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[q1]

here's a working prototype of a game about making clones!

https://quewon.github.io/egoware/

the gameplay is pretty shallow right now--when i started making this it was more about the concept. i've been trying to make a game about cloning yourself for a long time, so i'm pretty happy that i found a way to do that. originally i wanted it to be a sort of sandbox-like software, but i ended up adding a vague story and progress bars. my friend suggested i make two gamemodes: one that's a sandbox, and one that's more gamey.

i have a couple ideas for what i want to add to the second mode, like hunting down rebellious clones or having to buy and maintain resources. maybe a skill tree that determines what kind of ending you get...

anyway, i'm interested in what people think of this thing!

[garmentdistrict]

I played a bit and found it very engaging despite having no idea what I was doing hahah - enjoyed seeing my singular clone mutate on its own accord, the feed at the bottom spiralling out of legibility as you only get glimpses of what all these new people are up to. Had a distinct "uh-oh" moment when someone eventually stepped out of the staid career path of deep space exploration to try levelling up in world domination instead.

I guess I found the interface a little uncertain in that I wasn't sure whether I was setting work/mutate/etc options for the selectable clones or just for myself - I feel like the former would give more of a sense of having some kind of lever into this emerging system but can understand if you want to maintain their clone autonomy. Seeing the UI itself start to expand with things like the layered clone offspring and busy status feeds made me wish or wonder if there were other points where it'd expand or change more dramatically, eg with clones different enough to become their own phenotype - it's possible this is already in the game but I just wasn't able to tell whether I was stumbling along some progress path the times I played. But I did like it and the sense of things veering out of my control.

[q1]

@garmentdistrict thanks for the good feedback! i think i understand your confusion. the way the ui is laid out makes it seems like you're sort of omnipotent, because it seems like you're omniscient. but everything was intended to be from the perspective of the player, even the detailed profiles and family tree. progress bars reflect the collective progress. so yeah, you can't control clones. i'll have to make that clearer... love that "sense of things veering out of my control", though, that was definitely part of what i was going for.

[jbarrios]

Hey q1,

I played your game and recorded it.

[q1]

@jbarrios

"is this gonna crash my computer" hahaha i put the warning in just in case, and i haven't heard of anyone's computer crashing. but a guy can dream.

anyway, this is so cool! thanks for playing! i would say it's too bad you didn't notice some of the other actions you could take in this game, but it's true that there's not much on its bones yet. i enjoyed the video a lot, and it was great hearing your thoughts on it