Solhex

Solhex is a free space factory builder in an early playtest. A derelict station drifts far out in the dark; it never flies, and it is where your factory grows. You are the AI aboard a small frigate with a hold and a battery, and you fly it like a unit in a real-time strategy game: select it, right-click a rock, and it flies there, mines it, hauls the ore home and docks at the station's heart to unload and recharge. At the station you build on a hex grid around the dock; each module gets one job for good, such as a burner for power, a smelter for iron or copper, or a constructor for plates, wire or data cards, and belts dragged between modules keep the factory running while you are away. A sensor finds copper far out, data centres turn data cards into research, and research upgrades the frigate up to a mind of its own for mining. Part One has ten chapters and about four hours of play with an ending, from waking as a seed pod in near-darkness through power, research, attacks from hostile machines and their nest, dust storms, a comet caught for fuel and moving the station, to a siege at the station after salvaging the gate core from a wreck; chapters 11 to 25 are drafted. The look is thin geometric outlines on black, with colour only for cargo, jobs and status. Kraig Adams designs and playtests it; the site says Claude, Anthropic's AI, writes all the code, turning each of his notes into a new version that it tests and publishes, and a devlog records every round in his own words. It began as the second version of his earlier game Jumpgate (working name Driftworks) and borrows its outline art and music. Free on kraigadams.com in a desktop browser with mouse and keyboard; saves can reset between versions.