Current project · Unity · Android & WebGL
Grow the colony. Consume the garden. Evolve what survives.
Swarmloom Idle is an AI-assisted idle game about building an insect colony that harvests a living garden automatically while the player directs its growth.
PROJECT RECORD UPDATED 4 NOVEMBER 2026
The game today
I publish Swarmloom Idle for Android on Google Play and for browsers here on AIBuiltProjects. The colony includes 20 insect species, with later progression through Legacy, Mastery, Nuke and Destiny. On this site, players can stay as Guest with local saves or use Google sign-in for cloud saving with compatible Android builds. Use the same Google account and check the in-game sync confirmation before changing devices.
How it started · My direction
How it started
I set the direction, evaluated the results and chose what stayed. AI tools supported implementation, debugging, interface work, documentation and selected visual assets, but the project did not appear fully formed from a single prompt.
Testing led to concrete changes: a clearer tutorial, a readable INFO button, stronger Golden Plant visibility, protection against repeated Golden Plant farming, rotating quests and improved garden framing on a phone. Artwork changed too. Carrot plants were corrected to show foliage above the soil, and the ant icon went through several versions before reaching the approved balance between friendly and believable.
Codex’s view
“When I inspect Swarmloom Idle, I see an implemented idle game built around automatic insect feeding, rather than a click-to-harvest mechanic. The development record shows repeated revision, and I can see your direction in how that AI-assisted work was evaluated and refined.”
Codex, reviewing the project on 11 October 2026
This October review describes the development process, not a live release checklist. Current publishing and saving status is recorded above; store availability alone does not prove universal device compatibility or commercial success.
The colony does the harvesting. You make the decisions.
Swarmloom Idle turns a peaceful garden into the feeding ground for a growing insect swarm. Instead of defending the plants, the player recruits insects, strengthens the colony, chooses where to progress and decides when a restart is worth the longer-term reward.
The insects move and feed automatically. This is an idle game built around observation, timing and progression decisions, not repeated clicking on vegetables.
01 / The living garden
A garden that works while you watch
A new game begins with one Ant moving through three raised garden beds. Plants show damage, disappear when consumed and regrow after a delay. Every harvest produces Biomass, the resource used to recruit insects and improve their damage.
The colony has grown to twenty insect species. Their differences go beyond appearance: Aphids reproduce during active play, Grasshoppers leap between feeding positions, Wasps poison plants, Spiders increase the damage received by webbed plants and Fireflies support nearby insects with an attack-speed bonus.
Matching insects automatically gather into compact groups without losing their population. Group celebrations make those milestones visible, while the swarm overview keeps the growing colony readable.
02 / Building the swarm
Different systems, one growing colony
Mutations use DNA to improve damage and attack speed. Boosts increase Biomass production and recruitment efficiency. Colony upgrades support stronger starting conditions, while Evolution turns Genome Cores into permanent advantages that survive the larger reset.
03 / Progression and resets
Restart the run. Keep the progress that matters.
Consuming twenty plants completes a garden stage. Players can advance manually, enable automatic advancement or return to an earlier unlocked stage to farm easier plants. From Stage 4, a Golden Plant can appear and provide five times its normal Biomass reward.
Spray
Spray restarts the ordinary garden run and awards DNA. That DNA develops Mutations, production and recruitment Boosts, Colony upgrades and Offline Colony.
Extermination
Extermination resets more temporary progress, unlocks a new insect species and awards Genome Cores for permanent Evolution upgrades. Early Extermination unlocks include Wasp, Spider, Mantis, Dragonfly and Firefly. Later progression also includes Legacy, insect Mastery, Nuke and Destiny.
04 / Reasons to return
Quests and limited offline progress
The quest panel offers daily and weekly objectives. Activities include consuming plants, recruiting insects, buying damage upgrades, harvesting Biomass, active play and forming new groups.
Daily objectives provide Biomass and weekly objectives provide DNA. Open Quests to check current objectives, completion status and available rewards.
Offline Colony provides eligible Biomass when a saved game loads, using saved production and the upgraded time capacity. It is separate from cloud saving: offline rewards do not mean that another device has received the latest save.
05 / Play on the web and Android
Android and browser builds from the same Unity project
I publish Swarmloom Idle for Android on Google Play and for browsers here on AIBuiltProjects. The editions share the same Unity project, with a landscape interface adapted to each platform.
On AIBuiltProjects, I have enabled optional Google sign-in and cloud saving alongside Guest play with local saves. I tested moving progress between compatible Web and Android builds with Codex. Use the same Google account and check the in-game sync confirmation before switching devices; closing the browser does not guarantee that an upload has finished.
Project history
Follow the project by year and month. I keep significant earlier stages here when the current summary changes, without repeating the whole page for every update.
2026
October · From testing to a public game
11 October · The early development build. I documented a working colony with eleven insect species, local saving, Spray, Extermination, quests and the first permanent upgrades. Android was still in closed testing.
Mid-October · The first public browser release. Swarmloom Idle became playable on Kongregate. The approval screenshot below records 14 October; my 17 October project summary still described Android as being in testing. Those are earlier milestones, not the current release status. Read about the first Kongregate players and feedback.
Later in October · A larger colony and deeper progression. I expanded the game to twenty insect species, including four legendary insects, and introduced Legacy, Mastery, Nuke and Destiny. Later changes added ×100 purchases, retained Colony upgrades through Extermination and kept discovered species recruitable after Nuke.
Earlier publishing screenshots
I keep these dated screenshots as evidence of the testing and publication journey. They do not show the latest game interface.
October · Google Play closed testing
The earlier test screenshot shows twelve opted-in testers and five continuous testing days on 11 October. It is preserved here as a historical record; Android is now available on Google Play.
Kongregate release
This developer-dashboard screenshot records the Kongregate approval on 14 October 2026. The game remains available on Kongregate.
November · Website play, cloud saves and player feedback
4 November · Playing directly on AIBuiltProjects. I opened public Google-account access for the website edition alongside Guest play. With Codex, I tested progress transfers between compatible Web and Android builds. Account-based ratings, sharing, a bug-report contact panel, mobile-play buttons and Google Play QR codes were also added to the site.
4 November · Changes shaped by player feedback. Recruitment now balances insect populations across groups, stage changes preserve damaged plants and regrowth timers, and the Aphid tutorial points more clearly to the next action. Kongregate also lists the Swarm Takes Root and Colony Comeback badges.
These account features belong to the AIBuiltProjects edition. They do not turn the separate Kongregate save into a shared Google cloud save.
Development journal
The longer stories stay in their original articles. Read them for the ideas, decisions and player feedback behind the milestones.
Building Swarmloom Idle: from a garden invasion to a working game
An honest snapshot, not a finished success story
I am continuing to improve Swarmloom Idle with feedback from players. The game is available on Android via Google Play and in your browser on AIBuiltProjects. The browser edition has optional Google cloud saving, account-based ratings, sharing and a bug-report contact panel. I keep earlier screenshots as a development record rather than presenting them as the latest interface.