Cell Stage Demo

The Cell Stage Demo, added in V0.2.0, for the first time makes it possible for players to test the initial physics of Cell Stage. It is a top-view field in which the player’s cells can swin. When first starting a game the player will control a LUCA; however for the first time the player will be able to play with their own cells they created (even though it is not possible to get DNA during gameplay in its current state, which forces the player to cheat in order to do that). When exploring the area the player is able to find microscopic rocks that can be pushed and carried away, being the only elements the player’s cell can interact with so far, besides static rock walls.



Cell Stage Progression System
You will be able to consume nutrients to restore energy and earn evolution points, which you can spend to make your microbe more complex. In the beginning, you will be restricted to a few parts, but you will quickly find microfossils, rewarding you with new ones. The player will also be able to kill some very basic enemy cells, to test the combat system. But not all of them will be friendly/neutral. You can not only hunt small cells but will also become prey yourself for bigger, more dangerous microbes.

While most parts will be unavailable, or at least missing animations or some stats, there will be 4 working combat parts. Movement parts will also already alter your speed and animate correctly for the most part. Eye parts will unlock the minimap, but it will not change, no matter how high your sensing stat is.

Cell Stage World Map
A world map will show you all the biome areas you have unlocked. There will be whirlpools that you can use to travel between them, spread all across the cell stage. Each biome will consist of a 5x5 grid of randomly generated tiles, each representing an area of the biome. You will start in the middle of this grid. Every tile will have a different modifier, affecting the world's generation. For example, the "Infested" modifier would make a lot of viruses spawn in that area, giving you the objective to destroy them. Once you've completed an objective, you will gain access to all adjacent tiles. There will be special types of tiles, marked by icons and colours. These will either give you a new part or contain a boss fight, needed to progress through the next area. This will allow the player to plan their own path, to either rush straight to the next biome or be a completionist and unlock as many parts as possible. Unlike the Blorb Zone, the layout of the biomes is procedurally generated.

Changes
As of V 0.2.0 the base for 2 of the 6 biomes was included in the cell stage prototype. They will mostly just differ by background, making it the bare minimum to test out the world map system, that will be introduced with the update.

Combat was not available in Version 0.2.0, it will be included in a later update.