The Network Bellow

A ten-level strategy prototype where the organism makes the moves and you arrange the incentives. Place food, link colonies, hunt for water, and pair fungi with plants, then watch the mycelium decide how much of your plan it considers a suggestion.

What is The Network Bellow?

The Network Bellow swaps direct control for ecological persuasion. Its mycelium keeps growing on its own, so the puzzle is not drawing a perfect route but changing the conditions around it: drop food where growth should lean, connect isolated colonies, locate water, and establish relationships with plants. That small shift makes each level feel less like moving pieces and more like tending a system that has momentum of its own. The current prototype contains ten stages designed to introduce the interactions gradually, with mouse controls for placing food and manipulating the view. It was made in the REPLAY game-design programme and submitted to a month-long Mushrooms-themed creative event, which fits its interest in experimentation more than polish for polish's sake. The build is openly labeled work in progress, but the central question is already clear and pleasantly chewy: how much strategy can emerge when the thing growing refuses to become a cursor?

What you can do there

• Place food to influence mycelium growth
• Connect separate fungal colonies
• Find water and form plant symbioses

Why we picked it

Indirect-control games are most interesting when the system surprises without feeling random. A self-directed fungal web is an unusually natural fit for that idea, turning water, food, neighboring colonies, and plants into a compact set of ecological nudges.

How to get the most from it

Use the mouse to interact and place food, scroll to zoom, and pan with middle mouse or Space plus left mouse. The Fit control recenters the whole level when exploration leaves the network offscreen. Start by watching where the mycelium wants to go before spending a placement.

Good to know

This is a free October 2026 HTML5 prototype with ten levels, not a finished release. The creator says visuals and mechanics are still changing. Controls are mouse-heavy, and the page does not document mobile, touch, audio, save persistence, or accessibility support.

Who made it, and when?

BarashSad is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is October 7, 2026.