A text-based idle game that starts with one cell and grows into a city with jobs, buildings and research.
Evolving Civilization is an incremental game told mostly through text. It begins with one tiny cell floating in the primordial ooze. You click to make RNA, combine it into DNA and add new features one step at a time. Eventually your creature becomes sentient, and the game turns into a city builder with jobs, buildings and a research tree.
Far later, the path reaches into space and offers resets that power up your next attempt. The game is better known as Evolve.
Getting started
Your first button is RNA. Click it a few times, then use Form DNA, which trades 2 RNA for 1 DNA. Spend both on cell parts:
- Membranes raise how much RNA you can hold.
- Organelles produce RNA on their own.
- Nuclei convert your RNA to DNA without clicks.
- Eukaryotic Cells raise your DNA limit.
- Mitochondria improve the storage parts.
Each copy of a part costs more than the one before. Buttons look dimmed until you have enough to pay, and a hover reveals the cost.
From cell to city
Beyond the basic parts are single purchases like Sexual Reproduction. Now and then you face a fork in the road, like Phagocytosis, Chloroplasts or Chitin. These choices rule each other out within a run and decide which species you become and which traits it has.
When Sentience shows up, buying it founds your civilization. Your first camp takes over from the Evolve tab. At first you collect food, lumber and stone with your own clicks. Soon you are putting up homes, farms and storehouses, giving citizens work and starting research, and every discovery adds new tabs and things to build.
Well into the game, you can set off a reset, mutual assured destruction being one example. They grant Plasmids, which boost production on your next run.
Strategy notes
Early on, favor parts that make resources over parts that store them. An Organelle earns RNA around the clock, while a bigger cap from Membranes is wasted until you can fill it. Avoid buying dozens of cheap parts, too, because each price rise eats RNA better spent on Nuclei and big milestones.
Read tooltips before any branch choice, because you cannot take both paths in one run. In the camp stage, hold Ctrl, Shift or Alt while clicking to repeat an action 10, 25 or 100 times, which saves a lot of clicking.
Good to know
Keep the message log in view. Events, discoveries and warnings appear there first, and its filters help you find older messages. The number keys 1 to 7 jump between the main tabs, and pressing one again cycles through its sub-tabs. A pause icon in the top bar stops the game whenever you need a break.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gather, build or research | — | Click the action's button | Tap the button |
| Repeat an action 10, 25 or 100 times | Hold Ctrl, Shift or Alt while clicking | — | — |
| Jump to a main tab (press again for its sub-tabs) | Number keys 1 to 7 | Click the tab name | — |
| See costs and effects | — | Hover over a button | — |
| Pause or resume the game | — | Click the pause icon in the top bar | Tap the pause icon |
Evolving Civilization FAQ
Does Evolving Civilization save my progress?
Yes. It saves to your browser on its own. If you were gone for two minutes or more, you get that time back as a bank of accelerated time, during which everything runs twice as fast. You can also copy your save out as text from Settings.
Can I play it on a phone or Chromebook?
A Chromebook or computer works best. Phones are partly supported. Tapping works, and the screen fits a phone in landscape, but in portrait mode some action buttons can slide out of view, and cost tooltips need hovering.
How long does a game last?
There is no fixed end. The cell stage leads into a city stage, later stages head toward space, and resets let you start over with bonuses. It is a game you return to over many sessions rather than finish in one sitting.
Can I change the language?
Yes. Settings offers thirteen interface languages, including Pig Latin. The same menu lets you remap the keys used for multi-buy and for jumping between tabs.
