The Cell Phase
The Cell Phase is the first and most simple phase of the game, but also one of the most enjoyable. It's essence - eat, or be eaten.
The game begins when a meteor, laden with microbes - including your own creature - crashes into a planet, sewing the seeds of life and setting the stage for the multi-billion-year history of your race-to-be. For now, however, you're at the absolute bottom of the food-chain - a microscopic cell that would make a tasty morsel for any waiting predator - and the only way to go is up.
Depending on whether you choose to play as a herbivore or a carnivore, you'll have the choice of eating either pieces of plant material (little green chunks), or pieces of meat (little red chunks) and other creatures - and eating is pretty much your main objective in the Cell Phase.
As you eat, your creature grows in size, and the screen zooms out. Other creatures - which were once merely blurry smudges in the background are now closer to your own size - and thus, also more likely to view you as a potential meal. Thankfully, there are ways to disabuse them of this notion, and to fight back!
As you grow, the meter at the bottom of the screen fills up, and you acquire DNA points. Get enough DNA points, and you'll be able to call a mate, at which point you'll jump the the Cell Editor, where you'll be able to spend your hard-earned points on tweaking your creature - adding extra mouths, or another tail to increase your speed. When you're done, click save and you'll jump straight back into the game with your new-and-improved little cell.
As you swim around, you'll also be able to pick up new parts to add to your creature in the editor - either by busting open meteorite chunks as they float by, or by killing other creatures that already have the part you're looking for. Get a new part, and then jump into the editor to add it to your creature and try it out.
And it's in the Cell Phase most of all where your choices in the editor really make a difference to how well your creature performs. Do you add spikes to your sides and rear to deter predators, or should you mount them on the front of your cell and turn it into a little killing machine? Your resources are limited, too - every part costs DNA points, and you only have so many - should you add some fins, to better escape predators, or an extra mouth to turn around and eat them?
The Cell Phase also sets the stage for how the rest of the game will play out - choose to play as a predator, and your creature will likely have more aggressive, militaristic traits in later stages. Play as a herbivore, and you'll probably end up with a more peaceful, social creature. Or, you can add an omnivore's mouth (if you find the part) and try and tread the line between the two, which - when done successfully - will produce an adaptable little creature, and an industrious (and rich) society in the later stages.
