Hi! Sorry for the late reply, I don't actively follow this account but I am one of the devs.
The original intention for this project within our studio was to make a game out of it. Ultimately, we did not find a good balance of making a good evolution / life simulation and an interesting game. That's why we shipped just the simulator instead.
So to answer your question, this isn't really a game. It's just a simulator where you can tweak the parameters and watch the visualizations that form from it.
Lastly, the zoom is intentional. The particles were designed to stay within the bounds of the camera, regardless of zoom level. When you zoom in, there is an explosion-like effect because all of the particles that were on the outer edges got forced inward. It's really more of an implosion!