Intelligent Design: A Game of Guided Evolution.

This is a rough rules outline that will be hopefully become more polished over time
Number of players: 2-4, though play is currently being designed for two and will probably need to be changed later to accomadate more players
Components:
-One deck of about sixty event cards with four different eras labeled with roman numerals, each era containing one mass extinction card.
-One deck of environment cards, also sorted according to era same as the event cards.
Environments by era :
1: Primordial soup, deep sea vents,
2: Deeps, Middle Ocean, Shallows,
3: Ocean, Swamp, Forest, Grassland,
4: Forest, Swamp, Grassland, Desert, Jungle,
-Five species cards with adjustable stat sliders for each player.
Stats: Predation, Durability, Climate Adaptation, Metabolism, Environment adaptation (don't know how this would work exactly)
-A large number of cardboard gene points, essentially small VP chips decorated to theme.
-A first player marker.
Set Up:
Determine first player randomly and give them the first player marker. Each turn consists of four steps; adaptation, environment and population, event and then effect resolution and point scoring.
Adaptation Phase:
The adaptation phase consists of changing the stats of your existing species or of playing new species. You may change one stat one each species per turn, you may not chage two stats on the same species in the same turn. In order to change a stat you must spend gene points, VPs, and the cost to change a stat increases as you get higher.Players may choose to change no stats and instead buy a new species, a player may not buy a new species if there are none available. In addition players may choose to do nothing.
Detailed stats:
-Predation: determines what your species can prey on, predation on the predator species must be higher than both the predation and the defense of the species trying to be used as prey. A predator may prey on a number of population points equal to the predation stat of the predator minus the predation or defense of the prey, whichever is higher. Predation goes from 0 to 4.
-Defense: used to counter predation. If the defense of the prey species is higher than the predation of the predator species then predation cannot take place.
-Durability: used to determine effects during a mass extinction. During a mass extinction eliminate all population belonging to a species minus its durability. Durability goes from 0 to 3.
-Climate Adaptation: used to determine how well your species is adapted to the climate. For every point of difference between the climate adaptation of your species and the global climate number lose one population in the resolution phase. Climate Adaptation goes from 1 to 6.
-Metabolism: used to determine food consumption and reproduction. Each population costs food equal to the species metabolism and reproduction is equal to metabolism. Metabolism goes from 1 to 4.
-Environment bonus: gives extra population if the species is played in its preferred environment. There are two rows of numbers in the environment bonus section of the species card, one to track which environment is preferred and one to track how much benifit you gain. The first track goes from 1 to 5 and matches up with numbers in the top right corner of each environment card. The second track goes from +0 to +4 and gives extra population when the species is in the preferred environment. Players may pay to change the preffered environment or may pay extra to have more than one preferred environment.
-Example: Player A has a species with Predation 0, Durability 1, Climate Adaptation 3, Metabolism 1 and has a +1 environment bonus in deep sea vents. The player decides to spend gene points (don't know how many yet) to increase metabolism by one in the hopes of multiplying his population quickly.
Environment Phase:
In the environment phase three environment cards are removed from the top of the deck and played face up in the center of the table. Starting with the first player, players take turns placing population from their species onto the environments. Each player on his turn may play one population from each of his species, this continues until all population points are used. Players may not keep population in reserve, all population must be played on the available environments. Each environment has a base capacity, how much nutrition is available in that environment to species with predation 0, species with predation higher than zero may not use this nutrition. In addition each environment gives some bonus to whichever player has the majority of population there at the end of the resolution phase, for example deep sea vents may give one gene point for every population lost and primordial soup may give one extra population.
Event Phase:
Once all population points have been played an event card is flipped up. This event card has some global effect on the play environment, it may change the climate number, make some environments more advantageous than others or have some other significant effect. In each era there is one mass extinction, mixed in near the end of that era, when a mass extinction is played resolve all effects associated with it and remove all remaining events and environments of that era from the appropiate decks.
During a mass extinction, each species loses all population minus its durability and then a six sided die is rolled to determine the new climate. Then each species loses population according to the climate rules. ( Possibly too harsh). Players must place any gene points they posses into the victory pool to be used at the end of the game.
Resolution Phase:
After an event card has been played population is gained or lost and gene points are awarded. Each player loses any population that was preyed upon, gains population equal to metabolism plus environment bonus, loses population equal to the difference between its climate number and the global climate number and loses any population that did not recieve sufficent food upkeep. Then for each point of population remaining players score one gene point.
At the end of the resolution round all environment cards are moved to the discard pile, the event card may be discarded as well or may stay in play until the conditions of the card tell you to remove it from play. All population points are recollected and the first player marker gets passed to the left.
Game End and Victory:
The game ends after the last mass extinction is played. Players place any remaining gene points into their victory pool, whoever has the most gene points wins. If there is a tie the player with the most population wins, if there is still a tie then the player with the most species wins, if there is still a tie then the game ends in a tie.

That's the basic rules, some mechanics need adjusting and there is currently no costs determined for altering stats.
If any rules are unclear or unspecific please feel free to ask questions.