Thrive

"From the lowly tidepools of your home planet, you will rise to cosmic dominance. At every step, powerful creation tools and deep simulation mechanics will aid your species’ development. Revolutionary Games Studio is the open-source team of dedicated volunteers aiming to make Thrive a reality."

Thrive is a simulation open-source game made by Revolutionary Games Studio for PC, Mac, and Linux. The game guides the player to develop a species from its beginning as a prokaryote to a spacefaring civilization using editors and other useful mechanics. Thrive aims to be scientifically accurate while still delivering a fun experience.

The game is being actively developed since the first half of 2010 by a group of volunteers from around the world. It is inspired by various games like Spore, Stellaris, and Civilization. Currently, only the Microbe Stage is implemented, and still in development.

Gameplay
Thrive is broken up into various stages, each one having different playstyles, from controlling a cell to have different compounds with a top-down perspective, to managing a spacefaring civilization. In the first half of the game, the player controls an individual organism satisfying its needs and increasing its chances of survival, in the second half the player manages an entire civilization, transforming the game into an RTS.

Evolution is a major theme of Thrive, the player uses a variety of editors to change the species' design and behavior, and compete with other creatures made procedurally by the game.

Stages
The game is divided into eight stages across a species' progression from a cell to civilization, the stages are distinguished by the species' and civilization's traits which are obtained over the course of the game. Two Stages are currently complete with three currently in different phases of development.

Microbe Stage
The Microbe Stage is the first stage of the game, where the player controls a prokaryote cell made of cytoplasm that is part of the only species on the planet. To live the cell requires ATP, and to replicate phosphate and ammonia, the player is led to the Microbe Editor as it reproduces, where the player can see what has happened on the planet and edit the species.

Multicellular Stage
Multicellular Stage

The Multicellular Stage is the second stage of the game, and the first incomplete stage. Here, the player controls a colony of eukaryotic cells.

Aware Stage
Aware Stage

The Aware Stage is not implemented, but a prototype is in development.

Awakening Stage
Awakening Stage

The Awakening Stage is not implemented, but a prototype is in development.

Society Stage
Society Stage

Very little discussion has been done on this stage so far.

Industrial Stage
Industrial Stage

Almost no discussion has been done on this stage so far.

Space Stage
Space Stage

No discussion has been done on this stage so far.

Ascension Stage
Ascension Stage

The end game, and guess what? No work!