Tiny Colony

by mikixen
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.66
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.49
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.51
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.88
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.57
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.32
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.50
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.12
Game by Mikixen & cyberfirex

How to play:

- Drag and drop settlers onto resources to collect them. Resources don’t spawn where settlers are!
- Collect food and build housing to keep happiness high - 1 settler needs 1 house! If they have enough housing and more food than the number of settlers, you'll see the happiness increasing
- If there's a crack on the ground and you want more space, mend it by clicking the mend tool and click again on the cracked tile
- Meet the objective of 5 settlers with >70% happiness and you beat the game!

Controls

- Left & right keys to navigate tutorial page
- Left mouse button for the game

Drag tiny settlers and help them build their colony, keeping them happy with food and housing!

Resources randomly spawn every few seconds, so be quick!
SS_F.PNG
This is my first game jam! Tiny Colony was made with GameMaker Studio 2, Piskel, Bosca Ceoil, sfxr and Audacity! I did the art, music, and code while cyberfirex helped me a lot when I got stuck coding it! :)

Post-jam updates:

- More in-depth tutorial pages
- Game balancing - longer resource spawn times, more rewarding happiness with housing
- Reduced cost of mending from 3 wood + 3 stone to 2 wood + 2 stone
- Visuals for what settlers need when unhappy
muu.PNG- You don't have to rate if you play this! Comments are still appreciated! :)
- Play updated post-jam game here (Windows): https://www.dropbox.com/s/ph7yl73d4xg4i8j/Tiny%20Colony.zip?dl=0

Original jam game is in the links below!


screenshot

Comments53

NOTBADGUN
NOTBADGUN14 Aug 2018, 09:10
Cool tiny game! Love the art for this!
Ceasar14 Aug 2018, 09:20
Pretty good, couldn't get it to go full screen though
MutsKun14 Aug 2018, 09:22
I really really like this for some reason, i think the graphics are cute, i love the concept and i just kept playing, it has this addictive vibe to it where you just have to keep playing. there was a bug though where i woudl try to drag one of my colonists somewhere and they'd just dissapear, i also think that it's too hard to reach the 70% happines. but overall, great game!
ThibaultAr
ThibaultAr14 Aug 2018, 10:08
Pretty cool game ! looks easy, but isn't (or i'm bad :sweat_smile:)
I achive having 5 guys, but with 0% satisfaction :sweat_smile:
I didn't understand if we can destroy cracks in the floor :thinking:
Thanks for the entry :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor14 Aug 2018, 13:55
@notbadgun
Thank you for playing, I’m happy you like the art! :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor14 Aug 2018, 15:03
@ceasar Thank you! I've managed to change that! :)
Historymaker118
Historymaker11814 Aug 2018, 17:22
This game is really cute, and really challenging. I really struggled to meet the objective, and gave up after 15 minutes of trying, I seemed to be stuck in a loop of using up resources to mend ground faster than I was able to collect enough to get my fifth character. I love the art style and the gameplay is nice and straightforward to get into. Great work.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor14 Aug 2018, 17:59
@mutskun Thank you so much for playing, and I'm very happy you like the game! :) Ah, that is a bug to look into! Thank you for your feedback - I made the tutorial clearer and tried to balance the game more! Feel free to check out the post-jam version if you wish to! :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor14 Aug 2018, 18:00
@thibaultar
Thanks for playing! Yes you can destroy the cracks in the floor, by clicking the mending tool and then clicking where the crack is!
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor14 Aug 2018, 18:03
@historymaker118
Thank you for your kind words, I am glad you love the overall art and gameplay! In the post-jam version, I've tried to balance the game better after receiving feedback from you and others who tried, and hopefully it is more beatable while still posing a challenge! :)
Quarter Up Studios15 Aug 2018, 05:31
Really cute game. It seemed hard to get enough resources and food to achieve the goal but it was super fun and cute anyway.
Adam Harms
Adam Harms15 Aug 2018, 05:39
The characters are so cute! I can see a lot of potential in this game adding in small rewards (visual or acheivements), and something dangerous to the settlers can perhaps take it to the next level.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 05:44
@quarter-up-studios
Thank you for your feedback, I'm glad you found it cute! ^_^ I hope to balance games better in the future! :)
Pyjamaboy
Pyjamaboy15 Aug 2018, 05:59
You art is really cute and clean! The soundtrack sounds great aswell, and the sound effects for using the tools is excellent. Well made.
DraperDanMan
DraperDanMan15 Aug 2018, 06:13
This was really cool! Success You have completed the game! Kept me entertained the whole time. Though the end was quite frustrating moving the villagers around constantly trying to get food to spawn. Overall a great effort! Looking forward to what you do in the future!
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 06:29
@adam-harms Thank you so much for your feedback and ideas! I hope to work more on this and develop it further!! ^_^
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 06:55
@pyjamaboy Thank you for your feedback, I am happy that you appreciate the art and audio! :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 06:57
@draperdanman
You're the first in the comments to have completed the game, thank you for pulling through! :D And thank you for your kind words, I'll continue working on this game and more! ^_^
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 08:22
@pyjamaboy Ah, thank you so much for playing to the end! Congratulations for beating the game! :>
RAFFE
RAFFE15 Aug 2018, 14:27
Very cool. Music was great, graphics were also pretty good, in their own way.
It was a nice and chill game.
Didn't complete it fully though. Maybe one day C: And very cute artstyle.
This made me chill :) Very nice entry and good job!
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor15 Aug 2018, 14:49
@raffe I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
Hugimugi7
Hugimugi715 Aug 2018, 15:54
Cute Graphics, I like that. Gameplay wasn't frustrating or anything, but I just couldn't figure out how the happiness increases.

Very unique and intresting! :slight_smile:
Dylan Shumway15 Aug 2018, 16:45
I love this!! The simple yet clean visuals and the calming soundtrack make the game super relaxing! Even though the mechanics are super simple, the rate at which things to do spawn keeps things engaging all the way to the end. I felt a little attached to my colony by the time I finished playing, and I could see myself picking this up when I need to relax for a few minutes and clear my head. Fantastic job! :D
NNNIKKI
NNNIKKI15 Aug 2018, 18:33
This is a great game! Congratulations! Making the colony was challenging. I think that the cracks appeared a bit too often so it was really hard to build the 3rd stone temple. Cute and fun! Consider turning this into a full game.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor16 Aug 2018, 02:14
@hugmugi7 Thank you for playing! Happiness increases when there's enough housing (1 settler needs 1 house) and food (keep food more than number of settlers)! Really appreciate your feedback :)

@nnnikk Thank you so much for playing and for your feedback! I'll consider balancing it and adding more features for sure, thank you for your kind words
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor16 Aug 2018, 02:20
@dylan-shumway
Ahh thank you so much for your comment, I am so happy you found it relaxing yet engaging. That was what I was going for! :D As the creator I'm also very touched that you got a little attached to your colony
BeveL
BeveL16 Aug 2018, 03:25
Sorry, I could not play your game, I am on a ​mac, but, the game sounds really fun and the graphics look amazing based on the screenshots!
rk3Omega
rk3Omega16 Aug 2018, 12:35
Your game is very cute. I loved the art, and the music was very tranquil. It's very difficult though. Even with just 2-3 colonists I felt like I never had enough resources and my food was always 0.

Personally I would lengthen the time it takes to harvest resources and for them to respawn. It felt like I was franctically moving them about from the get-go, and it didn't feel like I benefited that much from having multiple colonists, because by the time I moved one or two, the other one would finish the job. Plus downtime is nice in these kinds of games to sit back and think for a second.

Highly personal opinion, but an interesting feature I think is if a colonist performed one task enough times, they'd aquire (and change) a specialization. You'd need a means of quickly showing their specialization at a glance. With this specialization they might gain benefits like faster harvest (if they're lengthened to begin with), or bonus harvest.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor16 Aug 2018, 13:46
@rk3omega
Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! It was very useful in making me think about how I have gotten so used to play testing that it became easy for me, while new players need some time to get used to how the game works.

Your suggestions were very valid and helpful! I hope that the post-jam updated game would have a better balance for new players! :)

The additional feature sounds like a fun idea :D Would love to try implementing it when I build on the game in the future.

All in all, thank you so much for your feedback, it was really helpful and encouraging!
Crafty mine16 Aug 2018, 17:52
Nice little game it was hard for me(not that good at sorting sruff)but it was really cute
Good Luck🍀
Nufflee16 Aug 2018, 19:17
Cool game, I really liked the concept and the mechanics. If you finish it, it could be a very fun game!
MiracL
MiracL16 Aug 2018, 21:48
I find it actually cool, but i would have appreciate to understand what i was doing, because i found it sometime too random, and didn't manage to understand how to make them happy.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor17 Aug 2018, 10:04
@crafty-mine @miracl
Thank you so much for playing! I understand the game is a little too hard with not enough directions - I learnt that letting new players playtest the game is very important. Hopefully the post-jam version is better, and thank you so much for your feedback! :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor17 Aug 2018, 10:06
@nufflee Sadly i /just/ missed the part where you streamed my game, but thank you so much for doing so! It really gave me a new perspective on how players play my game - thank you for the experience and feedback, very much appreciated! :) loved watching your stream!
Nufflee17 Aug 2018, 14:24
@mikixen No problem, it had fun playing it. You can check out the VOD if you didn't already.
Darylsteak18 Aug 2018, 06:06
The game was quite nice for me, I liked the music and sound and the art was very cute. 70% was abit too hard for me tho. Great job.
PeachTreeOath
PeachTreeOath19 Aug 2018, 16:35
I actually really liked the speed of the jam game, I'm pretty used to RTS speeds so I loved the frantic clicking and resource assignment. With that said, I did get into the happiness pit of doom like others have, no matter how fast I clicked since it was very dependent on food RNG. It looks like you addressed those balance issues post-jam anyways but just thought you'd like to know my experience. I think it's a seriously cool concept, the idea of a fast paced city building game. Add in some more mechanics that require decision making rather than reaction speed and you could have a really unique offering here. Incredible job for a first LD!
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor21 Aug 2018, 03:17
@darylsteak Thank you for trying out the game and your feedback! :)
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor21 Aug 2018, 03:20
@peachtreeoath
Thank you so much for trying! And thank you for your feedback and suggestions on the game, I really appreciate it - will definitely consider your points when improving the game! :)
DDRKirbyISQ
DDRKirbyISQ23 Aug 2018, 05:08
Played and rated the compo version.

Neat! This was pretty simple but kept my interest for longer than I thought it would. The post-jam improvements you wrote about make a lot of sense. I kept forgetting at first that things don't spawn on the same square as the people, haha...but I got the hang of it once I remembered.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor23 Aug 2018, 13:48
@ddrkirbyisq
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad it kept you engaged :) Sometimes I forget that they don't spawn on the same square as well, maybe there's a better way to execute that mechanic! Thank you for your feedback :)
dog_bone42
dog_bone4225 Aug 2018, 13:29
Very cool game, especially with the changes you made afterwards. It would be cool if you continued work on the game and released it. I would definitely buy it.
Ely Shaffir25 Aug 2018, 14:27
Such a cool entry! The graphics, the gameplay, everything worked great as a full game. I had lots of fun playing the game, hope you continue it :)
MerpADer26 Aug 2018, 03:14
was an interesting idea! Though I think that the people should have bigger hitboxes so its easier to move them around.
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor26 Aug 2018, 14:09
@dog-bone42 @ely-shaffir
Thank you so much for your support! I'm definitely thinking of extending the game and making it more of a survival citybuilder-esque game, hopefully making it fun for players :) Just made a twitter account for it, if you're interested in updates! :D
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor26 Aug 2018, 14:11
@merpader
Thank you for playing!
The suggestion for a bigger hitbox is really valid, will definitely take it into account when improving! Thank you! :)
bbaf
bbaf28 Aug 2018, 10:58
The first play was a total mess. I read the tutorial but for me, it was quite hard to pack all these things in mind.

The second was above all expectations. The game becomes very interesting and addictive when you figure out how all inner mechanics work.

It has a good hardness curve and a nice level of dynamic to keep the player in tension during the whole game.
I had had 4 guys and near 90% of happiness, but then something went wrong and all happiness started rapidly fleeing from their faces(lacking the food played its role)
Nevertheless, I liked the game.
Great entry!
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor29 Aug 2018, 07:56
@bbaf
Thank you for playing! Ahh you made it so close :D I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback! :)
ursagames
ursagames4 Sep 2018, 11:01
A little challenging to figure out everything at first, but a great entry! Thanks for sharing your game with my stream awhile back. Your game was played around 1:09 into this vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/299401837
Mikixen
Mikixenauthor4 Sep 2018, 16:55
@ursagames
Thank you so much for playing and streaming my game! I really appreciate your video and comments. It was enjoyable watching it & reading chat — definitely gotta work on balancing next time! :smile:
nandelind
nandelind4 Sep 2018, 19:58
Fun! I like that I can just keep moving things and not feel too much like either I'm waiting or I can't keep up.
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