Savage Pond is an action pond simulation game which was written by Peter Judd for the

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

and

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

and Gwyll Jones for the 16k versions of the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

of home computers in 1983 and the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

in 1984. It was originally released under the Starcade label and was reissued in 1985 when Argus acquired the

Bug-Byte Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore and ...

budget label.

Overview

The game is set in a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

with the player taking the role of a

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

. The aim of the game is to build up a colony of frogs while avoiding the many hazards. The setting and characters are all quite true to life which was quite unique at the time. Most contemporary

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

s, even if not set in space, such as

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...

(with frogs that can't swim) and

Centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

(which is basically a space shoot 'em up with characters that look like insects), were far from realistic. The instructions include descriptions of all the 'cast' including their Latin names and information not relevant to the game itself. Although it may appear to be an educational game it is actually a fast-paced arcade game.

Gameplay

The game begins with Colony 1, which is a simple, peaceful pond. The tadpole character can swim around the pond eating

amoeba An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...

. The only hazard in the pond are the

hydra Hydra generally refers to: * Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed serpent in Greek mythology * ''Hydra'' (genus), a genus of simple freshwater animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria Hydra or The Hydra may also refer to: Astronomy * Hydra (constel ...

clinging to the bottom of the pond that will sting and kill the tadpole if they touch. There is also a

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

that occasionally flies over the pond and drops an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

. The egg can be eaten but if left to hatch, the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

will escape (but again can be eaten) and return as a

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

which will chase the tadpole until it catches and eats it or becomes exhausted and chrysalises to become another dragonfly. In order to build the frog colony, many 'evolutions' must take place, most of which increase the number of hazards. Blood worms regularly fall into the water and must be collected. After five worms are eaten, a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

larva appears. If this is eaten quickly, the pond 'evolves'. In Colony 1 this means the introduction of

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

(similar to the hydra but stay at the top of the pond), the dumping of

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

(which leaves the sides and bed of the pond deadly) and finally a move to Colony 2. This begins with the same hazards as Colony 1 but with a more complicated pond with an underwater cave area which makes swimming about more difficult. The pond continues to 'evolve', first with the appearance of your first

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

. This sits on a log and can be used to eat the passing dragonflies. It also acts as an extra life as if all three tadpoles are lost, the frog will reproduce before leaving with its mate for a different colony. You must create another frog before the pond can continue to 'evolve'. Further 'evolutions' include the

water spider The diving bell spider or water spider (''Argyroneta aquatica'') is the only species of spider known to live almost entirely under water. It is the only member of the genus ''Argyroneta''. When out of the water, the spider ranges in colour from m ...

(which can trap the tadpole with its web line) and

water flea The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, are a superorder of small crustaceans that feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter (excluding some predatory forms). Over 1000 species have been recognised so far, with many more ...

s which can eat your spawn (spare lives). Colony 3 adds

bumble bees "Bumble Bees" (originally called "Bumble Bee") is a song recorded by Danish- Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released as their eleventh single overall, and the third from their album ''Aquarius''. The song more closely resembled their ear ...

which have apparently been affected by the radiation so attack your frog (in the only real exception to the true to life use of the rest of the creatures in the game). You can now build up a colony of frogs.

Screenshots

Image:Savage Pond c64.gif, C64 - A quiet pond in Colony 1 Image:Savage pond atari.gif, Atari 16k - A slightly busier pond in Colony 1 Image:SavagePond Electron.JPG, Electron - A busy pond in Colony 2

References

{{Reflist Atari 8-bit family games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commodore 64 games Biological simulation video games 1983 video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Single-player video games