Cute game, I like that it is open end. My creatures all died because they left their proper habitat. How do you get the hut?

Awesome game, love it!

@frodewin: The NPCs will randomly build a number of huts proportional to their current population. They require trees to be present in order to build huts.

@init-py: Thanks. :)

Made a scenario with people and trees .. got the huts, thx!

It is fun to just throw stuff in this world and see what people will do with the resources, it is interesting to watch them just build new stuff. Do they fight with each other? I swear i saw some of them throw something at other people. Anyway pretty cool zen kind of game and you nailed the theme. Nice graphics and overall mood, good job!

Was Sim Earth you inspiration? i would like to see such a game with modern graphics.

Very nice idea of a sandbox game. I followed your updates a bit so I had some insight in your frustration of building a sandbox that was not much of a game initially.

You got the core mechanics down and everything works nicely and is inviting to play around with in order to see what happens.

Since sandbox games are not really my best genre, I may not be the best person to say this, but personally I would have liked some sort of goal, even if it was just a simple one. Maybe some sort of resource you need in order to change things. Starting from that, you could set up different worlds with different goals, like terraforming a volcanic hellscape or colonizing a micro-island nation. You have all the pieces in place to make this a fun "classic" game beyond what is currently possible in the sandbox.

Overall it's a very unique game that dares to try something new. I would love to see where you can take this concept.

@Zeriver: yes, the NPCs will sometimes throw coconuts at each other - although they do no damage. :) I'm glad you enjoyed it, although I doubt you could keep enjoying it much past ~3 minutes, as there's really only like three things the NPCs do

@holgk: No, I actually haven't heard of Sim Earth before. :) I'm also not sure if I would consider my graphics "modern" but if you do, thanks I guess :P

@cerno-b: I agree that it would be nice to have goals of some sort. One of my original ideas was actually somewhat similar to what you suggested, although I didn't know if I could make it fun.

this is a lot of fun to play around with! maybe a few hover pop ups on the stuff on the sidebar w/ the effects it can have would keep me experimenting with different combinations longer.

first couple reactions i had, i liked how the sprites turned and placed towards the center and the music was pleasant! building my own small world is a perfect take on the theme also, well done!

Interesting idea. I enjoyed myself while playing, even though I had no idea what the quck was happening half the time. I could see this evolving into something splendid.

@tweedle: I really like the popup idea; as you can probably tell there isn't a lot implemented yet but if I do end up expanding on it I think I will include that.

Thanks for the feedback on the music - I always just throw stuff together that I think might sound right and I'm always interested if it actually fits the game and how other people like it.

@shaolin-dave: Glad you enjoyed yourself - always my primary goal, even if my game is only fun for a few minutes. :) If you have any recommendations on how I could make it more obvious what is happening, I'm all ears.


Had fun creating a world for people to live in hehe. It was a very interesting idea. At first I had no idea what was going on so maybe a in-game tutorial could explain briefly the goal of the game instead of just "Try adding things to see what they do.". Though, it was a fun experience adding stuff randomly to see what happens. I wasn't sure how the fish life mechanic worked because they just died after a while.

I started laughing when I saw the humans fighting over the resources that I put down haha. Nice game overall but in the end there is no real end to the game so it becomes dull after a while. Great job overall though!

@linus: I can explain the problem with the fish: they are meant to lose health if they are outside of water, and for some reason they detect as outside of water when they are right on the edge of a boundary. (Also, if there is land between two bodies of water, they may attempt to swim between the bodies of water, and lose health as they travel over the land). So basically it comes down to poor implementation; there is no true "fish life mechanic" because it's broken. ;)

Yeah, it might be good to put in a tutorial. I thought though that it might be more fun to try to see what you could get to happen - sort of like those alchemy games where you combine the different elements to see which ones make the best combos. Maybe though just a basic introduction to the controls / idea of the game would be good.

@themonsterfromthedeep yup that's what I was thinking too, just give the user a general idea on what to do :)

Interesting game - The perspective is a bit strange, I see what you were going for with the small world theme but the effect looks weird with everything arranged in a circular way. I had a couple of dogs running around, but they way they rotate with their position just looks like they are randomly spinning around and bouncing off the walls in a not very dog like way. Had fun putting down what the humans asked for and seeing what they made. Couldn't understand why my fish kept dying. Played it for a while, after a bit things get too messy with too many buildings. It would be great to see a version focused more on the gameplay, giving the player a fresh world and reaching a goal and then moving on to a fresh world. Would probably have to limit the resources in some way also. Also what were the colourful things in the bottom left of the screen? Anyway great job making something unusual. Appreciated the music also, fit the feel nicely. Speaking of the alchemy thing, your entry reminded me a bit of this one (not mine) that you should try if you didn't already https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/terrartisan

@automatonvx: Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, all the animals merely move linearly from point to point - I would like them to follow more circular arcs, as that is how their directional movement works. By the way, there aren't any dogs - the only animals are pigs, cows, horses, fish, and sharks, but I can see why their graphical representations are not necessarily unique... :)

I think it would be great to have a version fixed more on the gameplay. Maybe someday I'll make a post-compo version. ;)

The colorful things in the bottom left are just decorations: flowers, shells, pebbles, leaves, fissures, and lilypads. They have no effect on gameplay.

Thanks for the feedback on music - really appreciate it.

Nice little sandbox game (which I am clearly partial to since we made a sandbox for this LD ourselves). At first I thought there was little that could happen, until after looking away a moment, there were suddenly houses being built.

The art style is very concise and uniform and the UI is fairly clear. The music worked quite well. Sound effects for building and such would've helped somewhat.

All in all, very nice work!

At the beginning I tought: "Oh, wow I can just place stuff and nothing is happening.. It looks really cool but with no functionallity ... WAIT... Those people build stuff.. They want more Wood and Stone.. Okay!"

It's a very nice Game! Altough I would love more Content! :D
The Music is really calm, I like that.
And as i already said, the Graphics look very solid. I like that Pixel style.

Very great Game!
If you would had more Time, I could imagine a very nice Game to chill at a lazy Friday Evening (:

Cute game but the fish are too stupid to live in this world

A little confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it it was pretty interesting. The simple pixel art style is a nice contrast with the amount of options and interactions available. I'd echo the comments of others in that I wanted more of a goal. Trying out different combinations of elements is interesting for a little bit, but eventually it gets a little boring. Plus it looks like I have unlimited resources. Some sort of resource limit, ideally with ways of increasing or managing it, would give me motivation to keep coming back to do better next time.

@Flaterectomy: Glad you liked it. I certainly agree in regards to sound effects; yet another basic thing that I sadly simply didn't have time for. :(

@Lipsch: More content is certainly, I think, the best thing I could do for this game. Thanks for the music feedback; I certainly like to know if my music works out well.

@BoudDeSit: :)

@evan-minto: Thanks for the feedback. I think I finally get what you guys have been saying in regards to a more goal-oriented system, and it certainly sounds like a good idea.

Very cool concept of game but it's difficult to figure out what to do next. A tutorial would have been nice. Great game tho :)