split this out from the main blogpost because idk how much longer that'll take, might start splitting more if it takes too long
wrote these for fun and also to hone poetic writing skills so
enjoy!
hexist is an unbalanced ecosystem, and you must take care of it. every creature fends for its own survival, but your struggle is unique: how can you rescue a broken system from within?
your survival is inextricably linked to that of your fellow inhabitants. allow any species to go extinct - be it through neglect or apathy - and you will experience firsthand the fallout of ecosystem collapse, as the creatures you once shared this world with slowly die off, leaving you alone in a wasteland of rotting carcasses.
your job is to cultivate this world, curate its populations, and bring it to self-sustainability.
for just like any other creature, this system is alive too.
we often hear about how creatures are going extinct more than ever before. most people just shrug it off - sure, it's a shame these species are gone forever, but why does it matter? why should we care?
this game is an attempt to change that mindset.
hexist puts the player in the shoes of a creature. this creature inhabits an ecosystem: it has a territory, it hunts prey, and it must flee from predators.
on the surface, this seems like just another simple survival game, somewhat akin to Rain World (which i took much inspiration from), yet with worse graphics and much less depth.
but get eaten, and you will find yourself in control of the creature that ate you.
slowly, you will fall up the food chain, until you finally reach the top, and there are no more predators to run from.
you are the apex predator now.
most players would just keep hunting around, gobbling up prey, farming more points.
slowly, they will start to notice irregularities in the population density. maybe there's more penguins and less seals. maybe there's too little squid or krill.
eventually, they'll die of old age, as time and tide wait for no orca, and they'll be left staring at their rotten carcass, waiting for some scavenger to come by and take interest so they may rejoin the food chain...
but their patience will have been in vain, as the scavengers have gone extinct too.
this is ecosystem collapse.
this is what happens when species go extinct.
on a subsequent replay, they might start to realize that maybe they should eat the more abundant creatures.
perhaps they might notice that some species are going extinct, and figure out that they'll need to hunt the natural predators of that species.
there's only one way to win at this game. it is to consume responsibly and sustainably.
it is my hope that players will be able to understand that this principle is not just limited to the ecosystem of hexist, and that they will begin to identify parallels between this game world and our real world, such as the apex predators of our world that are also ruining the ecosystem:
humans.
and hopefully, they will start to care about our extinct species too.
made with <3 and /.gen.sh