SkinnerBox

SkinnerBox

Pull the lever. Watch the light. Get the cheese. Repeat.

Skinnerbox is a first-person incremental roguelike set inside an operant conditioning experiment. You are Subject 17: a laboratory rat observed from behind reinforced glass and trained to respond to an increasingly unpredictable machine.

Wait for the stimulus, pull the lever at the right moment, and collect your reward. Correct responses build combos, multiply cheese production, trigger rare signals, and can push the apparatus into Frenzy. One mistake can break the entire chain—and if your cheese falls below zero, the experiment ends.

At the end of each cycle, the laboratory offers four modifications. Spend your cheese to install multiple upgrades, take calculated risks, and gradually transform the chamber around you. New mechanisms become physical parts of the machine: reservoirs, variable-ratio drums, secondary levers, experimental coils, protocol terminals, and other devices with interconnected effects.

But every experiment demands a cost. Punishments can shorten reaction windows, conceal information, drain stored charges, create false signals, leak resources, or make the machine harder to control. Building an efficient apparatus means deciding how much instability you are willing to tolerate.

When a run ends, the research continues. Collected samples unlock permanent abilities, new experimental equipment, advanced punishments, alternative modifier routes, additional information, and greater control over future runs. These upgrades create new decisions and playstyles instead of simply increasing your numbers.

Features

• First-person gameplay from inside a Skinner box.
• Timing-based lever responses with mechanical feedback.
• Incremental cheese production and escalating multipliers.
• Dynamic combo system inspired by fighting games.
• Frenzy that remains active while you maintain your streak.
• Golden, pink, blue, and deceptive stimulus signals.
• Dozens of modifiers, mechanisms, and punishments.
• Variable-ratio rewards and interconnected machine reactions.
• Multi-choice upgrades at the end of every cycle.
• Permanent skill tree powered by experimental samples.
• Randomized objectives and modifier routes between runs.
• Physical pixel-art interface with no modern HUD or floating cards.
• Original synthesized mechanical sound effects.
• Portuguese and English language options.
• Adjustable volume, fullscreen mode, screen shake, and light pulses.

How long will you keep pulling the lever when the machine stops behaving predictably?