Natural Selection 2 Pre-order Bundle + Competition

[MJ12]

Yayness!

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Since the game isn't on Steam yet, Charlie Cleveland from Unknown Worlds has provided us with activation links through the bundle website. I'll send you each an activation link via PM.

Been a bit busy tonight with other things, so I will have to put up the winning entries tomorrow instead. I will also send prizes tomorrow, neither game is out yet for a while so hopefully no one will be too inconvenienced by that.

I think the bundle has 1 day left before it ends, so if you didn't win sorry! But you can still pick it up at a discount if it's up your street.

 

[ríomhaire]

My bunny did me proud.

 

[Naph]

Looks like I won't own this game for a long time.

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm downloading the Lugaru demo. Overgrowth is its sequel so it'll give me some idea of what I'm in for.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Riomhaire - Rabbit

My chosen animal is the European Rabbit, evolving to suit moving into the now deserted urban environment, utillising their small size and agility to make nests in every nook and cranny and quickly spreading to fill buildings by...going at it like rabbits

JossiRossi - In a slightly different format but from a leaf litter perspective of ants!

The sun crested a rounded green hill and the shallow valley was flooded in warm light. The glow passed over a hard low spiral mound of dirt. As the temperature of the outer layers raised comfortably the creature began to stir internally. The thing never fully slept, always on the watch for the tiny but vicious, long clawed, rounded, furry creatures that could infiltrate it's hardened passages with it's piercing nails, or the far more rare but dangerous, and intelligent, worker thieves. As the mass warmed, pheromones began to flow through passages and chambers signaling that it was no longer time to be autonomous. Many functions halted and the tiny ants froze in place, their receptors at direct attention. Those workers who tended metabolism guided by thousands of years of ingrained instructions continued their work in centralized chambers. They continued to transport the needed materials throughout the body of dirt.

She didn't have a name, she had a smell. It was unique unto herself, no other member of their species smelled just like her. Her workers, her body, were enslaved to her scent. Where she began and the tiny six legged workers and even the dirt itself ended was indistinguishable. In fact there was not even a single entity that could be directly attributed as "her". Once in an attack from a surprisingly fast plant that was all cellulose spikes and digestive juices, she escaped by scattering herself. It was quite unpleasant. For a time she could no longer think, no longer choose, no longer rationalize the cavalcade of pheromones and data she received. It was not like sleep, it must have been what her ancestors had felt like. The mound shuddered slightly.

"I am now aware. There is no need to stay so defensive." She thought. Tastes of the air were brought to the mass of tiny insects that could reason by individuals incapable of such. The air tasted unmistakable. The pungent odor to simply signify presence. "Sister," the creature of dirt, fumes, and bugs thought, "you woke early I see, always saturating the air with your pheromones just so no one forgets you are here." In response to the new smell, the being with no name but a unique scent, stretched herself out. Grabbing the grains of dirt, every tiny bug rearranged the structure with unerring precision and obedience. The center of the dirt spiral bulged upward, and stretched until it reached the height of the nearby fruiting plants. The center opened slightly and she made her scented good mornings to her nearby relations. Suddenly the creature known only by an Aroma, realized things were not quite right. There was an imbalance. The dirt shrank back down to more easily determine the loss.

"The plan worked." At least Aroma thought so, it must have, parts don't just go missing after all. Aroma had been performing tests for weeks with no success, perhaps today was the day. Normally Aroma and her like are scavengers. Capable of taking plant matter and allowing a delicate balance of mold and fungus to digest it into usable materials, or with a more aggressive corrosive even disassemble the nutrient rich flesh of dead creatures. They were naturally opportunistic however. In defiance of this, last night Aroma had created soft buds of unique shape and what she felt to be a subtle yet attractive odor. Inside were the most vile of odorless compounds she could concoct. Somewhere something thought they had gotten a free meal but in reality hopefully would become one. Tasting the air she thought she could sense the appealing odor of fresh death.

Aroma took a gamble, she sent some of her hardier workers in the direction of the smell. They would easily be able to retrace the pheromone path they would leave by some ancient instinct, unless they were attacked first. She rounded her top and splayed out her sides into the calming mound she recalled organizing into first as just a small and new being. All that could be done now was to wait, best to conserve energy for now.

When the small convoy returned, a flurry of pheromones exuded from them. Simple concepts were the strongest. Food. Distance. Direction. More information was buried in the barrage of scents. It was a good sized kill, the source fresh, the path easy to traverse, and something odd about the specifics of the destination. The route was not direct, hardly surprising usually. Rocks, streams, trees, many things would deviate the path, but they have a certain feel, rounded edges or simply random deviance. This was alien, sharp, and apparently impervious to any attempts to penetrate it. It had a right angle. Even the most limber of her relatives could hardly achieve this during their occasional competitions. She had in the past smelled rumors of vast constructions, that were were made not by accident but by intentional design of a reasoning mind. Could there be one so close?

Aroma thought out her plan, she'd go to the location of the Angle. She'd invite all that could sense her, and they'd move their masses of moldable clays, dirt, and earth. They would assemble and feast of the fresh kill, the first kill made by her or anyone she'd ever known. She would also explore this thing that felt so unlike anything ever experienced. She would send herself over all it's surfaces, she would build up it's image in her mind of writhing bugs and the tempest of pheromones which she felt was "herself". To feel this connection to a long forgotten past. From before the first minds. From before the hardened shells of age old colonies, before thought. From before all that now lived. Perhaps there would be nothing there, but maybe, she and her relations would be lucky enough to find one of the lost relics of the First Builders.

Nic - "My animal is the humble rabbit. The long story explains how simian evolution will fail given the securities of the cities and how rabbits will evolve and some pretty big events after their evolution to dominance over the planet.

Nic submitted the longest competition entry ever. He clearly dedicated some time and thought to this!

Spoiler

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Part 1: Introduction
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If the human race were to simply dissapear over the course of a night, with no wars/mass destruction (that's how I read the competition brief) then first I'm guessing that the flora and fauna of each area would populate the now unprotected towns, cities, etc. of the world.

Living in these environments would most definitely alter the predator-prey evolutionaly arms race. For creatures evolving in cities, things like faster run speeds, jumping, general fitness stuff would still continue to improve, but their importance would be deminished in comparison to general brain power like logical thinking and technical skills. (e.g. how certain branches of the non-human simian tree today use tools)

I'm going to rule out aquatic species, because in the time it would take for them to evolve into land dwellers this competition would already be over. I'm also going to largely rule out species of birds, because while they would undoubtebly play a large role, they aren't likely to be the next top creature on the planet. So, the top land predators/prey would likely be things like wild cats, bears, primates, elephants, buffalo, reptiles like crocodiles and aligators, snakes, etc.

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Part 2: The inhabiting of the cities.
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Of the dominant species the most likely to move into the unpopulated cities once the flora has taken root would be herbivorous species, because there would be nothing meaty to prey on. This would give the higher herbivorous species, such as simians, valuable time to familiarise themselves with the workings of the city. They would learn how to use doors, possibly inhabit bunkers which somehow still have power, by learning how to work their doors.

That knowledge would give them an advantage over the predators once they started to notice the newly populated areas with plentiful prey starting to emerge. Many seperate sub-ecosystems could potentially emerge within the cities. The streets, the sewers, the parks, the rooftops, factories, etc. but I'm going to focus on the simian vs predators area, because that seems to be where the good stuff would happen, given how simians won last time.

Ok, so back on topic, the simians would have an advantage over their wouldbe predators because of their ability to use doors and stuff. They weren't born in barns, so they would shut the doors. Given they only need plants to survive, and plants have inhabited the office buildings and such, they'd be pretty damn safe. Except for the occasional bear bashing its way through a door, or come the arrival of the predators, the countless massacres of the groups of animals who thought it would be a good idea to live in a greenhouse, garden centre, or other place aesthetically pleasing to them, but totally insecure against outside threats.

Their relative safety means they would probably not go through the whole "OMG THAT PREDATOR IS EATING MAH WIFE! IM GOING TO THROW STONES AT THAT SUCKA" event which led to the hunted becoming the hunter. This means that during the time the outside world is evolving, the simians, etc. in their safely sealed buildings would just kind of stagnate as a species, much like the human race has, maybe that's why they ended up being wiped from existence by something. So once the predators and prey who weren't able to take shelter within buildings and other forms of man-made environment got to a point where they could storm any still secure sealed areas, the simians and stuff would be totally fu-uh-ked.

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Part 3: Simians failed, what else is there now?
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Anyway, in the meantime, other prey had actually been doing stuff which caused them to evolve properly. Moles would be pretty badass at this point, and huge too, because they had been living in the sewers and somehow managed to beat the crocodiles. Which I don't mind telling you, was a pretty epic battle. Those little bugers pretty much zerg rushed the shit out of the crocodiles and aligators and stuff.

In the vast megapark of the city, a war had been raging between rabbits and tortoises (yeah, tortoises, turns out radiation is good for them, I'm just as suprised as you are. They ripped the lions and bears apart, limb from limb, torn asunder, you get the idea)

Because of the size of the tortoises, any rabbits who ventured out into the open or dug holes large enough for a tortoise to enter were, well, they didn't last long. This caused the rabbits to stay much the same size as they are today, they still got stronger and smarter, they had to because the tortoise were becoming pretty good at catching them when they had to go topside for supplies. Roots you can live on, but that sweet, sweet, honeygrass - it's to die for.

Because of the limited size of the park, and vast distances between it and any other habitable area of sufficient size for the rabbits, they were forced to develop ever more efficient means of tunnel construction in order to increase in number. This forced them to band together into what would eventually become one singular park-encompasing civilization with a means of government and strangely enough, they went through much the same economical and seperation problems as we are, but managed to get past that point faster. I guess being cuddly + having the threat of impending tortoise based doom gave them better priorities of unity and the like.

This unity amongst the rabbits eventually led to the realisation that if they all put their mind to something, it kind of happenned much easier. I'm not just talking about cooperation, I'm talking about tangable changes based on thought. That's right. These little ****ers, in groups, could amass telekinetic powers. Not only that, but they could see with their minds.

For the longest time they remained a people of peace, after using their abilities to seal themselves off from the outside world, leaving only small enterances for which to telekinetically bring in food from around the world, they put their small, but highly evolved, minds to solving the ills of the world above. Shaping the planet as they saw fit. But in their arrogance they attempted to change things too rapidly, putting so much thought into the task at hand that a small number of them were driven mad.

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Part 4: Apocalypse
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At first they insane were treated as a plague, imprisoned and kept inert by the minds of the others. But they continued to grow in number, eventually overthrowing the now diminished peaceful contingent of the rabbit race. Once they had taken over the subterranian land beneath the megapark of the megacity they -- still telekinetic and acting as one mind remember, except now their purpose is to eat, have sex, destroy stuff, have sex, then have sex and go to sleep. Then wake up and do the same thing. -- once the had taken over the subterranian land beneath the megapark they exploded out, whizzing all over the place. They were a veritable zerg rush. Within days they had conquered the planet, the rabbits were now the only living creature on the surface of the planet. They basically had a big planetwide orgy/feast for the next few years until the plants became pretty much extinct.

Numbering in their billions they were now without food, still unable to digest meat they were unable to resort to cannibalism. And with the planet on the verge of collapse through the rapid changes in atmosphere brought about by the sudden lack of plants they were desperate. They started to do what came natural to them in times of panic, they began to dig.

They shifted whole mountains together, but not all mountains were as they seemed, contained within some mountains were the tortoises, which had grown so huge that their winter hibernation now spanned centuries and would now ravage the planet every 500 years upon awaking. At first they tried to hide in their ginormous shells, but it wasn't enough. The rabbits were still only small in size, and the enormity of the tortoises made any gap in their defense easily exploitable. Needless to say, the tortoises were pissed. They broke out of their shells and started to tear shit up. Killing hundreds of the crazed rabbits with every step they took. But alas their ginormous size made them unable to resist the hordes of tiny furry balls of hatred and destruction.

continue to next post...

cont'd...

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Nic cont'd...

Spoiler

Once the dust had settled, only the rabbits remained The sole land species on the entire planet. Still desperate for food they used their telekinetic abilities to hold up in the hollowed out shells of the now extinct tortoise race and fly out into space, their first port of call was the moon. Where a small number of their peacefull predecessors had taken refuge during the culling many years earlier. They were no match for their enraged kin and were forced to begin evacuation, sadly they were surrounded and unable to flee simply by leaving the planet. So, in their distress and desperation, they put their minds to ridding the universe of what would surely become a scourge upon many galaxies.

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Part 5: Galaxy breathes a sigh of relief.
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Being a peaceful race, they couldn't bring themselves to destroy the horde, e.g. by simply teleporting the entire horde onto a single spot, thus telefragging oneanother. Their only remaining option was to scatter the horde throughout time and space, seperating them enough so that none would ever be able to mate. The entireity of the horde was split throughout the numerous inhabitable planets, seperated by just enough time to ensure one would die before the next would arrive.

Thus the horde would never ravage the entire galaxy, but would all be able to live out their natural lives, albeit alone and unable to do what rabbits do best, or rather most: mate. They would still be a terribly burden upon the galaxy for many generations, but ultimately would amount to nothing.

Their inability to mate caused them to become even more enraged than before, humping anything silly enough to enter their dominion, digging their teeth in as their pleasure heightened. Usually with fatal consequences. Here is a scientific recreation of one such occurence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvs5pqf-DMA

MetalNinja - Rats, also the choice of evolutionary biologists. Points for accuracy!

Without humans and the food scraps left out by them, the rats will begin to have less to eat than they originally did. Because of this, the rats may have to become predators rather than scavengers. If they continue to hunt for food, they will not have enough for their entire population world-wide, and so will need to evolve in order to achieve their goals of surviving. With this in mind, the rats may start growing in size to about the length and height of a small dog, and their teeth may enlarge as well. Their agility and speed was already quite astounding for such small creatures, but now with bigger, more muscular legs, they would move much quicker and be able to capture small animals to eat. Once the smaller animals began to die out, they would again start to grow in size until eventually, they were the dominant species on the top of the food chain.

ZombieTurtle01 - Birds (in general - but with some focus to specific species)

Throughout the human endeavor of populating the earth and converting natural lands into an industrial civilization, man has successfully pushed creatures, both large and small, from his territory.

There is of course, one creature that has pestered the domesticated homosapien regardless of the interceding pollution and waste produced. That creature is The Urban Aviator, The Bird.

The cities have provided an ideal haven for scavenger and pest birds such as pigeons, seagulls, and crows.

Once the human population completely vanished from existence, plant life grew over the silent cities, and the birds remained as usual occupants.
Most domesticated animals such as dogs and cats had been locked in homes at the disappearance of man, and therefore starved to death over time. However, the smaller sum of domesticated dogs that were outdoors at the time gathered in large packs, and eventually proved to be ferocious scavengers throughout the city.

However, The Aves had a strong advantage over The Canine; flight and numbers. From surrounding land, birds came into the cities, all scavenging for the remaining human food, the new plant life, and the vermin that fed upon it.


THE HUNGER

Other vermin such as mice, rats, squirrels and cockroaches bred within the city, feverously.
-Seagulls and crows now preyed more often upon vermin. Pigeons on the other hand, being weighty and clumsy, provided excellent prey for hungry birds. Years of city light had also caused Pigeons to have poor night vision, making them more vulnerable.
The more ferocious attitude developed by these birds had caused them to become extremely territorial. Empty buildings were occupied by numbers of birds; some shelters had even become dens for a single flock .
Animals wandering into territory were often chased out by large groups of crows or seagulls.

However, the increase of these birds and other animals had attracted even greater airborne hunters; such as the Northern Goshawk and the Owl.
Goshawks and owls also fought for territory in the man-made shelters. Soon, with plenty of prey and protection, hawks and similar birds took dominance in many city areas.


BIGGER ENDEAVORS

Over an extreme stretch of time, Hawks had began hunting larger prey, such as dogs, cats, and small deer in order to feed it's larger number of offspring. These animals were usually attacked by groups of three Goshawks at a time. Through it's big game hunting, predatory birds began to evolve over a long period.
Eventually, these birds developed very significantly in size, wing span, beak, and talon formation.

Crows followed behind as sub par predators, growing in size, and developing hooked beaks with sharp crests for tearing flesh. Their feathers had become more of a grey-black pattern mix. However, Crows became much of a nuisance, as with their growing intelligence they would often, in large flocks, attack larger predatory birds and steal a freshly killed meal.
They began to show characteristics allegorizing those of Hyenas; often showy and sneaky in their tactics to obtain food.
When a group of fifteen or more crows would hunt an animal, five of the group would normally circle around the prey, spread their wings in a shaking gesture, and mockingly caw as the rest of the group pecked out the eyes.

Seagulls remained similar, but grew slightly in size, and became more like scavengers than hunters.

KING OF THE JUNGLE

Ultimately, over many years, large birds of prey claimed cityscapes. Their prey grew in size, and so did they and the numbers that followed.
These predators were certainly not uncontested, however they proved to be one of the most domineering animals in the new jungle.



NEW NAMES FOR CITY BIRDS:

Sparrow- Small Passer

Pigeon- Columb Dove

Seagull - Gull Larus

Crow- Swooping Corvus

Goshawk- Large Acor

 

[MetalNinja]

lol! Wow, great work guys! =D Mine seems so...not cool now, though haha ;P

 

[ríomhaire]

Wow. I feel like I didn't but nearly as much effort into it as the other guys now.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I had 2 sentences. Clearly not as devoted. Then again I did have to do a 10 pager for my evo class recently.

 

[Eejit]

Science, teehee!

 

[Prolect]

Did I win?

 

[MJ12]

Of Course!!