Mycelarium Beginner Guide: First Hyphae Shots (Demo)

Mycelarium, the Steam game by PLAN KAPKAN, is an incremental simulation where you grow an underground mycelium network from a single mushroom using slingshot-style aiming. Verified This beginner guide explains what a Demo 2.0 run looks like on screen, how hyphae shots spend water, and how players in third-party Demo footage built their first surface mushroom—without claiming an official optimal route. For install steps, see the Mycelarium Demo page.

How does a Mycelarium run start?

A run begins on the forest surface with one mushroom and underground soil you can pierce with hyphae. Verified Official copy says you start from a single mushroom and send mycelium into the soil. Verified A hedgehog may wander the surface while blue water pockets and dark rock sit below. Verified

Use this order as a mental checklist when you first load the free Demo on Steam:

1. Read the four HUD numbers (food, distance, water, stars) before your first shot.
2. Aim a hyphae shot from the mushroom toward nearby resources you can reach.
3. Place nodes on the white network where you want the next shot to start.
4. Connect toward water before your water pool gets too low—our reading, not an official quest. Inferred
5. When the network reaches shallow soil near the surface, consider building your first mushroom on connected hyphae. Observed in Demo
6. Open the upgrade tree when you have points; Demo 2.0 also adds a save system. Verified

What do the four numbers at the top mean?

The top bar shows food (apple icon), horizontal distance in centimeters, water (drop icon), and a star value. Verified They change as you grow; details and screenshot comparisons live on the resources guide. Verified

The star readout likely lines up with the POINTS value on the upgrade screen, but the game never documents the link in text we can quote. Inferred

How do hyphae shots work?

Growth uses slingshot-style control: you aim from the network and fire hyphae into the soil. Verified While aiming, the UI can show travel distance and a water cost together—official art reads 91 cm -3 WATER beside the arrow tip. Verified That means shots spend water and the label ties cost to range for at least that example; a full formula is not published. Not announced

In third-party Demo footage (before Demo 2.0), players tapped the network to create nodes and reused those nodes as launch points instead of always firing from the original mushroom. Observed in Demo Demo footage by Gloworm on YouTube illustrates that flow; release builds may differ.

Each water reservoir reportedly grants water only once, so chaining new pockets matters in long runs. Observed in Demo Food pockets add food; decaying leaves also feed the network per official world description. Verified

What does the rain tip change?

During rain, an on-screen tip states: Hyphae shots don’t cost any water during the rain. Verified The same screenshot shows forest rain, hyphae reaching a water pocket, and a mid-run HUD. Verified

More water-saving tricks belong on the early-game tips page; we do not rank strategies here.

How do you grow your first mushroom?

Official features say you build different mushrooms on the surface. Verified Demo footage shows mushrooms only on hyphae near the surface, not deep tunnels. Observed in Demo One recorder paid twenty food to place a mushroom in the Demo; that number may change after balance tweaks in Demo 2.0. Observed in Demo

Surface threats include hedgehogs that wander the forest. Verified Demo 2.0 unlocks Repeller mushrooms to address the sneaky hedgehog per developer news—see the hedgehog guide for what is verified versus unknown.

Budding Chance on the upgrade tree can sprout free nodes at hyphae tips in Demo footage; exact odds are not official numbers. Observed in Demo

What should you do first? (our reading, not an official route)

PLAN KAPKAN does not publish a first-hour checklist. A reasonable Demo opening, marked as our reading only: stretch hyphae toward the nearest water pocket, pick up food pockets or surface food when convenient, place nodes to shorten awkward shots, and plant one surface mushroom once shallow hyphae connect—then spend points on Hyphae or Fruiting Bodies nodes you can afford. Inferred

There is no announced finish line; players in Demo footage set personal distance goals instead. Observed in Demo When the full game arrives on the Steam store page, revisit this page—we snapshot facts as of 2026-10-31.