DNAPet by Yirggzmb

[raw]
made by Yirggzmb for LD 38 (JAM)

ScreenshotDNAPet.png

Mix together DNA in a test tube. Insert it into an egg and help it incubate. Then raise the resulting creature!

Play online or download
Source code

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNEyP1XyBRw

Creatures have four main stats:
- Hunger
- Energy
- Cleanliness
- Exercise

The DNA you give your creature in the start affects it's rate of stat decay, as well as things like the food it can eat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TelFhWIZJ0

Game engine: Defold
Sound effect creation: Sfxr
Music creation: BeepBox
Art creation: Mostly Paint Net

Last Minute Changelog Incubation time shortened Indicators changed to be more clear

Ratings

Overall 675th 2.786⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 658th 2.571⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 433th 3.036⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 717th 2.429⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 706th 2.25⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 449th 2.556⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 134th 3.464⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 652th 2.63⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

Eli Delventhal
24. Apr 2017 · 18:22 UTC
Cute! A funny idea to combine all those different types of creatures.

A couple notes:
- Incubation takes too long. Clicking the meter back and forth gets boring.
- I wasn't always clear exactly what I should be doing with my creature. More visual feedback of its wants and needs would be helpful.

Nice work!
🎤 Yirggzmb
24. Apr 2017 · 18:47 UTC
@eli-delventhal (I dunno if proper replues are a thing)

1) Agreed. It's on my list of potential balances after work if I have time.

2) Hmm. Good to know. Dunno if I'll have time before tje deadline, but I'll see.
jebouin
01. May 2017 · 04:56 UTC
I played this for quite a few iterations to see what the creatures could look like and the incubation still gets boring after a while. Maybe you could consider making that part of the game a bit more challenging depending on the creatures the player is trying to combine. The game definitely makes for some ridiculous situations (in a good way), like a pile of rocks using the wheel. Even if it lacks visual feedback, it was still fun to explore the different possibilities. I hope you continue working on it after the jam!
🎤 Yirggzmb
01. May 2017 · 07:20 UTC
@jebouin Thanks! I do hope to make some major improvements in the future. And thanks for the feedback! :D
anim_ace
01. May 2017 · 23:42 UTC
this reminds me of those educational games that one would play at school that wouldn't be blocked. you should legit look into selling this to one of those sites.
🎤 Yirggzmb
02. May 2017 · 04:42 UTC
@anim-ace Thank you! I really take that as a compliment. That's one of the "feels" I like in games and would like to cultivate.
AntaresValdemar
02. May 2017 · 05:00 UTC
Well this was kinda funny. I grew quite attached to my cat-dog-gator, the noise of him running in the wheel started to drive me a bit crazy though. I think some kind of goal would be nice for this game but its a good starting point :)
🎤 Yirggzmb
02. May 2017 · 06:55 UTC
@antaresvaldemar Heh, the wheel sound. Ever have a hamster? They really do squeak that obnoxiously. ;P And I absolutely agree with you about a goal. There was one planned in the beginning, but 72hrs is a lot shorter than it sounds going into it. Definitely in the plans for post-improvements though.
Vince
02. May 2017 · 07:23 UTC
i made some abomination and was terrified. interesting idea.
JayTord
02. May 2017 · 08:09 UTC
Unbridled joy
![Безымянный.png](///raw/d7f/2/z/38a4.png)

Now seriously, idea is not bad, but I don't think it suits theme well. The game is not very user-friendly, my egg died 3 times and I thought it's because I made a bad combination, I understood what to do only by reading the comments, you should've add some note to incubation screen like "control the heat". I also though that game went laggy when I clicked at the box, so I restarted it once.

Making creatures is actually more enjoyable than taking care about them, it could've been more exiting if you had focused on this aspect of the game (e.g. possible to create 2-3 creatures at once and watch how they interact, restart button would've also help too)

P.S. 100% stone is best pet.
Aurelien
02. May 2017 · 09:56 UTC
Is it just me or all of our creatures seems to have that desperate feeling in their eyes like: "What have you done?!!! Kill meeee!!"
Really fun idea, good job.

PS: I agree with the guy on top of me. Now I want a stone at home, we would be best friends <3
Nilanjan
02. May 2017 · 12:58 UTC
HaHa this is what happens when you combine rock dna with something,now I know.
![Untitled-2.png](///raw/94f/2/z/3991.png)
Had great fun seeing the weird things but maybe a better feedback would have been better. At first I wasn't sure about what I was supposed to do. However the game was funny but could do better with more animations.
UrsiGames
02. May 2017 · 15:57 UTC
LOL, funny concept :smiley: I like the idea of mixing DNA. The game needs some polishing, IMO. Well done anyway!
diknows
02. May 2017 · 16:44 UTC
The fuck is this thing?! :D
Super funny graphics, thanks for the small but surprisingly funny game
mmKALLL
02. May 2017 · 17:25 UTC
An interesting idea, I was positively surprised by how different the creatures looked. Some things were a bit unclear at first, but with some UI improvements the game could be pretty fun. Good work!
TheCrittersCove
02. May 2017 · 17:30 UTC
Interesting concept, but a few issues with execution. Like someone else said, it was hard to tell what was going on with the incubation period. It's a bit long and tedious, but any indication that the incubation is progressing could help. I also had issues with the screen blacking out on and off once the creatures did hatch.

While overall it's a neat game idea, it does need some polishing.
Marccio Silva
02. May 2017 · 18:42 UTC
The concept is actually great, but I found it hard to play since there were no tutorials or visual cues as to what I had to do. On the other hand, I enjoyed the music, I felt it was very fitting with the overall mood.
🎤 Yirggzmb
02. May 2017 · 22:20 UTC
@jaytord - Yeah, the connection to the theme is a bit weak. The thought was "you're in one room the whole time, and it's a bit like a tamagotchi". And I absolutely agree the UI needs some work. It's very high on my list for improvements.

@nilanjan - Yeah, more feedback is gonna be lumped in with better UI as I mentioned above. There's a lot I'd like to do to make it more player-friendly. And I wanted to do a ton more animations, but of course time. Next LD I'm hoping to take off work so I can put in a lot more polish.

@thecritterscove - Yep, definitely gonna work on making incubation way more clear, and possibly more fun, or at least shorten it again. The screen blacking on and off *may* have been the creature deciding it wanted a nap, as it's capable of randomly deciding to interact with the stuff in the room, but again I hope to make that way more clear.

@marccio-silva - I'm very glad you liked the music!

@vince @aurelien @ursigames @diknows - Thank you all! Definitely hoping to polish more, but I'm glad you've enjoyed what I was able to put together.
buteratosgames
10. May 2017 · 15:14 UTC
ahha! Very cool)!!! 5 stars!
Hlavik
10. May 2017 · 15:30 UTC
Maybe it is little weird for me but it is really fun to play. Maybe you could make better graphic, but your style is perfect for this type game. Only the theme doesn't very match to your game but that is fine.
stuntddude
11. May 2017 · 05:42 UTC
That wheel noise was really annoying. I agree with some other commenters that creating weird creatures was the most interesting part of the game. It honestly might have been more fun to be able to mix and match the DNA and see the results immediately, rather than having to sit through the incubation period to see whether the creature you created was interesting or not.
Juju Adams
11. May 2017 · 15:13 UTC
Extra points for using beepbox! The variations here make it worthwhile to keep coming back and, for what it's worth, I didn't mind the squeaky sound effects. The subtext of creating horrifying mutant creatures and then having them die minutes later is weirdly macabre, and I enjoyed the black humour of it.