Mendel’s Farm

The main gameplay loop focuses on breeding animals to discover incredible variations and mutations. For this to be possible, each animal has its own unique genome. When bred, the genome of the offspring is determined via our custom breeding algorithm. This algorithm abides by the laws of Mendelian inheritance to accurately assign a genome to the offspring using that of its parents. The algorithm was tested for accuracy by the team behind the Human Genome Project. As a result, there are over a million combinations for each animal for the player to discover. For instance, each chicken has 25 base colour variants, as well as a secondary colour if they have spots. They could have different sizes of wings, tails, beaks, and feet, as well as mutations such as tusks, antlers, horns, and even a beard. Due to how Mendelian inheritance works, some animals can have recessive genes, meaning that in rare circumstances, the offspring of two animals may have a variation not visible in it’s parents.

At it’s core, Mendel’s Farm is a quirky resource management game inspired by the likes of Farmville and Theme Hospital. This aspect of the game forms a large part of the minute to minute gameplay as users require gold to maintain their farm, purchase crops, upgrade equipment and feed their animals. There are three primary avenues to generate gold, the user can either breed animals and sell offspring, grow crops and sell them in the store or complete daily tasks. The game has a day and night cycle, over which crops will grow, animals will sleep and daily tasks will refresh. As players progress through the game, the amount they can earn will increase as they upgrade their equipment and discover new, more valuable mutations in their animals. The complexity of daily tasks will also increase as they discover more and more. The farmland can also be expanded to allow for additional buildings, farmland and animal enclosures. The game will only end if the user runs out of gold; this means that, well established farms can continue indefinitely, allowing the user to discover all the game has to offer.

To keep players on their toes, we implemented random events that could take place at any time. These events included alien abductions, sudden weed growth and fox attacks. If user’s didn’t combat these threats before they reached the livestock, the animals would be taken away. The process to combat these intruders was simple, the player simply had to find and click on them until they give up and disappear. To take this concept further, we also implemented a campaign mode containing different scenarios. Each scenario required the player to reach a certain income threshold whilst dealing with different limitations or conditions. For instance, one scenario mode only allowed the user to purchase chickens, whereas another didn’t allow users to purchase anything at all.