LudumData

World In A Bottle by Serilyn

[raw]
made by Serilyn for LD23 (COMPO)
This is a sim along the lines of sim earth, a balance of atmospheric gasses,soil nutrients,and plants and animals that interact with them. I tried to keep the chemical reactions as close to the real world as possible. It's very unbalanced right now, since the rabbits were hacked in in the last two hours and there are no wolves to keep them in check.

Language: Silverlight/C#
IDE: Visual Studio 2010
Graphics: Photoshop
Music: OpenMPT

Notes:
The apple trees won't grow without nitrates, so some lupines must be planted first.
A single rabbit will breed with itself, yes that's a bug. So yes, a single rabbit can create a rabbitsploshion.
The system *should* be closed, as in no atoms will be lost, though they will be exchanged: IE: the plants will photosynthesize water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen. If it looks like something's missing, it's most likely in the bodies of the plants and animals. A large amount of plantlife will deplete the amount of water in the air and soil.
If you run out of water, plants will dehydrate from front to back - an artifact of the drawing code.

Silverlight (Web) http://serilyn.com/WorldInABottle/
Source http://serilyn.com/WorldInABottle/WorldInABottleSource.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=1128

Ratings

Coolness 52% 3
Overall 3.49 148
Audio 2.86 275
Fun 2.78 444
Graphics 3.69 136
Humor 2.00 539
Innovation 3.96 44
Mood 3.49 73
Theme 4.49 5

Feedback

Blengineer
23. Apr 2012 · 04:00 UTC
I really like the data readout of the different things, but it was unclear what the numbers meant. 0, 2000, 10000. It seems like these aren't giving me anything extra.

I like how I can leave the game to write this comment and then come back and its completely changed.

I wish there was more than 1 bottle, like in the screenshot. If you wanted to take this game further you could consider: what if I could have an array of bottles and preform different experiments on each one and watch them all play out at the same time?
True Valhalla
23. Apr 2012 · 09:41 UTC
I really loved this interpretation of theme. It was quite beautiful. Great work!
Simon
23. Apr 2012 · 19:26 UTC
This is one of the best game I've played so far. Great work!
R3ason
24. Apr 2012 · 03:39 UTC
Wow. This was one that I was all but expecting to be a disappointment. Boy was I wrong; this is right up my ally! Excellent job. Graphics are great; killed a the rabbits, and I felt heartless, seeing all of their little bones lying there! ...I agree with the previous comment; more bottles like the screenshot would be great. Thanks for making this!
jgalecki
24. Apr 2012 · 03:40 UTC
Fun game! Very interesting as well. One comment: As a player, it would have been nice to have some (optional) goals to work towards - something like 'Have three full-grown trees at once' or something similar.
Zythiku
24. Apr 2012 · 03:41 UTC
Cool idea for theme. Even though was sort of confusing at first, its relaxing to just see everything change.
jplur
24. Apr 2012 · 03:42 UTC
Fun to play around with, I'd like to see a post compo version of this!
johnfn
24. Apr 2012 · 03:45 UTC
Nice concept. I was always a fan of sim games :-) One suggestion - the ability for the player to place items, rather than having it done randomly, would add a bit to the game. It's always good to make the player feel like he has control ;-)
derrickdool
24. Apr 2012 · 03:48 UTC
Really liked this one, great to see a little biome sim. Hope you keep developing this one post LD48
fprawn
24. Apr 2012 · 03:50 UTC
Really interesting take on the theme and a well done game. I enjoyed playing this one.
jeffz
24. Apr 2012 · 04:07 UTC
A great idea well executed, enjoyed playing this.
angrygeometry
24. Apr 2012 · 11:33 UTC
was fun playing around and seeing the effects of having and not having certain things. kill all lupines and enjoy your new ocean of water. fun game! great concept.
netguy204
24. Apr 2012 · 11:49 UTC
I thought this was a clever use of the theme and a well done mini-world-simulator. Your explanations of the effects of each of the world components was really helpful.

The pace and lack of options, for me, meant the experience wasn't gratifying enough to keep playing. It actually would have really helped me to see plots of the different levels over time and markings on that plot for when I inserted trees and rabbits... I'm a nerd like that. I also wish the music wasn't so repetitive.

The graphics were excellent and appropriate and I really thought this was an innovative take on the theme. Good work!
tcstyle
24. Apr 2012 · 11:53 UTC
I really love games like that. I was able to keep the system stable for quite some time. Pity that there is no sound (some environment sound for the mood or shy music would be nice).
Funny that I had a very similar basic idea with my game (tiny bottle world).
Jigxor
24. Apr 2012 · 12:10 UTC
I had a lot of fun trying to balance my ecosystem. Really good idea and well executed. In the end I decided to kill all my plants and have a million rabbits. Then I killed them too. Made me laugh hahah.

Great game!
Gornova
24. Apr 2012 · 13:10 UTC
wowww ! great game!
BenW
25. Apr 2012 · 01:32 UTC
I killed all the rabbits.
Shadow
28. Apr 2012 · 01:50 UTC
Loved the way you interpreted the theme (although is either a giant bottle or damn small apple trees and rabbits). Loved the stats and everything. I would've liked the buttons to be part of the game interface though. It feels like a 1990 javascript game with the buttons outside of the game screen. Graphics are OK and I certainly missed sound. Hope you finish this game some day. It's a beautiful idea.
whilefun
28. Apr 2012 · 18:51 UTC
very original :)
OrangeeZ
29. Apr 2012 · 06:34 UTC
i liked the game, music is repetitive, but strangely not annoying, and building a living world is tricky, but intresting.
jimmypaulin
29. Apr 2012 · 15:48 UTC
Serene and peaceful, lovely presentation. Not *entirely* sure what the end goal is so feels less gamelike more simlike, still, enjoyable!
MD_Lancer
30. Apr 2012 · 08:05 UTC
Not sure what a lupin is
and would love to know how often it rains
if this wasnt 310 in the morning i would still
be playing
Angerus
30. Apr 2012 · 10:03 UTC
I like the idea, the simple gameplay and the visual ! Our project have the common point to propose to the player to experiment the interaction of entities on a little "world" but well, I prefer your way of doing things. A great job you did there!
vigrid
30. Apr 2012 · 23:49 UTC
Interesting idea - too bad I couldn't find a balance that would support the poor bunnies. I love how this fits into the compo theme!
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
10. May 2012 · 14:12 UTC
I loved it! Very hard to balance, but I loved the game mechanic. Top marks for theme too
thegreystudios
12. May 2012 · 09:40 UTC
Interesting idea and well executed. I found it hard to balance the eco system but still fun. Would make a great live wallpaper on my android phone :)
Tom 7
12. May 2012 · 16:36 UTC
This is a cool sim. I really like the take on the theme and the graphics, and the calm music. The I don't have that much control over the environment (which I know is part of the point), but that leaves me feeling like the gameplay is limited. It's a great idea, though.
ehtd
12. May 2012 · 17:00 UTC
It looks like it should have a goal to achieve. Other than that, very good simulation.
KevinWorkman
13. May 2012 · 15:35 UTC
This was a really enjoyable concept. It's fun to experiment, but it would also have been good to know what affect my actions had- for example, I'm still not sure how I made it rain. But this is a great start, and it would be awesome to see you expand on this.