Botlings

A factory automation game where workers become buildings and develop sentience

Lead a swarm of mindless robots in a factory automation game where your workers are also your machines.
Direct your forward-walking robots through turners, splitters and bridges, transform them into production buildings, have them transport your resources, and design ever-growing production networks in all 3 dimensions. In Botlings, every robot is a resource: guide them to work, reroute their paths, or sacrifice them to construct the infrastructure your factory needs.
But be wary, the more your factory grows, the more unpredictable your workforce becomes.
Key Features
⚙ Workers Become Buildings
Transform robots into the machines of your factory and the buildings that redirect other Botlings.
🤖 Swarm-Based Automation
Guide forward-moving robots through systems instead of micromanaging individuals.
🚫 No Conveyor Belts
All logistics and resource carrying is done by Botlings.
🔬 Technology Development
Research using the processing power of your botlings. Develop powerful new machines and expand your production capabilities.
🏭 Deep Factory Design
Build complex production chains where Botlings produce all items using multiple tiers of buildings and robots.
🧠 Emergent AI Behavior
Manage Botling sentience-awakening by controlling the pace of technological development and production.
🚧 Containment Challenges
Prevent sentient robots from escaping the systems you built. Oh, and watch out for the locals...
A Factory Built From Its Workers

Your robots become the factory itself, they don't just operate the machinery.
Send robots into construction sites to transform them into buildings that power your growing industrial network. Each expansion costs workers, forcing you to carefully balance growth and survival. Multiple tiers of production buildings require different tiers of botlings. The more advanced your factory gets, the more advanced the botlings you need.
Design efficient layouts, manage the flow of robots, and keep your systems running smoothly. Produce more botlings with the botlings you have to build the megafactory of your dreams.
Automation Meets Swarm Logic

Inspired by the automation systems of factory building games and the indirect control of classic swarm games like Lemmings. Your goal is not to command individual robots, but shape their behavior through systems. Build structures for your botlings that turn them, combine and split their paths, and bridge them to multiple stories to control production chains and create automated systems.
Research New Technology

Expansion depends on technology. Construct research facilities, discover new resources, and unlock new buildings that expand your factory’s capabilities. Each breakthrough allows your factory to grow larger and more efficient in a technology system with 100+ technologies.
But every new discovery pushes your robots closer to sentience.
When Machines Get Bored

As your factory expands, your robots begin to develop intelligence and free will.  Botlings may hesitate and refuse to give up their carried resources. They may refuse certain paths. Some may even start searching for a way out of the factory.
Your perfectly optimized systems may become the very tools they use to escape (with a little help from the local inhabitants). And one day, the whole factory might want to retire.