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Collapse Curvature rewards have been adjusted to favor larger black holes more heavily instead of rewarding pressure-heavy runs as much as before.
This is a balance change I would really like feedback on. Upcoming hotfixes will be based on player response, so please let me know how the new rewards feel.
Added purchase multiplier options to upgrade rows.
You can now buy 1, 3, 5, or as many levels as you can afford per row.
This gives more control without needing to rely only on Level All.
Added a visual indicator for sales to Black Hole upgrade groups.
This shows which branch you are currently invested in.
It also shows which groups receive a discount when Gravitational Budgeting is unlocked.
Modified the Curvature reward formula to reward larger black holes more heavily than pressure.
Collapse sequences can now be skipped immediately.
Updated certain Universal Research upgrades so they can no longer be purchased beyond their cap.
If you previously bought above the limit, the extra Curvature will be refunded.
The feedback survey will no longer appear again after being closed the first time (this was mainly for the demo but was never removed)
Fixed Frame Drag Coupling not applying correctly after a certain level.
This may heavily affect your current run.
Fixed Pressure Bleed not upgrading past 16%.
Fixed feed source enabled and disabled states not saving properly.
Fixed GRB Recharge being incorrectly recommended as the best Accretion Energy purchase.
Fixed starting disk pressure not applying correctly at the beginning of a run.
Fixed HUD layout reset panel position styles.
Fixed resolution scaling so UI and text scale properly based on monitor size and resolution. (Let me know how this looks I was only able to test this on a small amount of displays)
Wow. I honestly do not even know what to say. How To Grow a Black Hole was never expected to become a hit, and I never imagined this many people would be playing it this soon after launch. The past few days have been hectic, exciting, overwhelming, and exhausting in the best possible way. First, thank you. Every person who bought the game, left a review, reported a bug, joined the Discord, shared feedback, or simply gave the game a chance helped make this happen. It genuinely means a lot.
Since launch, there have been issues with performance, compatibility, quality-of-life features, and plenty of smaller edge cases. Some were expected. Some definitely were not. My brother and I have been working as hard as we can since release to fix issues quickly. We have already pushed several updates, and we are still digging into the remaining problems, especially the more specific ones affecting certain players or hardware setups. There is still a lot to do, but right now the focus is pretty simple: make the game smoother, more stable, and better to play.
A lot of people have asked if we plan to add more content in the future. The answer is a very big yes! We want to add a lot more:
Research
Feed sources
Upgrades
Achievements
Music
Quality-of-life features
New mechanics
And, of course, more references
This is not something we want to launch and then disappear from. We want to keep building on it, improving it, and adding to it over time.
I also want to talk about my brother, Logan, also known as Pray. Logan is joining development on the game full-time, which is honestly a huge help. It means fixes, improvements, and content updates should be able to move a lot faster than if I were still trying to handle everything mostly on my own. A lot of the issues that have already been fixed would probably still be sitting there without him, and I would have been much more overwhelmed trying to keep up with everything alone. Having him on board is going to make a big difference for the future of the game.
At the moment, our main focus is still stabilization. That means:
Fixing bugs
Improving performance
Cleaning up quality-of-life issues
Improving compatibility
Making the game easier to understand
Addressing leaderboard exploits and cheating
And keeping the Grapefruit in containment >:)
The leaderboard has been one of the biggest topics since launch, and we are actively working on changes to make it more fair.
Right now, the plan is to separate the main idle game from the global leaderboard. Instead of tying the main save directly to leaderboard competition, we want to introduce a separate Competitive Mode that players can opt into. This mode would have its own save and would reset monthly. Your normal solo save would not be affected at all. The idea is to give everyone competing a fair starting point each season, while players who just want to enjoy the main game at their own pace can keep doing that without worrying about monthly wipes. Some current ideas include:
Monthly competitive seasons
A fresh start for all Competitive Mode players each season
Rewards for participating
Better rewards based on leaderboard placement
Special palettes for top players
A “Biggest of All Time” leaderboard
A display for the previous month’s top 100 players
AND OF COURSE A BATTLE PASS (just kidding haha)
There is still a lot to figure out, especially with rewards. Should everyone who participates get a Curvature bonus at the start of the next season? Should higher placements get more? Should the top 100 players get an exclusive palette for being some of the biggest black holes in the world that month? We would love to hear your thoughts. The Discord has already voted in favor of this general direction, but community feedback is still going to shape how this system actually works.
The next major update is planned to be The Operations Update. Right now, the Operations research tree is not where we want it to be. It has some useful parts, especially for farming Curvature, but overall it needs more depth, more clarity, and some of the highly requested features people have been asking for, including black hole upgrades. The Operations Update will focus on reworking Operations in a much bigger way. We want the system to be:
More useful
Easier to understand
More rewarding
More interesting long-term
Better connected to the rest of the game
As we get closer to that update, we will share more about what is planned. Until then, we will keep making smaller changes to Operations where we can so it feels better before the full rework is ready.
Going forward, we want to keep releasing major content updates alongside smaller patches, new achievements, new music, balance changes, and possibly some completely new mechanics. There is a lot we want to do with this game, and the support so far has made us even more excited to keep working on it.
Thank you again for the overwhelming support. Game development is difficult, and the past few days have made that very clear, but it has also been incredibly motivating. I have seen so many players being patient, helpful, and understanding while we work through issues and improve the game. That means a lot. We are going to keep working as hard as we can to make How To Grow a Black Hole the best experience it can be. If you want to share feedback, report issues, suggest ideas, or just hang out with the growing community, join the Discord below. Thank you for playing, and happy growing.
This small hotfix addresses a couple of issues reported after the latest update.
Fixed feed source and black hole upgrades requiring a hold even for a single purchase. Clicking now buys one upgrade, while holding still works for rapid repeat purchases.
Fixed a rare startup issue where the game could hang on the GPU check screen. Restarting the game usually cleared it, but startup should now be more reliable.
Happy growing!
Thank you for the continued reports and feedback. This update focuses on improving offline simulation loading times, fixing save issues, improving leaderboard behavior, reducing unnecessary CPU usage, and making the UI clearer across different screen sizes.
Added research and run modifiers to the top metrics. You can now hover over these metrics to see more detailed modifier information.
Added a full modifier info panel to top bar metrics, showing per-run modifiers, curvature research bonuses, and size bonuses.
Added a minute-average stat for disk matter, giving a clearer view of disk matter changes over a longer period of time.
Added the ability to see your leaderboard placement even if you are not in the top 300.
Added size and weight references to the leaderboard.
Added the ability to double-click research to unlock it, instead of only unlocking from the details panel.
Added the ability to hold left click on upgrades to purchase them repeatedly.
Added Brandon Quigley to the credits.
Optimized offline simulation loading times.
Improved leaderboard loading so it loads more smoothly.
Improved leaderboard caching so leaderboard stats are kept for longer and do not leave players stuck as often.
Improved the leaderboard so it no longer clears itself after the cache expires.
Improved some confusing descriptions and text.
Improved UI behavior on very small screens.
Improved the research screen visuals.
Improved the hover visuals for feed source and black hole upgrades.
Improved the online, offline, ready, and locked text visuals on feed sources.
Tweaked feed source particle colors.
Tweaked feed source particle trails to be slightly longer and smoother.
Darkened the UI slightly to improve text readability across different palettes.
Updated the compact number setting. It now has three modes: full, compact, and written.
Updated the server validation system to help prevent the time-skip exploit. We will continue to adjust this as we learn more.
Changed the auto-buy and auto-collapse buttons so they now need to be held to turn on.
Fixed an issue where offline simulation loading could lock the main thread, causing the game to appear stuck or take much longer than expected to finish loading.
Fixed an issue that could cause some players saves to not write properly.
Fixed an issue where the game could start in the wrong language on first launch. The language picker now pre-selects your Steam game language.
Fixed React re-rendering issues that could increase CPU usage more than necessary.
Happy growing!
Thank you to everyone who has been helping find bugs and diagnose issues. This patch covers a lot of widely reported problems, and the game should now be much more performant, with a handful of quality-of-life improvements too.
This update focuses on display and performance polish, along with clearer upgrade labels and automation controls. FPS limits should now work properly, hybrid laptop GPU selection has been improved, feed source metrics should be easier to understand, and several UI layout issues have been cleaned up.
Up next: fixing cheating and exploitation issues. More on that soon. Happy growing!
Added a Preferred GPU control in Display settings for hybrid laptops, with options for Automatic, High Performance, Power Saving, and specific GPU adapters when multiple GPUs are available.
Added a one-time heads-up on hybrid systems if the game starts on integrated graphics while a high-performance GPU preference is selected.
FPS limits now apply immediately through software frame pacing instead of requiring a restart.
V-Sync and FPS limits now read your monitor’s actual refresh rate, including high-Hz displays.
Reordered Display settings so V-Sync, FPS Limit, and Preferred GPU appear in a clearer top-to-bottom order.
Opening Display settings no longer hitches while GPU adapter info loads in the background.
Modal blur now uses a lighter compositor path, reducing GPU work when menus and overlays are open.
The performance overlay now shows more GPU policy and adapter context to help troubleshoot display issues.
The automation control now includes separate Auto-buy and Auto-collapse toggles.
Moved Frame Drag Coupling into a new Black Hole upgrade category: Destabilizers.
Feed source metrics now match the labels used on feed source upgrades.
Renamed the Efficiency upgrade to Yield.
Rate now shows how often a particle spawns instead of showing a multiplier from the rate upgrade.
Moved the Feed Sources and Black Hole upgrade tabs below Curvature Research and automation controls so they read more clearly as section tabs.
Fixed FPS Limit and V-Sync not actually capping frame rate in the desktop build.
Fixed the Display fullscreen toggle not being saved, so windowed and fullscreen choices now persist across launches.
Fixed modal backdrop blur triggering an expensive full-scene canvas capture every time a modal opened.
Fixed crash and diagnostic logs for Steam builds writing to the game install folder as howtogrowablackhole.log for easier bug reports.
Fixed mass upgrade text flickering while quickly purchasing mass upgrades.
Fixed a typo on the Event Memory research node that said the bonus applied on first collapse. It now correctly says first collapse of each session.
Fixed severe FPS drops during the guided tutorial. Coach steps and highlight pulses have been optimized and should no longer destroy your computer.
The game is finally out, and I am beyond excited for everyone to get their hands on it.
I am also a little nervous, of course. This has been a huge journey, and seeing the game reach this point still feels unreal.
A lot of quality-of-life improvements have been made for launch, including visual improvements, better translations, a brand-new French localization, display options, tutorial improvements, leaderboard fixes, and more.
I am really looking forward to seeing everyone on the leaderboard. Don't forget to have fun, experiment, optimize, and grow the biggest black hole you can.
Also, hop into the Discord if you want to be part of the community and help shape the future of the game.
Thank you for over 24 THOUSAND wishlists. That is absolutely insane.
A few more crazy things: as of writing this, the game is currently the 12th most popular upcoming game on Steam.
It is also the third most popular upcoming indie game.
And somehow, it is the number one most popular upcoming idle, space, and automation game.
Even crazier, the game was mentioned in an article by Rock Paper Shotgun!
As always, thank you so much to everyone who played the demo during Next Fest and beyond. The support, feedback, and suggestions have been amazing, and the game would not be in the state it is today without you.
This has been a dream come true, and I honestly do not have the words to describe how grateful I am for everything.
Added a new song: “Hawking’s Lullaby” and "Messier 13"
Added French localization.
Added a language selector on first launch.
Added an option for constant music.
Added new display options for brightness, contrast, and saturation.
Added color-coded feed particles. This can be toggled in Gameplay settings and is enabled by default.
Added a credits screen.
Reworked the tutorial to be more hands-on and user-friendly. Let me know what you think.
Improved translations for other supported languages.
The black hole is now nudged by particles entering it, giving impacts a little more physical feedback.
Feed source particles now show how much disk matter was added when they enter the black hole.
Moved Text Scale and UI Scale from Accessibility to Display settings.
Tweaked the pressure gauge visuals to better match the rest of the UI.
Tweaked the research tree visuals so research beyond the next locked node is hidden.
Tweaked feed sources so they now display disk matter added per particle instead of per second. Showing this as a per-second value was not the best design choice originally, so this should be much clearer now.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to not launch in true fullscreen.
Fixed a bug that caused the UI to not update correctly after changing languages.
Fixed a bug that broke parts of the UI when using Arabic.
Fixed an issue where some UI elements did not play a sound effect when clicked.
Fixed issues with certain research nodes straying from predicted outcomes, which could cause a run to be invalidated even when it was actually valid.
Fixed an issue with the leaderboard that caused runtime and mass stats to not be visible to other players.
Fixed a bug that could cause the side rails to load incorrectly and appear skinny.
Thank you again for all of the support. Whether you played the demo, gave feedback, wishlisted the game, joined the Discord, shared it with friends, or are just now jumping in for launch, it genuinely means a lot. If you enjoy the game please give it a review! Have fun, and I will see you on the leaderboard. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png
Fixed an issue where feed sources "X AE required to unlock" would not update unless the user interacted with the game.
Fixed an issue where the info cards on upgrades would not update until the user hovered off and then hovered back over. Stats will now update in real time.
Fixed an issue with the research screen and progression page clipping out of the game while windowed.
Fixed an issue that would occur on very specific systems and cause bad screen tearing. This should now be resolved.
Added stat info to feed source upgrades, users can now see how much the next upgrade will improve the feed source.
Improved the visual of the research progress bar, it now looks much better.
Music now plays more frequently at random intervals between 8-28 seconds, instead of 45 seconds to 2 minutes. An option for continuous music will be included in the next update!
Today we hit 8000 wishlists and climbing!
Thank you so much to everyone who has wishlisted the game, played the demo, filled out the survey, or shared feedback. I genuinely never expected this game to get this much attention.
What started as a small side project I was making in my free time has now reached 8,000 wishlists, and at the current rate, it may even hit 10,000 wishlists tomorrow.
That is honestly insane.
I’m really excited, and also a bit nervous for everyone to get their hands on the full game this Tuesday.
Over the last two weeks, the game has been my main focus. I’ve been fixing bugs, reading community feedback, and writing down ideas that I want to add in future updates.
Some of the things I’m planning include: Improved gameplay feedback! Clearer visuals for what is happening, such as numbers popping up when particles enter the black hole. Among other things to make the game feel more tactile and satisfying. Colored particles! Different feed sources will have different particle colors, making things easier to read at a glance. A better tutorial! The current tutorial is pretty rough and is mostly just a wall of text. I made it early in development and neglected it more than I should have. Sorry about that haha. UI improvements! I’ve been concepting ideas for a cleaner and more useful UI, and I’ll share more on that soon. Alongside improvements for smaller screens. I also noted a lot of people wanted a way to have the game on the screen so they can do things like work or whatever while the game runs as like a companion. Which is a cool idea I plan on looking into. More roguelike features! I want to add things like chaos modifiers that can change each run and make the game more replayable. Alongside some sort of mini game or random events that can happen. Improved sound effects, and new music! I really enjoyed making the music and sound effects for this game and plan on improving these in the future as well. The response from you guys regarding the music is really cool and I think you guy will love the songs I plan on adding in the future! I'll also add the option for continuous music here soon, as some people have mentioned the game can be silent. And much much more over time.
Seriously, thank you.
The feedback has been overwhelming in the best way, and it has made me even more motivated to keep improving the game.
I know there are still things I need to work on, and I’m taking the feedback seriously.
I’m really excited for the future of this game.
If you want to be more involved, I made a Discord that you can join by clicking the image below. It’s still a little rough right now, but I’ll improve it when I get the chance.
See you guys there!
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png The Grapefruit attempted a containment breach at 0400 hours today. O.G.R.E., the Office of Gravitational Research and Enforcement, has classified the incident as “slightly sour.”
Added the option to skip the collapse sequence by holding LMB.
Tweaked the survey to include a new question regarding purchasing the game.
Fixed bug that caused the game to create ghost duplicate while alt-tabbing out of the game.
Thank you to everyone around the world who has been completing the survey. The feedback has been astonishing, insightful, and extremely motivating. You guys are amazing.
This update focuses on fixing several issues reported through the survey, along with improvements to UI scaling, display settings, particle behavior, and music frequency.
I also added two new ambient songs: “Sequence1” and “Dots in the Sky.” I hope you enjoy the update. There is much more to come soon. <3
Added two new ambient songs: “Sequence1” and “Dots in the Sky.”
Moved the tutorial to its own section in Settings to make it easier to find. A tutorial rework is also planned for a future update.
Improved display settings, giving you more control over visual options.
Fixed a visual duplication issue that could occur when alt-tabbing or trying to exit the game, causing the game to appear duplicated on screen.
Added missing localization text.
Fixed an issue where particles would stop spawning when the game was tabbed out or when another window was focused, which could effectively pause parts of the game. Sorry about that one.
The grapefruit tried to break free but was contained yet again, everything is okay.
Improved UI scaling on smaller screens. There may still be some issues on very small displays.
Shortened the soundtrack interval so ambient music plays more often. More tracks and SFX improvements are planned for future updates.
Thank you again for all of the feedback and support. The survey responses have already been extremely helpful, and they will continue to guide upcoming fixes and improvements. Also, we just surpassed 5000 wishlists and that number continues to climb higher!!!! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png
Reworked the collapse sequence visuals.
Improved performance significantly during heavy particle load, collapses, and UI overlays.
Fixed an issue where the accretion disk could reset or disappear during collapses.
Fixed an issue where the black hole scene could freeze while the progression panel was open.
I’m excited to officially announce that How To Grow a Black Hole will release on June 23rd, 2026.
The game will launch on Steam for $3.99 USD.
Release Date: June 23rd, 2026 Launch Time: 10:00 AM PDT Platform: Steam Price: $3.99 USD
How To Grow a Black Hole will unlock globally on June 23rd, 2026 at 10:00 AM PDT.
For players outside of the Pacific time zone, the launch time will be:
City
Local Release Time
Los Angeles
June 23, 10:00 AM PDT
New York
June 23, 1:00 PM EDT
London
June 23, 6:00 PM BST
Moscow
June 23, 8:00 PM MSK
New Delhi
June 23, 10:30 PM IST
Tokyo
June 24, 2:00 AM JST
Sydney
June 24, 3:00 AM AEST
How To Grow a Black Hole will launch for $3.99 USD, with regional pricing available across supported Steam regions.
A few of the major launch prices include:
Currency
Price
USD
$3.99
EUR
€4,15
GBP
£3.59
JPY
¥530
CAD
CDN$4.59
AUD
A$5.75
How To Grow a Black Hole is a chill incremental game about feeding, upgrading, researching, and barely controlling the most dangerous cosmic object imaginable.
Start small, increase your mass, unlock new ways to grow, and push the numbers higher and higher until everything starts getting completely unreasonable.
It is simple, strange, satisfying, and built around one important question:
How big can you make it before everything goes wrong?
Start with a tiny black hole.
Feed it.
Grow its mass.
Unlock stronger upgrades.
Research new systems.
Push the numbers higher.
Try to keep it stable.
Watch everything get completely unreasonable.
The demo for How To Grow a Black Hole is available now on Steam.
If you haven’t played it yet, you can jump in before launch and try the core gameplay loop for yourself. The demo gives you an early look at the growth, upgrade, and run-based progression systems that the full game is built around.
How To Grow a Black Hole has been developed as a solo dev project, so every wishlist, demo playthrough, bug report, comment, and piece of feedback has made a real difference.
Thank you to everyone who has played the demo, followed development, shared feedback, or added the game to their wishlist. Seeing people try the game and respond to it has been incredibly motivating.
If you’re interested in the game, wishlisting How To Grow a Black Hole helps a lot. It also makes sure you’ll be notified when the game releases on June 23rd.
Thank you again for the support.
How To Grow a Black Hole releases on Steam June 23rd, 2026 for $3.99 USD. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png
The demo for How To Grow a Black Hole is officially available now on Steam.
Jump in, start growing your black hole, and see how far you can push the limits before everything spirals out of control.
The demo gives you an early look at the core gameplay, progression, and chaotic growth systems we’ve been working on. We’re excited to finally let players try it for themselves.
Grow your black hole from a small anomaly into something far more destructive
Experiment with upgrades and progression
Consume, expand, and push your run as far as possible
Get an early feel for the systems we’re building for the full game
This demo is an important step for us, and player feedback will help shape the game moving forward.
After you play, let us know what you think. We’re especially interested in feedback on:
Game feel
Progression pacing
Upgrade balance
Clarity and onboarding
Bugs or technical issues
Anything you want to see expanded in the full game
If you enjoy the demo, please consider wishlisting How To Grow a Black Hole. Wishlists help a lot and make it easier for us to keep building, improving, and expanding the game.
Thank you for checking out the demo. We hope you have fun growing something deeply unstable.
Play the demo now and let us know what you think. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png
Added frost-style panels across the top bar, feed and upgrade rails, and the bottom dock.
Added a starfield backdrop on the research screen, plus a grid layout and a Curvature balance readout in the corner.
Research details has been reworked to be more visually compelling and easier to read.
Progression, Settings, Leaderboard, Welcome Back, and Patch Notes all share the same look as the in-game HUD.
Its a pretty nice change.
Smoother play during long sessions, with less hitchiness when the simulation is running hot.
The black hole scene now updates disk and pressure visuals without redrawing the whole 3D view every tick.
Matter captures now batch together so late-game particle storms do not stutter the UI.
Hold-to-feed no longer spams fire sound loads. Those clips are ready when you need them.
Opening Patch Notes no longer risks a crash when certain visual effects are enabled.
Grapefruits are no longer larger than the observable universe. The grapefruit has been contained.
Bottom dock, upgrade rail, and celebration toasts now match the new frost HUD style.
Research header, filters, and detail panel now use the same dividers and flat cards as the rest of the UI.
Patch Notes use a cleaner layout, and older versions stay listed in Settings.
Welcome Back screen lays out your away-time stats more clearly.
HUD refresh timing adjusted so rate readouts stay smooth without hogging the main thread.
I hope these changes make the game feel a little cleaner, and more enjoyable.
As always, if something feels unstable, breaks, or just does not feel right, leave a comment or reach out and I’ll take a look.
Thanks for playing, and happy growing. - Noah {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46094952/b0761b2b34c03e7d30c9f93a6334837ad2858340.png
Added a larger, scrollable Patch Notes view that can be opened from Settings.
Added company splash music support at launch.
Added a new splash sequence that fades from stars into warp speed, then reveals the black hole and game title.
Added two research upgrades: Feed Lane Controls and Reversible Upgrade Paths.
Splash music now starts with the splash sequence in the Electron game shell instead of waiting for a click.
Collapse music no longer cuts off early. Tracks now play through with their intended fade.
Fixed upgrade row highlights that could stick after a purchase.
Fixed downgrade and sell pulses so they play on the correct action.
Fixed upgrade tier bar spacing and milestone labels.
Fixed upgrade affordability states so unaffordable upgrades are clearly dimmed.
Fixed the feed source cost reduction research info so it shows the full-stack discount instead of a source price.
Reworked research descriptions, effects, and improvement text so upgrades are easier to understand.
Improved splash title readability with a darker, blurrier overlay that eases into the live game scene.
Cleaned up Settings actions so Patch Notes lives with build info instead of the save/session controls.
The changelog, Welcome Back, and offline review modals now close with Escape.
Updated UI text across the game to be more consistent and easier to read.
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for How To Grow a Black Hole, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main How To Grow a Black Hole statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.