This is an interesting board game idea - reminds me of a few video games I've tried, and I think it could be fun to see in play. I also really like the idea of having different evolutionary trees for different players. 

The game looks pretty simple and quite funny; I'm not a sharp enough analyst of board games to get a sense if it's rightly balanced and the various mechanisms intersect nicely just from reading it, admittedly.  As it is, it maybe looks a bit too linear, but further iterations can also add complexity if necessary. 

As it is, the game's text is a bit confusing; I had to refer back and forth a couple times to get a good idea of the flow of play. The explanation themselves are quite clear, but the text's order is not super helpful: the initial description of the flow of one turn is a bit difficult to understand because the reader doesn't yet know what most of those terms mean in this context. Still, nothing that a good round of editing can't fix. 

I don’t have good English writing skills. I still hope to make myself understood in this comment.

I also leave below an Italian translation of the comment, for those who want to follow the discussion anyway.

Hi Matthew!

You had a good idea for a board game based on the evolution of life forms.
I know of other games of this type (as Sam suggested before me), but there aren’t many that actively use maps. I’ll write some references at the end.

I’ll leave you some notes on the game. These are based on reading the rules only.

• In point 4.e.i you make the tie with an arm wrestle. I’m not really convinced about that either.It might be fun to do at the table, but if one of the players is much stronger than the others, he/she might use this rule just to look for a draw, instead of winning by force.
  It might be fun to do at the table, but if one of the players is much stronger than the others, he might use this rule just to look for a draw, instead of winning by force. Maybe something more controllable is better at play.
• I like the use of maps, but it doesn’t really fit into the jam objective. That doesn’t mean you can’t keep developing the game the way you thought.
  Why did you think about building the whole map with tiles at the beginning of the game? Did you think of a solution about building during the game?
• Using the list of genes is not bad to give variety to the game, but it might be a difficult choice to make on the first games. Have you thought about a series of predefined initial species to speed up the start?

Keep developing it, I’m curious to see where you’re taking it!

Bye!

In addition to Evolution, I’m adding the following to the references to try out:

• Dominant Species: It’s a really good game that uses hexagonal tiles as a map and exploits the idea of species evolution.
• Chimère: uses an interesting dynamic of “animal building” (he uses tiles to create chimeras and each “tile” gives powers).
• Evolution can be played via app (ios / android) for free (and has a good tutorial)

Ciao Matthew!

Hai avuto una buona idea per un gioco da tavolo basato sull’evoluzione delle forme di vita.
Ne conosco altri di questo tipo (come anche suggerito da Sam prima di me), ma non ce ne sono molti che usano delle mappe. Scrivo qualche riferimento alla fine.

Ti lascio qualche nota sul gioco. Mi baso sulla sola lettura del regolamento.

• Al punto 4.e.i fai risolvere il pareggio con un braccio di ferro. Anche io non sono proprio convinto di questa cosa. Potrebbe anche risultare divertente da fare al tavolo, ma se uno dei giocatori è nettamente più forte degli altri, potrebbe sfruttare questa regola anche solo per andare in pareggio, invece che vincere per forza.
  Forse è meglio qualcosa di più meccanico nel gioco.
• L’uso delle mappe non mi dispiace, ma non entra benissimo nell’obiettivo della jam. Ciò non toglie che tu possa continaure a sviluppare il gioco come lo hai pensato.
  Come mai hai pensato di costruire tutta la mappa con le tessere all’inizio della partita? Hai pensato una soluzione sulla costruzione durante la partita?
• L’uso della lista di geni non è male per dare varietà al gioco, ma potrebbe risultare una scelta difficile da fare sulle prime partite. Hai pensato ad una serie di specie iniziali predefinite per velocizzare la partenza?

Continua a svilupparlo, sono curioso di vedere dove lo porti!

Ciao!

Oltre a Evolution, aggiungo ai riferimenti da guardare:

• Dominant Species: è veramente un buon gioco che usa delle tessere esagonali come mappa e sfrutta l’idea dell’evoluzione delle specie
• Chimère: ha una dinamica interessante di “costruzione animali” (usa delle tessere per creare chimere e ogni “pezzo” dà dei poteri)
• Evolution può essere giocato tramite app (ios / android) gratuitamente (e ha un buon tutorial)

Nice game, it's a nice board game about the species! You also made all the tiles, the cards and so on! Nice job! 

I hope you will continue iterating on this game!