Black and White is a computer game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It was a god game released in 2001, which included elements of artificial life, strategy, and beat 'em up games.
It has been called the "spiritual descendant of Populous."
The player takes on the guise of a god, ruling over an island populated by various tribes. The player's control over the island is manifested in the Hand, an animated on-screen hand which can pick up people or objects, throw things, 'tap' buildings to wake their occupants, and many other things. The core of the gameplay is the player's Creature — a pet of sorts that can be trained to do almost anything, thanks to the game's complex AI. This Creature is trained by being placed on a leash while the player demonstrates the action the Creature is to learn using the Hand. With time and repetition, it will be able to do things on its own.
At the centre of the player's empire is the Temple, the building at which tribesfolk worship, the Creature sleeps, and statistics, help, and options are available.
Another key gameplay mechanic is the good/evil spectrum. Depending on the actions the player takes, the Hand and Temple will slowly change appearance between a glowing pearly white, or a spiked, dark red. This visually indicates the players position on the spectrum, and the tribesfolk will either be in awe or terror of the player. The player's Creature however does not have to be as good or as evil as the player; an evil god may have a good Creature or vice-versa, depending on the personality of the Creature itself.
The game helped to pioneer the use of mouse gesture recognition, allowing the player to cast spells using specific mouse movements.
An expansion pack, Creature Isle, was released in 2001, which shifted focus from the battles against other gods to mini games with the Creature.
The sequel, Black & White 2, has no official release date. Peter Molyneux, the creator of both games, has said that the release will be sometime in Autumn 2005.
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