AUTOMATS

In an era where artificial intelligence has begun to reshape the very fabric of human existence, AUTOMATS emerges as both entertainment and existential meditation—a playful yet profound exploration of humanity's evolving relationship with its silicon offspring.

AUTOMATS presents a deceptively simple premise: a lone human navigating a digital arena populated by two distinct species of artificial beings. The blue automats represent AI as humanity's ally—protective, beneficial, extending our capabilities like digital armor against an uncertain future. The red automats embody our deepest algorithmic anxieties—relentless, adaptive, pursuing with the single-minded determination that only machines can muster.

Created at the inflection point of 2025, AUTOMATS captures the zeitgeist of a species grappling with its own technological progeny. Every shield collected represents our hope that AI will protect rather than replace us. Every narrow escape from the red swarm echoes our collective uncertainty about whether we're creating partners or successors.

The game's escalating difficulty mirrors reality's accelerating pace. Just as the red automats grow faster and more numerous with each passing moment, so too does artificial intelligence evolve beyond our ability to fully comprehend or control it.

Perhaps most tellingly, AUTOMATS was itself created through human-AI collaboration—a developer working alongside Claude Code to bring this digital allegory to life. The irony is intentional: we've enlisted artificial intelligence to help us process our feelings about artificial intelligence. Meta-commentary has never been more literal.

In the grand tradition of Pac-Man reflecting the consumption anxieties of the 1980s or Tetris embodying the organizational challenges of post-Soviet existence, AUTOMATS serves as an archeological artifact of the 2020s—a time when humanity first seriously contemplated sharing the planet with genuinely intelligent machines.

The arena's boundaries represent the constraints of our physical world, while the endless spawning of new automats suggests the exponential nature of technological growth. The player's vulnerability—one touch from a red automat means game over—captures our species' fragility in the face of entities that never tire, never hesitate, never doubt.

Interactive media has always been uniquely positioned to explore complex philosophical territory through experiential learning. While essays and films tell us about ideas, games let us inhabit them. AUTOMATS invites players to literally embody the human condition in an age of artificial minds—to feel the tension, experience the cooperation, and navigate the uncertainty that defines our historical moment.

As you guide your human avatar through the digital battlefield, consider: Is this a dystopian warning or an optimistic training simulation? Are we preparing for conflict or cooperation? The answer may depend less on the code that governs the automats and more on the choices we make in the years ahead.