LudumData

Chromatic Breeding by artefon

[raw]
made by artefon for LD23 (COMPO)
In Chromatic Breeding your objective is to steer the evolution of the bacteria towards the target color.

You have 3 tools and 2 minutes to achieve a colony of 20 specimes.

I created an applet for the web version but I didn't find anywhere to host it :(

ps. This is my first entry in Ludum Dare. I wanted to create a very different game mechanics, but half way through I thought it didn't work as expected. Given my time limitations I had to finish without big modifications in the original project.

Edits:
23/04 - Added Web version

Java https://sites.google.com/site/artefondump/chromatic_breeding.zip?attredirects=0&d=1
Web https://dl.dropbox.com/s/g1i9psxywfmycdm/index.htm
Source https://sites.google.com/site/artefondump/chromatic_breeding_source.zip?attredirects=0&d=1
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QW46vqrQqg
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10965

Ratings

Coolness 72% 3
Overall 2.74 580
Audio 1.97 615
Fun 2.29 711
Graphics 2.83 456
Humor 2.12 491
Innovation 3.64 121
Mood 2.43 595
Theme 2.86 521

Feedback

Endurion
23. Apr 2012 路 07:07 UTC
That is actually an interesting idea. You need to modify the bacteria color to the target.

However the color changes seem to be so fine grained (full 8 bit RGB spectrum?) you end up with 150 bacteria all close to the target color, but not exactly matching.

I love the intro piccies ;)
馃帳 artefon
23. Apr 2012 路 13:55 UTC
Yes, I am using the full 8 bit spectrum. The sensitivity for the target color is a parameter, maybe my tunning wasn't that good. Thanks for the feedback! :)
KevinWorkman
23. Apr 2012 路 22:12 UTC
Seems like you started this thinking the theme was evolution or alchemy? Anyway, interesting premise, but it would have been cooler with more "weapons" or tools to help shape the environment.
tompudding
23. Apr 2012 路 22:14 UTC
I love the idea, really unusual. I found it extremely hard, though I am colourblind so I guess that doesn't help :)
馃帳 artefon
23. Apr 2012 路 22:18 UTC
I thought about how to make the game more colorblind friendly but couldn't manage to :(

I really like the idea of games that teach something. In this case the objective is to teach color mix.

The original idea was not related to alchemy, but I agree it would be a better fit for the game mechanics. Although I really like the way you are forced to make indirect mixtures (you can't select what is going to mix, only what is not mixing).
piterlouis
23. Apr 2012 路 22:35 UTC
The idea is really original. I like your game. Good work!
RiamuDiMentis
23. Apr 2012 路 22:53 UTC
Awesome idea! Not sure how fun it was, given the sensitivity... But great job!
Shigor
24. Apr 2012 路 14:21 UTC
Good idea! Found it bit too hard thanks to the full spectre of colors, but won anyway in the end.
Very good entry, this calls for postcompo version!
ratboy2713
24. Apr 2012 路 17:39 UTC
I couldn't tell what color I needed exactly. I kept thinking I had one but the counter was at zero. Maybe less color options, limit to 16 maybe? Also, a way to quarantine a proper population would be helpful. Still, a great concept, I would love to see a full game made with the mechanic.
Pierrec
25. Apr 2012 路 05:53 UTC
same as ratboy : it was hard to find out what colour we should find. I think the game itself is too hard, but it is a great concept and should be improves
Proch
25. Apr 2012 路 12:03 UTC
nice idea... but the random movements of the cells makes the game a bit boring :(
thristhart
26. Apr 2012 路 16:57 UTC
This actually seemed a little too easy. By killing all the non-target or non-similar colors, I won every time I tried for three rounds.
Arkazon
26. Apr 2012 路 17:48 UTC
Interesting idea but I found it too hard to tell the difference between my bacteria and the target so I didn't do very well.

Extra points for innovation though.
crazyheckman
27. Apr 2012 路 05:23 UTC
Really cool idea, audio kind of got on my nerves and it was difficult for me to get more than 5-6 target colors. I really like the concept though.
TenTonToon
27. Apr 2012 路 06:52 UTC
Interesting concept. I guess. I didn't quite understand how to advance, as the only way I could test whether I was getting closer to the objective was by injecting "color" to the bacteria.
A couple tutorial levels should make this game one to look forward to!
Congratulations!
馃帳 artefon
28. Apr 2012 路 02:16 UTC
Thanks a lot for the feedback so far.

@Proch do you have any suggestions? :)
Drabiter
28. Apr 2012 路 03:53 UTC
Great gameplay. I'm using touchpad which make it difficult but it's fun.
Spiridios
28. Apr 2012 路 04:02 UTC
Unlike the others, I didn't think it was too hard. I really like the game play, but it WAS hard to tell what the target color was. It didn't help that my first target color was a shade of grey, so I didn't realize the test-tube was my target color. =p I also think this makes a better natural selection game than a color theory game, but what do I know.
machinas
28. Apr 2012 路 04:03 UTC
I couldn't seem to get the needle to do anything. Neat idea! Keep working on this and polish it up. get a lot of game play feedback and iterate!
xBlinkedx
28. Apr 2012 路 04:05 UTC
I like the idea. The art style is really cool too. Nothing really bad to say other than that sound is pretty damn ear piercing.
dr_soda
28. Apr 2012 路 04:23 UTC
It's a bit difficult to discover which bacteria produce which other colors of bacteria at first and it isn't quite clear just what the goal is at first either. That said, once I got the idea I got more into the game.

I found the bomb of little to no use. The needle and the medicine were all I needed. Perhaps though it would be better to call the "medicine" tool something else as I felt it was a little confusing.

Otherwise, not bad!
cantorfew
28. Apr 2012 路 11:16 UTC
I really like this idea. I was also confused at first (I used to think you have to make them ALL the same). I had to replay before understanding how I can influence the outcome.

Sometimes tool changes didn't work (not sure why).
summaky
29. Apr 2012 路 12:35 UTC
I won at least 3 times, but still don't know how to play. I just leave the bacteria at their own devices, and usually they breed the correct color. Anyway, I liked the idea, but fail to see the connection to the theme here.
noddy2006
07. May 2012 路 08:28 UTC
As mentioned before, very difficult to judge differences in colour. Also, definitely needs some sort of help/tutorial beyond just "steer the evolution of the bacteria towards the target color". Promising though, for sure!
MinerCraftGuy
12. May 2012 路 01:21 UTC
The game itself is really good