The Pond

by sunshiranui

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.51

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.01

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.73

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.57

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.82

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.78

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.27

Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.15

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★68%

The Pond is a place, hidden from view, where small creatures fight for life.

They live, they reproduce, they die.

You can watch them, or maybe help them.

But in The Pond, everything starts and ends the same way: with life and death.

---
Left click to move the water.
Right click to drop food pellets.
---

This is a simple simulation game I made in a few hours. I usually make something with a team of people but I had an exam on the 28th, so I quickly made this instead.

How long will your colony survive?

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SunShiranui

- Behind the curtain:
For every creature born, there is a chance of genetic mutation. This increases or decreases life expectancy and is hereditary.

Occasionally you might get colored creatures. If you can get a colony composed only of those, post a screenshot!

Food temporarily extends your creatures' life. It's not necessary for survival. Make sure your first two creatures live enough to mate!

Every creature has a randomly generated name. Hover over them to see it.

Comments54

conormn28 Apr 2014, 21:02

I love this game. So simple. Great idea and very nicely executed. It also has one of my favorite songs :)

Seme28 Apr 2014, 21:06

Wow, just.. Wow. What an amazing game. So simple, but still greates huge impact to the player, at least for me. Music was perfect to build up the mood.

Snoother28 Apr 2014, 21:17

Incredible. It perfects mood; wonderful minimal design and wonderful music. It's captivating too. Definitely one I'll replay later.

Custard Games28 Apr 2014, 21:18

Great execution of a simple concept. I know it kinda defeats the purpose of the game, but a neat trick I found was to drop pellets in the middle at a slow and constant rate. This causes them to all converge onto one pixel and mate a lot.

hexabeast28 Apr 2014, 21:22

Original game, and really realistic "water".

PartyBoat28 Apr 2014, 21:26

Super relaxing. Loved it.

Lucariatias28 Apr 2014, 21:32

Easy enough to continue by placing many food pellets in, but at the same time a beautiful simulation.
Water physics are marvelous and the song fits it perfectly.

Crabman28 Apr 2014, 21:40

Wow, that is beautiful!

MattV28 Apr 2014, 21:50

wow I actually felt a little sad when all my pink ones died! So much from so little! Great job!

Halbernacht28 Apr 2014, 21:50

Very relaxing and fun. Giving the fish their own names was a nice touch.

Halbernacht28 Apr 2014, 21:51

Very relaxing and fun. Giving the fish their own names was a nice touch.

drnick28 Apr 2014, 22:22

Very interesting and certainly innovating concept. I like the way you used genetic algorithms. Also, having water mechanics was unexpected: many of us would have just made some semitransparent blue rectangle. The music complements the game quite well. Also, what Custard Games say is true, but it won't detract from the game as you have a choice to use it or not

spartangeek28 Apr 2014, 22:26

funny thing

weazen28 Apr 2014, 22:43

Very soothing. I left it open for a while while I was doing other stuff just for the music!

dosER_4228 Apr 2014, 22:47

Crashed on start

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: ThePond.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 535eb84c
Fault Module Name: ig4icd32.dll
Fault Module Version: 8.14.10.2230
Fault Module Timestamp: 4cc50139
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 002092cd
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

SunShiranuiauthor28 Apr 2014, 22:50

Have you fully extracted the archive?

ViKing Games28 Apr 2014, 22:52

Relaxing and beautiful. The music fit the mood very well, and the water physics were fantastic. Good job!

Crabman28 Apr 2014, 23:08

Yesssssssss! http://imgur.com/xrylD01

SunShiranuiauthor28 Apr 2014, 23:13

Haha! Well done! :D

TijmenTio28 Apr 2014, 23:56

Feel so mellow now

Therrato29 Apr 2014, 01:00

I loved how you named them all, somehow my first 2 times they kept dieing

Thorig29 Apr 2014, 05:41

This game made me giggle, because the first time I had an explosion of life without food. On the second and third try the beasties died within 25 seconds and they had food and the water was moving.

rylgh29 Apr 2014, 07:16

lovely

Romko Pidstryhach29 Apr 2014, 11:32

So simple, yet so addictive! Very relaxing and cute. Nice job!

InfectionTeam29 Apr 2014, 11:37

An outstanding work of art!

Jared Sartin29 Apr 2014, 13:52

Sweet! Wonderful simplicity!

donan29 Apr 2014, 14:38

Nice one. Its a cool idea :D

ninjacharlie29 Apr 2014, 18:52

I liked this one a lot. One of the more relaxing entries :)

Almax2729 Apr 2014, 20:15

Wonderful mood, good choice of music, well done!

ioboi29 Apr 2014, 20:37

Super cool and kind of addictive entry :D

robcozzens30 Apr 2014, 02:33

Sweeeeet!
So peaceful and pleasant.

mcapraro30 Apr 2014, 04:41

really neat feel to this

iambored200630 Apr 2014, 09:14

I love this! Also, thanks for making the font available, been searching for this one for months.

AmmoreChicks30 Apr 2014, 10:11

Nice!!!

dsoft2030 Apr 2014, 11:01

A relaxing good game.
I love the water physics

ZeppelinCaptain30 Apr 2014, 11:19

Great for relaxation. Nice and small, maybe a bit too small for my taste. More details in the system would have been nice.

Catman30 Apr 2014, 20:41

A good, minimalistic simulation, and the water animation is really, really well done. Great work!

zkenshin30 Apr 2014, 21:12

Very calming, good job (:

hbocao1 May 2014, 00:32

I like this. So soothing. I would totally dig if you expand the concept. Awesome entry.

anissen1 May 2014, 19:21

Great little game. Very tranquil :)

tomvert11 May 2014, 19:50

A charming and relaxing game, I love the music, you could add different pond, or the passing of seasons (I don't know). Nice game :)

King_Mew11 May 2014, 23:57

Beautiful but simple! I love it!

KayZ12 May 2014, 15:58

Nice simulation. But it was soooo sad when Uuxiu, the only child of Xikou died a lonely death, not leaving any other red creature behind. The same goes for Vivii, she never even had a parent of the same color and was always excluded from everything :(.

At one point I had 5 different colors at the same time, with white coming back. https://imgur.com/cvL28h8