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HOUND
Create then experiment with your artificial intelligent life form in HOUND, an open-world simulation god game (kind of). Not a game in the traditional sense, HOUND is more like the science experiment that gives Elon Musk nightmares.
All Reviews:
Mostly Negative (61) - 39% of the 61 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Mar 28, 2017
Developer:
Publisher:
Nick Shesterin

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔

Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“HOUND is experimental. It features artificial life that is new to the gaming field, and the mechanics are unique to the game. We need the community to test the AI and user interface, and to provide feedback so that we can ensure the game delivers exactly what players expect in the final version.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Early access will be available for 8-12 months.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“
  • In early access, HOUND is a sandbox in nature. Players will define how it develops - what changes we make to the final version. Our plans at the moment include:
  • Balancing gameplay so that even the most extreme experimentation within the environment will result in an engaging experience.
  • Improving the overall user interface - in the early access version, players have a single AI set; in the full version, players will have access to several AI modules as well as advanced AI editing.
  • Improving the music and sounds.
  • Adding several game-ending events and victories; while the game is designed to be a sandbox, adding these will give players clear, well-tested and exciting goals to pursue.
  • Adding scripted story elements and tutorials to guide the player through the world.
  • Adding AI interactions - ex. Monitoring the AI’s emotional states and sending simple requests - to improve the emotional connection between the player and the game.
  • Adding an option to visit the “worlds” of other players.
”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“We need to test and balance the critical mechanic (in-game AI) to ensure it remains stable at all times. Once we’ve completed that, we need to finish the UI, sounds, and music. Early Access will include simple scripted mechanics to help players understand the game basics.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The price will not change during Early Access. However, it will increase once we leave Early Access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community will play a crucial role in shaping the gameplay - everything from UI to game pace will depend on what players prefer and which features are used the most. The game can be compared to a development environment, so the main priority here is functionality and a user-friendly interface. Some of the decisions will be made based on the progress reports that are sent by each game application, and some decisions will be based directly on the user feedback.”
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Notice: HOUND is no longer available on the Steam store.
 
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About This Game

Breathe life into an empty void and watch as it grows, evolving into a world of your choosing. Your only goal is to create a sophisticated ecosystem - a brutal world of predators or a peaceful garden; breed an intelligent species capable of speech or a super-organism that will consume the stars. With HOUND, you craft the world you want.

HOUND gameplay is simple: you start with an empty world, build your ecosystem, design your first organism and throw it into the void. HOUND’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) analyses your creation, finds its strengths and weaknesses, then gives it competition in your world. Watch as life evolves before your eyes - literally; the creatures exist in three dimensions, develop legs, wings, and communication. Your organism will fight for survival, stimulating favorable mutations and increasingly more complex life forms.

The AI speeds up natural selection and genetic mutation so that your world will evolve in a matter of days instead of millennia. Every move you make changes the outcome - you can add new organisms, tweak the environment and more through communication with the AI. The twist? Working with the AI can be a productive partnership or a brutal rival.

Your application will be a part of a network that creates one global genetic database and a global ecosystem. AI is blank at the start, but as the network grows, it will improve, building itself with algorithms, picked to fit your individual simulation, and over time your game will become more than just an evolution simulator, as the built-in neural net learns the laws of mutation and genetic recombination.

Success in HOUND isn’t about earning “achievements” or beating levels. Success is controlling the program so that you create your perfect world by containing and stabilizing a bursting stream of life.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS *: Windows XP Service Pack 3
    • Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
    • DirectX: Version 9.0c
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
    • Additional Notes: Mouse, Keyboard
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.
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4 Curators have reviewed this product. Click here to see them.

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