Thrive (video game)
| Thrive | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Revolutionary Games Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Revolutionary Games Studio |
| Engine | Godot |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Linux, MacOS |
| Release | October 2013 (first version); 26 November 2021 (early access on Steam) |
| Genre(s) | God game, life simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Thrive is an open source life simulation god game developed and published by Revolutionary Games Studio. The game was published on Steam on November 26, 2021, and is available on Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux.[1] The game has been available as a free download from its official website since 2013, although a paid version can be bought on Steam as a developer support act.[2][not in body] Thrive takes significant influence from Spore, being similar in gameplay, and connected through development history.[3][4] The current version of Thrive is 0.8.2.1.[5][6]
Gameplay
[edit]
Thrive allows players to play as a species from its earliest form as a microscopic organism as it develops into a more complex lifeform, eventually progressing into primitive society and then civilization.[7][2] The game is divided into different stages, each of them representing a different time period of the life and society evolution into sentience. There are 9 different stages planned, including the Microbe Stage, Multicellular Stage, Macroscopic Stage, Aware Stage, Awakening Stage, Society Stage, Industrial Stage, Space Stage and the Ascension Stage.[8] Of all 9 stages, only the Microbe Stage is finished to a presentable form, while the others are still in development.
In the first stage of the game, the player plays as a microorganism, who must collect various chemical compounds in order to function.[9] The game allows the player to edit their species, adding new organelles or changing living conditions, which unlocks more opportunities for the player to explore the world through increasing the ability of the species to synthesize needed compounds like glucose. The game tracks various environmental parameters, such as oxygen or temperature levels, which affect the functions of the microbe. If the player should find themselves in conditions unsuitable for the organism, like extreme temperatures or pressure, their creature will die unless adaptations are made through an in-game editor.
The second stage, the Multicellular Stage, is still in development, but has a working prototype which can be played after finishing the first stage. The player controls a growing colony of cells connected together, forming a single organism. Similar to the Microbe Stage, the player explores the world and adapts their creature to environmental conditions, and when their creature reaches the required size, they can move to the next stage.[10]
Development
[edit]The idea of creating Thrive was born in 2008, with the release of a life simulation game known as Spore.[3] During the development of Spore, many expected Spore to be more realistic and “scientifically accurate", and were disappointed when the final product took a more simplified and “cute” approach. This resulted in a sequance of attempts of developing an alternative to Spore, that would follow people's expectations of a scientific life simulator.
Evolutions!
[edit]In early 2009, a user Hirnsausen on a forum, dedicated to Spores posted screenshots of a game called "Evolutions!", claiming it was a scientifically-minded Spore-like game being developed by students at Berlin University.[citation needed] After some time, it was revealed that "Evolutions!" was a hoax to "pressure EA into making changes to Spore".[11] Despite the great disappointment in the project, a team including the author of the post decided to make this concept into reality, forming a team and started making early prototypes. Due to aggressive control and acts of Hirnsausen, the team was in disarray, and some developers decided to leave the team, founding their own project, which, after a vote, was named "Thrive" in 2010. Eventually, the development of Evolutions was stopped due to the split within the team and the subsequent hacking of the developers' forums, with corresponding loss of data.[12]
Thrive
[edit]Similar to "Evolutions!", Thrive was intended as a more scientific version of Spore, and began slowly developing in 2011 and 2012, collecting a small group of programmers, all of which left the project by early 2013, with the first release of the game known as 0.2.1. By that time, the forum of the game was "a hub of speculation and baseless ideas", and the project suffered a lack of skilled enthusiasts willing to actively develop the game. In 2014, Thrive forums experienced a strong flow of newcomers, caused by the interest of Spore players from Reddit in an alternative for their game. Several programmers joined the development team, keeping the project moving forward "slowly but meaningful". In 2015 and 2016, new development and community forums were launched, alongside with a release of a new version of Thrive known as 0.3.0.
In 2017, after multiple game engine changes throughout previous years, Thrive's developers selected Godot, on which the game is developed today. On May 16, 2020, a 0.5.0 version of Thrive was released, alongwisde with a full transportation of the game to Godot that introduced a lot of new features to the game. By 2020, the project faced a question of including money in game's development, and as a result of a long discussion, Revolutionary Games was officially registered as an association in Finland.[13][14] In 2021, Thrive was released on Steam in early access, and thus experienced a new wave of popularity on YouTube.[15][16] By 2025, the team is planning to complete the development of the first stage before the end of the year, and afterwards focusing work on the multicellular stage, with possible release of the version 1.0.0.
References
[edit]- ^ "Thrive - release date, videos, screenshots, reviews on RAWG". rawg.io. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ a b "Home". www.revolutionarygamesstudio.com. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ a b Pacampara, Nicole (2016-09-16). "Here it is, the game that Spore was supposed to be". Killscreen. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ Nath, Rhitankar (2019-04-15). "11 Games You Must Play if You Love Spore". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Progress Update 05/17/2025". www.revolutionarygamesstudio.com. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
- ^ "Open source evolution sim Thrive adds currents, bioluminescence, additional environmental events and more". GamingOnLinux. 2025-05-05. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
- ^ "Open source evolution sim Thrive adds prototypes for going on land". GamingOnLinux. 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Stages". Thrive Developer Wiki. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ Smith, Terrence J. (2023-01-09). "8 Free, Open Source Alternatives To Popular Games". Game Rant. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Multicellular Stage". Thrive Developer Wiki. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
- ^ "Thrive's Sweet Sixteen". Thrive Community Forum. 2025-02-06. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
- ^ https://thrivegame.freeforums.net/thread/55/same
- ^ "Revolutionary Games continue building up their free evolution game Thrive". GamingOnLinux. 2021-01-12. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Open source is democratizing video game development". GitHub. 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-05-03. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "Project History". Thrive Developer Wiki. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ Oliver Lugg (2022-03-18). Thrive: The Evolution of a Game. Retrieved 2025-05-22 – via YouTube.