Evolution Trhough the Ages was launched Saturday, July 4. The creators of the game, Jacob Stagray and Sean Craft, plan to continue developing the game in an effort to improve it further and make it resemble the real world.
Courtesy of Jacob Stagray
Creators of “Evolution Through the Ages” strives to take their game to the next level, no longer solely bridging the gap between religion and evolution but also with other fields of science. Incorporating the concepts of chemistry, physics and immunology will take the game a step closer to mimicking the real world and all the phenomenons that take place in it.
“Evolution Through the Ages” has made progress in the short amount of time the idea was first formed by graduate Jacob Stagray, CEO and marketing of the game. Having a patent pending and the official copyrights under their belts, Stagray and fellow creator and programmer, CEOO Sean Craft officially launched the gaming site Saturday, July 4. Stagray and Craft were also able to release a textbook filled with the knowledge the game was based off of, which can either be bought separately or with the one-time membership fee for the game.
Through the research and vision of Stagray, programming of Craft and supervision of Dr. Murray Pendarvis, “Evolution Through the Ages” was created as a three-dimensional world where players can pick and choose organisms and how they evolve in this world. This world, along with the different lineages of organisms, was created to resemble the evolutionary processes of the natural world. The main goal of the game is to help your chosen organisms avoid extinction.
Even though “Evolution Through the Ages” has made large strides, Stagray explains the game will still be continuously updated in the future. “Evolution Through the Ages” will constantly evolve the same way the world does, such as adding more creatures and concepts to the three-dimensional world.
“We want to continuously add more creatures and add more concepts,” said Stagray. “For instance, we are adding immunology and how the immune system works into the game, how microbes can affect other organisms and things like that. Sean [Craft] wants to add more physical aspects, and I do plan on adding more chemistry aspects, too.”
In an effort to make the game more realistic, Stagray hopes to add more fields of science, such as chemistry and physics, into the game in order to connect all fields of science with evolution and show how much they play a role in the world of biology. This will include seeing both the atomic level, showing how elements bond through the interaction of their electron orbitals and the geologic level, where physics plays a role in tectonics and creating continental divides, which in turn, affects the evolution of certain organisms.
“We don’t just want to beat evolution to death but to promote all scientific fields because currently there has been a lot of budget cuts from the scientific world,” said Stagray. “So we are trying to not just make evolution stand out, but we are trying to build back up all the scientific fields that have been under attack from politicians and companies that just don’t understand why it’s important.”
In addition, Stagray will be incorporating his own field of study, immunology, by showing the microbial level in the three-dimensional world and its effects on organisms.
“From an immunology aspect, if a microbe is growing at a fast rate, it’s going to affect everything else around it because microbes can become parasitic or bacterial infections. We want the audience to see all of these connections. I know I didn’t see them for the longest time, and now that I see them, I want to help other people see them and how it all relates.”
In order to aid students further, Stagray and Craft integrated tutorials that can instruct and explain concepts as one goes further in the game. This gives users the chance to not only enjoy the game but also to understand what is going on as they play. It also gives students taking an evolution class another tool to study.
Despite the game’s heavy ties with the science community, Stagray intends the game to be for everybody, not just science majors.
“I want users to enter this with an open mind and not the prejudices we’ve all been taught our entire lives or that we can’t learn because of what our fields are,” said Stagray. “For instance, I don’t want an art major to be afraid of playing the game for the simple fact that they are an art major and science is above them. Science isn’t above you. It just needs to be broken down and explained in a thorough process, and that’s what we are trying to do.”
To play “Evolution Through the Ages,” visit www.evolutionthroughtheages.com. There is a 12 dollar one-time membership fee. The textbook for the game is offered both as paperback for five dollars and hardcover for 15 dollars.