In Chromatic Breeding your objective is to steer the evolution of the bacteria towards the target color.
You have 3 tools and 2 minutes to achieve a colony of 20 specimes.
I created an applet for the web version but I didn't find anywhere to host it :(
ps. This is my first entry in Ludum Dare. I wanted to create a very different game mechanics, but half way through I thought it didn't work as expected. Given my time limitations I had to finish without big modifications in the original project.
That is actually an interesting idea. You need to modify the bacteria color to the target.
However the color changes seem to be so fine grained (full 8 bit RGB spectrum?) you end up with 150 bacteria all close to the target color, but not exactly matching.
Yes, I am using the full 8 bit spectrum. The sensitivity for the target color is a parameter, maybe my tunning wasn't that good. Thanks for the feedback! :)
Seems like you started this thinking the theme was evolution or alchemy? Anyway, interesting premise, but it would have been cooler with more "weapons" or tools to help shape the environment.
I thought about how to make the game more colorblind friendly but couldn't manage to :(
I really like the idea of games that teach something. In this case the objective is to teach color mix.
The original idea was not related to alchemy, but I agree it would be a better fit for the game mechanics. Although I really like the way you are forced to make indirect mixtures (you can't select what is going to mix, only what is not mixing).
I couldn't tell what color I needed exactly. I kept thinking I had one but the counter was at zero. Maybe less color options, limit to 16 maybe? Also, a way to quarantine a proper population would be helpful. Still, a great concept, I would love to see a full game made with the mechanic.
same as ratboy : it was hard to find out what colour we should find. I think the game itself is too hard, but it is a great concept and should be improves
Interesting concept. I guess. I didn't quite understand how to advance, as the only way I could test whether I was getting closer to the objective was by injecting "color" to the bacteria. A couple tutorial levels should make this game one to look forward to! Congratulations!
Unlike the others, I didn't think it was too hard. I really like the game play, but it WAS hard to tell what the target color was. It didn't help that my first target color was a shade of grey, so I didn't realize the test-tube was my target color. =p I also think this makes a better natural selection game than a color theory game, but what do I know.
It's a bit difficult to discover which bacteria produce which other colors of bacteria at first and it isn't quite clear just what the goal is at first either. That said, once I got the idea I got more into the game.
I found the bomb of little to no use. The needle and the medicine were all I needed. Perhaps though it would be better to call the "medicine" tool something else as I felt it was a little confusing.
I really like this idea. I was also confused at first (I used to think you have to make them ALL the same). I had to replay before understanding how I can influence the outcome.
Sometimes tool changes didn't work (not sure why).
I won at least 3 times, but still don't know how to play. I just leave the bacteria at their own devices, and usually they breed the correct color. Anyway, I liked the idea, but fail to see the connection to the theme here.
As mentioned before, very difficult to judge differences in colour. Also, definitely needs some sort of help/tutorial beyond just "steer the evolution of the bacteria towards the target color". Promising though, for sure!
However the color changes seem to be so fine grained (full 8 bit RGB spectrum?) you end up with 150 bacteria all close to the target color, but not exactly matching.
I love the intro piccies ;)