The Overgrowth Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Overgrowth/39924081634?ref=mf) finally reached 500 fans this weekend which, as promised, triggered the release of Overgrowth Alpha 1 (http://blog.wolfire.com/) to every fan who has pre-ordered the game.  The alpha showcases the Phoenix Engine’s advanced shaders and lighting systems as well as an early version of the game’s map editor.  Fans were glad to see that the alpha’s thorough fallback system allowed it to run on almost everyone’s computer.