Review Fix Exclusive: Brandon Holt Talks ‘Fractal Evolution’

Review Fix chats with “Fractal Evolution” developer Brandon Holt, who discusses the origin of the game and what the development process has been like thus far.

About Fractal Evolution:

Fractal Evolution is a universe simulation game where you breed geometric fractals to build a civilization. Study the creatures’ evolution patterns over time to learn how to genetically engineer their appearance and behavior. In the game there are two simple mathematical laws: one controls physics, and the other biology. The goal of the game is to evolve a colony that displays emergent patterns of behavior that resemble a living organism.

Review Fix: How did you get from hockey to here?

Brandon Holt: Fractal Evolution is a far jump from Canvas Hockey (link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1351400/Canvas_Hockey/), but it was actually inspired by a book I read recently, The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. In the book, there is this video game that simulates a world living in a solar system with three suns, which creates extreme cold and hot seasons, killing off civilization. Players joining the game were tasked with the collective goal of solving this three body problem to help save the civilization. I was really inspired by the idea of crowd-sourcing “player power” to solve a problem, and that’s what I tried to capture in Fractal Evolution.

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Holt: Development has been extremely quick so far. I just mocked up a prototype a couple weeks ago, and I already have a product in beta. This is mostly thanks to the fact that almost no assets are needed for the game, as its all 2D polygons. All of my efforts have been spent on building a self-consistent physics and biology system for the game, and making sure it runs well on all types of devices. Since these creatures behavior is very similar to that of viruses and bacteria, there population numbers can get big fast, which puts a big burden on the CPU. I had to make sure the game can keep these numbers in check when the CPU burden becomes too high, giving every player an enjoyable experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ4PhxDBdOw

Review Fix: What makes this game special?

Holt: The idea that every player is running a simulation when they play the game. I think that’s so cool. If the game runs with enough people, it’s almost like we are running a giant scientific experiment, where we are asking the question: Can these two simple laws create interesting or useful emergent behavior that is striking to a human?

Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?

Holt: On a personal level, some core elements were inspired by Fish Tycoon and Pocket God. Both phone games from pre-2010, which I played a lot in middle school. Fish Tycoon because of the idea that you are caring for a bunch of creatures in the game and breeding them to make rare forms. Pocket God for the idea that you are manipulating a little world, sort of like a God.

Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?

Holt: The biggest lesson was the power of quick prototyping and early beta access. I’ve already learned a lot in little time because of this.

Review Fix: How have your previous experiences in the industry helped this game?

Holt: I would say technical skills would be the main area here. Without my previous experience, I don’t think I could get the simulation running at the scale it does without all the little optimization tricks I’ve learned so far.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?

Holt: I’d like this game to be remembered as a big experiment. Hopefully we can get an interesting or unique result, but if not, I’d still like it to be a fun game to play every now and again.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Holt: We are currently in beta testing now, so I’m just working on listening the player feedback. The game will definitely release on iOS and Android, and depending on the player opinions, also on Steam. If it doesn’t come out on Steam, I’ll definitely put up a browser-version on my website.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13820 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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