''Eco'' is a wire-frame 3D

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

life simulation game Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

developed by

Denton Designs Denton Designs was a British video game developer based in Liverpool. The company was founded in 1984 and initially specialised in developing software for the ZX Spectrum home computer. Amongst the founders were developers who had worked on the u ...

for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

and Atari ST. It was released in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

and published by

Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. ...

. The player uses a mouse or joystick to control an insect, which must avoid predators, find food, and then find another insect of the same species and mate with it. The player can then unlock one of several "

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

s", altering the value of which changes their creature. Some changes are only cosmetic and leave the creature in the same species; others can, for instance, make the initial insect a new species with wings and capable of flight. After unlocking multiple genes the player can become a fast dog-like quadruped, a bird, a scorpion or a humanoid. The game does not end until the player starves, is killed by another creature, or deliberately "evolves" into a plant.

References

External links

''Eco''
at Atari Mania
''Eco''
at Lemon Amiga Amiga games Atari ST games 1987 video games Biological simulation video games Ocean Software games Video games about evolution Video games about insects Video games scored by Fred Gray Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Denton Designs games {{life-simulation-videogame-stub