Project Chromata
Welcome to Project Chromata
An idle, minimalist sci-fi game with a deep, unfolding mystery. You awaken as the Chroma Engine, a machine built for a single purpose: to create. In a silent, starless void, you must generate fundamental colors, mix them into complex new forms, and reignite the memory of a lost cosmos.
Your Directive
The universe is empty. Your function is to fill it. By allocating your power and building a vibrant resource engine, you can push back against the perfect nothingness. Each restored star is a new light in the dark and a fragment of a forgotten story, bringing you closer to understanding what was lost.
Gameplay
- Create & Combine: Generate primary colors and unlock complex mixers to build an intricate production chain.
- Reignite the Stars: Use your creations to generate Light and restore a vast, explorable Star Chart, unlocking powerful, permanent bonuses with each constellation.
- Automate Everything: Evolve your engine with sophisticated automation to manage production and upgrades, allowing you to focus on cosmic restoration.
- Discover the Past: Uncover the secrets of the void through fragmented lore entries tied to your progress.
Early Access Note
This is the Project Chromata, containing the complete Stage 1 to Stage 7 of the game!
Stage 8 is currently in active development and will introduce new mechanics and a significant expansion of the story. Your feedback on the current version is invaluable for balancing and shaping the future of the game!
Play the Steam Version
Join the Community
Have feedback or want to follow development? Join our official Discord server!
If you enjoyed the game and want to support its continued development, every little bit helps bring Stage 8 to life faster!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Patch Notes 1.7.21 day ago
- Patch Notes 1.7.17 days ago
- Release 1.710 days ago
- Patch Notes 1.5.344 days ago
- Patch Notes 1.5.251 days ago
- Patch Notes 1.5.152 days ago
- Release 1.557 days ago
- Patch Notes 1.4.2.0Nov 14, 2025
Comments
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Enjoying the game, but encountered the NaN bug in the terminal view, when checking out the code, it seems (in the minified code atleast) there are 2 issues occurring.
"production", "upgrade", "starchart", "void", "realms" ]` so it'll return undefined, and when the next calculation you do is `n = 1 - Math.max(0, r) / a`, which always becomes `NaN`.
Saying all this, it appears to just be a visual bug, as the actual variable used for the decryption value `player.terminalEncryption[e]` is still being updated, so it just means that the user won't realise they are still decrypting.
Hope this helps
Any chance for touch controls? or a android port?
alguien me dice el codigo trampa o la mierda que haya hecho para llegar a la quinta etapa ya quetemporal realm se bloquea en paradox engine y fractal realm en the sierpinski pyramid? no me creo que alguien llegue a la quinta etapa sin trampas, es imposible avanzar
This game seemed interesting but kills my browser performance on laptop, especially on the star chart, even on the lowest visuals. There isn't even anything happening, so I don't know what's making it take so much processing power that I can barely click on a button.
I was having a lot of fun with this, but I appear to have soft-locked myself out of this game :(
There is no explanation of compression or how it works. After I completed my second constellation and unlocked Automation (I don't know which was the activating event) the buttons suddenly became available to me. I clicked on x100, not knowing what it did. Now my production is so slow that it will be impossible for me to ever reach convergence. With all of my 205 pips assigned, I max out at only manage to make 0.02 /s for orange, purple, and green. And I am locked with this compression setting until my next convergence, but it is now impossible for me to reach it.
I really wish there had been some kind of explanation for what compression does. I still don't even know what the point of it is except that it locked me out of playing the game :(
I also wish there was a way to restart a run without reaching convergence. As it stands, I can't keep playing the game even though I want to
I got a similar issue, but i got inside x10 instead, lucky for me, i was able to complete it, i had to spend 10k null essence 4 times at x10 speed to get to 1000 white, i had nearly all my pips on primary, then, around 30 on orange, green, purple, 3 on amber, magenta, cyan, and only 1 on white, that it was draining a bit more than double than it got, the rest where mostly even, and i was producing 1 white per second of course, or that i would say if production was even, but as i mentioned, it was not, so you know, i spend nearly a day to complete it.
I did the same thing, had to hard reset. I don't think the compression is suppose to be there until you unlock it on the star chart's right side menu. It tells you what it does there, when it shows up.
The unlock is called "Essence Condensation". It's decription is "Unlocks Essence Compresion. Dense essence is worth 10x more during Convergence but fills tanks 10x slower." The 100x is a separate unlock.
Does anybody have a strategy to finish the Silent Realm -> The Final Silence map? I've tried a lot, but I always need more time, like 15 minutes more.
All the star charts that I've completed seem invisible. I've tried the game on both browsers and it's extremely hard to tell prices for stuff especially now that I've made it to Constellations like The Jade Expanse. Does anyone know how to resolve this?
Also yes I am playing on the latest version 1.7.1
Looking at the star chart drops my frame rate to about 2/s in Firefox.
Would you be interested in doing an interview for my YouTube channel segment focusing on Itch.io devs?
fun game :)
cuando eso pasa debes usar la torre de larga distancia, y cruzar los dedos porque alguna casilla de ahí dentro se ponga amarilla con suerte para empezar a poner torres
si esto te bloquea el seguir jugando, lloraras cuando llegues a los disruptores psionicos, pues esas cosas molestan mucho o esas torres de cuadrado que al destruirlos liberan mas torres rojas
I've been loving the game - a really great incremental (and I have played a lot of incremental)! I do like that the game unfolds layers as you go, and I love it when an incremental game does that. I also appreciate that you have a meaningful prestige system... which turns into a basic and automated mechanic later on.
I was even enjoying that Stage 5 (which a lot of folk don't seem to like), and I like that it was not just a complete cakewalk...
...but it seems like it can be a bit too challenging at times, and that there are unwinnable scenarios that can happen - or if there's a mechanic to win, it's not clear.
I'm currently stuck on The Screaming Maw; on other maps if you revealed too much of the map it could increase the challenge because more things would infect your stuff - but on The Screaming Maw, I seem to repeatedly get soft-locked because constant pys-screams from multiple different screamers. And they all seem to have the crystalline-super-defense on them, even if they aren't anywhere near a crystal, making it a real slog to shoot them down.
I suspect that some folk aren't articulating their issues with Stage 5 all that well - but I think a part of it might be that it feels like it's disconnected from the main idle game, and that it is a bit of a bait-and-switch. For example, Stage 5 can require a lot of focus and precision timing... which is kind of the opposite of the idle game folk had been playing up until that point. So I think that's part of the grievance that folk have.
As for my greviences with Stage 5 - well - I have some usability suggestions that I think will help without taking anything away for those that like it how it is. First off - being able to destroy and build while paused would help *a lot* (presumably, a built thing would just be stuck at 0% until unpaused). It would mean that folk like myself who have hand problems and/or limited dexterity could still play this part of the game. And it doesn't hurt people who want to play without pausing - they can still do that.
My other thought is that maybe Stage 5 doesn't have to be fully disconnected from the main game? I think folk may like being able to leverage their idle economy and that'd help connect Stage 5 to the first four stages.
For example - perhaps I can spend a few million Pristine Light to give me some sort of edge or advantage in the realm-fight-RTS - and using these advantages would be entirely optional.
Perhaps some of the impassible terrain could be destroyed with a Pristine Light Bomb, to open up more options and routes to victory. Maybe I could super-charge a Pylon to extend it's range, or perhaps I could power-up a pylon to also destroy dissonance - etc, etc.
You can even make it clear that it's an optional extra that isn't necessary and only for folk who want more options in the RTS; heck - feel free to have an achievement for clearing the post-clear simulations without using these reinforcement options.
I think that'd help folk that are frustrated with the difficulty, folk who have accessibility needs, and folk that wanted more of an idle game.
If someone wants to blow 100 million light on a level because they want to steam-roll it because that feels more idle-game like? Let them.
There's no pleasing everyone, but, adding options - even calling them 'idler options' or 'accessibility options' at least let folk who are invested actually see your game through.
I hope my thoughts are helpful.
Keep up the good work!
My Quintessance is negative 3 million and I can't fix it :(
Could someone explain the assault rules? I can't even seem to win the first one, since I can't figure out how to actually advance/
I'm stuck on that too, I think it has something to do with those long range weapon things
The achievements are so glitchy, I should have far more unlocked
The fact that Stage 4 is still a slow grueling mess of gameplay after 3 months is really disheartening. Nerfing screaming and root nodes doesn't change the overall issue of the RTS charm losing its appeal after your first run through of the new enemy towers.
Close second is the fact that there are still massive 'end of content time walls' scattered throughout the game for no reason at this point (I should not have to wait several hours with null essence enabled to even unlock stuff with pristine light)
The issue can be briefly described as:
NOT ENOUGH UPGRADES
Theres quite too much time spent on periods between old upgrade purchased and new upgrade appearing. The void building is too inconsequencial to be considered a proper upgrade.
the section ridden with this problem the most is the early void with most player reaching in the dark and the early realms.
no olvides que la parte RTS sigue siendo una porqueria, ya que en los niveles avanzados, es simplemente injusto, no importa cuanto mas puedes progresar porque hizo que haya mas tiempo para superar el nivel, deberia simplemente quitar el limite de tiempo porque, en niveles avanzados, es casi imposible avanzar sin explorar todo el mapa para tratar de llegar del punto A al punto B y no se puede con las 400 torres enemigas puestas cerca del inicio, dificultanto la ganancia de luz, mientras tambien te tengas que preocupar por un limite de tiempo que no te deja avanzar mucho mas
Wow, you are right, it is frigging horrible.
I grew up playing flash games and real RTS like RA2 and stuff and this RTS session is one of the most unintitive thing ever.
1. Doesnt bother to give you a tutorial level so its confusing from the start.
2. Everything is designed to be annoying chore.
3. Again, no upgrades whatsoever. Even the most basic kinda game would have a upgrade tab for various towers.
4. Overall just unpleasant
To make it a constructive criticisim. I will give some advice since I played stuff like antiyoy and civ games:
1. Crystal light should be passively generated from purified tiles. Make Conduit a economic upgrade as opposed to a source of nuisance clogging up the tiles and make conquering actually feels rewarding.
2.Increase the range of stabliser as you increase the power input. Or else this building also clogs up the tiles.
3. Make reasonance cannon overall cheaper, right now its just a noob trap.
4.Display position of POI on the map because your map doesnt have clear border.
he llegado a jugar el cañon de resonancia en niveles avanzados, y si, deberia ser mas barato, porque aunque concuerdo es una trampa para novatos es util, cuando se crea una economia fuerte (dificil, porque construir una economia fuerte implica gastar mas de la mitad del tiempo del nivel y corres el riesgo de perder para destruir las torres psionicas y las torres que construyen obstáculos), fuera de eso, uno se corre bastante riesgo de morir, usando la unica alternativa de larga distancia y encima para ser algo tan caro, hace un daño que no compensa la inversion y gasto
Null Essence just sucks.
It's literally "I paused the game 'cause you weren't looking at it" until you deal with it long enough to get to "I paused the game 'cause you weren't looking at it, and now I incentivize you not to look at the game by 5%".
It's actually the WORST feature of an already bad game design. The "don't play my game, so that when you do play my game it won't suck"-feature. That's literally all it does for the player.
It's the worst.
how so? because the way i see it YOU TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER WHEN YOU SLEEP ONLY TO RETURN IT BACK ON AND WOALAH YOU HAVE NEARLY MAX NULL ESSENCE JUST FROM SLEEPING YOU IDIOT. KEEP IN MIND I HAVE THE GAME RUNNING 90% OF THE DAY. IT WASNT UNTIL I WAS GETTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PRISTINE LIGHT THAT I DIDNT TURN OFF THE COMPUTER BUT THAT 10x BOOST FROM NULL ESSENCE IS LOOKING LIKE I WOULD REALLY NEED IT RIGHT NOW SINCE MY QUINTESSENCE IS AT A NEAR STANDSTILL AND I HAVE SECTORS THAT NEED SECURING. THAT NULL ESSENCE IS LOOKING VERY FUCKING NEEDED RIGHT ABOUT NOW AINT IT?
Just hit a bug (playing the browser version); had Auto-Forge on in the Realms tab, time warp at 20x. Switched to a different tab for a couple seconds (enough to earn like 20 Null Essence, so not long) and when I came back, I was no longer gaining Pristine Light, because I'm somehow at -2.6 million Quintessence. Considering I'm only making about 1.5k/sec at normal speed, that's a _pretty big_ deficit out of nowhere!
This is a really neat concept, but even on low graphics settings the star chart drops my FPS to 1, and upon doing a second convergence in a row to gain more light I only got half of what I was supposed to get. I had 2 from a previous convergence, and upon reaching max white at 2k, the game said I'd gain 4 light, but after I only had 4 in total, not 6 as I expected. Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding what the prestige tab says regarding resonance light?
Love the early game, hate the late game.
50...Billion pristine light? Either I'm doing something wrong or an extra zero got added to that price. Guess it's time to go ham and put buildings on every hex of the shattered void!
Convergence history: "Light per minute: 22K"
Bro, I NEED MILLIONS. this, at this stage of the game, is ALL I'm doing. 45 minutes of HAVING TO KEEP THE GAME IN AN ACTIVE WINDOW to get 1 million, and the scaling of this void-garbage is 1M then 2M then 4M... Woo, 3 hours to get one thing that makes no observable or markable progress.
This is actually shit design.
This is...
Not a fun game.
"here's a field of 1M+ light unlocks, you can only earn 1.4M light in a reset, and that reset takes a really REALLY long time of doing literally nothing because you've got everything" is bad.
"You got a pristine light! And nothing to do with it" is bad.
Geezus.
Like why would I even want to play past this point? You've designed a time-wall that lasts for HOURS of ACTIVE PLAYTIME.
That is BAD. REALLY BAD.
Try using null essence; it makes light farming much faster. The pristine light will be useful later in the game.
Null Essence just sucks.
It's literally "I paused the game 'cause you weren't looking at it" until you deal with it long enough to get to "I paused the game 'cause you weren't looking at it, and now I incentivize you not to look at the game by 5%".
It's actually the WORST feature of an already bad game design. The "don't play my game, so that when you do play my game it won't suck"-feature. That's literally all it does for the player.
It's the worst.
I can see why you don’t like the mechanic, but personally I like it.
The red color well has a blue ring when the purple mixer is active. The total light achievements seem to actually be checking current light.
The sector grind is MONUMENTALLY SLOW. When is the "encroaching void" supposed to show up?
(Also, do the essences after white give you any light when you converge?)
Minor glitch I spotted, not upsetting as it's in player favour. When using Null time warp, while most things go faster the void interference countdown continues at regular time.
That's intentional
What's pristine light for?
The Fractured Void grind is awful, endless and so time consuming! The 2 fps lag on void and starchart don't help it any either :(
I came back after an hour of playing, now all of my save data is gone. Why?
Did you clear your cache?
Nope. Like just closed the page, like I did before, then reopened and it was gone
Came back to this game after about 5 months, and I can't help but notice that according to the stats page, I'm getting about 6k light/minute in the same time I was getting 220k light/minute before. So uh... yeah, that feels pretty not great!
There are a bunch of retroactive achievements that I should have received
Looks like at least some of them are fixed now. I got a couple new ones from early game when I checked today.
I don't have the First Light achievement, despite having the Novice and Journeyman creator achievements on my save.
I don't have First Light and Project: Genesis neither. It seems that the game fails to give these achievements retroactively.
I just started, but I already love this game! The UI is so sexy, and the way you juggle multiple resources reminds me of Kittens Game, one of my favorite incremental games!
I've found the best return on light per time is to balance your production so every color fills up at as close to the same rate as possible (as in all your tanks get full at the same time). Then you prestige once all the tanks are full.
That does lead to a longer time between prestiges but the returns per time are significantly higher than just rushing white or any other more micro intensive strategy I've messed with. It's a little unintuitive to me, so maybe this will help people. Alternatively it's more obvious than I thought and everyone already knew that.
The star chart isn't properly showing bought upgrades. The bought upgrades are way to the top left.
I've only got 3 Pristine Light so far at the stage before unlocking the DVP, so I'm just doing a load of runs to stock up some Light to store in the bank to convert. How much regular Light do you think is a good stockpile before advancing?
I'm sure you've moved on by now, but for the benefit of other people let me say: It's not as scary as you think. The important thing is to have filled out as much exploration as you can and have finished all the star chart nodes prior to performing DVP.
[spoilers]
The worst thing you can do is start getting into a purely defensive mindset once you hit DVP. The corruption countdown is going to look really intimidating, and you're probably going to lose a couple sectors initially, but nothing the corruption does is irreversible. Just keep your head down and keep working on optimum light/minute while you keep exploring to unlock all the constellations and get Quintessence production up and running (the three new constellations are pretty close to where you unlock DVP. There is a map in an earlier comment if you want more help).
Then you need to re-tool your production to make lots of Pristine Light and you will see you can easily stabilize sectors far faster than the corruption spreads to them. Once you have everything stabilized and have knocked down any corruption blooms from lost sectors then the mechanic becomes a non-issue and you just keep scaling your production.
Thanks for the tips! I think I've seen the map, but I'll scroll back down for them. I think games like this where there's multiple things/tracks to level up remind me of why I struggle with Pokemon games so much. I can't stop myself from making sure I level up everything all at the same time, so everything has to be the same level or as close as possible. So in a game like this where there's multiple rings and tiers, I feel like I have to complete each ring every time I unlock a new one before I keep going out further. It's slow and trudges, but at least I know I'm being thorough?
How do you unlock DVP?
As of Release 1.5 dissonance spread/clearing is freakishly fast in Realms. It now takes 2-3 times longer to establish a foothold at the start of an assault and one psychic scream wipes out half of my defenses.
Agreed. Both psychic screams and roots make realms effectively unplayable. Playing realms is such a miserable slog I'm starting to wonder whether the devs even playtest it themselves.
Thank you. Will look into balancing it better. I was going for making Realms easier/not a slog, but accidentally made it harder. I will get it solved next update!