nifty
animated gifs by Keith Davey
You are :
A barnacle.
Group arthropod.
Infraclass cirripedia.
Subphylum crustacea.
Your mission:
To make more barnacles!
level one: Nauplius stage
As the game begins, you hatch from your microscopic egg.
You have two weeks to float among the plankton looking for
food. (You yourself are also plankton; actually, you strongly
resemble the nefarious Plankton of SpongeBob fame.) Your
goal in Nauplius stage is to molt your skin five times.
If you can't find food, or something eats you, then it's
game over, man, game over.
level two: Cyprid stage
After your fifth molt, you metamorphose into your non-feeding,
more strongly swimming cyprid form. Use your chemical and
touch detectors to recognize adults of your own species
and suitable rocky environments. When everything is right,
use the cement glands in your antennae to attach yourself
to the rock, coral, whale, ship, pier, oil rig, crab, whatever's
handy. If you don't find a receptive landing place before
you run out of juice, then game over, man, game over.
level three: Juvenile Barnacle stage
You spend the rest of the game cemented to the ground,
using your feathery legs to capture plankton for food. Metamorphose
and grow a shell from dissolved calcium in the water before
you get eaten, otherwise game over, man, game over.
level four: Mature Barnacle stage
Once you've grown to your mature form, it's time to reproduce.
Like many invertebrates, you alternate male and female sexes
throughout level four. In your male state, uncoil your long
tubular penis and extend it through your shell's opening
to search for a nearby receptive neighbor. If you're female,
open your shell when a neighbor's groping gonad is nearby.
Once you're fertilized, brood your eggs safely inside your
shell until they develop into Nauplius larvae. Once they
hatch, you get points for each one you release into the
sea. The current high score for Barnacle is over ten thousand
larvae. In the online version, you're competing against
many other barnacles in the sea. The more larvae you can
crank out, the more of your species of barnacle there are,
so get busy! You have limited time before you succumb to
natural wear and tear or meet with a predator, at which
point, game over, man, game over.
Unless, of course, you want to start on level one as a
new nauplius...
Advanced Barnacle - Parasitic Barnacle!
Live under the shell of a smooth-handed crab, Pilumnopeus
serratifrons, and feed off its living tissue! Bonus for
not having to grow a shell of your own, not to mention the
benefits of living inside a mobile food supply. Be careful
not to do in your host crab, though; otherwise, it's game
over, man, game over.
© ethan hein 2007 | back
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