Hextayin' Alive by alareo
PLAY HERE: https://alfxogo.itch.io/hextayin-alive

https://youtu.be/sB_pNMuKbBg
An arcade/strategic game created for LDJam 46 jam (theme: Keep it alive) during COVID19 quarantine. A tribute to Conway's Game of Life. :v:
The game's objective is to keep alive as many people and viruses as you can while also maintaining a balance between population and free spaces. :open_mouth:
In order to do this, you'll need to use the given resources (placed in the top right corner of the screen) and deploy them on the board. When you use a resource, the next one pops up. People age, and eventually die. When two people are next to each other they have some chance to breed. When a healthy person is close to an infected one there is some possibility that it gets infected.
* Resources * - Hospital: When an infected person steps on it, the hospital disappears and the infected person is cured. - Infector: When a healthy person steps on it, the infector disappears and the person is infected. - Quarantine wall: People cannot move through a quarantine wall (thus, you cannot set a wall over a person). Beware, because wall occupy free spaces. Use them to make quarantine zones.
Ratings
| Overall | 779th | 3.677⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1087th | 3.385⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 273th | 3.833⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 310th | 4.117⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 921th | 3.833⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 401th | 3.761⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 509th | 3.783⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 77🗳️ | 70🗨️ |
I absolutely love everything about it. My only possible qualm is that being dropped into the full scale conflict is somewhat daunting at first - but that doesn't detract from what this is.
The inspiration is obvious, but still minor, the originality of this project is great.
Rest in piece Mr. Conway - may your Game of Life inspire many more of us, for much longer than you have.
However, I'd love to see this playable with a smaller grid. I think I'd be able to build up experience more easily if the state space wasn't so huge right off the bat. Easier to wall off, hospitals and infectors would have a greater effect (due to a smaller populace) - it'd just be a bit easier to get a handle on.
I think there's a middleground between being so small it introduces a stable configuration and so large it overwhelms the player. :)
Almost all of you agree on the need of more explanation at the start of the game. That's right, we would have liked to add some kind of tutorial, but we run out of time. We mistakenly thought that getting the hang of the rules by trial-and-error would be easier. Maybe the simplicity of the gameplay confused us. :shrug_tone4:
@pie75 Yeah, to make an endless game was an early decision as soon as we knowed the theme (keep -the game- alive). I'm glad you like it and you find it original!
Also to @supercool-guy: yes, you get the point! Maintaining balance leads to an endless game. In regards to running out of viruses, in our hexagonal world they are the only way of increasing death rate. They are needed to avoid an exponential growth of the population that would end any free space in the world. Maybe an idea a little bit Malthusian ^^U but we liked the concept of a game about the balance of an ecosystem.
@hgcummings Thanks! We agree that a lot of depth is hidden under simple mechanics. I am especially proud of this achieve. And yes, the game would definitely have benefited from having different scenarios and configurations. :wink:
@the-jahn Using a smaller grid was an idea we thought about. I think it would lead to a more strategic and less arcade-wise game. We'll experiment.
Thank you again! And continue playing. :smile: We'll love to know about your experiences with the game.
Good work!
Rest in peace, John Conway.
Great work!
Otherwise, nice entry!
UI was great!
The music/audio did a great job of setting a mood.