You Are Many
You Are Many
An idle strategy simulation inspired by the concept of Von Neumann probes; self-replicating space probes designed to spread across the stars like a mechanical virus.
You begin as a single probe leaving a broken Earth behind to visit the star of your choice. From there, your goal is simple:
Expand. Replicate. Take over the universe.
Easy, right?
Each probe can build infrastructure, gather resources, and create new probes. Over time, your network grows exponentially, forming a branching web of autonomous instances across space.
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Features:
> Real-time + accelerated simulation (up to 1000× speed)
> Expanding star map with 30+ star systems
> Resource management and infrastructure building
> Research progression (full tech tree in the works)
> Autonomous probe behavior modes
> Full simulation runs with victory conditions and post-game statistics
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The simulation can be played in multiple ways:
- Manual mode: Directly manage your expansion
> Set player name, instance naming convention, pick destination
> Cloned instances will take basic actions autonomously (limited)
- Quick Start: Jump into a pre-configured run
- Simulation Mode: Watch the system evolve at high speed
>"Like rabbits" autonomy settings, instance expand as fast as possible
> Autonomy for either clones only -OR- clones + Prime instance
> No player input required - just sit back and watch!
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This project was created as a mix of passion and productive procrastination by a PhD student just experimenting with AI-assisted coding tools. No generative AI assets, just help with the code.
If you enjoy the game, consider leaving feedback or buying me a coffee!
Comments
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Just starting, noticing a lot of bobiverse references, will keep updating with things I like
This is fun, but resources snowball really fast, would be nice to have more things to do with them
Thanks for playing!
What we have now is essentially phase 1 of 3. I'm in the process of really refining the basics here in phase 1 so we can easily expand on it down the road. I have plans to make use of those massive resource stocks in phase 2 via various megaprojects and research tasks that grant big bonuses to gameplay.
Phase 3 is a bit more abstract right now, but eventually I'd like to add a late game component that introduces resource scarcity (no more infinite resources...), and subsequently, conflict. This is where the whole behind-the-scenes personality aspect of each cloned instance (to model replicative drift) would come into play.
Here each instance can begin to act independently in terms of how it handles the resources scarcity issue. Will they prioritize expansion and go to war with other instances? Or perhaps they prioritize stability and make an alliances? Who wins here, and what even define winning? All this is far far away for itch.io, but in the works nonetheless...
If you have any more feedback at all, please don't hesitate to reach out!
What a wonderful project. I greatly enjoyed it as it is.
I would love to see this expanded, mostly I think it could use some more automation (for probe creation and deployment, maybe a standard setting for new probes), and something to do with the massive abundance of resources you can quickly produce - to take more inspiration from the bobiverse, maybe some research, or mega projects to build.
Thanks for playing and leaving a comment!
Automation (beyond "Like rabbits" simulation mode) is still a bit rough and definitely something I'll continue to refine. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to actually get them to start to grow each system exponentially. There is no AI built into in the game itself, just hard-coded logic, so giving something the appearance of autonomy has proven to be one of the most challenging aspects of this game by far. Especially as I add more feature, as each time it requires updating the progression logic of the autonomous modes.
As for your point about resource abundance, I agree completely and already have several plans to address this, including megaprojects!
The game in it's current state (build v25) represents a framework that I've purpose built to be expanded upon. The current iteration essentially showcases only 1 of 3 core gameplay phases I have in mind for this project.
Phase 1) Explore and Expand (current game)
Phase 2) Entrench and Exploit (current game+, this is where those massive resource stockpiles start to do something...)
Phase 3) Collapse and Conquest (every utopia can only last so long...)
Sounds great, do you have any plans to do more with the "blogs" / discoveries?
Yes! I have several plans for this aspect of the game as it's currently underutilized.
I'd like to include randomly seeded "alien ruins" across the map. Once discovered in a system, the instance in charge there will be given the option to begin a new megaproject (exotic research, or something similar). Completing this project will consume A LOT of time and resources, particularly compute and energy, but once completed it will grant a predetermined bonus or benefit. Still brainstorming what those benefits will be exactly, but they will be huge and worth the resource investment.