Plantasia by DeathBySnail

[raw]
made by DeathBySnail for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

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Plantasia is a physics-driven plant growing meditative experience. Growth, water/energy levels, and plant capillary are all simulated. combining to make a weirdly hypnotic little toy.

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Mouse Left adds water to the system, drag mouse right to cut parts of the plant.

The theme "Keep it alive" applied way more in the development of a functional and balanced system than it does in the final product.

Inspired by the album of the same name, by Mort Garson.

Ratings

Overall 289th 3.682⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 705th 3.068⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 37th 4.159⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 41th 4.273⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 334th 3.705⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 13th 4.25⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 554th 2.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 29th 4.205⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

LooksLikeSomething
20. Apr 2020 · 16:44 UTC
I was a bit worried when I saw it fall on the ground from the start, but it managed to go back vertically, haha

Nice little game, it's very satisfaying to see the plant evolve !
Slowpoke
20. Apr 2020 · 20:53 UTC
I was also worried when I saw the plant land on the ground, but lovely and chill. Great atmosphere!
Jason Woerner
20. Apr 2020 · 21:35 UTC
I wasn't always sure what was going on in this game, but as a sandbox, it was relaxing and very fun to play around with. It would be nice if the watering gave some sort of feedback as to what it was doing (is it actually doing anything?). Based on just this small concept, I could see this growing into a much larger bonsai-style game where you have to water and prune your plant(s) in various ways to get them to grow into desirable shapes. Really cool little concept!
fiaKaiera
20. Apr 2020 · 21:49 UTC
This is so good! You did the meditative experience very well. It's nice to see a relaxing experience after a while.

As a physics simulation, it does its job very well to the theme surprisingly. (I got my whole plant fallen down and I have to start over and that makes me say "oh noooooo") It's pretty nice to see this little plant go into a very blooming tree~!

The only problem that is the roots takes too much space and I don't see anything going on with them except growing. So maybe adjust the camera a bit higher so I can admire the plant itself more.

Thank you for this experience it soothes me a lot.
PhantomBadger
21. Apr 2020 · 12:27 UTC
Really enjoyed the whole experience, the purpose of 'cutting' the roots and plant parts was a little unclear, though it may have just been a tool in the sandbox rather than an actual thing you need to do to help the plant prosper.
Loved the aesthetic and sound!
Alex Mulkerrin
21. Apr 2020 · 13:30 UTC
This plant has so much character the way the branches dangle down before growing strong enough to reach upwards. Really impressive L-System with varying branch thickness and leaf sizes, you even put in flowers too! :sunflower:
gonutz
23. Apr 2020 · 20:25 UTC
I like this nice idea, reminds me of the "game" Flower where you also interact with plants as the "nature" and nothing really is the goal :-)

Really cool physics simulation, I was surprised that the tree would eventually blossom. Really nice detail.

Once I cut down all the leaves of my tree, three or four new roots began to grow deeper in the ground than my original plant and nothing ever came out of them. Is that supposed to happen?

I like your name - Death by Snail - very fitting :-)
blobo
25. Apr 2020 · 04:28 UTC
Very relaxing, though it took my tree a long time before it finally stood up. It just flopped over right off the bat and had trouble standing, it was a bush for most of its life.
nosfer
26. Apr 2020 · 17:03 UTC
More of a experience than the game but I like it. Managed to grow some flowers even when I didn't quite knew what I was doing :)
730
26. Apr 2020 · 20:34 UTC
Very nice and relaxing, though there's not that much of a point but it's hypnotic anyways.
Oddly similar to this https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/a-day-in-granple-bees-garden , wonder if the 2 devs had anything to do with each other.
baylej
27. Apr 2020 · 21:46 UTC
My plant just wants to lay on the ground :shrug: I'm certainly growing a vine :thinking:
AguaHervida
27. Apr 2020 · 23:40 UTC
Really relaxing experience :3 and the music makes everything even better, very well done.
Togimaro
30. Apr 2020 · 21:05 UTC
Fun experience!
I really liked the dynamic music, it's a really great idea and it works perfectly!

My tree looks great ahah!
![Tree.png](///raw/8c/z/339ff.png)

Nice game!