Agar.io

Agar.io
Agar.io mobile logo
Publisher(s)	Miniclip (mobile)
Designer(s)	Matheus Valadares[1]
Platform(s)	Browser, Android, iOS
Release	Browser 28 April 2015[2] Android, iOS 24 July 2015
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Agar.io^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a massively multiplayer online action game created by Matheus Valadares. Players control a cell in a map representing a petri dish. The goal is to gain as much mass as possible by eating agar and cells smaller than the player's cell, while avoiding larger ones which can eat the player's cell(s). The name comes from the substance agar, used to culture bacteria.

The game was released to positive critical reception; critics particularly praised its simplicity, competition, and mechanics, while criticism targeted its repetitive gameplay. Largely due to word of mouth on social networks, it was a quick success, becoming one of the most popular web and mobile games in its first year. A Steam version was announced on 3 May 2015, and the mobile version of Agar.io for iOS and Android was released on 24 July 2015 by Miniclip.

Gameplay

Agar.io gameplay; this shows only a small fraction of an Agar.io map. There are four cells on this screenshot. One of the cells is a drawing of Doge, an Internet meme.

The objective of Agar.io is to grow a cell on a petri dish by swallowing both randomly generated pellets (agar), which slightly increases a cell's mass, and smaller cells, without being swallowed by larger cells.^[3] The browser version currently holds four game modes: FFA (Free-for All), Teams, Experimental, and Party. The mobile version of the game includes FFA (Free-For-All) and Rush Mode. The goal of the game is to obtain the largest cell; players must restart when all their cells are eaten. Players can change their cell's appearance with predefined words, phrases, symbols or skins.^[4][5] The more mass a cell has, the slower it will move.^[6] Cells gradually lose a small amount of mass over time.^[7]

Viruses are green, spiky circles that split cells larger than them into many pieces (16 or fewer, depending on the mass) and smaller cells can hide underneath a virus for protection against larger cells. Cells in 16 pieces can eat viruses without splitting, though it is usually dangerous moving in many pieces, as the cells are smaller and easier to eat.. Viruses are normally randomly generated, but players can make new viruses by feeding a virus, i.e. ejecting a small fraction of a player's cell's mass into the virus a few times, causing the virus to split and hence create another virus.

Players can split their cell into two by pressing Space, and one of the two evenly divided cells will be flung in the direction of the cursor (a maximum of 16 split cells). This can be used as a ranged attack to shoot a cell in order to swallow other smaller cells, to escape an attack from another cell, or to move more quickly around the map.^[8] Split cells eventually merge back into one cell. Aside from feeding viruses, players can eject (release) a small fraction of their mass to feed other cells, an action commonly recognized as an intention to team with another player. This can be done by pressing the W key. A player can also eject mass to trick enemies into coming closer to the player. Once an enemy cell is close enough, the player can split his/her cell to eat the baited enemy.

Development

Agar.io was announced on 4chan on 27 April 2015 by Matheus Valadares, a then 19-year-old Brazilian developer.^[9] Written in JavaScript and C++, the game was developed in a few days.^[10] The game originally did not have a name, and users had to connect to Valadares' IP address in order to play. The name Agar.io was suggested by an anonymous 4chan user, as other domain names such as cell.io were already taken.^[9] Valadares continued updating and adding new features to the game, such as an experience system and an "experimental" gamemode for testing experimental features.^[11] One week later, Agar.io entered Steam Greenlight with Valadares announcing a future free-to-play version of the game for download. He planned to include features in the Steam version not available in the browser version, including additional gamemodes, custom styling, and an account system. It was approved for listing on Steam due to community interest.^[12]

On 24 July 2015, Miniclip published a mobile version of Agar.io for iOS and Android. Sergio Varanda, head of mobile at Miniclip, explained that the main goal of the mobile version was to "recreate the gaming experience" on mobile, citing the challenges with recreating the game on touchscreen controls.^[13]

Reception

Agar.io was released to a positive critical reception. Particular praise was given to the simplicity, competition, and mechanics of the game. Engadget described the game as "a good abstraction of the fierce survival-of-the-fittest competition that you sometimes see on the microscopic level."^[14] Toucharcade praised its simplicity, strategic element, and "personality."^[15]

Criticism was mainly targeted towards its repetitiveness and the controls of the mobile version. Tom Christiansen of Gamezebo was mixed on the game, saying that there was "nothing to hold my attention" and that it was "highly repetitive, overall."^[16] Pocket Gamer, reviewing the mobile version, described its controls as "floaty."^[17]

Because it was frequently propagated through social media and broadcast on Twitch.tv^[6] and YouTube,^[18] Agar.io was a quick success. The agar.io website (for the browser version) was ranked by Alexa as one of the 1,000 most visited websites^[19] and the mobile versions were downloaded more than ten million times during their first week.^[20] During 2015, Agar.io was Google's most searched video game.^[21] It was Google's second-most searched game in the United States in 2016.^[22]

Agar.io was featured (including some details of its gameplay as well as a shot of an actual game) in "Chapter 48" of Netflix TV-series House of Cards.^[23] Its gameplay was compared to the presidential campaigning.

Use as a political soapbox

During the campaigns of the June 2015 Turkish elections, Agar.io was used in Turkey as a medium of political advocacy; many players were naming their cells after Turkish political parties and references, with alliances formed between players with similar political views, battling against other players with opposing views.^[24] Some political parties have used Agar.io in campaign posters as a symbol of support.^[4]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website