🌍 Language: English | Português (Brasil)
Warning
Project status: pre-release. Manifold is in active development. This repository presents the vision and technical direction; no production-ready product is available yet.
Manifold is the infrastructure that powers multiple independent game stores through a shared backend.
Just like Valve created Steam, Manifold enables anyone to create their own version of Steam — called an Outlet — while remaining fully interoperable with every other Outlet in the network.
Manifold is a platform that allows creators, studios, communities, and companies to build their own game distribution platforms using a single shared system.
Each store created with Manifold is called an Outlet.
Outlets are:
- Visually and operationally independent
- Powered by the same backend
- Fully interoperable with each other
A player can buy a game on one Outlet and download it on another — without losing progress, ownership, or access.
Manifold is an ecosystem designed to connect those who create, those who sell, and those who play. Here is how the infrastructure works for each party:
Have you ever imagined having your own official game store? Most creators and communities have not even considered this possibility, but Manifold makes it a reality. It is your chance to create a new source of extra income and an exclusive space to interact with your fans. Instead of just recommending a game in your video or Discord server, you can sell it directly to your audience.
- The Use Case: Imagine you are a content creator focused on Cozy Games. You can use Manifold to open your own official storefront. You handpick which games from our ecosystem you want to sell to your audience.
- The Result: Your store will only feature farming sims, puzzles, and relaxing narratives. No horror or violent games will ever appear on your storefront. You monetize your influence by earning a share from the games your community would buy anyway, while we handle all the invisible technical infrastructure.
Expanding your game's reach should not mean managing dozens of different distribution dashboards or fighting a single algorithm.
- The Use Case: You just finished your indie game and want maximum distribution. Instead of knocking on every door, you upload your game just once to the Manifold dashboard.
- The Result: Once approved, your game becomes available in our central catalog (the backend). From that moment on, any niche store in the network interested in your game's genre can add it to their storefront. Your game gains massive reach and connects with highly engaged audiences without any extra effort on your part.
You should not have to fragment your games across multiple launchers just because you wanted to support different communities.
- The Use Case: You bought a farming simulator from your favorite Cozy Games streamer's store, and the following week, you bought a shooter from your e-sports clan's FPS-focused store.
- The Result: It does not matter which Outlet (store) you bought them from. Every game you purchase within the Manifold ecosystem goes straight to your single, centralized library. One login gives you full access to all your games and saved progress in one place.
In engineering, a manifold distributes a flow into multiple outlets.
In Manifold:
- Manifold is the distributor
- Outlets are the distribution points
Each Outlet is a full-featured game store:
- Custom branding and identity
- Its own community and curation
- Shared library, purchases, and save data
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🛒 Buy once, access everywhere
Games purchased on one Outlet are available on all others. -
🔄 Cross-Outlet downloads
Download your games from any Outlet in the network. -
💾 Shared progress and saves
Player progress is synchronized across all Outlets. -
🧩 Single integration for developers
Developers integrate once and reach every Outlet. -
🏗️ Modular and scalable architecture
Designed to support countless Outlets from a single core system.
Traditional game stores are siloed. Manifold breaks those silos by separating platform infrastructure from store identity.
This enables:
- More freedom for creators
- More choice for players
- A healthier, interconnected ecosystem
- Game studios launching their own stores
- Influencers and curators building themed platforms
- Communities creating private or public marketplaces
- Companies distributing games internally or externally
Manifold is built on the idea that nearly every part of game development has already been democratized.
Game engines are open or widely accessible. Art, design, and audio tools offer powerful solutions — many of them free. Knowledge is broadly available.
What remains centralized is distribution.
Game distribution is still controlled, proprietary, and owned by a small number of platforms. This creates an imbalance: developers are free to create, but not free to distribute.
We believe that just as development tools evolved into open and shared infrastructure, distribution must follow the same path.
Manifold exists to turn distribution into infrastructure: shared, interoperable, and accessible — not the exclusive property of a single platform.
This project lives at:
MIT
This project is in early development. Contributions, ideas, and discussions are welcome.