Evolve Idle

Evolve is an incremental game about evolving a civilization from primordial ooze into a spacefaring empire. The upstream README describes the mix exactly: it "combines elements of a clicker with an idler and has lots of micromanagement", and poses the question the whole game is built around — What will you evolve into?

The shape is a city tier ladder with eight rungs, then a set of late-game systems that open on top of it:

Camp → Hamlet → Village → Town → City → Metropolis → Megalopolis → Ecumenopolis

Each tier unlocks more of the interface, and the late systems — Space, Industry, Civics, Market, Storage, Government, Military, Mech Lab, Ship Yard, Power Grid, Spire Supply and Outer Solar System — are where the actual difficulty lives.

How to Play

1. Gather resources. At the start that is manual clicks, and it is the only manual part; everything downstream runs on production rates.
2. Advance your civilization tier. Higher tiers unlock new tabs and new production chains rather than just bigger numbers.
3. Build production. Balance resources against each other — the game punishes running a single resource dry more than it rewards a full inventory.
4. Research technologies to open the next tier and new mechanics.
5. Expand outward. Industry, Power Grid and Mech Lab feed the Ship Yard, which is how you reach Space and the Outer Solar System.
6. Set your government once Civics unlocks — it is a long-term modifier, not a combat system.
7. Prestige when you have a run worth restarting. The wiki has a dedicated Prestige section under its calculators.

Controls

The whole game is mouse clicks — there are no keyboard shortcuts:

• Click a resource to gather it manually (early game only)
• Click a tab across the top to switch panels
• Click a building or upgrade to buy or queue it
• Click the Market to trade resources
• Wiki button — opens the in-game wiki, which is extensive and includes mechanics guides, FAQ and a set of calculators (mass ejector, prestige and others)
• Reset button — permanently wipes all progress

⚠️ The game is explicit about the reset button: "This completely resets all your progress and cannot be undone. This is NOT a prestige mechanic; you are wiping out your game data. Keep this button disabled." Prestige is the intended reset path, and reset is not undoable.

Offline Progress

Evolve keeps accumulating while the tab is closed. The Mass Ejector (interstellar mass ejector) and the outer-space systems push this further, so there is a real incentive to check back periodically rather than never.

Tips

• Check the wiki's calculators before you prestige. The Mass Ejector and prestige math both reward planning against projected values.
• Storage is worth buying early — carrying caps bite harder than production shortfalls once you have several chains running.
• Do not touch the reset button. It is labeled a non-prestige mechanic and it wipes everything.

About

Evolve was created by Peter Motschmann and is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.

• Original game source: https://github.com/pmotschmann/Evolve
• Original live build: https://pmotschmann.github.io/Evolve/

The package identifies itself as version 1.3.16, so this is a mid-development snapshot. It ships an in-game wiki with 10,000+ translated string keys, which is the best reference for any mechanic the surface UI does not explain.

See public/games/evolve-idle/ATTRIBUTION.md for the full provenance record, including the bundled open-source libraries.