Agar.io

Agar.io

Agar.io mobile logo
Publisher(s) Miniclip (mobile)
Designer(s) Matheus Valadares[1]
Platform(s) Browser, Android, iOS
Release date(s) Browser
28 April 2015[2]
Android, iOS
24 July 2015
Genre(s) Tactical action game
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Agar.io[lower-alpha 1] is a massively multiplayer action game created by Matheus Valadares. Players control a cell in a map representing a petri dish; the goal is to gain as much mass as possible by swallowing smaller cells without being swallowed by bigger ones. The name Agar.io comes from the substance agar, used to culture bacteria. Another reason of the name agar.io is because 'agar' in Malay is jelly, which also has a similar meaning to cell as many think of it as jelly. [3]

The game was released to positive critical reception; critics particularly praised its simplicity, competition, and mechanics, while criticism targeted its repetitive gameplay. Largely due to word of mouth on social networks, it was a quick success, becoming one of the most popular web and mobile games in its first year. A downloadable Steam version was announced on 3 May 2015, and the mobile version of Agar.io for iOS and Android was released on 8 July 2015 by Miniclip.

Gameplay

Agar.io gameplay; this shows only a small fraction of an Agar.io map. There are four cells on this screenshot. One of the cells is a drawing of Doge, an Internet meme.

The objective of Agar.io is to grow a cell by swallowing both randomly generated pellets, which slightly increase a cell's mass, and smaller cells without being swallowed by larger cells.[4] The browser version currently holds four game modes: FFA (Free-for All), Teams, Experimental, and Party. The mobile version of the game includes: FFA (Free-for All) and Rush Mode. The goal of the game is to obtain the largest cell; players restart when all of their cells are swallowed by another player. Players can change their cell's appearance with predefined words, phrases, symbols or skins.[5] The more mass a cell has, the slower it will move.[6] Cells gradually lose mass over time.[7]

Viruses split cells larger than them into many pieces (16 or less, depending on the mass) and smaller cells can hide underneath a virus for protection against larger cells. Cells in 16 pieces can eat viruses without splitting, though it's usually dangerous running around in sixteen pieces. Viruses are normally randomly generated, but players can make new viruses by feeding a virus, i.e. ejecting a small fraction of a player's cell's mass into the virus a few times, causing the virus to split up and hence create another virus.

Players can split their cell into two, and one of the two evenly divided cells will be flung in the direction of the cursor (a maximum of 16 split cells). This can be used as a ranged attack to swallow other smaller cells, to escape an attack from another cell, or to move more quickly around the map.[8] Split cells eventually merge back into one cell. Aside from feeding viruses, players can eject (release) a small fraction of their mass to feed other cells, an action commonly recognized as an intention to team with another player. A player can also eject mass to trick enemies into coming closer to the player. Once an enemy cell is close enough, the player can split his/her cell to eat the baited enemy.

Development

Agar.io was first announced on 4chan on 27 April 2015 by Matheus Valadares, a then 19-year-old Brazilian developer.[9] Written in JavaScript and C++, the game was developed in a few days.[10] The game originally did not have a name, and users had to connect to Valadares' IP address in order to play. The name Agar.io was suggested by an anonymous 4chan user, as other domain names such as cell.io were already taken.[9] Valadares continued updating and adding new features to the game, such as an experience system and an "experimental" gamemode for testing experimental features.[11] One week later, Agar.io entered Steam Greenlight with Valadares announcing a future free-to-play version of the game for download. He planned to include features in the Steam version not available in the browser version, including additional gamemodes, custom styling, and an account system. It was approved for listing on Steam due to community interest.[12]

On 8 July 2015, Miniclip published a mobile version of Agar.io for iOS and Android. Sergio Varanda, head of mobile at Miniclip, explained that the main goal of the mobile version was to "recreate the gaming experience" on mobile, citing the challenges with recreating the game on touchscreen controls.[13]

Reception

Agar.io was released to a positive critical reception. Particular praise was given to the simplicity, competition, and mechanics of the game. Engadget described the game as "a good abstraction of the fierce survival-of-the-fittest competition that you sometimes see on the microscopic level."[14] Toucharcade praised its simplicity, strategic element, and "personality."[15]Agar.io's growth was helped a lot by youtubers playing the game on their videos.

Criticism was mainly targeted towards its repetitiveness and the controls of the mobile version. Tom Christiansen of Gamezebo was mixed on the game, saying that there was "nothing to hold my attention" and that it was "highly repetitive, overall."[16] Pocket Gamer, reviewing the mobile version, described its controls as "floaty."[17]

Because it was frequently propagated through social media and broadcast on Twitch.tv[6] and YouTube,[18] Agar.io was a quick success. The agar.io website (for the browser version) was ranked by Alexa as one of the 1,000 most visited websites[19] and the mobile versions were downloaded more than ten million times during their first week.[20] During 2015, Agar.io was Google's most searched video game.[21]

Agar.io was featured (including some details of its gameplay as well as a shot of an actual game) in "Chapter 48" of Netflix TV-series House of Cards.[22] Its gameplay was compared to the presidential campaigning.

Use as a political soapbox

During the campaigns of the June 2015 Turkish elections, Agar.io was used in Turkey as a medium of political advocacy; many players were naming their cells after Turkish political parties and references, with alliances formed between players with similar political views, battling against other players with opposing views.[23] Some political parties have used Agar.io in campaign posters as a symbol of support.[5]

Trump and Hillary supporters have also battled each other in the context of the United States presidential election, 2016.

Community

Agar.io attracted a large viewer base, with that developers started to emerge with their own modifications to the game, these ranged from graphical edits to " Feeder Bots" eventually Miniclip stepped in and made implemented emscripten making the client hard to edit, removing all mods.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sometimes called or pronounced "agario" (/ˈeɪɡɑːˈioʊ/, US /ˈɑːɡərˈioʊ/ or US /ˈəɡɑːrˈioʊ/).

References

  1. ↑ "Agar.io, le nouveau jeu phénomène sur iPhone/iPad et Android". Pockett.net (in French). Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Irmak, Şafak. "İnternetin Yeni Çılgınlığı: Agar.io" [The Internet's new craze: Agar.io]. Webtekno (in Turkish).
  3. ↑ Eordogh, Fruzsina. "'Agar.io' is your new favorite bored-at-work game: Hardcore Casual game reviews". TouchVision. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Eat and be eaten: How to survive and thrive in Agar.io". Digital Trends. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 Grayson, Nathan. "A Game That's Become A Political Battleground". Kotaku (America). Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 Livingston, Christopher. "Agario: the dot-gobbling browser game that's a hit on Twitch". PC Gamer. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Comment battre vos collègues au jeu en ligne Agar.io" [How to beat your colleagues in the online game Agar.io]. Le Monde (in French).
  8. ↑ "Agar.io: a guide to the hit game – and the best tips to win". The Week. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  9. 1 2 Anonymous. "No.292440446". 4chan (archived by fireden.net). Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Efsane oyunun geliştiricisi ile kısa bir söyleşi yaptık". Kafakutu (in Turkish). Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "The new Agar.io mobile update – what's new?". Miniclip. 3 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Steam Greenlight: Agar.io". Steam. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Gordon, Scott. "Agar.io: can the Play Store's top game continue to grow?". AndroidPit. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  14. ↑ Fingas, Jon. "Agar.io brings massively multiplayer games to the petri dish". Engadget. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Carter, Chris. "'Agar.io' Review – The Amoeba Boys (and Girls)". Toucharcade. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  16. ↑ Christiansen, Tom. "Agar.io Review: Bursting Your Bubble". Gamezebo. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  17. ↑ Fox, Glen. "Agar.io review". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media.
  18. ↑ Matuk, Pablo. "Agar.io, el nuevo y sencillo juego de moda". Unocero (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "agar.io Site Overview". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on 28 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "How Agari.io conquered the App Store, without spending a penny". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  21. ↑ "Agar.io, Fallout 4, Mortal Kombat X in Google's most searched games in 2015". International Business Times. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  22. ↑ "Miniclip's Agar.io features in 'House of Cards' season 4". Business Insider Deutschland. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  23. ↑ "Web game becomes latest battlefield in Turkish politics". Hurriyet Daily News. Retrieved 10 August 2015.

External links

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