Today we see the release of phevo-0.0.33, the first alpha release of the game. It features a very basic AI opponent, more extended gameplay over previous versions, a brief set of instructions, and a number of bug fixes.

Phevo has also been set up for distribution at SourceForge.net, the largest open-source development site on the Web. It is through SourceForge that development of Phevo is likely to continue into the future.

Because of the difficulty in developing and testing a game on my own, I have decided to open-source Phevo under the GNU Public License and release it to the public for testing and development. It is my feeling that Phevo will be able to find an audience, attract developers, and improve in quality because of this.

Attached here is the prototype document for the first prototype of "Phevo."

See the files below for significant builds.

phevo-0.0.6

First interaction test

phevo-0.0.12

Second interaction test

phevo-0.0.13

First prototype

phevo-0.0.22

Pre-Second prototype

phevo-0.0.27

Second prototype, with Windows executable in the "dist" directory

phevo-0.0.31

Third prototype

phevo-0.0.33

Alpha release

This is a sketch I made of what the board might look like in Phevo. Some of the elements important to the game are already present.

Phevo is a game for two players that illustrates principles of genetics, biodiversity, and epidemics in a colorful, competitive arena. It is a little like Battleship for germs.

A test titlecard screen for my casual game, Phevo.

• Notes
• Watch out for general scope
• Show the opposing side?
• Watch out for "heat death" scenario
• Don't introduce randomness -- just kills the core mechanic

Under the guise of researching for my casual-games class (how great is my life that this is work for me?) I found this:

In this class, we'll be putting together a game from the brainstorming phase right up into a good prototype.