7,005,905 lives lived for a total of 1,399,297 hours
658,637 people lived past age fifty-five
288 generations in longest family line 464 monuments completed, 2626 in progress
Current player arc has been going 1156 years Previous arc lasted 10541 years
a multiplayer survival game of parenting and civilization building by Jason Rohrer
This game is about playing one small part in a much larger story. You only live an hour, but time and space in this game is infinite. You can only do so much in one lifetime, but the tech tree in this game will take hundreds of generations to fully explore. This game is also about family trees. Having a mother who takes care of you as a baby, and hopefully taking care of a baby yourself later in life. And your mother is another player. And your baby is another player. Building something to use in your lifetime, but inevitably realizing that, in the end, what you build is not for YOU, but for your children and all the countless others that will come after you. Proudly using your grandfather's ax, and then passing it on to your own grandchild as the end of your life nears. And looking at each life as a unique story. I was this kid born in this situation, but I eventually grew up. I built a bakery near the wheat fields. Over time, I watched my grandparents and parents grow old and die. I had some kids of my own along the way, but they are grown now... and look at my character now! She's an old woman. What a life passed by in this little hour of mine. After I die, this life will be over and gone forever. I can be born again, but I can never live this unique story again. Everything's changing. I'll be born as a different person in a different place and different time, with another unique story to experience in the next hour...
....Progress Report....
72 natural objects (latest: Natural Spring)
22 playable characters
2133 human-makeable objects (latest: Dry Kerosene Newcomen Pump with Torn Seal)
115,425 lines of code
What you get
Immediately after your payment is processed, you will receive an email with an access link. You will then be able to download all of the following DRM-free distributions:
Windows build
GNU/Linux build (compiled on 32-bit Ubuntu 14.04)
Full source code bundle (compile it yourself)
The price also includes downloads of all future updates and a lifetime account on the main game server that I am running.
The source bundle includes the editor and server software, allowing you to set up and run your own server or even leverage the engine to make your own game. See OneLife/documentation in the source bundle for instructions.
Recommended its a good game (762.2 hours on record)
Posted 36 hours ago
Recommended Josh K (1.9 hours on record)
Posted 3 days ago
Fun! Died of starvation after 36 years of tending berries. A life well lived.
Recommended Tarr (2,183.1 hours on record)
Posted 4 days ago
As I've said before I don't mind if people use my account to play but don't be an asshat and change the review. That's just being a dick.
Recommended UntakenUsername (34.8 hours on record)
Posted 6 days ago
nice game
Recommended OLD NAKED DUDE (4.7 hours on record)
Posted 15 days ago
NEPHEW STABBED ME, 10 OUT OF 10
Recommended moonbeans (90.2 hours on record)
Posted 23 days ago
i love the game, i love that it constantly is updating, please make a feature that lets you have the option to be twins ect randomly and not with just friends PLEASE. also making the zoom mod as an option on the game without the github would be wonderful, i enjoy playing with zoom but theres constant viruses so i cant play like that. COWS NEED TO BE ABLE TO MAKE MORE THAN MILK AND WATER IS ALREADY...
As I've said before I don't mind if people use my account to play but don't be an asshat and change the review. That's just being a dick.
Recommended Mirelli (1,907.3 hour on record)
Posted 4 months ago
This used to be one of my favorite games, with my hours as evidence, but I can't say the same now after the new "arc update"; with all the players crammed together and sharing finite resources in a tiny little hell box. Everyone is frustrated by the baby apocalypse and lack of progress. It's a constant scramble for food (if you survive infancy) so things can't really get done anymore. I would only...
Great game to play, every life is unique! Sometimes you play with annoying children who wants to stab everyone.. but most of the times you will play with nice people who want to play the game and can learn new people things.
Recommended demonicblack (1,493.1 hour on record)
Posted 2 months ago
even tho i dont like the rift the fixes jason is implementing are really nice
Recommended Shaivi Bane (1,486.1 hour on record)
Posted 4 months ago
Great game, with weekly updates for only 20 dollars!
Recommended just checking (1,456.5 hour on record)
Posted 11 months ago
game is good i guess
Recommended shampein (1,454.1 hour on record)
Posted 17 months ago
its a fun, simple game, with a complex strategy lot of drama, lot of bad players, lot of griefers and murderers, so will annoy you a few times but can be so fun, very original concept and jason works on it frequently, each update changes everything but its in a good direction
The sword was the most fun thing in the game, even after the shift-click update. People were joining raids and having the best lives they had had in the game while doing so. I loved it and I lead maybe over a hundred wars and raids on towns. Then the rift came, causing the crafting players to riot and grief the life out of it, giving us a moment of freedom when it was lifted. I even made a map in ...
Not Recommended The_Anabaptist (620.6 hours on record)
Posted 4 months ago
Update to my previous review:
The game in its current state means that you will not get to play. You will be born. There may not be a mother who can feed you and the dozen other babies crying for a teat. Depending on the "arc" being born as an Eve may or may not be available. You no longer have the choice of playing this game when you want to.
Thank you for your patience during the long-running Arc and Rift experiments, which have shed light on a number of important design issues and improved the core of the game immensely. The list of Rift-based discoveries is long, but to summarize, we have a better biome map layout, a more balanced birth placement algorithm, a tap-out system to ensure upper-end resource scarcity, a more powerful and intuitive cursing system, and a map system. [Read More...]
User Story: The Tale of Scott Silverthorn, by MaggieMurdoch October 30, 2018
this is a tale of one of my last lives, sometimes I live very mundane and uneventful lives but other times I find one that stays with me and makes me think about it...This was one of those lives.
I was born a baby boy to a woman named Samantha Silverthorn in a tiny settlement, as I was born my older brother Lason was visiting, my mother had six children before me and had one after me, surviving to adulthood there was only me, my big brother Lason, my big sister Freyja and and my younger sister Liza. When I was born my mother gave me a single snake skin boot. [Read More...]
The thinking behind One Hour One Life
How to Deal With A Crisis of Meaning
Bonsai: the Endless Ritual | Extraordinary Rituals | Earth Unplugged
Power of the Market - The Pencil
Primitive Technology: Forge Blower
Last Day Dream
The Game Design Challenge 2011: Bigger Than Jesus Panel at GDC 2011
