Meager Genesis

by hajden
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.87
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.93
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.63
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.13
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.04
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.10
Headphones and full screen recommended! 🎧

Meager Genesis is a chill space exploration of sorts. Sit back, relax, fly around some evolving space scenery and soundscape for a few minutes. Collect orbs to build up visuals and music.

itch-meager-genesis-cover.jpg
```

Play with:
- Mouse
- wasd/arrows + Space
- L-thumbstick + A (xbox 360 tested only)
```

*

Tools used:
- Unity 2018.3 with free/open source plugins: Sprites and Bones, doTween, Legacy image effects (bloom), NextGenSprites
- Photoshop, Illustrator for graphics
- FL studio and Audacity for sound/music

*

Comments74

LanaLux
LanaLux7 Oct 2019, 05:57
Very relaxing and so polished! Even the title screen felt nice and the animations and colors suit the vibe really nicely. Well done!
CornetTheory
CornetTheory7 Oct 2019, 09:08
It was a nice experience, I'm not sure if the collecting is important, or if the ending is time based, but either way it was chill.
FinalForeach
FinalForeach7 Oct 2019, 09:12
Very well done. Good graphics, good sound, good controls. Not much gameplay, but the ambiance makes up for it many times over.
congusbongus
congusbongus7 Oct 2019, 09:16
Very relaxing! If it was a bit more interesting - wandering aimlessly and not being able to see much is boring - this would be even more awesome!
N0ught2347 Oct 2019, 09:18
Cool game, relaxing. Controls were nice. Visuals were pleasing. I noticed you had a parallax effect in the background but only really noticeable if you boost a lot in one direction which is a nice touch. The audio effects mix well with the background music. Perhaps some more stuff to do would be cool but great for being made in 48 hours!
CodeForJoyCaro
CodeForJoyCaro7 Oct 2019, 11:46
It reminds me a lot of "Everything", because it has similar sounds and you can explore without being attacked. I liked the way it delivers an out of space mood via the audio.
laegoose7 Oct 2019, 12:31
Relaxing and hypnotic. Beautiful visuals and music
NachtWitch7 Oct 2019, 13:34
Really cool that you made it work for consol
okkolobr
okkolobr7 Oct 2019, 13:37
I fill so relaxed now, thank you ! Great lights !
Bocodillo
Bocodillo7 Oct 2019, 13:54
A beautiful game. Between the slowly building music and the visuals I found it really calming to play. Great job.
romes
romes7 Oct 2019, 13:59
Induced peace!
Pavel Ivanov
Pavel Ivanov7 Oct 2019, 15:20
So simple but very polished! The character sort of looks like a sperm thing. oh oh...
MaggardJosh
MaggardJosh7 Oct 2019, 20:26
Like others have said, this is pretty simple but makes up for it with the amount of polish. The graphics and audio were both really good. Nice entry!
Chaosinism7 Oct 2019, 22:30
The evolution of visuals and music is impressive!
merkisoft7 Oct 2019, 22:44
very nice parallax and particle effects, i whish there was a bit more a gameplay with a goal.
intro feels a bit like my (not so polished game) :wink:
aconfusedragon
aconfusedragon8 Oct 2019, 01:17
I really love the look at feel of this! However the keyboard controls were a tad finicky to get right on top of the target sometimes, but overall this is great!
Marchmain8 Oct 2019, 01:21
Beautiful. Great sense of space and depth. And I love those jiggly bubbles!
Corrade
Corrade8 Oct 2019, 03:25
It may be style-over-substance, but the style was more than enough to make the substance a compelling little piece of gameplay. The visuals and audio were fantastic throughout and it was great to see them progress. Although I found the movement of bubbles to be noticeably choppy when the player was also moving, and would've liked to see the player start with a bit of glow to hide its rough edges. I also thought that the title sounded a bit odd.
Hajden
Hajdenauthor8 Oct 2019, 06:52
@corrade Thanks, I agree re bubble and glow.
As for the title, the idea was to make a birth of an inconsequential space faring creature at the beginning of time, and its eventual death (the return to nothing), but I don't think the game translates well to that idea at all (in its current state).
iozsaygi
iozsaygi8 Oct 2019, 09:55
Ambient is so cool, it caught me for a while, art was pretty good and minimalist. I felt in love with player. Particle effects were on point and music was fitting the game.
Goob job, i think it is 10/10 entry.
FlyWolfe8 Oct 2019, 11:41
The game is beautiful and sounds amazing! I love the ambient music and the sounds of collecting orbs. It would be cool to be able to do more in the game, but you really hit the sweet spot for ambiance and atmosphere
RaisetheDead8 Oct 2019, 13:20
Love the sounds, great music as well, it kept me in the experience till the end. Very nice job you've done here !!!
Miryuu_Sekka8 Oct 2019, 14:08
so beautiful!
but wat doing this bubbles?
*want restart button ^^
Hajden
Hajdenauthor8 Oct 2019, 14:11
@miryuu-sekka bubbles don't do anything, you can burst them though. I wanted to add more interactive features to have fun with, but bubbles are the only one that made it in time. :)
Barrier
Barrier8 Oct 2019, 16:58
Cool relaxing ambiental game :D
Maybe you could make the space worm blob follow the mouse automatically so you don't need to constantly hold it.
Otherwise was hoping for some event at the end, still good job! :)
gisam8 Oct 2019, 17:34
The game looks very nice
8 Oct 2019, 17:49
Super cool, visually stunning, nice sounddesign, extremely solid!
Alex Weiser8 Oct 2019, 17:53
The opening sequence was mind opening. It felt as if I witnessed the big bang itself and the origin of all creation. And from it came art, sound, passion, and love for all things. A tear filled my eye as I drifted across the cosmos. Bravo, Bravo...
silkworm_sweatshop
silkworm_sweatshop8 Oct 2019, 19:13
Had a nice relaxing time. Very visually pleasing and the music buildup is nice too. After a game jam it's always nice to have something chill to play for a bit.
Walkingtall858 Oct 2019, 21:56
Thank you for your comment on our game - likewise, we had something similar in mind but opted for a platformer instead. Long story short: Lucky us!

Your game looks fantastic, the music is great and very fitting and the controls are smooth. What more can you wish for?
kromeboy
kromeboy8 Oct 2019, 22:07
Definitely a chill experience. I didn't manage to burst a bubble...
polarcube
polarcube8 Oct 2019, 22:09
This game made me feel good while i was playing it i was very relaxed the textures were great overall its great.
hastro9 Oct 2019, 08:08
Really relaxing. I loved the sense of depth that slowly revealed itself. Music was lovely also. For me, I think the movement would have felt a little more natural had I been able to use the mouse to control direction. Nice work making a great little game :)
Hajden
Hajdenauthor9 Oct 2019, 09:18
@hastro thanks! you can use the mouse. Hold left click to move in a direction, right click to propel forward
Hajden
Hajdenauthor9 Oct 2019, 11:53
@kromeboy oh, you can do it only by propeling forward (right click/space/A while moving). But all you missed is a lower framerate bubble burst animation :)
ryzy27
ryzy279 Oct 2019, 15:53
Sound and graphics are top notch. How did you manage to create this tail while moving?

I wish gameplay was a bit more involved, but that might be just me. It was relaxing and cool idle game.

And I managed to get to the edge of the map!
Hajden
Hajdenauthor9 Oct 2019, 16:25
@ryzy27 The game definitely needs more involvement, I agree. Polish and sound ate up all the time.
The tail: the entire "blob" is just a circle on a plane mesh which gets deformed when it moves (which is not a great approach for this, should have been just a white mesh).
Hajden
Hajdenauthor9 Oct 2019, 16:57
@sharpx oh very cool! sorry for the abrupt ending :)
Frank Gevaerts
Frank Gevaerts9 Oct 2019, 19:56
I was disappointed when it ended, but maybe it's all for the best, I do have things to do and I could have spent all night looking and listening to this!
RealityCheck
RealityCheck9 Oct 2019, 22:14
Very soothing and relaxing. Not sure there is much of a game here - but it definitely was an experience.

The physics felt nice in the movement, and the soundscape including the little booms when collecting orbs was very zen-like.

I think I reached the end of the map at one point, since my little guy went off screen.
p-r
p-r9 Oct 2019, 22:20
Beautiful
ynneblack
ynneblack9 Oct 2019, 22:24
I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the description, but oh, it got quite mesmerising! I could stare for hours at the glittering stars and the music was lovely. The opening and end design were also nice, simple, so they didn't distract from it at all. I loved how deep the space felt and all the background colors were right up my alley. At first I was a little distracted by the navigation; it was too easy to miss the orbs (I was just dragging my orb with mouse, unaware I should propel it!). But later it didn't matter as much, as I'd go long time without even seeing any. I also hit the background's edge, it has a green frame around it. My bad for going one direction only, though!
Overall it was a very lovely experience, thank you for sharing it with us!
Smitto10 Oct 2019, 02:47
Nothing wrong with focusing on style when it's this beautiful. Especially enjoyed the little opening sequence and how naturally the music and backgrounds transitioned, great work!
Alchemic
Alchemic10 Oct 2019, 04:24
Very beautiful! Very soothing experience. Would be nice if there was more stuff to find and explore.
Porocyonak10 Oct 2019, 07:16
very chill and enjoyable :)
Hajden
Hajdenauthor10 Oct 2019, 07:46
Thank you everyone!

@ynneblack That's really curious about the map's edge, was there an actual green line visible? I need to investigate, sounds like a visible collider when it shouldn't be :)

@realitycheck uh oh, I must have left a gap in the enclosing collision if you managed to pass through, thanks for bringing it to my attention
Tommyflower
Tommyflower10 Oct 2019, 12:05
This game is a keeper and one of my favourites here. Such a relaxing experience. The music and sounds are absolutely perfect, the visuals is superpolished and I loved the parallax and the player animation. Would really like to see a future development of this one. (Not sure about the role of the water bubbles). Beautiful entry.
Fax
Fax10 Oct 2019, 13:22
Really love your game. Smooth and good mood. Congratulations.
ynneblack
ynneblack10 Oct 2019, 16:29
@hajden It was a green line at the very edge of the screen (I went to the right side and had it in full screen mode in Chrome) and it didn't allow me to go further, I don't think I even went over the green line, it stopped right in front of it. I can try to look for it again if it doesn't show that way on your end, let me know if that'd help!
Pandanym
Pandanym10 Oct 2019, 17:33
Really glad I continued playing after the initial few minutes of confusion haha, very chill and relaxing.
arkinrev
arkinrev11 Oct 2019, 01:55
That was an incredibly satisfying and relaxing take on the theme that combined 2 ideas that ended up on my cutting room floor, and executed in a better way than I had imagined. Great job!
Hajden
Hajdenauthor11 Oct 2019, 05:37
@ynneblack No don't bother. I didn't manage to find a green line but I found a gap (attached). Seems map edges are generally wonky unintendedly and would need a rework either way
FredFilo12 Oct 2019, 08:14
Beautiful. There is not much gameplay but it was a nice experience overall :)
Ava Skoog
Ava Skoog12 Oct 2019, 11:07
Very nice and relaxing! The music building up is done very well (and the track is lovely), and all the lights are so pretty. Enjoyed this very much!
Marcin J
Marcin J12 Oct 2019, 17:53
Like you said yourself, style over substance but very enjoyable. Good combination of subtle low sounds and chill music with sluggish movement and exploration.
One thing that I think would improve the experience is if the starry background varied and moved when you're exploring.
ROBOWARRIOR1982
ROBOWARRIOR198212 Oct 2019, 20:12
Beautifull ! Great ambiance maybe that's too short i wanted to see more !
cirno
cirno13 Oct 2019, 02:50
This game shows the pure "start with nothing" theme with graphic effects and background music becoming more and more rich when you get more orbs. The graphic of this game inspires me of particle designs for enhancing the mysterious, beautiful and quiet atmosphere. I love this game and look forward to more contents.
Hcursino
Hcursino13 Oct 2019, 16:20
Nice chilling game, great audio design. Good job :)
Amerigo Gazaway
Amerigo Gazaway14 Oct 2019, 05:32
Very cool concept, love the music and visuals. For the evolving music did you use middleware or some other workaround? Great work either way?
Hajden
Hajdenauthor14 Oct 2019, 06:09
@amerigo-gazaway Thanks! Music control is just Unity. 5 loop tracks (1 noise drone and 4 instrumentals) on a same gameobject. All playing from the start of the game muted. Then as necessary their volume gets increased/decreased
ColeSlaughter
ColeSlaughter16 Oct 2019, 04:13
Presentation is top-notch here :ok_hand: I love the way that the track slowly adds instruments the more orbs you collect.

I did feel that the hitbox on my character was sslllliiiiightly too small, but that might just be a personal preference. Also, I wasn't quite sure if the bubbles served any purpose? I wasn't able to do anything to interact with them...
boyTurnedRobot
boyTurnedRobot16 Oct 2019, 13:33
It looked good and handled well. I liked how everything faded in over time and the music was relaxing. I found a bubble but wasn't really sure what to do with it. Overall good work.
Asimov16 Oct 2019, 15:21
Nice to play such a relaxing game this LD. The other experiences were a bit stressfull for the most time^^
Artyom Volkov
Artyom Volkov17 Oct 2019, 11:32
This game reminds me Flow, flower and osmos at the same time. I like smooth controls, beautiful effects and ralaxing music. Well done!
mrerdalural
mrerdalural17 Oct 2019, 11:38
I really liked the level of polish on this one. Your game is strangely familiar to ours but the gameplay style, and the concept are different. Check it out to see what I mean.

Thanks for the game! I had a good time playing it.
pranjalbisht
pranjalbisht18 Oct 2019, 10:55
Ah, the music builds up to such an amazing score towards the end. I sat there listening to it long after the game had ended.
dob
dob21 Oct 2019, 02:26
Lovely art and feel. Not much to do, and not clear that what you're doing doesn't lead to anything, which was a little frustrating once I realized it, but as a zen, meditative thing, it works really well. I love the sound and graphics.
Solah
Solah24 Oct 2019, 11:08
That's really relaxing, it just lacks of events keeping the player interest in the game.
I really love the graphics and the music is also good.
Well done!
Narudgi
Narudgi29 Oct 2019, 09:55
Released my anxiety and cured my cancer, thank you

Feels great, neat entry
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