Ludum Dare #46compo

A Game of Life

by dg

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.32

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.29

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.71

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.90

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.18

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.18

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.40

Keep it alive! You need to keep the forest alive.

Trees get water from lakes, growing when they have water and dying when they don't
If a group of trees get big enough you'll score points
Some large trees will turn into mountains and you'll get $10 each time they do
Trees near mountains will produce clouds
Clouds will spread and rain down water, creating lakes if they rain down enough

Inspired by The Game of Life by John Horton Conway

EDIT: added hotkeys, slowed the game down by half, added starting tiles, reduced starting money

Genres: puzzle

Tools: Unity

Comments17

Evolving20 Apr 2020, 04:56

Realy nice timekiller! 10/10 trees turnin into the mountains!)

Tattomoosa20 Apr 2020, 05:00

It took me a while to get something that sustained for any length of time. I felt like it moved a bit too quick to wrap my head around. Eventually I got it to go for a while and it was pretty cool but I still think it was a bit fast to feel like I could appreciate it and contribute. The presentation is very nice!

MartinTale20 Apr 2020, 05:26

Looks really fun but I lost quite quickly :D Maybe give an option to drag to place the trees/lakes etc :)

Sarrixx20 Apr 2020, 15:43

Cool little game, pacing/difficulty curve is definitely a bit steep. Even when I finally managed to start sustaining life, I could not keep it sustained for more than about a minute and a half. Really cool little game though, can definitely see the inspiration from Conway's Game of Life. Kudos.

LadislavOdstrcil20 Apr 2020, 19:48

Lovely game... Can you beat my score? :D

dg_author20 Apr 2020, 20:40

I updated the game based on feedback for the UX.

Edits: added hotkeys, slowed the game down by half, added starting tiles, reduced starting money

brndncn21 Apr 2020, 02:30

Wow, I love it! Really fun twist on Conway's GoL. The audio, graphics, and mechanics felt really unified, and the feedback of the "tree planted" and "mountain grown" sounds is super rewarding. It would be interesting to have a "win condition", as the gameplay does seem to stagnate after a while. Maybe there could be more types of cells, introduced after you get a certain number of mountains? Not sure. Awesome work!

dg_author21 Apr 2020, 03:14

Thanks! I considered a win condition, but I really enjoyed having everything keep living and moving. Were I to take it further I would have multiple maps, as the open maps are the easiest, so removing a few of the cells would make it progressively more difficult.

acoto8721 Apr 2020, 05:55

This is an interesting idea. It set the stage to make combinations and learn strategies to keep the forest alive. Very good!

Runuchok21 Apr 2020, 07:38

366k score! Very satisfying sound of tree becoming a mountain, you know when is pay day is))

kaeveris22 Apr 2020, 15:08

I lost quite quickly but this is a solid game, with nice sounds and graphics!

No Grapes Games24 Apr 2020, 03:24

Always fun playing cellular automata games :) Tough at first, becomes more intuitive and rewarding with some practice.

Good work!

Somniac25 Apr 2020, 02:44

Fun enough just learning how to sustain it, but I think integrating an objective would help. Also nice music :v:

loveapplegames26 Apr 2020, 09:05

I enjoyed playing this game. Simple rules, but quite a bit of strategy. I think I could have kept playing indefinitely, though somehow my money kept hovering around 300. I guess I had hoped for a moment where the game manages itself, and there's enough rain for trees to grow spontaneously.

tic26 Apr 2020, 13:02

I stopped circa 900_000, to see if it would sustain itself but no luck :p
Cool little game :)

cheesepencil29 Apr 2020, 00:57

RIP Conway, this is a fine tribute. GG

GreenDinoGames4 May 2020, 14:53

Really addictive game. I almost couldn't stop :) Very well done!