Emberwood
An idle/incremental RPG about a druid tending a world that grows by its own rules.
Most idle games hand you a number that goes up. Here, the thing you're harvesting is actually running underneath.
🌱 Emberwood — Growth
A living field of cells that evolves on its own. It's a real cellular automaton.
Seed empty ground, harvest what ripens before it decays, and learn to recognize rare patterns that appear naturally. Sometimes the best strategy is simply leaving something alone long enough for it to become something better.
⛏️ Stonehollow — Delving
A mine that only changes when you strike it.
Break through rock, uncover hidden ore veins, and decide when to descend. Deeper layers are richer, but every level becomes more dangerous.
🎣 Stillmere — Angling
A lake filled with around 150 fish that genuinely school together using boid flocking behaviour.
Each species moves differently, and learning those patterns becomes part of the challenge.
Unlock three fishing styles as you progress:
- Fish with a rod and decide how long to wait before pulling in.
- Cast a net where you think the school is going.
- Herd individual schools into position and target exactly the fish you want.
How it plays
- Every skill is built around two simple taps. The challenge isn't fast reactions, it's reading the simulation between those actions.
- OSRS inspired progression with individual skill XP, equipment, drops and an expanding skill tree.
- Every region ends with a unique guardian that unlocks the next area. Bosses use the same underlying mechanics as the skills themselves, rewarding understanding over raw damage.
- Idle progression forms the baseline, while active play is designed to reward learning and mastery.
- Play instantly in your browser, on desktop or mobile. Installable as a PWA. No accounts, no servers and no ads.
Prototype Status
This is an early playable prototype that I'm sharing to gather feedback.
- The pixel art is placeholder while I focus on mechanics.
- Balance and progression are still being tuned.
- Saves may reset between prototype versions. Any reset will be announced in the devlog beforehand.
Feedback I'd love
I'm mainly trying to answer a few questions:
- Which skill did you enjoy the most?
- Which one became repetitive first?
- How did the pacing feel?
- Did any mechanic feel confusing or unfair?
- Would you keep playing if this were expanded into a much larger game?
I'm a huge fan of OSRS, Melvor Idle and incremental games in general. I'm also fascinated by mathematical models like cellular automata and boids, and this project is my attempt to turn those kinds of simulations into gameplay rather than just visual effects.
If you give it a try, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think. Even a few sentences of feedback will help shape where the game goes next.
Comments
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Since you're asking for feedback:
1. Which skill did you enjoy the most?
Angling in Stillmere with the net: The flocking behavior was interesting to watch, and there is a bit of skill in throwing the net so as to catch your intended targets.
2. Which one became repetitive first?
Delving in Stonehollow: I just clicked rapidly along the top-most row, and then clicked rapidly along the new top-most row, and so on. It felt repetitive almost immediately. I stopped as soon as I unlocked automation.
3. How did the pacing feel?
It felt pretty good! Emberwood was fast paced. Stonehollow felt a bit repetitive from the beginning. The angling started to feel slow around roe ~300.
4. Did any mechanic feel confusing or unfair?
No! Everything was self-explanatory. I didn't feel like anything was confusing or unfair.
5. Would you keep playing if this were expanded into a much larger game?
No, I don't think so. The tasks were simplistic--and that's about all there was to the game. The upgrades unlocked one after another, so it didn't feel like there was any strategy: you just click until you get bored and wander off. I like games that have a non-linear skill tree--so you're able to pick and choose the upgrades that will help you level up the fastest. It's also great if there's some strategy to the tasks themselves. For example, in a tower defense game, there is a ton of strategy in choosing which tower to place where, and when to upgrade the tower. I feel like the Emberwood forest had the potential for strategy, but, because of the pace, you tend to just click on mature cells when they pop up, and seed bare cells when the grid is getting a little sparse. That's about the extent of it--which is a real shame, because I know you built some interesting rules into Emberwood! If there were more time and an incentive for the player to discover them, it could be very interesting.