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Osmos

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Not to be confused with Osmose Productions or osmosis.
Osmos
Steam digital banner art
Developer(s)Hemisphere Games
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Eddy Boxerman
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Mac OS X
Linux
OnLive
iOS
Android
Release
18 August 2009
  • Windows
  • 18 August 2009
  • Mac OS X
  • 10 December 2009
  • Linux
  • 15 June 2010
  • iPad
  • 8 July 2010
  • iPhone
  • 5 August 2010
  • Android
  • 17 January 2012
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Osmos is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by Canadian developer Hemisphere Games for various systems such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, OnLive, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android.[2] It was designed by Eddy Boxerman, founder of Hemisphere and a former developer at Ubisoft Montreal.[3]

Gameplay

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The goal of most levels is to absorb enough motes to become the largest on the level.

The aim of the game is to propel oneself, a single-celled organism ("Mote"), into other smaller motes to absorb them. Colliding with a mote larger than the player will cause the player to be absorbed, resulting in a game over. Motes smaller than the player are blue, while motes bigger than the player are red. Changing course is done by expelling mass. Due to conservation of momentum, this results in the player's mote moving away from the expelled mass, but also in one's own mote shrinking.

There are three different "zones" of levels in Osmos: In the "sentient" levels, the goal is to prevail over active motes of various types that hunt and absorb other motes, including the player. Hunting them typically involves absorbing as many inactive motes as possible before chasing down the active ones with the extra mass one has gained.

In the "ambient" levels, the player's mote typically floats in a large area surrounded by inactive motes, and must become the largest or simply very large. Variations on this theme involve, for instance, starting the game as a very small mote surrounded by many larger, fast moving motes, or the presence of "antimatter" motes which shrink normal motes during collision no matter which one was originally bigger, or starting the game stuck in a huge, densely packed area with a large number of other motes without much space to move about and having to nudge other motes out of the way by ejecting mass at them.

In the "force" levels, special motes ("Attractors") influence other motes with a force similar to gravitation. The player has to take into account orbital physics when planning movement in order to save mass when changing course. In these levels, the game optionally assists the player with a course trajectory tool that plots the mote's course, up to a short time in the future. Force levels are complicated in various ways, including levels with mutually repelling attractors, attractors bouncing randomly around an area full of motes, several "strata" of bodies in retrograde rotation about an attractor, and attractors orbiting other attractors.

On 25 June 2012 Hemisphere Games announced the release of a multiplayer version of Osmos for iOS on the company blog and the game's Facebook page on 19 July 2012.

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack includes:[4]

  1. Vincent et Tristan – "Osmos Theme"
  2. Gas – "Discovery"
  3. Biosphere – "Antennaria" (from Substrata)
  4. Loscil – "Lucy Dub"
  5. Loscil – "Rorschach"
  6. Loscil – "Sickbay"
  7. High Skies – "The Shape of Things to Come"
  8. Julien Neto – "From Cover to Cover"
  9. Julien Neto – "Farewell"

A free download of many of the tracks was made available in March 2010.[5]

Reception

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The iPhone version received "universal acclaim", while the PC and iPad versions received "generally favourable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[6][7][8]

At IndieCade in 2009, the PC version was named "Best in Show" and won the Fun/Compelling award.[23] Apple Inc. selected the game as the iPad game of the year for 2010.[24] It also won many other awards that year.[25] IGN awarded the iOS version its best video game soundtrack of 2010.[26]

References

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  1. ^ "Games on Demand coming soon to Games for Windows — LIVE!". Games for Windows. Microsoft. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2018. The launch lineup will include [...] new exclusive LIVE-enabled versions of popular digital games like World of Goo and Osmos, distributed by Microsoft Game Studios.
  2. ^ Usher, Anthony (September 2, 2011). "iOS indie hit Osmos set to propel itself onto Android". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  3. ^ "Hemisphere Games » About Hemisphere". Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  4. ^ eddybox (March 1, 2010). "Osmos Soundtrack". Hemisphere Games.
  5. ^ Kirn, Peter (March 1, 2010). "Exclusive Free Soundtrack: Osmos, Featuring Gas, Julien Neto, Loscil, High Skies". CDM. Create Digital Media GmbH. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Osmos for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Osmos for iPad for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Osmos for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  9. ^ Teti, John (September 7, 2009). "Osmos (PC)". The A.V. Club. G/O Media. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  10. ^ Burch, Anthony (November 2, 2009). "Review: Osmos (PC)". Destructoid. Gamurs. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  11. ^ Reed, Kristan (July 16, 2010). "Download Games Roundup". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  12. ^ Rigney, Ryan (July 9, 2010). "App Store Games of the Week: July 9th Edition". GamePro. GamePro Media. Archived from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  13. ^ VanOrd, Kevin (August 25, 2009). "Osmos Review (PS)". GameSpot. Fandom. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  14. ^ Squires, Jim (August 5, 2010). "Osmos Review (iPhone)". Gamezebo. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  15. ^ Squires, Jim (September 17, 2009). "Osmos Review (PC)". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  16. ^ Buchanan, Levi (July 9, 2010). "Osmos iPad Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  17. ^ Buchanan, Levi (August 5, 2010). "Osmos iPhone Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  18. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (August 20, 2009). "Osmos Review (PC)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  19. ^ Hattersley, Mark (July 9, 2010). "Osmos for iPad Review". Macworld. IDG Communcations. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  20. ^ "Osmos". PC Gamer. Vol. 16, no. 12. Future US. December 2009. p. 83.
  21. ^ Wilson, Will (July 16, 2010). "Osmos (iPad)". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  22. ^ Erickson, Tracy (August 11, 2010). "Osmos (iPhone)". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  23. ^ Diamante, Vincent (October 5, 2009). "IndieCade: Impressions Of The Award-Winners". Game Developer. Informa. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  24. ^ eddybox (December 11, 2010). "Apple's iPad Game of the Year!". Hemisphere Games. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  25. ^ eddybox (January 20, 2011). "End-of-Year Awards & Voting". Hemisphere Games. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  26. ^ "Best of 2010: Best Soundtrack (Mobile)". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
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