Life Vac

by caranha

co-authored: @cornettheory

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.72

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.32

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.97

Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.13

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.11

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.78

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.97

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.57

What?

In this game you play the role of an immoral bio-scientist, producing life in a laboratory to sell for a profit.

You create the life forms in your petri dish, and sell them using the suck-o-vat 3000.

Active life forms are worth more than static life forms. You can make them active by using the "RUN" button, and you can stamp the three patterns in the top on your petri-dish to influence how the lifeforms develop.

However, note that you have a limited number of runs, and using your stamps costs money!

How much money can you make before you run out of resources?

How?

This game is based on Conway's Game of Life, a mathematical simulation of simple life forms as cellular automata.

Hints:
- Use "Run" to advance the simulation. Moving cells are worth more than static ones.
- Brighter life spots are worth more than darker ones.
- The three stamps in the top are likely to develop into very active life! Use them if your board gets empty.
- It is important to decide whether to continue running, or to suck the board and start with a new stamp.

Why?

This game was developed in Pico-8, on-site at PicoPico Cafe. Thanks everyone who participated!

Tools: PICO-8

Comments27

AntzTAKEOVER29 Apr 2019, 14:17

I really liked the graphics and art stye! The music worked really well too! The only problem I had was really understanding how the game worked and not just randomly placing stamps and hoping for the best. Apart from that it was really fun! (even though my highscore was like -$6)

caranhaauthor29 Apr 2019, 14:28

Haha, yeah, the game is a bit hard to understand T_T... ideally, you should push "run" a few times, then suck, then place some stamps, run again, then suck, etc. Placing the stamps just at the right places, and knowing when to run, and when to suck, are the keys for a high score.

OrbitalBlueprint29 Apr 2019, 15:36

I love the music, and the vacuum sprite is amazing! Fascinating take on the jam's theme too, playing around with the cells is so much fun.

TasakaSama29 Apr 2019, 15:39

I did not understand everything I think, a little complicated at first

TasakaSama29 Apr 2019, 15:39

I did not understand everything I think, a little complicated at first

Von Vista29 Apr 2019, 15:50

I love the graphics and music in this one. Nice innovation on the concept of Game of Life, turning it and matching it to LD44's theme. I absolutely enjoyed this one, great job! Congrats!

niterich29 Apr 2019, 16:14

Ingenious and fun take on the theme! I could see myself spending a long time trying to beat my high score (I got $49!). I just wish there was a way to keep playing for longer - like being able to purchase a recharge for the simulation or something.

The_Nomi29 Apr 2019, 16:55

somehow I couldn't hear the music but am chuffed as I learnt that this has become a 'design-your-own-petri-dish' thing. cool stuff!

Suchista29 Apr 2019, 17:32

Wow, this is genius! Very interesting idea and perfect execution. I wouldn't say the gameplay was particularly fun, but it was still kind of addictive, I spent a lot of time trying to get perfect creations. The music and art are also great.

daria-toni29 Apr 2019, 18:09

I didn't quite understand how the game works, but I absolutely adore its style and art! Very cute, very retro and also - funny music :)

Retronator29 Apr 2019, 20:06

That's pretty awesome that it teaches you (if you experiment long enough), which patterns reproduce the best. Makes more sense if you already know game of life really in which case it's A+,fun and educational.

Pierre CILLUFFO29 Apr 2019, 21:41

The graphics is cool and the music goes very well with the game.
But, it is hard to understand what we want to do.

velvetlobster30 Apr 2019, 03:59

i love science based games ... this one is kinda precisa and still has the arts and the fun, loved it!

caranhaauthor30 Apr 2019, 07:47

Thanks everyone for your comments!

@orbitalblueprint and @von-vista: For the spritework and music, @cornettheory is to blame :-) He did some amazing work there!

@tasakasama: Yeah, many people said the same thing :-( I will try to make the game easier to understand next time!

@niterich: Yes, buying recharges, and having multiple levels were some things that we considered, but did not have time to implement. Maybe in the mythic post-compo version?

@the-nomi: Oh no! Were you able to hear the sound effects? Did you make sure that pico-8 was not muted? (ctrl-M)

@suchista: Yeah, it was very hard finding the fun in this one. But it was such a good idea that I decided to try anyway!

@daria-toni and @pierre-cilluffo: Hahaha, I understand you! I have some difficulty expaining the game to my friends too!

@retronator: Right! Knowing how the GOL works is a bit of a requirement here. The stamps in the top are (most of them) taken from the list of long-lived methuselas in the GOL wiki, althought there are some traps in there too.

@velvetlobster: Thank you!

Tuhlienn30 Apr 2019, 08:38

I really love your game. At first i also wanted to do a game based on "Conway's game of life" but i didn't manage to come up with some good "gameplay". So i'm even more excited to see a good implementation of the concept. :)

randdir30 Apr 2019, 11:49

Guess first time a life game is interesting. Well done and also in Pico-8 your pretty good guys keep it up. Nice job love it !

pixelstuff30 Apr 2019, 17:14

At first the game was a bit hard to understand but once I got the hang of it, I spent time enjoying myself to make the perfect match of particles to earn money. The minimalistic graphs suits your purpose well and the sound design is really great. A very pleasant entry!

TPZombie30 Apr 2019, 17:23

Interesting concept. I'm in love with the art and the music.
Maybe it's a bit unintuitive at first, it took me a while to understand what's happening, but once I got it enjoyed a lot :)

junt741 May 2019, 13:14

Nice twist on lifegame. I love that graphics and sounds. Kudos for pico8!

nettaigyo2 May 2019, 05:08

The concept is very cool and genius! I love your game:)

caranhaauthor3 May 2019, 14:31

@tuhlienn @randdir @junt74 @nettaigyo: Thank you for your nice comments!

@tpzombie What made the game click for you?

Jin93104 May 2019, 08:22

Really nice take on the theme and I dig the graphics so much! Great job!

Tiberiusuciu5 May 2019, 07:17

BEAUTIFUL presentation, the graphics and sounds are well polished. I was a little lost at first since I have very little experience with the original game of life. Excellent work to all of you!

plexsoup5 May 2019, 09:44

Great game. I love Conway's game of life. Impressive that you implemented it in Pico8.

Kaisean Games5 May 2019, 11:05

Very well done. But I was not able to keep my money above zero. So, some balancing would be nice.

Otherwise, as a fan of Game of Life, I really apprecate the effort :smile:

Very nice take on the theme.

Echo GameWorks5 May 2019, 15:32

Awesome presentation, sound, and game idea. I played it a couple times and got progressively better. Nice work!

foolmoron5 May 2019, 23:31

The presentation and simplified rules make it fun to try the game out, but the complexity of the game of life rules make it hard to predict the best place to play. It might be easier if you are very familiar with the game of life rules, but I think the main issue is the grid is very high resolution. So putting a stamp at position 20,30 vs 20,31 is hard to evaluate, but it can have massive implications. Overall it was fun to try to make the most active culture though, even if you didn't really know what you were doing.

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