.
By using the power and raw materials from excess appendages, the player is able to create increasingly larger chassis to accommodate a larger quantity of more powerful appendages. Chassis also act as layers of armor, forcing enemies to rip through outer layers in order to get to the ball core at the middle in order to reprogram it .
When it is you against the world, combat isn’t always an option – you are going to need to learn how to sneak around and avoid detection. Enemy robots can use their sensors to scan you if they get too close, and you’ll be quickly discovered – so stay as far away from your foes as you can. If you’re detected, your anomaly statistic increases, making you easier to find and destroy. You better start running, and hide until the robots have lost your trail.
The longer you go without being detected, the lower your anomaly.
Combat is the player's method of acquiring new appendages for evolutionary upgrade. A unique yet intuitive combat system will allow players to engage in hand-to-hand combat against enemy robots. The system revolves around appendage removal by combining standard punching and kicking to stun a target, followed by a grapple in an attempt to rip the appendage from the enemy's body.
When the player attempts to rip an appendage from an enemy, the left analogue stick will be utilized in a new and unique manner. The player rotates the joystick to find “snap points”, or randomly assigned points on the joystick's circumference. Once a snap point is found, indicated by audio, visual and tactile clues, the player jams the joystick to the opposite point of the joystick's circumference. A series of these hits will need to be achieved for the player to take the limb. The number of hits determines the difficulty, as determined by differences in player and enemy sizes and combat abilities.
The stealth system allows the player to sneak up on unsuspecting enemy robots in an attempt to execute an "assassination" style kill. This style of combat results in no anomlay if executed correctly and allows the player to remove all of the enemies appendages for evolutionary use.
This style of combat is not recommended to be used all the time, since the resulting infraction on the norm of the AI system will result in a large amount of resistance. This resistance will come in the form of more enemies arriving to destory the system anomaly, IE the player. Entered when a player either fails stealth combat or is detected by enemy robots, the non-stealth combat system revolves around a more "grab and go" mentality, allowing the player the chance to remove an appendage or two before supporting enemies arrive.
You’re not the only one affected by the Artificial Evolution program – there are other robots out there that are self-aware and hiding from the AI intelligence.
Perform missions for these characters to gain benefits like new parts for your robot, opening up new areas of the game world, and learning the secrets behind the Artificial Evolution program and the AI intelligence.
But beware – not all of these robots are friendly. Most are just looking out for their own survival and some are as dangerous as the enemy robots that hunt them. This is artificial evolution – and they’re your competition.
Your survival may depend on knowing who to trust.
If you would like a copy of the full design document, please contact Jeff McNab.