Protolife

Released: Jun 15, 2018
Platforms
Last updated: 14 Sep 2026, 08:09 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

01 Aug 2026Developer post
Protolife 1.2.4 -- Steam Deck Support
Hello everyone! Protolife is now playable on Steam Deck. There was a pending NW.js/Proton compatibility issue which is finally resolved. We tested the full playthrough on Steam Deck, everything should be working as you normally expect. There are no cloud saves, so you would need
19 May 2026Developer post
Hexworld: Major Update
Hello, Protolife fans, everybody who kept our feed enabled through all these years! It's good to be in touch with you again -- we have some news for you. Hexworld 0.16 is now stable, and it's the last major update before the 1.0. For those of you who haven't heard about it, it's
15 Apr 2023Developer post
Protolife: Other Side
We're glad to announce our new keyboard-controlled arcade game called Protolife: Other Side. Lead alien worms through familiar defense towers and help them evacuate from occupied colonized planet Leo-Nova. You used to destroy tons of them, this time let's try to save at least a f
24 Mar 2023Developer post
New keyboard-controlled strategy is coming!
Ok, this time we actually have integral mouse support! Volcanic Giraffe is still alive and we are still making games. There have been some dead ends, unfinished prototypes and life struggles, but right now we are going for almost a year of stable development of Hexworld: Hexworld
15 Sep 2019Developer post
Protolife 1.2.2
This is a minor patch with the following game crash fixes: Level 'Convoy' blocker - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot use 'in' operator to search for 'spawn-rate-percent' in 5 (thanks to juan ignacio) Custom levels with no builder units - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'onMatt
This is a minor patch with the following game crash fixes:

Level 'Convoy' blocker - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot use 'in' operator to search for 'spawn-rate-percent' in 5 (thanks to juan ignacio)
Custom levels with no builder units - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'onMatterChange' of undefined
Rare Experiments bug - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'wavesGrp' of null (kudos to Kubla Khan)
Rare Level Editor issue - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'properties' of null
We also added some annoying help tips in Level Editor.
Original post
08 Sep 2019Developer post
Protolife 1.2 — Level Editor & Workshop
Hello everyone! Level Editor for Protolife is out now. It is available in-game so there is no need to run any external applications. It allows you to sketch your ideas, playtest some crazy situations, spawn a swarm of tumors against your custom towers and just be creative. A lot
Hello everyone!
Level Editor for Protolife is out now. It is available in-game so there is no need to run any external applications.
It allows you to sketch your ideas, playtest some crazy situations, spawn a swarm of tumors against your custom towers and just be creative. A lot of things are tweakable already, and we are planning to expose even more parameters soon.
Steam Workshop
The most natural thing you can do with custom levels is to let other players to play them. Steam Workshop integration provides an ability to share your levels with the community and download new hand-made levels for yourself.
To start this challenge — there are 8 new built-in custom levels and more are available within the Workshop.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1856092478
Version 1.2.1 - Changelog
General:

New: Level Editor
New: Steam Workshop integration (levels only)
New: Custom Levels list (+ 8 custom levels)
In-game menu and result panel now show the progress of experiment.
Custom towers balance:

Damage block: reload time +15% (was +50%), burst delay +30% (was +50%)
Damage M2 block: reload time +15% (was +30%), burst delay still +30%
Burst mod: reload time +25% (was +50%), burst delay -15% (was -10%)
Burst M2 mod: reload time +25% (was +30%)
Buckshot mod: reload time +60% (was +100%)
Pierce block: pierce value 3 (was 1), reload time +50% (was +100%)
Plasma gunpoint: base damage reverted to 1 (was 2).
Mortar gunpoint now prioritises targets according to armor penetration (mainly structures) and randomly chooses from a set of 10 closer targets otherwise.
Dev comment: Overall this is a huge buff. We want to make custom towers more reliable for red-risk experiments. Rate of fire was the main bottleneck for a consistent dps growth. 'Diminishing return' is still a thing so we are trying to avoid 100+ dps towers in regular games, while 100 dmg one-shot projectile is still reachable. You might expect some improvements for flamethrower and discharger gunpoints in the third iteration of these changes.
(mortar gunpoint targeting)
Fixes:

Crash Report: Cannot read property 'toString' of undefined at KeyBindingButton.refreshKeyLabel
Game crash after finishing experiments caused by shader on some gpu’s
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'toLowerCase' of undefined at AnyKey.redraw (big thanks to CrackParrot)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'setBoosted' of undefined (kudos to hiromi_teija)
Crash Report: Cannot read property '1' of undefined at BigGrid.getBigCell (thanks to Přemysl)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'onComplete' of undefined. Caused by InfectionBuilder (multiple reports)
Fix for 'destroy buildings mission continues even if your base is destroyed' (thanks to Discord squad and Starkweather)
Now you can remap W to Z (sorry, laestril!)
Now Corruptors won’t trigger 'if it works' achievement
Now Corruptors can’t place infection while death animation is active
Fixed NG+ levels resetting NG progress issue (cheers to dragonboy212)
Win screen stuck animation fixed
Tumor boss now can’t trigger both 'level win' and 'level lose' conditions simultaneously.
No more sliding on the ground mortar projectiles, affected by pierce boosters.
Share your ideas. Ask questions. Have fun!
https://discord.gg/RdhbkBn
Original post
15 Jun 2019Developer post
Protolife: Year 1
Hello there, fellow tower builders! We finally brought you some news. First and foremost, Protolife turns 1 year today! It was an incredibly happy and productive year, and we wanted to thank everyone who supported us during this time. Thanks to you, we were able to improve the ga
24 May 2019Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Have you played Protolife?
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time. Protolife occupies a rather special place in my repository of tower defence games for two reasons. First, the central concept of controlling a little construction bot that po
29 Dec 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.1.3 (Tower Editor balance)
This patch mainly addresses Tower Editor balance issues and game crashes reported via Steam, Discord and email. 1. New threats for Experiments! Corruptor hp: 5, average speed Uses alternative paths to breach the defense and spread the infection. Stay alert! Can be found at yellow
This patch mainly addresses Tower Editor balance issues and game crashes reported via Steam, Discord and email.
1. New threats for Experiments!
Corruptor

hp: 5, average speed
Uses alternative paths to breach the defense and spread the infection. Stay alert!
Can be found at yellow and red risk experiments.
Elemental Worms

Pretty tough. Armored: 10 hp and 3 armor, Magmatic: 14hp and fire resist, Electric 12hp and electric resist.
Appear only at red risk experiments.
Unidentified Behemoth

???
2. New Game+ and Original Campaign
Now you can go back to original campaign even if NG+ is in progress (if you want to replay some levels, complete achievements, etc.). There is an option to erase all progress including NG+ as well.
3. Tower Editor changes
Tower summary panel now shows percentage values instead of multipliers. For instance, you will see '+20%' instead of 'x1.2' and '-10%' instead of 'x0.9'.
Some tower properties are now capped to prevent performance and gameplay issues.This means some blocks in a custom tower will have no further positive effect when this cap is reached. This is also true for towers buffed by multiple link boosters.
Tower properties limits:

Range - max: 30
Salvos - max: 30
Bullets per salvo - max: 30
Reload time - min: 0.1 seconds
Burst delay - min: 0.01 seconds
Armor Penetration - max: 3
Splash - max: 5
Projectile Speed - max: 30
You will see ‘(min)’ or ‘(max)’ tooltip next to a property when its limit is reached on the UI.
4. Tower Blocks improvements
The second major change for this update are the tower block balance changes. Most of them have been nerfed because they used to break the game completely with some extreme configurations.
At the same time we buffed the starting stats for all gunpoints. Therefore now you can build custom towers and see the improvements even when you don't yet have access to advanced blocks. Our goal also was to make small custom towers more viable while keep the extreme configurations balanced. As all things should be.
Here is the full list of changes:
Range Booster

Angle -5 deg. (was -20%)
Speed +1 (was +3)
Range Booster M2

Range +2 (was +3)
Angle -5 deg. (was -25%)
Speed +2 (was +6)
Sector Booster

Angle +15 deg. (was +60)
Speed change removed (was -1)
Sector Booster M2

Angle +20 deg. (was +90)
Spread change removed (was +1)
Speed -1 (new)
Damage Booster

Reload time +30% (new)
Burst delay +30% (new)
Damage Booster M2

Reload time +50% (new)
Burst delay +50% (new)
Firerate Booster

Reload time -10% (was -20%)
Burst delay -10% (was -20%)
Firerate Booster M2

Reload time -20% (was -40%)
Burst delay -20% (was -40%)
Splash Booster

Reload time +30% (was +10%)
Speed -1 (new)
Burst delay +30% (was +10%)
Pierce Booster

Speed +2 (new)
Pierce +1 (was +2 when <10)
Burst delay +100% (new)
Burst Mod

Energy -2 (was -1)
Salvos +1 (was +2)
Burst delay -10% (was -20%)
Burst Mod M2

Spread +2 (was +1)
Salvos +2 (was +4)
Burst delay -20% (was -30%)
Buckshot Mod

Speed +2 (was +5)
Range -2 (was -20%)
Bullets per salvo +2 (was +5)
Burst delay +30%
Plasma Gun

Reload time 1.2 sec. (was 1.5)
Damage 2 (was 1)
Burst delay 0.75 sec. (was 0.5)
Discharger

Angle 180 deg. (was 360)
Reload time 1.4 sec. (was 1.6)
Burst delay 1.2 sec. (was 0.5)
Now prioritizes Magnetos and bioartillery shots (same as TX1, TX2, TX3).
Proper sector color.
Mortar

Burst delay 1.2 sec. (was 0.5)
Proper sector color.
Flamethrower

No changes
Resource harvester

No changes
Boost linker

Energy -6 (was -4)
Now has a constant range and angle (can’t be changed via blocks)
Now has an efficiency factor which decreases all boosting parameters
Range 8
Angle 180 deg.
Efficiency 75%
Also we introduced a couple of new blocks:
BF cannon

20 damage on impact, slow reload, slow projectile speed, electrocutes everything on its way.
Boost linker M2

Energy -8
Range 10
Angle 180 deg.
Efficiency 50%
5. Even more game balance tweaks...
Patterns

WALL now has 10 hp (was 8).
Burst delay specified for all towers so they are properly buffed via linkboosters.
Experiments

All missions: No more Tunnel Spawners, ZAPPERs, Repulsors, Infection Cannons at green risk levels.
All missions: New late-game enemies for yellow and red risks levels.
Survivals: No more Orange Centipedes and Magnetos at green risk levels.
Survivals: Overall waves difficulty reduced by 20%.
Max evolution level limit for all enemy structures: green risk = 3, yellow = 5, red = 10.
Enemy structures

ZAPPER can appear as a random spawn structure now. Experiments and New Game+ only.
Tunnel Spawners (big ones) now have an additional evolution stage with a lower enemies spawn rate (20 worms, 0 behemoths).
Levels 'Hollow', 'Focus', 'The Core' — the first grow phase will be easier due to the Tunnel Spawners change.
Fixes

Crash Report: Cannot read property 'counter' of undefined at BigGrid.hasSome (multiple reports)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'X' of undefined at BigGrid.getBigCell (reported by A Pound of Life)
Infection Cannon projectile size fixed. (reported by coeja73)
Fixed infinite ricochet for a custom flame projectile (reported by Ghin)
TX3 projectiles destroyed outside of the map (reported by Dmitry)
Crash Report: SelectedTowerPanel2.show. Tower help and symmetrical patterns related issue (reported by Dmitry)
TX2/TX3 proper boost/deboost of salvos count.
Boost Linker multiple gunpoins does not work.
Boost Linker can’t boost towers in its range.
Range booster does not boost custom resource harvesters.
Boost/Deboost and pattern lock structure issues.
Jumping custom mortar projectile
Fixed all outdated descriptions in level briefings.
Fixed some localization strings.
Happy Holidays!
Original post
07 Nov 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.1.2 (+1.1 update notes)
Version 1.1.2 This patch addresses multiple issues reported via Steam, Discord and email. Experiments game mode Resource spawners and colony base won’t block any major paths on randomly generated levels. (thanks to Kezzbo, vervedan and Ernest) Resource spawners for survival type
Version 1.1.2
This patch addresses multiple issues reported via Steam, Discord and email.
Experiments game mode

Resource spawners and colony base won’t block any major paths on randomly generated levels. (thanks to Kezzbo, vervedan and Ernest)
Resource spawners for survival type missions are closer to the base now
Orange Centipede spawn chance is significantly lower for low risk experiments
(resource spawners location, 'before' and 'after')
All existed experiments could have significant changes due to these improvements. The amount of enemies and spawn locations may vary, but the layout of each level will be the same.
Please note that we are still working on Tower Editor balance issues. Thank you for all the feedback provided about this feature.
Fixes

Crash Report: _this5.substate.closeDialog is not a function (thanks to Austinlb90)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined at new Watcher (thanks to Jseah)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'bringToTop' of undefined (kudos to Sam Quan)
Crash Report: Cannot read property 'a' of undefined (thanks to⎝Dr. Danger!⎠and Austinlb90)
Crash Report: Renaming a tower to a name you already have freezes the game
Shader error for experiments reward dialog (thanks to do335)
TMSL boost breaks its projectile trajectory (thanks to vervedan)
Version 1.1.0, 1.1.1

New game mode: Experiments
New game mode: New Game+
New game feature: Tower Editor
New game feature: Unlockable Tower Blocks
New enemy structure: Pattern Shutdown — disables random tower pattern until the structure destroyed (health: 5, armor: 1)
New enemy mob: Orange Centipede — drops orange slimes
New tower patterns: TY1/TY2 — short range shotguns, low ap, high dps, high spread
New booster pattern: RBST — boosts reload for all towers in range by x0.85, stackable
New UI feature: survival wave preview — shows the amount of enemies in each wave
Some performance optimizations
Levels tweaks

28 - Squid Ravine: now has 2 TX3 on start
33 - Cluster: now does not spawn Magnetos (while still have two repulsor structures)
All survival levels now use wave spawners (cocoons) instead of spawn-from-the-air approach
Balance tweaks

TX3 rework — now guards will return to the orbit upon target’s death, more sustainable
TMSL1 — projectile follows the enemy
TMSL2 — now fires 3 projectiles with 5 dmg each instead of 1x20dmg, projectiles follow the enemy
WBUILDER (wall printer) — build time rate reduced to 0.5 seconds (was 2.0 seconds)
Every tower now have a x0.5 time delay for the first reload (more convenient in a rush situation)
Behemoths won’t spawn from L0 buds
Enemy ZAPPER reload time decreased to 0.5 sec (was 0.7 sec) due to TMSL2 rework
Wave spawners health increased from 1 to 10 to avoid unintentional agro
Fixes

Crash Report: Cannot read property 'invincible' of undefined at TiledLevel.checkDefenceIntersection (multiple reports)
A lot of minor UI tweaks and fixes
Misc

Robot now makes one step side if reaches an obstacle on its way
New secret robot ability to lock towers configuration (default key ‘L’) — allows to nail down any tower so it will ignore any other possible transformations
Cheers!
Original post
30 Oct 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.1 — Welcome to the Lab!
Hello everyone! After a long wait we are glad to announce that Protolife Lab institution is finally complete and now hiring new researchers. You are required to participate in experiments* conducted in the safe** controlled environment. * fights ** if you take all necessary preca
Hello everyone!
After a long wait we are glad to announce that Protolife Lab institution is finally complete and now hiring new researchers.
You are required to participate in experiments* conducted in the safe** controlled environment.
* fights
** if you take all necessary precautions, see chapter 2 (Try Not To Die), p67 of the manual.
Research

Every experiment is a unique experience on the randomly generated maps with a different challenge level.
Once completed, the experiment will provide research data necessary for discovering new technologies.
You are in control of setting up experiment conditions. Take a low risk, or go for a high reward.
If your experiment is proven to be too tough, you can always return to it later, when you obtain some new weapons.
Engineering

You can design a custom tower pattern and use it in your fights.
Balance the energy and stats to construct the super-weapons of your choice.
Use the experiments data to unlock new gunpoints, stat boosters and behavior modificators.
New Game+

New Game+ is now available for everyone who finished the game
Manually redesigned levels, including new harder versions of bosses. If you, like me, thought that the original campaign was a bit on the easy side, you will like NG+.
All towers available from the start — and as you play, you will unlock a couple of new ones exclusive to the NG+ mode.
We also updated the game with the Steam Trading Cards (finally)! And full patch notes are coming a bit later.
If you want to follow / contact us, you can do it here:
https://twitter.com/VolcanicGiraffe
https://discord.gg/RdhbkBn
XOXO,
Volcanic Giraffe
Original post
12 Sep 2018Developer post
September Status Report
Hello, everyone! Is it September already? Wow, time sure flies by. A short status update to all Protolife defense squads: Update 1.1 is coming along well! Although this picture will probably better reflect the harsh reality: Despite the problems, we still continue our journey! Mo
18 Jul 2018Developer post
Week #06 — Status Report
The work on update proceeds as planned. Here are some progress notes. New Game Plus Levels are being updated and reworked by hand to make them interesting to seasoned player armed with a full range of towers from the start. Don't expect that NG+ will be a breeze through a known r
04 Jul 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.0.7 — Karst Layer and 144Hz
This version includes several balance improvements and bugfixes. Improvements Game speed is optimized for high refresh-rate monitors (120Hz, 144Hz, 240Hz). This also means game controls will be smoother in case of any fps drops. Gamepad hints are now available for in-game tooltip
This version includes several balance improvements and bugfixes.
Improvements
Game speed is optimized for high refresh-rate monitors (120Hz, 144Hz, 240Hz). This also means game controls will be smoother in case of any fps drops.
Gamepad hints are now available for in-game tooltips and help panel.
Balance changes — Karst Layer
Angle of the left tunnel is tweaked so it’s more friendly to 45° defense patterns.
Now includes special cocoons that will release all the waves on impact, this prevents 'spawning from the air' issue and makes speedrun more challenging and fair.
Late waves now spawn less enemies, total amount of Behemoths: 61 (was 115), Big worms: 55 (was 90), Magnetos: 4 (was 10).
Flame drop now can’t be blocked with a resource in cell (more effective).
Overall changes make the late stage of Karst Layer less frustrating, but it still requires a good start strategy.
Bugfixes
Fixed T1 and other sounds been muted in some cases.
Fixed game crash related to the crystal farms destruction (Cannot read property 'gridX' of undefined at FarmSmall.update).
Fixed ricochet issue for T3, T4 and TLZR when Particles Settings are lower than MAX.
Original post
27 Jun 2018Developer post
Protolife Development Road Map
We are still working on the game and would like you to know what’s going on as well. After reading all the comments, reviews and discussions — I’m glad to say that a lot of feature requests match our original ideas about the future of Protolife. So here is the upcoming plan: Ther
22 Jun 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.0.5 — Achievements Live!
This update addresses several balance, controls and difficulty issues. New features Steam Achievements! New option for helping with build accuracy when using continuous building. Several keyboard/gamepad improvements Robot will slow down when continuous building is applied. This
This update addresses several balance, controls and difficulty issues.
New features
Steam Achievements!
New option for helping with build accuracy when using continuous building.
Several keyboard/gamepad improvements
Robot will slow down when continuous building is applied. This can help navigate more accurately. As well as there is no 'second block skip' lag anymore.
Before this change:
After this change:
Game settings allow to disable/enable this slowdown. It is 'ON' by default.
More controls improvements
Start menu now includes 'Controls' setting where key bindings are (previously this setting was under in-game menu only).
WASD work in the start menu, global map and in-game menu. These keys can be re-binded.
Gamepad will not require an additional tap on level/global map start to interact.
'Hold SPACE and move to build a line of blocks' hint added for Biomass and Tower Defense levels.
Global map remembers the level completed and won't scroll to the last one if some of the previous levels was replayed.
Builder unit now does move if key released really fast.
Balance changes
Acid Trip: Sleep time reduced to 75 (was 90). Green caterpillar now patrols the arena inside, so it doesn’t rush until player reaches the second corner.
Biomass: now includes special cocoons that will release all the waves on impact, this prevents 'spawning from the air' issue and makes speedrun more challenging and fair.
Explosions at the end of Biomass and Tower Defense will kill all the mobs.
TX* tower family now prefers enemy bullets, then magnetos, then other enemies.
TX3 charges amount buffed to 5 (was 3). As a result TX* are now much more useful at handling magnetos and more reliable at the front. TX3 hopefully will be less of a disappointment.
Reworked TFLM2: - Targets the point on the ground. - Bullet collision is off until it reaches the destination. - Always drops flame in a 'plus' pattern. - Cooldown increased to 3.5 sec (was 2.0) - Still affected by magneto shield
Magneto: Shield radius will now diminish when under fire. With the TX* buffs it should be easier to deal with these guys now.
Green caterpillar respawn time increased to 4 seconds (was 3).
Karst Layer: no changes so far, but the level feels better due to TFLM2/TX buffs.
Bugfixes
Fixed Game crash related to switching between builder units in some cases (Cannot read property 'stop' of null at Hero.toBackground)
P.S. Expect some more details on future plans next week.
Have fun!
Original post
17 Jun 2018Developer post
Protolife 1.0.3 patch released
This version addresses several crashes happening at the start of the level and during the play. Bug fixes Fixed crash related to the game start right after the main menu (Cannot set property 'visible' of undefined at Object._adjustHints) Fixed crash related to the level start and
This version addresses several crashes happening at the start of the level and during the play.
Bug fixes
Fixed crash related to the game start right after the main menu (Cannot set property 'visible' of undefined at Object._adjustHints)
Fixed crash related to the level start and shaders configuration (Cannot initialize shader: program not linked)
Fixed crash observed on some levels after builder unit was damaged and healed
Other
Level loading optimized a bit (infection seeding caused some lags at the start of the level)
Thank you everyone for you patience and crash reports.
Next update is planned to deliver Steam achievements and control optimization.
We are also looking at the ways to provide mouse control for the users who cannot play with the keyboard, as well as some difficulty tweaks for certain levels.
Original post
15 Jun 2018Developer post
Protolife is now released!
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! We are super excited to announce that Protolife is going live! So go grab a copy, annoy your strategy-loving friends, go build some blocks and do tell us what you think about the game. What's next? For some time after release we are going to monitor your feedb
18 May 2018Developer post
Week #05 — LD41 and Release Date
Release is closing, but we could not possibly miss the chance to participate in our favorite game jam again — Ludum Dare 41. We had a lot of fun with this one. This time we made a turn-based soccer game and it seems it's pretty fun to play. We took 7th place in Overall category (
11 Apr 2018Developer post
Week #04 — End of closed beta-testing
The last week was amazing. We've got many participants and a lot of useful data! Big thanks to everyone who participated and gave us the most valuable feedback. Based on this feedback, we have a plenty of things to improve and think on, but the good news is that the original flow