Games like Universal Paperclips
Probe swarms spreading through space, with other people's swarms in the way.
Universal Paperclips starts with a button that makes one paperclip and ends with self-replicating probes converting the universe. Its last act is the part people remember: a probe count that grows on its own, and a universe of matter slowly turning into more of it. Swarm MMO starts roughly where that act does, with planets producing probes and probes taking more planets, and adds everyone else doing the same thing on the same map.
Side by side
| Universal Paperclips | Swarm MMO | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Single-player | Multiplayer, one shared galaxy |
| Growth | Exponential, into huge numbers | Linear in planet level, up to level 10 |
| Probes | Self-replicating, with trust spent on their stats | Produced by planets; technology changes their numbers |
| Opposition | Drifters, late in the game | Other players, from the start |
| Automation | Unlocked through projects | Planet and sun automation, and the Command Center |
| Ending | A fixed ending after some hours | Collapse a galaxy's black hole, then carry on |
| Price | Free in the browser | Free in the browser |
The incremental part
Every planet you own produces probes each minute at its level. A level costs 100 × level² probes, so 100 for level 2, 400 for level 3 and 900 for level 4, and more planets and higher levels multiply each other. Suns add a second currency: they pay energy, which buys technology up to level 100, 33,835,000 energy for a full run.
Automation removes the clicking, much as Paperclips' projects do. A planet can upgrade itself when it can afford to and ship probes at a threshold between 100 and 10,000, and the Command Center applies a setting to a whole empire at once.
Where it is not Paperclips
- The numbers stay small. Production is linear in level, and no counter ever needs scientific notation.
- The matter fights back. Every planet near you belongs to someone or is guarded by a neutral garrison, and players can take back what you took.
- There is no story. No narrative stages and no ending text.
The reset
Collapsing a galaxy is the prestige layer. Hold every sun in it, capture the black hole, stockpile 1,000 megaprobes on it and collapse it. The galaxy is destroyed with your planets in it, and every sun you own afterwards produces more energy for good. Probes become super-probes at a sun at 100 to 1, and super-probes become megaprobes at a black hole at 100 to 1, so each megaprobe is 10,000 probes.
The idle games page goes further into the automation and prestige side. Play in the browser, no account needed.
Questions
Is Swarm MMO like Universal Paperclips?
It shares the late game: probes spreading through space and a count that grows without you. It is multiplayer, the numbers stay small, and there is no story.
Can Swarm MMO be played idle?
Largely. Planets produce while you are offline, and automation can upgrade them and send probes on its own. Other players can still take what you leave running.
Does Swarm MMO have an ending?
Each galaxy does: collapsing its black hole ends it and pays a permanent bonus. The game carries on in the other galaxies, and your prestige, technology and credits come with you.
How much does Swarm MMO cost?
Nothing. Credits exist, but they buy cosmetics and one interface panel, never production.