Synopsis: This is a game about rapid expansion and colonizing. As the colony you will move into a beautiful planet and exploit it's resources only to leave the planet in a polluted, and destroyed state. This isn't a game about pollution management, or environmental friendliness. This is a game about exploitation and resource gathering.
How to --------------------- Controls
Right Click and Drag or Arrows-----Pan Click-------------------Place Building Scroll or Q and E----------Zoom In/Out
Buildings
Housing Houses 4 people. If there is room available in a house a new resident will move in every 5 seconds. Requires Food, Water, and Electricity. Starts with 20 seconds of electricity.
Power Plant Provides power to nearby buildings. The range is about 2 blocks away. Will employ residents
Water Extractor Pulls water from the planet and places it in a large tank. Must be placed on water and requires power. Will employ residents.
Farm Turns the local wildlife into food for mass consumption. Consumes water and requires electricity. Will employ residents
Mine Turns the earth into ore. Employs residents.
Hydrogen Plant Turns water into hydrogen for use with a rocket! Will employ residents
Launch Pad The final goal of the game! Place this bad boy and you'll win.
To me, this feels like it was too ambitious for the Compo. A lot of bugs remained and made it confusing and difficult to understand. I think this would really shine if it were entered into the jam.
Couldn't figure out how to place things (or they wouldn't place) and I would quickly die over and over again. Seems interesting, but I couldn't figure out how to get anything going before the game ended no matter how many variations I tried.
This game was pretty interesting. I couldn't play for more than five minutes because of a game over bug or I just didn't know what the heck I was doing. (I'm leaning towards the latter) The direction you took for this game guided under this theme was very interesting. It kind of makes you think. Also, the graphics were just stunning. I clicked on this game for that reason alone and did not disappoint.
@TerraCottaFrog I realized that by the second day I would have to do a lot of work to get this into something really fun, so I just pushed to get it functioning.
@foxor It might be because your residents started dying before you had the resources to sustain them. What works for me in the beginning is to place down two housing units, a power station, a water extractor and then another house and a farm. then at that point I am making enough resources to keep my residents alive enough to put down more housing and a mine. Then it's just a game of balance after that. Definitely can't expect a player to know that though.
I agree with the statement that this was a bit too ambitious. Games like these require long periods of careful testing, which just isn't possible in a 48 hours period of time. The game is probably possible, but without knowing exactly how to do it, one can't win. This is a common issue: the developer is really good at the game, but other people will be unable to do pretty much anything unless they dedicate a huge amount of time to it. Basically, if you think something is fairly easy, it probably isn't to anyone else.
However, all in all, I liked the concept. I also liked the take on the theme. You aren't intentionally being a monster, it's just a byproduct of development. Well done!
Didn't manage to set all 3 - farm, power plant and the mine. Not enough people or all are already dead. Btw, it's now very obvious what resources does it take to build something at first. But overall the game looks interesting in its potential and I liked randomly generated landscape, looks cool.
This is really tough. I tried doing a really simple city simulator game a few jams back and it's hard to balance.
Some of the things I have the biggest problems with are the tiny game size and font size (I have a ton of screen room unused -- a fullscreen option might fix this...I was playing the web version). I have to lean way in to read certain labels. Maybe changing the font color could help too. I didn't even realize there were more buildings available at the start because they're scrolled off the screen by default.
I also had a lot of trouble figuring out why some buildings wouldn't build. The power plant would build sometimes, but not others. In both cases I apparently had population and ore, and I tried different landscape types. Eventually it might appear, but by then probably too late for the house I wanted it to go with.
Sort of confusing, and pretty difficult to not go extinct in a few seconds. Needs some balancing or a proper tutorial. Other than that, this could be an awesome game.
My best colony so far http://i.imgur.com/Pv7HF9T.png?1 I'm not sure why I died(maybe power plant too far from water extractors?) Took me a while to figure stuff out. Showing a number in population bar probably would have helped a lot with learning. Also took me a while to realize that there are more than 4 buildings.
@Enrymion Awesome job! it looks like the water extractors were too far away from the power plant. They usually have to be within two blocks to get power. There are a lot of UI/UX cues I didn't get a chance to implement that would help. Thanks for the input!
Like many others have said, maybe a bit too ambitious. The idea itself, and the approach to the theme, are good, I think. The art and music are nice, and do what they need to do. But I think it suffered from a lack of clarity. The UI layout made it hard to figure out what buildings were available, what they cost, and why I sometimes couldn't build them.
Comments21
@foxor
It might be because your residents started dying before you had the resources to sustain them. What works for me in the beginning is to place down two housing units, a power station, a water extractor and then another house and a farm. then at that point I am making enough resources to keep my residents alive enough to put down more housing and a mine. Then it's just a game of balance after that. Definitely can't expect a player to know that though.
The game is probably possible, but without knowing exactly how to do it, one can't win. This is a common issue: the developer is really good at the game, but other people will be unable to do pretty much anything unless they dedicate a huge amount of time to it.
Basically, if you think something is fairly easy, it probably isn't to anyone else.
However, all in all, I liked the concept. I also liked the take on the theme. You aren't intentionally being a monster, it's just a byproduct of development.
Well done!
But overall the game looks interesting in its potential and I liked randomly generated landscape, looks cool.
Some of the things I have the biggest problems with are the tiny game size and font size (I have a ton of screen room unused -- a fullscreen option might fix this...I was playing the web version). I have to lean way in to read certain labels. Maybe changing the font color could help too. I didn't even realize there were more buildings available at the start because they're scrolled off the screen by default.
I also had a lot of trouble figuring out why some buildings wouldn't build. The power plant would build sometimes, but not others. In both cases I apparently had population and ore, and I tried different landscape types. Eventually it might appear, but by then probably too late for the house I wanted it to go with.
Very ambitious though!
Im lose two times ;{
I'm not sure why I died(maybe power plant too far from water extractors?)
Took me a while to figure stuff out. Showing a number in population bar probably would have helped a lot with learning. Also took me a while to realize that there are more than 4 buildings.