User:Dangelman/sandbox

Deeeep.io is a massively multiplayer online action game created by Argentine developer Federico Mouse for Android and web browsers.

Players control an animal, often a fish, and have to consume food such as plankton, algae, and nigiri in order to evolve into another animal of superior tier. The goal is to reach the last stage of evolution, gain as many points as possible by eating, and avoid to be eaten by other players.

Born as a browser game, the game grew in popularity after being featured in videos of several prominent YouTubers such as Markiplier, Enes Batur, LazarBeam, and Blitz. The reception was positive; especially praised were the gameplay, with each animal having unique abilities, and the boxy yet detailed design of the animals, peculiar to the game. A mobile version for Android was released on February 2, 2017.

Gameplay
The objective of the game is to control an animal in an aquatic biome and eat to gain score points and EXP. Players start as "Tier 1", animals at the bottom of the evolutionary chain, thus weakest. With enough EXP, players can evolve into an animal of the next tier. An important part of the gameplay is to carefully choose the animal to evolve into, as each has different statistics and abilities. There are in total ten tiers, with the last often being referred to as "T10" or "Apex" after which players can no longer evolve. The ultimate goal is to survive as long as possible and reach the leaderboard by defeating and eating other players.

Currently, the game hosts six game modes: FFA (Free-For-All), First version, Pearl Defense, 1vs1, Toxic Algae and TFFA (Team FFA).

Skins
In the update of December 7, 2018, the store and in-game coins were introduced for logged players. Players can earn coins by playing the game and spend them in the store to buy alternative sprites for certain animals. The skins are often natural variations of the animals in the game. There are also seasonal skins that can only be bought and equipped during certain periods (for instance, Christmas themed skins). Almost the totality of the skins is made by the artists of the game community and submitted as proposal in the official skins subreddit.

Development
The game was released as a JavaScript browser game on November 9, 2016, by Federico Mouse, an Argentine developer, following the success of similar ".io games" such as Agar.io. A beta version of the new client has been published on November 14, 2018.

The game has also been released on Android on February 2, 2017, by the publisher Ouwi!. Following the updates of the game, a new version for Android has been released on April 28, 2019. The game was also released for iOS but was later discontinued.

Community
One of the strengths of the game is its community. The developer often relies on the direct feedback of the game subreddit. Many users of the platform also provide him artworks and ideas for new animals, assets and mechanics which will be credited when added in the game.

Reception
Soon after release, Deeeep.io was frequently propagated through YouTuber with consequentially an increase of the playerbase. It received positive reviews on gaming platforms such as .io Games, Poki and CrazyGames.

The game is in the "top 10 .io games" list of both Tom's Guide and Screen Rant. Chloe Spencer of Kotaku in her article described the game as "mindlessly fun" to play.

It was also mentioned in articles on Gamepedia and TV Tropes.

Criticism
Criticisms are mainly directed to the developer. Despite the strong relationship with his community, he has often been called out by it for neglecting the game. He is usually known for taking long unannounced breaks, leaving the game un-updated and without maintenance.