Halloween has quickly passed and have finally tallied all of the Mutation Creation Contest results!
Considering the difficulty of the challenge - designing Mutations that are only experienced while deep in the game, the Sipho community has proven to be adamant with 9 entries in total!

Choosing the winner
We have realised that objectively choosing a single winner out of all entries would be impossible - high majority of the ideas fit perfectly in the game. And we can only tell if presented ideas are going to work is by implementing them. We have decided to award all of the participants as most entries differ by their presentation, while underlying ideas are pretty solid. We want our competitions to be a celebration for the community and inspire future participation. We have commented each entry how we imagine these ideas in the game by order of their submission:

[h2]Injector[/h2]
Steam Entry by Earwig Incorporated

This Mutation turns Spike into a debuffing Zooid that specifically counters Chitin Shell passive ability - growing Shells on other Zooids and protecting them from damage. We could see this effect on more Zooids than just Spike - Shells do tend to get out of control in later Epochs.

[h2]Loitering Leach[/h2]
Discord Entry by skipydog

Effects:
+ 75% range
+ 1 penetration
- 50% energy usage (-100%)
- 66% autotracking (-150%)
- 30% stiffness (leach tip lags behind movement)
- Zooid is permanently activated

The goal of this mutation is to transform leach type zoids into one where the leech lazily "hangs around", like the stinger of a jellyfish but still just as deadly, where prey that happen to get caught in it are leeched of their blood instead of stung!
A punny play on words, this Mutation turns Leeches into jellyfish-like tentacles that sting on touch. This sounds like a great idea that could synergize well with fast-moving Siphos. Furthermore, Leech tentacles could be affected by Pushers and Twisters as well. That would give player control to extend limp Leeches further as they would lack stiffness with this Mutation. Definitely worth of thinking about and giving some extra work on Leech physical interactions with the world.

[h2]Reduplicating Combat[/h2]
Discord Entry by Moff
[table noborder=1][tr][td][/td][td]
Only affects zooids that make projectiles. Affected zooids include: Flak, Sprayer, Sniper, Soul Eater and all forms of Mine or Bomb laying Zooids.
When a zooid affected with this Mutation fires a projectile, the stimulating properties cause the Zooid's generating properties to bolster, making it fire an additional projectile per volley. This boost however cannot be maintained for long as the mutation is actively hindering the zooid and its healing ability

Reduces Energy Efficiency by 15%, and the Healing Efficiency of all affected Combat Zooids. Snacks and Nutrition will heal affected zooids less[/td][/tr][/table]
The classic extra-bullet per bullet take with a twist - at the expense of reduced healing and Energy efficiency. Ranged weapons are inherently very strong - most of them can safely damage their prey while being far away from the danger. To balance that, proposed drawbacks help limiting the damage potential - with reduced energy efficiency and increasing the risk - with reduced healing effect. We could push this further by making affected weapon damage its neighbours while firing - as if it was leeching life-force to create additional stings or bombs to fire. This could be mitigated with healing and regeneration Mutations. This could open up interesting synergies with Zooids that activate their passive abilities after being damaged - one of which is Advena's Radial mover that regenerates Energy after being damaged.

[h2]The Ramak[/h2]
Steam Entry by buzzart30

As a Mutation, The Ramak appears to be a conversion of Nervefiber into a self-sufficient damaging Zooid. Imagine a ball of Ramaks slowly approaching their enemies - sounds like some body-horror blob of death. We will keep this entry as a separate Zooid idea.

[h2]Phyllodermic Utility[/h2]
Discord Entry by Salreix Von Otsuu

A mutation for weapons and utility based on the dermal denticles that sharks have for reducing drag (hence the name translating to leaf-skinned because some denticles resemble leaves, idk)
Loving the biological basis for this Mutation! Physical Drag reduction Mutation was one of the things we were thinking about of introducing into Mutation pool and this idea hits the right spot. The very subtle +1 Max Health hints of Zooid getting an additional layer of skin - one that makes them move better in the water.

[h2]Adhesive[/h2]
Discord Entry by Vera the Wut Worshipper

Grade IV Mutation for Burstopod, Miner, and Muck

Effects:
- +1 penetration (if applicable)
- +2 ranged power (if applicable)
- +50% range
- 50% slower cooldown
- Zooid projectiles no longer detonate on their own, instead eventually fizzling out after a while.
- Zooid projectiles gain the ability to attach to enemy siphos, detonating after a short period of time after attaching.

This mutation aims to turn the Miner into a weapon that you can use on its own, and the Burstopod into a better weapon. Muck also becomes more useful at slowing down enemy siphos, because the attached mines will mess with their "aerodynamics".
Another classic mechanic entry with a suggestion of sticky, or rather, Adhesive mechanic - with a twist of Mines and Bombs becoming a bit less volatile until they get stuck on objects. Shaking those bad boys off would be hard. So we're thinking that initially the Adhesive force would be weaker and additional stacks would increase the strength of the effect - giving player and its enemies a chance to "shake off" stuck bombs early and additional stacks creating more sticky situations.

[h2]EF5 Twister[/h2]
Discord Entry by Vera the Wut Worshipper

Grade IV Mutation for, you guessed it, the Twister.

Effects:
- +1 cooldown (100% slower cooldown)
- More energy usage
- Swirls move slower
- Swirls pull and push things more violently
- Swirls now deal damage to things that are inside them, akin to poison. This makes them affected by mutations/zooids that affect penetration and ranged power, they have a base ranged power of 3 and a base penetration of 0.
- Swirls have a "dustier" appearance, similar to a tornado, to differentiate them from normal swirls.

This mutation, like the one I submitted before it, also aims to turn a utility into a weapon. I feel this mutation would help the Vagorians' lack of weaponry to use, having only the inconsistent burstopod to rely on most of the time.
An attempt to give a deadly power to Twister, a harmless Utility Zooid that creates twists of currents that carry things around, is a welcome attempt. While this Mutation could reduce Twister synergy with Burstopod and Projectile weapons as it would destroy projectiles inside of it, we could make those destroyed projectiles "feed" into the twister, increasing its passive damage. So the play would be keeping the Swirl alive with by releasing additional Swirls and feeding it various objects so it becomes more "dusty" and dangerous.

[h2]Unrelenting Grabber[/h2] Discord Entry by Moff
[table noborder=1][tr][td][/td][td]Affects Grabber.
Effects:
- +25% range
- +5% energy cost
- +2 seconds to cooldown
- Reduces the grabber damage to zero
- Grabber no longer retracts automatically. Instead it stays stuck in the zooid it hit. You can reel in the enemy sipho by holding down the grabber keybind. doing so costs energy.
- The grabber will not start cooldown until fully retracted[/td][/tr][/table]
Grabber is a very special Zooid that we keep looking for ways to improve - it is chaotic and often does more harm than good - pulling in a spiky ball from offscreen is rarely fun for the player. This Mutation changes how Grabber would work - turning a meme machine into a more controllable and reliable gap-closing Utility Zooid. We might not have this as a Mutation, we might just change how the Grabber works - control and reliability is very important in the physically janky world of Sipho.

[h2]Noodle Piston[/h2]
Steam Entry by Mr Gaymer
[table noborder=1][tr][td]
[/td][td]
Affects Piston.
Effects:
- The pistons connections become weak like the one between the flails base and spike ball when the piston expands
- +350% energy cost[/td][/tr][/table]
This entry cracks us up as it is a Mutation for a Zooid that doesn't exist yet. At least officially. Piston Zooid is an experimental Zooid, hidden deep in game files and in historical development test builds. We tested how could new "squishy" physics work with muscle Zooids - that can extend and contract their connections. And they do somewhat work - their quick and hacky implementation makes them extend one of their connections further away - allowing player to change their shape on a whim. They could be used as muscles for opening "jaws" without needing to change layout. There are some technical challenges with making connections weaker - Zooids can become tied-up in a disorderly ball if their connections are loose enough. Before we implement Piston or any other kind of Muscle Zooid, we will keep this Mutation in our hearts. Figuratively.

[h2]Thank you all for the participation![/h2]
Dear Earwig Incorporated, skipydog, Moff, buzzart30, Salreix Von Otsuu, Vera the Wut Worshipper and Mr Gaymer, we are very humbled and thankful for your participation in this event! The support is immense and we love making Sipho a better game for you! We will be contacting Discord entry authors on Discord. Steam users - please contact us on sipho@allpartsconnected.com, by messaging Dominas or on Discord to receive your prize!

Speaking of support, we have a community-ran Wiki page that you can participate on. It is pretty fresh, but the content is solid - waiting for more additions. We also discuss Wiki matters and other Sipho development topics most actively on our Discord server.