indiegame.fan
Gaia header art

Gaia

An incremental game with non-standard counting about creating life. Because there's nothing special about base 10.

Steam Page
Developer
Publisher
Release
March 3, 2026
152 days ago
Steam Reviews
Positive13 reviews92.3%

Does this feel indie?

Vote based on whether this game feels indie to you. You can change your vote at any time. Results earn an IGF score after 10 accepted votes.
No votes yet
Vote on More Games
Game contextLatest: IGF Team
ContextThe evidence factors used to assess whether this game belongs on IndieGame.Fan.Status
Notes
Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer.
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher.
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified.
Search Google: How is Gaia and Joseph Sak funded?FundingThe known source of funding behind the game.
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game.
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released.

Media

7 items

About the Game

Base 10 is dumb and overused.  What's so special about it?  Nothing! (other than it being how many digits most of us have).  However, for anything non-human, there's no reason to stop counting after 9...

You awaken.  You are a nascent being focused upon a speck of rock in an empty sea of blackness.  You have the ability to create life.  But creating life is difficult, it is fickle and short-lived.  But it is also persistent.

Seed the universe with life and study it to become better at what you do.  Engage in research of your creations and learn the tricks life employs to survive on hostile worlds.  Then introduce these methods to new worlds and allow life to thrive.

This unique incremental plays with the various concept of numbers themselves.  Instead of counting 0-9 then adding another digit, the base that you count in is dynamic and based upon the complexity of life at any given time.  Similarly, you cannot add endless digits to make your numbers go higher, you are limited by each planet's carrying capacity.  You'll have to expand life's reach if you wish to count to higher values.

Evolution and Extinction are baked into the core of the game, along with a college course in biology as you discover symbiosis, evolution, sexual reproduction, genetics, predation, and more.  Experiment on and learn from your creations as you seed the universe.

Explore nine different planet types, each with their own challenges and strengths, and each with secrets buried deep within them that you'll need to discover over many visits with new knowledge gained from elsewhere.

Enjoy 40-50 hours of gameplay (or 10 and a lot of offline progression) and learn some biology while you are at it.

Made by a solo dev, without a marketing budget or AI, but with human play testers making sure the game is actually fun.