Gosh, this is a tough one to write a comment for. I think I like the premise, though presenting downstreams as fundamentally antagonistic doesn't sit right with me - downstreams are a deeply important part of the Free Software ecosystems, and positive relationships between upstream and downstream strengthens both projects and empowers their contributors/users in tangible ways. Overtly antagonistic relationships don't really benefit anybody and (in my experience at least) tend to be pretty rare.
The specifics of how the game's mechanics were very inscrutable at first, but after a while, I was able to build up a large and active project (at least, until a disgruntled downstream contributor decided to make enough forks that I couldn't navigate the playspace anymore). It's possible that I played this more than any other submission, and enjoyed organising and growing my project.
Movement was awkward for me - I think it would be more enjoyable to have movement and targeting decoupled (whether that be WASD for movement and arrow keys for targeting, or using the mouse to target).
I think it might be easy for some to look at the visuals and see something simple and uninteresting, but that the hand written entities evoke sticky notes in my mind, and that's a fun way of visualising the abstract organisational structure of a Free Software project. It was surprisingly compelling.
I understand this was your first jam. Well done. I'd love to play a more polished game that builds on what's here! As always, it's very nice to see a submission with source code.