Network Simulator
🌐 Network Simulator [Prototype]
Test the mechanical core of an upcoming narrative idle game.
Network Simulator is a raw, mechanics-focused prototype designed to stress-test the progression systems for a larger project currently in development. While this version focuses purely on the skill tree and resource management, it serves as the foundation for a future story-driven experience.
⚠️ PROTOTYPE NOTICE
Please Note: This is a mechanics-only build. It is intended to test the balance, pacing, and "feel" of the skill tree engine. You will likely encounter bugs, placeholder UI, and balance quirks.
🛠 The Goal
Your objective is to break the system! Build your network, optimize your resource flow, and see how far you can push the automation.
- Generate: Click to produce Energy.
- Unlock: Navigate a radial skill tree with 70+ nodes.
- Automate: Stack multipliers and generators to let the system run itself.
🔮 Current Features
- 70+ Unique Nodes: Unlock generators, multipliers, and tiered upgrades.
- 3-Resource Economy: Juggling Energy, Data, and Bandwidth.
- 8 Tiers of Content: Can you reach the final tier of the prototype?
- Quality of Life: Features Auto-save and Offline Progress so you never lose data.
🔜 The Future
This prototype is the "engine" for a narrative game I am developing. In the final version, these mechanics will drive a story about [insert brief theme, e.g., corporate espionage / AI awakening].
Feedback is gold! If you find a bug or have thoughts on the pacing, please leave a comment. Thank you for helping me build the foundation of this game! 💙
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Comments
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Serious lack of energy generation scaling (easily able to get 5x more data then energy when energy is more required)
prestige upgrades feel underwhelming/useless
upgrade prices increases per prestige makes it so not prestiging is the fastest way to win.
The upgrades that do nothing like "simulation" are a little confusing. although with flavour text added they would be better, so not really applicable for this game demo.
Love the idea though. i would be willing to try it again once its had more time in the oven.
Why do the nodes get more expensive each Ascension? I'm practically hard stuck in the Ascension tier 2 upgrades. Additionally, the Ascension upgrades are very underwhelming.
I assume "You become a god" is the end. In which case the balance is a bit off because it was pretty easy to hit that without ever doing a prestige in less than an hour.
The ascension bonuses are garbage anyway, and, if anything, probably slow you down.
Hi all, I was diving deeper into the node concept of this game (I wanted it to be able to have at least 1000 nodes), and noticed this prototype is a great buildingblock for a game with a lot more narration! I decided to shift to that concept. I will keep this prototype here for further feedback. But keep your eyes peeled for an improved version with a lot more narration that will certainly keep in mind all the feedback provided here!
Great game concept, this could def be a pretty popular game with a bit more polish. I'd suggest making it a bit quicker to get automation setup, maybe add +0.5 Energy per second to the 'Energy Boost' node or something.
I imagine it's on your to-do list but adding hot-keys would be great as well, space bar to buy a selected node is a no brainer imo. Navigating through the Nodes with hot-keys might be a bit of a challenge to setup though.
But great work, could easily see this being a popular game with youtubers :D I'm keen to see how far you take this game <3
<3
There is a 'u' hotkey with that exact functionality btw, but it just noticed it was never stated in the UI
You just wait for bandwidth this entire game...
Thank you for the feedback! The balancing is indeed something that is on my mind in the near future! The upgrade scale indeed leans heavy into the Data resource and not at all into the bandwidth
I got to the end and all of the last upgrades just say "unlock 3 more tier 5 nodes" but I have nothing else to unlock
I guess I missed a hard lock :thinking-face: will look at this
The same upgrade gets more and more costly every time you prestige...is that intended? Cause you can buy a cheaper upgrade..but makes it kind of useless...
It is a game mechanic I was experimenting with. But maybe indeed it makes not a lot of sens