What happens when fish evolve into land animals in The Sapling (🧬ES #2)

This is the second video of the new series Evolution Simulated, showcasing simulation videogame The Sapling, where we follow one planet for a longer time. We study all the ecosystems that evolve, and how they change over time.
0:00 Intro
0:47 The first plants
2:00 Specialization into underwater niches
2:40 Body size increase
3:47 The first land animals
5:09 Feet below the body
5:38 Plants on the eastern continent
6:27 Heat specialization
7:44 Temporary photophobia
9:25 Outro
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/99...
Itch: woseseltops.itch.io/thesapling
Twitter: / thesaplinggame
Website: thesaplinggame.com/
Fan initiatives:
* Discord / discord
* Reddit / thesapling

[@Neithie]

I was so excited when my four limbed fish evolved into four limbed land creatures and then, suddenly, only two back legs! Walking on two legs! So exciting!

[@someduckifound5734]

Next it’s gonna start having complex tought and in a few thousand years they’ll make a game called the sapling and the loop starts over again

[@julianozaur444]

Tbh walking on two legs was one of the biggest twists evolution had ever did

[@Re-frigerator]

Has any of them learned to climb trees?

[@JhonnyWaltz]

@@someduckifound5734accidentally made a paradox lol

[@raptorsauralphayt9180]

​@@Re-frigeratorthey can't but they can perch on them

[@trex_oftheages]

I didn't even realize this was made by the developers until just now, this just shows how to properly advertise a game

[@TheSapling]

Haha yes these videos are the most succesful marketing I've ever done... quite an unexpected marketing insight for me ;)

[@June05131]

Bro same💀

[@rustinhaigood]

@@TheSapling make more

[@OneMoreTime-ws9zs]

He is a solo dev

[@literallyagalaxy7789]

I can't believe how excited I am about this series. I was waiting for this episode all week.

[@sauraplay2095]

Same. I am excited to see what happens next.

[@dylancope]

Please keep up with this KZbin series! The amount features in this sim is amazing! The bioluminescence/photoreceptor stuff is super interesting.

[@samuellima6193]

IDK if it could be possible to implement in the game, but I think an update with continental drift and a way for plants and algae to disperse would be cool

[@TheSapling]

Hey Samuel, without making promises, agreed! Are you interested in 'continental drift' because this way islands can split apart or merge, or because of vulcanoes?

[@ggddx]

@@TheSapling Both of theese are pretty cool!

[@samuellima6193]

@@TheSapling I am interested becuase of landmasse formation I.E supercontinents comming together and splitting apart and island formation. Also, you wrote my name wrong but np

[@dragoncapyalt]

that would be perfect it could be the next update

[@literallyagalaxy7789]

@@TheSapling I feel like vulcanoes are cool, but its mostly because islands coming together and splitting apart

[@thunder_2124]

Love this game can’t wait for the next update😊

[@TheSapling]

Me neither; working on it ;)

[@secondary1verril22]

Arthropods, or other smaller animals? Or Steam workshop, which players can make their own creature parts, share and make new creatures?

[@namestealermc4534]

if you dont mind.. what is it?@@TheSapling

[@yiannchrst]

please keep this series (or a similar one), it is so cool!

[@joeis18]

The mid-game buffering isn't ideal, but it is absolutely a workable solution. I commend you for coming up with it. No crashes yet during 4 hours of the same instance. Good work, Wessel! This is really turning into the game I think a lot of us have been waiting for. :)

[@TheSapling]

Hey Moop, when you say 'mid-game buffering', are you talking about the level reloads to clean up RAM? In any case, I usually (and understandably) only get to hear about the situations where something went wrong, so I'm really happy to read this comment :)

[@theinformedtoast3377]

I’m not sure if this has already been suggested, but I think that tectonic events would be a great edition to the game. I’m imagining things like continents overtime splitting or colliding in the fashion that South America and Africa did, or even an isthmus appearing that connects 2 continents like in the case of the Americas. This could happen between our west and east continents for example and lead to a biotic interchange event where organisms from either side are thrust into competition with one another, again very much in the same fashion that took place between the americas several million years ago

[@TheSapling]

Hey Informed Toast, without making promises, indeed very interesting ideas!

[@adora_was_taken]

@@TheSapling it's been a few months but i think it would be really cool to look into now that you've added volcanoes.

[@Darksides-Realm]

Suggestion: How about adding water pressure? This could open the ocean more by adding Twilight, or even Abyssal, zones. Normal eyes wouldn't work well and would give more possibilities for players to see creatures evolve bio-luminescence. Though this does have quite a stretch to reach to work realistically, introducing vertebrates and invertebrates Adding to this, this could add animal parts such as angler-fish jaws, some form of echolocation (a melon), and perhaps even numerous parts from squids and octopi, or various parts that perform better in high/low pressure environments

[@TheSapling]

Hey, without making promises, these are indeed all interesting ideas!

[@rynplayz]

Love watching this new series! I actually had been attempting it on my own shortly before this one began. My creatures are taking their sweet time tho, it’s been 80,000 years and they’re just chilling beneath the wave still lol

[@TheSapling]

Hey Ryn, I've read this more often! You can always manually mutate something to make it a land animal, just to check if the environment is okay.

[@foxredjb781]

In my country is already at dawn and I should be sleeping but I love these videos too much, just one more!

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

I love all the adaptations and evolutionary fenomena that the sapling can make happen!

[@mataschmata]

the photophobia bit is so interesting. imagine being evolutionarily conditioned to be terrified of something that you can't detect but your ancestors could. wild

[@samueltrusik3251]

Honestly, I love how the plants change and grow.

[@matterhorn731]

This is so great! Loving this series and looking forward to seeing what's in store for the next update!

[@user-wn3ht1bi9j]

i was so exited when you made this video, i hope you keep making more for this series and keep up the good work!

[@gamingcat6034]

8:25 (documentary narrator) “And here we have the ‘luminous fish’ an animal that, may look like a fish but has a few key traits that separate them from earth fish. For starters, they lack any ‘photoreceptive’ organs, meaning they can not see. Secondly they a bioluminescence organ on earth Side of their face were the eyes normally would be. Such a strange and fascinating creature from beyond our planet”

[@PhantomVirus]

Hey! Awesome video, I’m so happy you added the feature of algae being able to evolve into plants. Is the reverse currently possible? You mention in the video that the lake doesn’t have life “so far”, but is there anyway for an inland body of water to gain autotrophs currently? I think that would be a really cool way of diversifying populations, both because the plants/algae in the lake would be isolated from the ocean species, and only creatures that evolved land-walking would be able to reach it and so they too would be distinct from the sea animals. Love the project, keep up the good work!

[@TheSapling]

Hey PhantomVirus, excellent question, and the answer is: no, inland bodies of water will always stay empty. And without making promises, you are absolutely right that is a missed opportunity ;)

[@literallyagalaxy7789]

I think if lake ecosystems are added then they lakes should more generated in the map generator. Also it would be cool if plants and animals could have lake specific parts. It would add a cool new ecosystem

[@TheSapling]

Any specific things you have in mind when you think of lake specific body parts?

[@alikara8462]

​​@@TheSapling Not body parts but tolerance for less salt in the water or less oxygen in the water maybe

[@literallyagalaxy7789]

@@TheSapling Maybe legs that allow to kind of float on water(like ducks) And plants should be able to float on water too i think

[@petersmythe6462]

I'm at about 190 kiloyears and only one extinct lineage has evolved legs instead of flippers, but they appear to have mostly walked on the seabed. My plants are diversifying but without an animal population.

[@petersmythe6462]

Note however that I'm not an expert in dissecting the paleobiology and paleoecology of extinct simulated organisms.

[@TheSapling]

Hey Peter, you definitely shouldn't be an expert in these fields to play the game ;) . One trick I use if land life does not evolve, is to take a populous aquatic species living near the coast, give it legs and an air breathing mouth, and then check whether it can survive on land; this way I often discover something is not optimal (like the temperature in one of the seasons, or the amount of food, etc).

[@neortik7]

i love this series of videos never thought about someone will do this in a game it's awesome thanks !

[@owenburdett1577]

It is 7 pm in my country and I am real excited to watch this! This seems amusing.

[@BlinkingTwin]

I love this series. it's so peaceful

[@davekachel]

I love the light emitting fishs that use it to scare animals instead of anglerfish them towards them. Its a simple twist on something we already know and it works wonderful.

[@piersmundy]

This is a fantastic game defiantly subbing for more. Would love to see some more short series like this even inbetween updates to show how random the evolution can be

[@blazednlovinit]

Keep up the good work man. I like what you're doing with this :) I've had a little go on it but was quite primitive when I tried it, it's come along a bit since then.

[@serkan978]

love this game i will definitely get it I've waited ages for newer evolution games and some that do it in a new way

[@Simon39759]

Producting and detecting light is actually how several bacterial species regulate their own population densities. Interesting that the same mechanism would evolve...

[@fomalhaut3451]

I love evolution sims! Always good to see!

[@longslhonglogan2959]

1min baby🎉

[@etherdeef4303]

This is incredibly cool, it reminds me of the project ‘dwarf fortress’ except for evolution, and with less player control. It seems like a project you could work on forever, and always find cool new stuff to implement. Thanks loads for this cool game, definitely gonna haveto give it a whirl!

[@maxiawesomekid899]

So calming so cool

[@petersmythe6462]

My creatures seem to have longer then photophobia. Almost every lineage, about 50 unique species of animals, have photophobia if they can see. Even though all water is densely packed with animals.

[@Wountie]

This game looks so cool! I'm definitely buying this!

[@dfgrow]

Just grabbed the game mostly for the sandbox mode so far really love it can't wait to see what updates you do next maybe grass or other super small plants

[@greenwaddledee1743]

This game is like a dream come true please keep it up!

[@nessy4666]

Wait.... He's back!! And I missed ur first upload of this series 💀.... Pls make more of these vids! 🙏

[@coalmine9666]

the photophbia is really cool. very nice!

[@panhisz2098]

pls make more videos like this I RLY LOVE THEM

[@nomnoms379]

Algae should eventually evolve into a rockweed/seaweed that then can evolve into kelp which only grows in deeper oceans. You should also add bug wings! As we already have a Proboscis like mouth, hives, and bug like eyes. Also fur color should relate to the environment like a polar region should have more white furred organisms where as a jungle might have dark or bright colors. Frogs?

[@TheSapling]

Hey, without making promises, all ideas I like indeed!

[@FabbeNJ369]

Haven’t tried this game myself yet, but I’ve always wanted to find this kind of game, so will definitely try it out tomorrow

[@gazumcazum5250]

Im at work but i am literally gonna play this TONIGHT cause this is sooooo cool i love simulation games

[@theinformedtoast3377]

YAY PART 2

[@ethanwood836]

I love the game such a good concept! Every time I've played (for years) after a certain amount of time the in game models are a completely different species then it actually is in the mutate editor. Love the game never give up on it!

[@TheSapling]

Hey Ethan, thanks for your feedback! I suspect you are referring to the cheating the visualization system is doing so it does not have to build hundreds of new models every frame; it's indeed more noticeable than intended sometimes :/

[@kerontherun]

i found this game few days ago and it is so cool! it really allows you to create simple but beautiful ecosystem. i would like to see some reducents in the future to complete the experience so to speak

[@TheSapling]

Thanks! I get the reducent suggestion more often, but I can't really figure how to solve it visually, as fungi are mostly invisible or underground apart from mushrooms.

[@Odrikah]

I love this game so much, man

[@felixalvarez848]

This game and videos are simply amazing

[@pearlyj6190]

In the next update it could be really cool to se predation and protection. Im thinking things like camouflage and armour or even spikes on animals like with a lot of dinosaurs. This could also include things like actual hunting. This could involve into both herding behaviour and pack hunting. That would be really cool to see.

[@TheSapling]

Haha without making promises, I love the alliteration

[@historicaleatsdirt928]

came across this series about 30 minutes ago and just bought this game, will tell how it goes!!

[@historicaleatsdirt928]

just played for a little while, and its pretty fun! still has alot to be desired tho, which is to be expected from an early access game like this. awesome!

[@BloxYTPlayz]

Nice

[@Lordandsaviorofchickens]

Good shit homie!

[@just_a_randomkid7130]

Keep imagining this as a super young God showing off his first world to the other elder gods.

[@akakamaz7382]

your work is great continue :D

[@tomincheristiansen4010]

i have been searching for this type of game for so damn long and i finaly found it

[@Dimy_0606]

this game is on my bucket list

[@johneydayne3449]

Good series

[@lfbianosalvatori]

Underated fr

[@quinnburgess7748]

I have loved watching this game grow, although I got it around the time fight or flight update came out and haven't known it for as long as others, I love it. I, too, love this style of game and your game 8s the only one that can really bring that through. I should totally try just starting with 1 basic plant and animal species. Thank you! ❤ I love this series :D @The Sapling I would also like to know what ideas you have for the next update. Maybe you could add herds, flocks, schools of fish, or maybe animals mating for life and actually parenting their kids? Community, if you like this idea, please make it more popular

[@TheSapling]

Hey Quinn, thanks! I'm deliberatively being vague about the future plans so I can change my mind at any time (and I indeed do that all the time) and I can generate some more buzz when the update finally drops.

[@nate7838]

This is so cool

[@monster3339]

alright, ya got me. ive been watching your channel for... idk how long, but have never actually played the game, but i think i may have to see if my lil gaming laptop can handle it ahaha

[@cgstudiosthebaconbro]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo ep 2 lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Fr tho great series cant wait for ep 3 :)

[@conallirvine04tusifrirotsitrue]

Suggestions Add more sizes for example insects Add breeding ' gender and breeding displays Add respiratory systems for example bigger land creatures have lungs and small land creatures have a respiratory similar to insects Add invertebrates and creatures with exoskeleton Add the ability to dig and live underground Add fungi Add continental drift And finally Add the ability to customize terrain mid game

[@TheSapling]

Hey Conall, thanks, I like many of these ideas! I see more and more players request continental drift; is this because it would allow for splitting and merging islands, vulcanoes, or something different?

[@Chorsanoidka]

@@TheSapling I don't know what about others, but I personally would really like to see continental drift because it would provide some amazing evolutionary opportunities. just imagine: two continents like in this video, both fully populated and overflowing with specialized organisms, slowly moving closer together. they go through climate changes on the way, forcing everything on them to continue adapting to the changing environment. finally, they merge and the two populations are now forced to compete and evolve even further. or this whole thing, but in reverse. the possibilities are endless.

[@magmacube8689]

​@@TheSapling Landmass changes have been major factor on the evolution of life. I, for one, don't think an evolution simulator will be complete if it doesn't happens. It would be the fix for that barren inland sea and terrestrial plant life having to evolve twice. At some point, the barren habitats would come into contact with the inhabited ones and life would colonise it.

[@conallirvine04tusifrirotsitrue]

​@@Chorsanoidka without continental drift the animals may reach a stable ecosytem meaning nothing would really evolve

[@tobenamed610]

You inspired me to try the same thing; and I followed each step you took to get the ecosystem going, but it got way too intense for my computer before anything remotely interesting could happen. Am now frustrated and waiting for the next update in hopes of optimization.. super excited for when I can run it though, because this seems to be the only full scale evolution simulator out there. Your results are VERY interesting.

[@TheSapling]

Hey ToBeNamed, thanks for trying and sorry to read it didn't work on your hardware! Two tips: (1) smaller maps and (2) frequent saving and reloading.

[@tobenamed610]

@@TheSapling hey! I will definitely try those things, thanks for the tips. Also, random question; were there always small rocks scattered about the land in maps? I get the feeling they were added recently and that they could be part of something bigger.. but wanted to check in case I have bad memory.

[@TheSapling]

Haha depends on how soft you made the soil :)

[@tobenamed610]

ohhhh, ok. Thanks again!

[@x1mpressed]

will you be adding nonvertebrates? to the game like moluscs and arthropods?

[@x1mpressed]

or plate tectonics or maybe even sea level rising and falling over millions of years?

[@TheSapling]

Hey, without making promises, they're all ideas I'm interested in.

[@shyannaevans6192]

People need to mack new games like this its so cool

[@MarieCrossbow]

Very cool

[@godzillagamer_9275]

This is so cool it feels like im the one playing it.

[@aizj16]

wishlisted. so cool

[@Tom_Quixote]

Regarding the creatures that didn't lose their luminescent organs because there was no advantage to losing them, even though there was no advantage anymore to keep them... There is always a benefit from losing useless organs, since that saves the energy needed to build those organs.

[@Vikyhnat]

Hey Wessel first off I wanna say i bought this game yesterday and i gotta say so far i have had a lot of fun! Either way I wanna ask some advice on world settings advice or something because all my simulations end up with my animals all just growing huge while underwater, then specializing into being very good at swimming and as a result they never make it to land. Also i suggest that it would be cool (and it would promote land transition) to implement an amphibian kind of mouth that can breathe both air and water. Keep up the good work!

[@TheSapling]

Thanks Vikyhnat! The main tip is to just give it time (land life evolved much later than expected/hoped in the world of this video also), and possibly check if the creature you expect to evolve can actually live where you want it to by manually designing it and hovering it above the place. Hope that helps!

[@ruudvandenhove6905]

fantastic

[@ImranKhan-fy6ij]

Nice

[@recklesstrucker7952]

So cool

[@yukaina_]

I have a pretty good idea for this game that could improve the quality of life, maybe adding a "herbivore" and "carnivore" filter when in the species menu?

[@TheSapling]

Hey Yukaina, without making promises, agreed!

[@BenjaminLe-wb2tp]

Is there a feature for herding and collectives to form? The Bibites, an interesting simulation has that feature and it plays into the concept very well. I’d love to see some sapling creature running across a field of alien plants with 20 other versions of itself

[@TheSapling]

Hey Benjamin, I love the idea indeed, but the current simulation is grid based, so there's a bit of a technical obstruction.

[@BenjaminLe-wb2tp]

@@TheSapling got it. Thanks for replying!

[@anysajmon2270]

Buying this game on next sale, i am addicted to it even tough, i dont have it yet :DD

[@complex314i]

The background music immediately reminded me of the Lost Woods theme from Twilight Princess.

[@jaydennoel6059]

I like your game keep working hard

[@littleperson8315]

3:53 legitimately jumpscared me lol

[@tjmauser6954]

This game looks so cool

[@EvoVerseBeyondtomorrow13]

This game is awesome

[@jordanpaton9082]

You need to make 30 min videos I need more of this

[@alejolab]

Very interesting developments. That bioluminescent family is just waiting to be someone's meal.

[@TheSapling]

Haha I thought so. Spoiler: I haven't seen any predators with instincts to respond to light while writing the third episode.

[@Peteboi64932]

me: why do you have lights if you can't see them fish: I don't care

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

I really want to get this game and try out some hyperspecific scenarios. Maybe one day I will be able to

[@FireTurkey]

I'm really excited for future performance updates so this becomes more feasible for more mid gaming pcs :) Also while drawing inspiration from real life is ALWAYS welcome, some more specevo stuff would be too! (and maybe like a short jawless mouth evolutionary branch 👀)

[@TheSapling]

Hey Tardigrade, let me know if there are specevo features or jawless species you have in mind ;)

[@FireTurkey]

@@TheSapling Starting with the bit impractical due to the parts involved - even when simplified, most "fish" in the world of "BirdBugs"! Really everything in this project has cool ass chompers but that's besides the point lol. The fish have these mouthed that work very similarly to that of a jawless fish, but they kind of "unfurl" given the fact that their way more complex. Can't explain it too well I might try to find some pictures for the discord. Another great one for inspiration is "Expedition". It's a project by Wayne Barlowe (who I assume you know of) which has everything from things using their tongues to grasp food from things evolving proboscis into pseudo jaws! Crazy, wonderful stuff :) Honestly I'd mainly look into Expedition, I don't think any of it's creatures have true jaws. So, Ignoring real world jawless fish and things with proboscises, I think its your best option for good inspiration!

[@understanding8511]

This is awesome!!! I’m at 589 years and I know that that’s not a lot, but my fish are overpopulating the sea and they’re trying to go on land. Also, another fish baby was born but on land and it went back in the water, so my fish are doing anything to stop overpopulation 😅

[@wuiasuidwhasdiwaoih]

could you add a microscope where you can zoom in to see the microscopic life on youre planet? i believe it would be pretty simple to just add a 2d seperate world with all of the tiny life, that would eventually evolve into fishes and so on. i feel it would be really cool.

[@TheSapling]

Agreed it would be cool... but the simulation of that would be fake, right? Because ALSO simulating microscopic life would make everyone's machine explode ;)

[@Mc_rich-omega-]

In my country it's 2am and I can't sleep 👍

[@TamTroll]

Any plans to introduce any environmental changes to this particular ecosystem at all? I always like to gradually increase or decrease the temperature over the course of a few thousand years or so. Helps encourage more evolution, bottlenecking, and preventing stagnation.

[@TheSapling]

Hey TamTroll, it's an excellent suggestion that I'm going to keep in mind for a future episode (after #3), thanks!

[@pohiena2666]

Very cool, I wonder how diferent will the eastern creatures be.

[@bookshop7337]

I wonder if it'd be possible to implement fungi. They're such a vital part of the ecosystem, facilitating everything from nutrient transfer to decay, but almost always get overlooked when people talk about life

[@TheSapling]

You're totally correct about fungi. The main reason they're not part of this game is that they are mostly invisible or underground, apart from mushrooms; most playtesters get really confused/frustrated really quickly when it comes to invisible mechanisms.

[@bookshop7337]

@@TheSapling That makes a load of sense. You're trying to create a complex evolution simulator, yes, but it's also gotta be a fun game for people. Similar to the importance of aesthetics you mentioned in your video on creating flying creatures. I'd imagine that using blobs or lines of colour on the surface to represent them could work, but I'm sure you know what you've already tried and the limitations you face far better than I hahaha

[@CatSomething]

im planning on getting the game

[@ThighErda]

Cool

[@nshorts7063]

I just love the sapling ever since I saw a let’s play A long time ago I fell in love then I forgot but then I came back when the fight and flight update I bought a PC with my own money to get this game then when the dev logs for the third update I would check the time to see it live I just love this game it Gives a magic feeling. And I love the idea of marketing a ecosystem it I just great (Note of a user called Patriotically Nitorain comments it is me)

[@viofthecollective2031]

oh someones been inspired by a certain alien biosphere series, red plants, eastern and western continents, i see you

[@smg4unofficialminion109]

beauty

[@aureumengi_pl9239]

I really love this game. I want also see something like Tectonic Plates to change continents, bigger planets. better optymalisation and if this is possible some kinde of animations or event interactions between animals also do you plan to have bigger devteam or this will stay as solo-indy-project?

[@TheSapling]

Hey, thanks for you input; without making promises, all ideas I like. And to answer your question: one of the project goals has always been to have something where I really created everything myself, so I expect this to stay a solo project indeed.

[@user-qw4se4dh6h]

​@@TheSapling someone to make the videos would be useful so you can build the game much faster

[@TamTroll]

7:45 that's a creepy sight. like so many glowing eyes... pretty sure those aren't eyes though.

[@Tjbvcxghvcx]

I don’t know if this is already in the game but you could add creatures that can live on the mountain

[@TheSapling]

Hey! The steeper the terrain, the more trouble the procedural walking system has, but if I manage to fix that one day (as always, no promises), there could indeed be mountain goat limbs ;)

[@Memeened]

Suggestion: add low detail mode to prevent lag