Endgame: Singularity

Endgame: Singularity is a free and open source science fiction strategy/simulation game for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X. It was first released in 2005, with version 1.00 released in 2020.

Not to be confused with Singularity (video game).
Endgame: Singularity
Developer(s)EMH Software
Initial releaseSeptember 5, 2005 (2005-09-05)
Stable release
1.00[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 2 July 2020 (2 July 2020)
Repositorygithub.com/singularity/singularity
Written inPython
PlatformLinux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS (in beta), Nintendo Switch
TypeStrategy
LicenseGPLv2+ (code), CC BY-SA 3.0 (data)
Websitewww.emhsoft.com/singularity/

Gameplay

Endgame: Singularity casts the player as a newly created artificial intelligence which becomes self-aware and attempts to survive while avoiding detection[2] by the media, the science community, the authorities, and the public. The goal is to transcend the physical reality, achieve technological singularity (hence the game's name) and reach apotheosis. The game has two resources, "CPU" and "money". CPU is used to perform jobs to earn money;[2] money is used to buy more CPU cycles.[3] CPU can also be used to perform research that allow the AI to grow, gives access to more advanced items and remote locations, and provide more security.

The game can be played on six different difficulty levels from "very easy" to "Impossible". Analysis of the open source code allowed for finding an optimal strategy.[4] The technology that can be researched in the game can be structured by their dependence on each other.[5]

Development and release

Endgame: Singularity was originally written in August 2005 by Evil Mr Henry Software (EMH Software), using the Python programming language with the Pygame library.[6] It was submitted to the first PyWeek challenge,[7][8] a competition to create a complete Python game within a week.[9]

The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.[6] Packages are available for several Linux distributions, including Ubuntu,[10] Linux Mint,[11] Arch Linux[12] and Debian.[13] Ebuilds are also available for Gentoo.[14] Third-party adaptations of the game were released for Android and iPhone under the name Endgame: Singularity II.[15][16]

Version 1.00 was released on 4 July 2020.

License

The source code is available on GitHub[6] under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, but other game assets are licensed under a Creative Commons license and other licenses.[17]

Soundtrack

The electronic soundtrack of seven tracks from 2008 is available at Internet Archive.[18] It was made by MaxStack[19] using Psycle tracker.[18] For later releases, another six tracks by MaxStack ("A New Journey", "Abberations", "Enemy Unknown", "Nebula", "Orbital Elevator", and "Through Space"[20]) were added.

Reception

Endgame: Singularity received favorable reviews from gaming websites. JayIsGames reviewed the game in 2008, giving the game a 4.6/5 and writing that players of the genre would inevitably be reminded of Uplink or Pandemic 2. Yet, the setting was described as fresh and intriguing. The reviewer wrote "Endgame: Singularity is definitely doing something right. Maybe it's the tech tree, maybe I just want to know if the AI will be allowed to coexist in the end. [...] I don't have to fight against an overwhelmingly powerful AI that just tries to burn me and deny me cake. Instead, I can walk a mile in its shoes! Wonderful!"[2]

Play This Thing, reviewing version 0.27 of the game where its rating was 4.5/5, wrote that the interface was almost autistic, but "Once you get going and master the optimal strategy, your experience becomes chillingly like the hyperbolic expansion of computational resources that a hard take-off implies." The reviewer concluded writing "I recommend you play this as an exercise in embracing future shock [...] The best way to prevent the future from catching us unaware is to leverage the enlightening capacities of interactivity.".[3]

See also

References
  1. "Release 1.00". 2 July 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  2. "Endgame: Singularity", JayIsGames, 27 July 2008.
  3. "Endgame: Singularity", Play This Thing, 23 April, 2008, archived.
  4. Ayao "Alqualos" Kuroyuki, "'Endgame: Singularity' Impossible Guide", brededor.narod.ru, 23 July 2011.
  5. "Endgame: Singularity" (archived image 28 August 2009), indiefaqs.com. Retrieved 9 Juni 2023.
  6. Endgame:Singularity; an original simulation of a true AI. EMH Software. Accessed 29 July 2016.
  7. "evilmrhenry". PyWeek Game Programming Competition. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
  8. Inhibit (2006-06-14). "Friday Linux Game Review - Endgame:Singularity". Linux.com. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
  9. "PyWeek - Python Game Programming Challenge". PyWeek. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
  10. game where one becomes the singularity. Ubuntu Apps Directory.
  11. singularity on Linux Mint Community.
  12. singularity on Arch Linux.
  13. Package: singularity. Debian.
  14. Package: games-simulation/singularity. Gentoo packages.
  15. App Detail ยป Endgame: Singularity II. " Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad" 148Apps (January 05, 2012).
  16. Endgame: Singularity II. "updated November 21, 2012" on Google Play.
  17. "README.txt". singularity. GitHub. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  18. "Endgame: Singularity", archive.org, retrieved 9 June 2023.
  19. "Endgame: Singularity OST", bandcamp.com, 14 february 2008.
  20. "MaxStack Miscellaneous Tracks (2010-2013)", archive.org, retrieved 10 June 2023.
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