# I Found another way to waste hours on the internet! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839 "2006-03-18T00:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/1 "2006-03-18T00:11:21Z")
[Go with the Flow and evolve.](http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/core.html) I’m a little mesmerized. I haven’t gotten down all the levels but I have gotten really big with 4 sets of feelers. I wonder if the kinda thing you eat influences how you grow. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/2 "2006-03-18T00:31:15Z")
Cool! [Apparently](http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/flowhelp.htm), eating "+"s will make you evolve. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/3 "2006-03-18T00:54:11Z")
It is not intuitive. Share your tips! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/4 "2006-03-18T01:00:06Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It is not intuitive. Share your tips! Eat all the little things and you get bigger. The bigger thingies break apart if you bite the right part. Usually a filled in circle. Those circle big thingies in about the 3rd level down will bump you up a level if the head bites you. It also breaks you up a bit. It seems the only time you can bite it effectively is to wait for it to turn blue. But I could be all wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/5 "2006-03-18T01:15:24Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Eat all the little things and you get bigger. > > The bigger thingies break apart if you bite the right part. Usually a filled in circle. Those circle big thingies in about the 3rd level down will bump you up a level if the head bites you. It also breaks you up a bit. It seems the only time you can bite it effectively is to wait for it to turn blue. > But I could be all wrong. See, I thought you had to wait for it to turn white. The orange circle-colonies chase you. when you get down to almost black, suddenly there’s nothing else on the level except one blue-headed guy, mo matter how long you wait. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/6 "2006-03-18T01:47:37Z")
The larger critters turn blue if they’re running from you, and red if they’re enraged and attacking. You can eat their life-dots at any time, but it’s generally easier to take a bite out of them without being eaten back when they’re not attacking. Eating regular food will fill your own segments up with solid white until they’re all full, at which point you grow an extra segment. Eating the + things will evolve your segments from simple segments through a couple stages into the segments with flagella-like wings. Red critters take you down a level, and blue ones take you up a level. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/7 "2006-03-18T01:53:13Z")
…I think mine just died. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/8 "2006-03-18T02:20:23Z")
Sometimes I’m just swimming in one place, and can’t go any further in any direction - all the little fishies are out of view and no new ones come in view. Guess that means dead? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/9 "2006-03-18T02:37:32Z")
> [@brightpenny](#): > > Sometimes I’m just swimming in one place, and can’t go any further in any direction - all the little fishies are out of view and no new ones come in view. Guess that means dead? You may have eaten every thing on that level. Look for the red flashy thing that takes you to the next level. There’s a “wall” around the environment that you can’t pass, if you turn around you may feel yourself moving again. Or I could be totally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/10 "2006-03-18T02:52:31Z")
Ok, who else has faced a critter that is the same as you, including using your (the player’s) movement strategies? Are there levels past that? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/11 "2006-03-18T02:54:27Z")
> [@Talon Karrde](#): > > …I think mine just died. Mine too; he’s just laying there, but things are still spinning in his belly. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/12 "2006-03-18T02:57:37Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Ok, who else has faced a critter that is the same as you, including using your (the player’s) movement strategies? Are there levels past that? 😕 After I ate myself I found no more red blinkers. I think that’s the end. Although I never got wings-- just sticky-out thingies. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/13 "2006-03-18T05:07:08Z")
> [@brightpenny](#): > > Sometimes I’m just swimming in one place, and can’t go any further in any direction - all the little fishies are out of view and no new ones come in view. Guess that means dead? Yeah, that’s where I’ve had to quit; nothing else happens. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/14 "2006-03-18T05:08:18Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > You may have eaten every thing on that level. Look for the red flashy thing that takes you to the next level. There’s a “wall” around the environment that you can’t pass, if you turn around you may feel yourself moving again. > > Or I could be totally wrong. I’ve several times reached a level where there are no more red things, only a blue thing. So I’ve gone UP a level, to try again, but when I get back to the lowest one again, still no red. Dead end. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/15 "2006-03-18T05:09:52Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Ok, who else has faced a critter that is the same as you, including using your (the player’s) movement strategies? Are there levels past that? 😕 Yeah, been there. Yeah, deadended down from there. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/16 "2006-03-18T07:02:20Z")
I had to go back up to eat a cople of those circle thingies near the top. I think they’re actually the hardest. But I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten everything on every level now. All alone at the topof the evolutionary ladder. A victim of my own success, I’ve eaten my every companion. This game appears to be mellow and peaceful, but it’s deceptively brutal and nihilistic! Maybe it’s a fundamentalist’s image of evolution? (Just kidding!) ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/17 "2006-03-18T07:19:51Z")
Digging a little deeper, I see it’s some guy’s MFA project, and it’s unfinished. There’s a forum you can comment in and discuss things with the creator. The question of the moment seems to be whether to have a built-in end, or allow the game to continue indefinitely with more creatures to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/18 "2006-03-18T11:29:46Z")
Isn’t this what the first level of Will Wright’s “Spore” is meant to be like, but with a bit more complexity in the evolution side of things? ---
**Author:** ![ayalabmaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@ayalabmaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ayalabmaj)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/19 "2006-03-18T12:02:11Z")
> [@Alan Smithee](#): > > Digging a little deeper, I see it’s some guy’s MFA project, and it’s unfinished. I like his thesis a lot more than his game, actually (even though the game is pretty fun). I don’t play a lot of games, and I think if designers were more attuned to his ideas about applying Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of Flow to games, I would be more inclined to. For those who haven’t read the notes about the project, he’s trying to apply the idea of Flow to gaming - Flow being the name of the state where the challenge of a project is optmized to your ability to complete it. If the task is too simple for your abilities, you get bored, whereas if the task is too complex for your abilities you get frustrated. People enjoy themselves most in the state of Flow, which is where their abilities are best suited to the challenges of a project. What this guy seems to be saying makes absolute sense - that people are going to enjoy games most when the the game is just difficult enough to challenge their abilties, not too easy and not too hard. (And that may sound basic, but I pretty much quit playing games because I always found that I’d either be bored with excessively easy games or frustrated with excessively hard ones.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839/20 "2006-03-18T14:48:39Z")
OK, I give up totally, there isnothing but the woreds, and little dots. I see no way to eat anything, i have no body that i can see, just little floaties in the blue near the words, and if i go anywhere but the area with the words, there is nothing but plain blue [and funky music] WTF? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-another-way-to-waste-hours-on-the-internet/348839.md?page=2)