Official Planetologist

by dalep

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.48

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.35

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.80

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.75

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.50

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.83

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.12

Official Planetologist is a strategy sandbox game about terraforming worlds and sending settlers to save your species from self-induced extinction as your home planet’s ecosystem collapses. Can you find a way to create a truly resilient interplanetary civilization, or will colonization merely delay your inevitable self-destruction?

This was going to be a Compo game, but I didn’t finish it in time. It might still be incredibly unbalanced, but I know there *are* strategies that will work at least in the short term, you just might need multiple attempts to find them. There is no “official” win state, just infinite play against the harsh (but sometimes, hopefully, rewarding) realities of planetary ecology.

This game requires an up-to-date version of Chrome (61 or newer), Safari (15.4 or newer), Firefox (98 or newer), Edge (79 or newer), or Opera (48 or newer). 72h is not enough time to develop backwards compatibility!

Comments17

3BT5 Apr 2022, 02:03

Unfortunately the start button doesn't seem to work

JuulH5 Apr 2022, 02:07

Pretty cool game! I didn't get how some things worked at first but I still liked it, good job c:

Rowlna7 Apr 2022, 06:54

Commenting just to let you know there are issues with the githubio link @ me if you can update the link!!!

DalePauthor8 Apr 2022, 20:54

@rowlna Can you be more specific? The link looks correct to me.

DalePauthor8 Apr 2022, 21:46

@3bt Make sure your browser is up to date (I added the required versions to the description above) and you don’t have any extensions blocking scripts on the game’s page.

PSV Games Studio12 Apr 2022, 00:54

Very cool and fun game!

MrOrry12 Apr 2022, 01:08

I really liked the idea! Cute graphics also. It needs more feedback on your choices, during all my runs the planet became stagnant, either not decreasing stats enough or population not growing enough, so no bad atmosphere are made.
Also, you should add the event log to the right or left! So its easier to see the current status.

TheBlitz12 Apr 2022, 03:05

I love the idea and the cute graphics :)
It took a while but i finally understood how to play around with the planets' characteristics
I think there's potential to be a strategy game with research upgrades and all

Itskdog13 Apr 2022, 00:03

Nice job with this simulation game. I think you did pretty well with just one person working on it. The art looks good and the controls were nice. Wasn't too sure what I was doing in the game, but I appreciate the attempt to make a simulation game during a jam.

CasualNothing13 Apr 2022, 01:23

An interesting game! I ended up finding a stable configuration on Ross 128 b. I think this has the bones of a fun game. My only criticism would be that I'd like a bit more information exposed. Even without that it's still fun!

Cookie_CHR13 Apr 2022, 08:32

Nice game! Sadly my pause button got bugged at some point and wouldn't work anymore (played on Firefox 99), but the gameplay is really enjoyable. :)

BurnsDesigns13 Apr 2022, 16:39

Wow, the idea has so much promise! I enjoyed the game and kept rebooting to strategize a little differently. With more tutorial, balance, etc this would be super fun

KreGames15 Apr 2022, 12:27

Really fun game to play with. Though some information about the plants effect would be cool. I did not get useful information about the logs. But some info on the other type of floras could be helpful. Now it is only based on experience.

carlinhu15 Apr 2022, 21:52

Really liked the idea. I love simulation games like that! At first I got a litte bit confused, but after some time I understood the game. Good job!

Steve741115 Apr 2022, 23:02

I couldn't really figure out how to get started. I could settle Ross and even get it somewhat stable by mixing flora, but that was about it. Launching seeds from Earth to some CO2 heavy, relatively low toxicity planet never seemed to do much of anything, and by the time Earth had two completed launches, everyone there was dead. I do really enjoy the idea, and I think this has the bones of a really great strategy game. Also, maybe consider renaming EventLog.js to something else, as that name is blocked in some privacy filter lists that a lot of browser extensions use.

ArthurLorando16 Apr 2022, 01:19

What an amazing game and a super fun idea! Absolutely hard, or I am the worst planetologist ever hahahah.
I think the graphics could be a little bit better and the UI could be moved around to adjust for each player's likes. A really good job!!

0x74656416 Apr 2022, 01:38

Am I supposed to be able to do something other than send settlers to Ross 128 B? I've sent settlers and seeds to every planet but got nothing out of it.

Otherwise, it is an interesting concept. Maybe I missed it, but if you had to figure out a combination of planets to use, like a puzzle, I think that would help add to the game.

Other games by @dalep

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