Ludum Dare #38compo
herbarium
 |
|---|
Bring your herbarium back to life..
Water your flowers so that they bloom simultaneously. Don't use too much water, or your flowers will die and soil will disintegrate.
Links
- PLAY: https://itch.io/embed-upload/451557?color=333333 (HTML5)
- SOURCE CODE: https://github.com/t-mw/herbarium/
Controls
- arrow keys: move cursor
- z/c: place earth at cursor
- x/v: remove earth at cursor
Hold z + x or c + v to restart
Development
This is the first game jam I've used PICO-8 on - it was nice to be constrained a bit. I could afford to develop a system for loading / transitioning between levels; I normally stick to one-map games to avoid the hassle.
Writing the fluid simulation was a bit tricky: I quickly ran into performance issues, so had to reduce the speed of the fluid and split processing across frames. Besides that, at the moment water tends to flow towards the right, and tiles don't absorb water well when they're completely submerged; water needs to be flowing across them.
The tendency to flow to the right is particularly annoying for gameplay, but I couldn't work out a way of solving it that didn't affect performance. Maybe the maps should take more advantage of right-flowing fluid, instead of being symmetrical.
Hope you enjoy the game!
Comments19
palemachine1 May 2017, 14:55
Yeah, the water flow is kind of wonky, but it's understandable and honestly not that bad/does not affect your ability to progress. This is a very good puzzle game, in my opinion, and the difficulty curve is really fluid. Great overall audiovisual presentation as well, looks and feels very polished in a distinctly non-game-jam way.
smbe191 May 2017, 14:58
Cool idea, the game looks really nice.
It's really annoying that you can't place earth when there is water at the current position. Like this it's really hard to build anything after the first few seconds as you can't even block the water flow.
It's really annoying that you can't place earth when there is water at the current position. Like this it's really hard to build anything after the first few seconds as you can't even block the water flow.
theDoodleGuy1 May 2017, 15:04
Great idea, love the puzzle element. I failed hard lol. great game :-)
codyhansen1 May 2017, 15:04
The water physics is what makes this game different and more of a thinker than it seems, despite the water being quite wonky and unpredictable at times.
I like the way this game has clear progression and even has a level introduction screen!
Part of me wishes my garden was this complicated.
I like the way this game has clear progression and even has a level introduction screen!
Part of me wishes my garden was this complicated.
jin471 May 2017, 15:05
Really great game idea and nice concept. the water "physic" is great and the game is really challenging ! Great job
theslate1 May 2017, 15:16
Great idea! Love to see cellular automata based puzzle games. I was also flummoxed by being unable to place blocks where water is. Water trending right made waterfall super hard. Really like it!
Lugdumdare Team1 May 2017, 15:31
Good puzzle game with a nice difficulty curve.
Graphics are nice. Sometimes the flow is quite confusing.
But overall nice job.
Graphics are nice. Sometimes the flow is quite confusing.
But overall nice job.
steve1 May 2017, 16:27
I enjoyed this, nice idea! As others have mentioned I found the water physics to be a little difficult to predict, and had the occasional flower that stubbornly refused to take any water regardless of how much was passing over it!
makenai1 May 2017, 19:46
Great aesthetic and nice level design! I like that it's possible to overwater a plant and kill it. Nice puzzle game.
daanvanyperen1 May 2017, 20:20
Love simulation games like this. Bravo on going for a challenge with PICO!
Wizcas2 May 2017, 02:23
A cool physics simulation game! It's impressive that you made so many levels in such a short time. And the level designs are strategic, which the water flow has to be managed dynamically in certain situations. Well done!
PeachTreeOath2 May 2017, 04:45
It was really cool how the water could naturally form waves. Very creative work.
impbox2 May 2017, 07:23
Cool idea, pity about the performance and bunching up of the water. I think if you continue work on it you could get it to be a nice puzzle game. I like the art. Needs some music.
http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2821 I used the same water mechanic on one of my jam pico8 games. It runs a lot faster and doesn't bunch up so much. Maybe take a look at the source.
http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2821 I used the same water mechanic on one of my jam pico8 games. It runs a lot faster and doesn't bunch up so much. Maybe take a look at the source.
Pecolyte12 May 2017, 16:08
That's nice graphics even with low pixels! Puzzle design is very creative, too. It's a great one!
paulhocker12 May 2017, 23:56
this was a really great idea and very well executed - the water was very slow which made for many moments of boredom - great entry
ooku16 May 2017, 09:23
Wow, very neat game, congrats!
Nothing more to say here :)
Nothing more to say here :)
loveapplegames19 May 2017, 23:16
Great game, very original! I enjoyed playing a lot until I got stuck in the waterfall level. This game would benefit from being able to start at any level. You might be interested in my cellular automata game engine, where you can specify this kind of water physics with just a few lines of code. Check out my project CellSpace
The graphics work really well with the mood of the game and I enjoyed the puzzle aspect very much. It must have taken a lot of effort to make the levels get progressively harder, so well done there, the game 'flows' very nicely ;)