Together In Thousands by Os_Reboot

[raw]
made by Os_Reboot for LD31 (JAM)
Together In Thousands is my first submission to my first game jam ever. Not enough time to work on the audio, though it wasn't going to be that great to begin with.

Description - Use drops of fluid to guide your bacterial colony toward total domination of the petri dish. Each fluid represents a different attribute that will boost the ability of your colony.

Resistance - Boosts resistance to attacks from other colonies.
Attack - Increases rate at which your colony attacks other colonies.
Zapping - Increases the rate at which your colony will randomly 'zap' the life out of other cells in the area.
Dilution - Increases the spread of resources in an area for a limited time (can be used to sabotage other colonies).
Death - A deadly combination of Resistance, Attack and Zapping.
Retention - Decreases the spread of resources in an area for a limited time (can be used to sabotage other colonies).

(Strategy - To avoid diluting your attack, create a shell around an area with several drops of "Retention", fill the center with some violent traits and release it against another colony with "Dilution")

Controls -
Mouse over upper right-hand corner for menu to reset.
Click on liquid vials to select, also have predefined key mappings:
Resistance - 1
Attack - 2
Zapping - 3
Dilution - Q
Death - W
Retention - E

I apologize in advance for any issues involving compatibility, game speed or bugs. Again, this is my first game jam ever, I am a junior in High School (finals coming up) and I completely missed Saturday for game jamming.

Conclusion - This was a great jam, I learned a lot (my creativity level starts dropping exponentially around midnight). Had a blast, can't wait to take part in the next LD! :D

**Source is very sloppy, I have learned better practices since I wrote this!**

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.26 448
Audio(Jam) 2.22 628
Fun(Jam) 2.93 597
Graphics(Jam) 3.40 440
Humor(Jam) 2.32 640
Innovation(Jam) 3.77 109
Mood(Jam) 2.83 662
Theme(Jam) 3.66 400

Feedback

Vulture Tamer
08. Dec 2014 · 15:10 UTC
not sure what happened, I won I think :p

it has some weird similarities with my compo entry :D
CheeseyBob
08. Dec 2014 · 15:56 UTC
Really cool concept!
Slepice1
08. Dec 2014 · 15:58 UTC
So pretty and nice idea.
ciaodavinci
09. Dec 2014 · 05:04 UTC
The petri dish of mixing chemicals was fascinating and a good interpretation of the theme. I struggled understanding what each dropper did even after reading the instructions. I like the name.
MurderSantaTeam
09. Dec 2014 · 18:00 UTC
aaaa ... maybe you should explain more what this game is about ... i saw things, but i got no idea what o_O
floorman
10. Dec 2014 · 19:42 UTC
I found this game quite confiusing but very fun to play! I really enjoyed the idea once i got my head around what does what. Nice game!
Wusakko
11. Dec 2014 · 15:32 UTC
Really nice idea and I think you worked a lot with AI
Omiya Games
12. Dec 2014 · 03:49 UTC
A fascinating take on the theme. It took me a while that the RGB representation of each pixel is supposed to indicate the mode in which that cell is in. I wish I could I drop a lot more frequently than the game allowed.
sorlok
12. Dec 2014 · 03:56 UTC
Nice idea! Love the simulation approach. Would like to see more! Kind of moody, relaxing game.
ViliX64
12. Dec 2014 · 14:36 UTC
It looks neat. Any chance for Linux build? If so, contact me on Twitter (@ViliX64) when you upload it :)
Benjamin
12. Dec 2014 · 14:43 UTC
It would hace been more fun with an AI to fight. Even after 2x games I wa snot bale to say exactly how Retention works.
ViliX64
12. Dec 2014 · 16:14 UTC
The game could be a little bit more fast paced. It's one of my TOPs in this LD, though :)
ynots
13. Dec 2014 · 06:20 UTC
nice...:p
Victory Garden
13. Dec 2014 · 09:29 UTC
I've never seen a game quite like this. Strong showing for your first Ludum Dare, and kudos to you!

Unfortunately it ran slow on my compy unless I gave Java high priority via Task Manager, but I played through the first mission. It seemed like the fluids you got were random, so it was hard to do any long-term strategy; it'd be neat if you had a maximum number of drops (either total or for specific fluids) to use at the start of a level, or an objective-based system that rewarded you with points to buy fluid, or even a simple Tetris-esque "this fluid will be next" preview, so you'd be able to plan.

Very innovative, and the fuzzy, softly shifting pixel art was pretty too. Congrats on your first LD, and here's to many more!
GoudaGames
13. Dec 2014 · 11:39 UTC
Looks awesome and it's an interesting concept.
daviosmash
15. Dec 2014 · 06:34 UTC
A bit lost, I will admit, but a fun game. Nice concept and everything.
becker929
15. Dec 2014 · 07:03 UTC
Everything seems to work without a flaw: good job on that! I don't know how to win, though. I like that there is a little die and that the questions are challenging but not impossible. The music could have used more work as it was basically just random high pitched notes over drums. Try to learn a bit more about music! :) Overall it reminded me of some kind of little LED handheld game you might buy at target or something, especially because of the sounds.
Backterria
15. Dec 2014 · 09:16 UTC
Very very good concept!great first entry!Keep up!
freaknarf
15. Dec 2014 · 10:23 UTC
Great game concept!They sould put this in schools :] I really liked watching bacterias grow in a kind of fractal way... I was not sure of what i was doing but i think i colonized it well :]
Poupi
16. Dec 2014 · 11:11 UTC
Very nice :)
PlasterPhantom
16. Dec 2014 · 13:35 UTC
Amazing concept and lovely gameplay. Really relaxing and a real brain cracker if you don't know what you're doing at first. Great learning curve! Graphics are really cool and simple! Great job!
ZNCatlaw
17. Dec 2014 · 08:30 UTC
Neat! I think it needs more feedback? I was winning all the time, so I guess I understood. I kind of liked not knowing, because it made me feel like a scientist doing research. In that case, though, I would have liked to be able to drop resources on any of the colonies, rather than just on mine.
OttersDen
18. Dec 2014 · 05:56 UTC
This is a very interesting concept! I think I need a bit more guidance in order to understand the gameplay a little better, but overall, this was fun to tinker with!
monika
18. Dec 2014 · 05:56 UTC
This is fantastic. I hope to see you in more jams in the future.

The jittery noise in the pixel color was a really nice touch.

There wasn't a lot of feedback in the game, and it wasn't that intuitive figuring out what was going on or what did what, even with the instructions, so if you touch up the game some, those would be some things to work on. It also didn't seem to take a lot to win even before I realized the right side did things too, so it might need some balance to make it harder.

::thumbs up::
Poupi
18. Dec 2014 · 15:46 UTC
Nice work ;)
Peach Pie Productions
18. Dec 2014 · 16:07 UTC
Very nice! I love the abstract look!
Valeour
28. Dec 2014 · 16:36 UTC
Unfortunately I couldn't understand the game as much as I tried to. However the technical side looked very complicated (to me anyway), so despite not understanding, I liked what I saw. :)
maxmetallica
29. Dec 2014 · 19:10 UTC
nice game