[Review] Agar.io

[Inkriql]

Agar.io is a massive online browser video game, published on April 28, 2015 on Reddit by a user of an independent developer of said website, called «Zeach». The perspective of the game is top-down, that is, a camera angle that shows the player and the surrounding area from above.

Its version for Android and iOS was published on July 8, 2015 by Miniclip.

Playability
The player starts with a small cell and aims to be as big as he can. To achieve this goal, the player must move his cell across the map to eat the small colored dots that raise their mass by 1 in addition to swallowing other cells when placed directly on them and avoid being prey to larger cells. There are several game modes among which are FFA or all against all and also in teams.2 In addition to these two modes there is also the experimental mode and the party mode. In the latter you can invite friends to play on the same map. In FFA mode, players are allowed to change their appearance with different words or phrases, which is called skin.3

Agar.io contains three entities: pellets, cells and viruses:

Pellets :, or food, 4 are randomly scattered on the map. When ingested, the mass of a cell increases slightly.
Cells: they are controlled by all players. Opponent cells of smaller size can be ingested, this can be directly, or by division, as described below. Cells move more slowly when the mass is greater5 and mass is gradually lost over time.6
Viruses: they cause the largest cells to separate into many pieces. Smaller cells can hide behind them for protection against larger cells. They can be fed to create another virus that marches in the direction of the player you choose.6
Players can divide a part of their cell, throwing the divided cell in the direction of the cursor. This can be used as a ranged attack to swallow other cells, to escape from a difficult situation, or to move more quickly across the map.2 When dividing cells, they subsequently join one again over a prolonged period of time . Players can also release small fractions of their mass to grow other cells, hooking for enemies so that they come to eat to be eaten, or to feed viruses, which leads to splitting when done several times .

Developing
Agar was first announced on Reddit on April 28, 2015 by Matheus Valadares, a 19-year-old Brazilian developer. Designed in JavaScript and C ++, the game was developed within a few days.7 Valadares continued updating it and adding new features to the game, such as an experience system and an "experimental" game mode to test the experimental features.4

On May 3, 2015, Agar.io Greenlight entered with Valadares planning to launch a free-to-play version of the game for download. Be planned to add more features to the game, including additional game modes, custom styles, and an account system. It was quickly approved by the community for inclusion through Steam. 8

On July 8, 2015, the mobile versions of Agar.io for iOS and Android appeared and was published in Miniclip. Sergio Varanda, head of Miniclip, explained that the main objective of the mobile version was "to recreate the players with gaming experience who knew and loved it on the web", citing the challenges with the recreation of the experience with touch screen controls. Miniclip planned to make more updates frequently for the game; Varanda said the new features often come from fan comments on social media.