Solar Colonizer by The Missing Bracket

[raw]
made by The Missing Bracket for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

A game where you manage your planets, creatures, and spaceships. the objective is to make your creatures colonize the entire solar system

thumbnail2.png

Controls: Left click. Right click: move the camera. middle click: rotate the camera. mouse wheel: zoom in/out. hover the cursor at a planet to see it's information.

Objective: colonize the whole solar system by evolving your microorganisms to animals, then to scientists so they can build ships. do not let them die!

Tips: *after purchasing a planet, you have to select it's location:- -red ring ---> hot area (produces alot of firestone) -green ring ---> warm area (suitable for microorganisms and scientists, they evolve over time) -blue ring ---> cold area (produces alot of icesstone) *the more you place planets, the more recources you get, but harder to colonize the entire system! *only normal planets can and should be colonized, asteroid belts and gas giants aren't included *you only can build spaceships when there are scientist species in one of your planets *if the planet that contains the scientist species die or when you have no more planets, you will lose!

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvHyRF4fwSuQYy6sHKwlBg?viewas=subscriber

Ratings

Overall 1367th 3.438⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1116th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1323th 3.239⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2081th 3.152⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1952th 2.978⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1135th 3.13⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1510th 3.227⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

Rirdeg
20. Apr 2020 · 12:39 UTC
Good interperation of the theme,I was a little confused at first to why I wasn't collecting the resources on some of the planets but then worked out you need to wait for scientists to evolve. Its cool seeing your ships flying between your planets.
I'd like to see a bit more info of each planet by default instead of having it in a tooltip.
Good job though! This is fun!
Feferuco
20. Apr 2020 · 13:29 UTC
Always cool to see games scaling things up. I think the game could've used more friction early on and more focus on the living beings. Also the fire/ice shard thing they're mirrored resources so they both put the same kind of pressure on your game and therefore become redundant. It'd be interesting if a second type of resource had some marked differences like being more scarce, more valuable or having different means of acquisition.

With more friction and different pressures on the player the game could improve.
mehrdadsh
20. Apr 2020 · 14:00 UTC
good game i say
SkelleRoznik
20. Apr 2020 · 16:29 UTC
Nice interpretation of the theme. I liked the graphics. Those details like UFOs, planet trails add up to the whole atmosphere and i liked it. Music is nice. Also liked the feature that you can maneuver through your galaxy. Great job!
Mircea123
20. Apr 2020 · 20:30 UTC
I do appreciate the idea of Gas giant protecting planets from asteroids, from asteroid belts.

But I would have wanted more teraforming in this game.

I hope you will consider doing such things, because your game had one of the most realistic portrait of a solar system.

Here is some inspiration if you want to get ideas about realistic colonization and stuff:

Isaac Arthur with his Outward Bound series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Bx7y0syxc&list=PLIIOUpOge0LsIzYlIAIRdAGJTqAW6FmCE&index=6
Jimbly
21. Apr 2020 · 03:16 UTC
Impressive simulation! I had fun watching my ships fly around, however the game itself left me with few interesting choices to make, mostly just sitting around and waiting, and not being able to do much in response to things happening. I won on each of the harder difficulties, but didn't notice much of a difference. I like the feeling of the ships and planets, but the background stars annoyed me a bit, could have used some improvement there.

Nice job!
Lerg
24. Apr 2020 · 12:44 UTC
Any chance for HTML5 or mac version?
gamescodedogs
24. Apr 2020 · 17:24 UTC
Love the evolution theme. Thanks for the game :)
domkonecny
26. Apr 2020 · 14:24 UTC
so ive built a few planets, than tried to put a asteroid belt right through them which didnt seem to do anything so ive built a line of gas giant across the whole system which looked cool and then it said "an asteroid is coming" and it flew straight through then sun and crashed into one of the gas giants. Also i cliked on some ships a lot and then there were some ships flying. nice
oillen
26. Apr 2020 · 19:16 UTC
Lovely strategy game, relaxing and has quite a amount of contents and mechanics, which I appreatiate. Also your GUI works quite well. Creating both ecology & economy, is a concept, that was one of two options I wanted to do in this jam (the other was "standard" RTS). Had quite fun ascending a little civ in Solar Colonizer - btw. how did you get your inspiritaion/concept for colonizing, did you follow a certain example, it seemed to my like a mix of the styles in ES2 and MoO?
🎤 The Missing Bracket
27. Apr 2020 · 14:04 UTC
@feferuco true, i also wanted to add more recources like rare items or so, but the time was too tight and i had to finish the game in 2 days, even firestone and icestone were too much to add.

@mircea123 the video doesn't work :(

@lerg the game's size is too large and can't be published as HTML5, and i dont have a mac to test the game, sorry :(

@oillen my main inspiration for this game was spore, especially in the space stage where you collect spices from different planets that you colonized and see your empire grows as you colonize more planets and solar systems

anyway thank you guys for playing my game!
GameOverMexico
05. May 2020 · 14:51 UTC
I like it has good graphics, enough to entertain yourself and the way to collect resources among other mechanics is very good work!!!
jk5000
05. May 2020 · 15:42 UTC
I will say, that I do not understand every thing happening in this game, but I liked playing around with placing planets and making spaceships. For me this game needs an easy to understand tutorial. I do liked both the games visuals style and the music. Overall is this a pretty good and interesting jam game. Well done.
fabula_rasa
07. May 2020 · 21:57 UTC
It was not a bad playing experience at all. A good jam job!

The idea itself reminded me of Spore somewhat. It would be great if the game gave you more feedback about your colonization efforts. As the goal is to colonize the whole solar system, there could be a tab where you could check how many uncolonized planets of which type you have.

The music is nice at first but gets very repetitive very quickly. Graphics is pleasant but I think the stars should be much smaller - they muddy up the view very much and make what's important (your planets and ships) less visible.

I liked the interactions between different elements of the solar system and it was fun to watch as my gas giants blow up asteroids :)

PS. Incidentally, we also made our game in Godot. Additional points for using Godot :wink:
gustavo.christino
08. May 2020 · 03:57 UTC
Does the game end? I played for a long time and I was in doubt. Hahahahah. At least I stayed alive to a hundred thousand points and lots of resources.

![TRying.png](///raw/bc7/6/z/33d8c.png)

![Isthereandend.png](///raw/bc7/6/z/33d8e.png)
gustavo.christino
08. May 2020 · 04:07 UTC
Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
O jogo é muito interessante e a mecânica envolvendo apenas o mouse ficou bastante chamativa (um tipo estendido de idle-clicker, com muitas características de gerenciamento).
Gostaria que tivesse um botão para acelerar o tempo, especialmente se tiver coisas além de cometas e alienígenas para me preocupar.
Infelizmente o cinturão de asteroides não parece ter tanta função (além de ganhar pontos) (além de eles serem exageradamente grandes, hahahahah).
Tudo que eu digo é para uma versão pós evento, pois para tempo de evento achei muito bom o resultado que obtiveram.
Quanto ao aprendizado, foi tudo simples e rápido. O tutorial no menu (apesar de longo) foi bem claro. Sem contar que cada aquisição tinha explicações próprias.
O fluxo de jogo vai perdendo força com o tempo (ao menos no modo normal de jogo), pois não há muitas coisas o que fazer. Se houvessem alguns sistemas próximos (de onde viriam os alienígenas) para dominar, e cada um com sua economia e interrelações; crio que seria um desafio interessante. Hahahahah. Só divagando um pouco.

2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Os gráficos ficaram bons para o tempo de vento, cumprindo os papéis deles.
O áudio está (igualmente) adequado (ao meu ver).
A narrativa poderia migrar para algo além do idle, especialmente fora do tempo de Ludum Dare, onde poderiam incrementar bastante as diversas ocorrências aleatórias ou mesmo adicionar uma narrativa.

3 - Cultura:
O jogo reúne elementos de diversos gêneros (idle, clicker, administrativo etc), compreendendo também elementos de ficção científica, futurismo e outros.
Com o devido polimento e/ou extensão, pode se destacar como peça que reúne todos esses tópicos.

4 - Monetização:
Creio que o jogo poderia ser colocado em um site para que seja jogado online (com banners de propaganda).
Outra forma de monetização (ao meu ver) dependeria de regras mais firmes em relação ao posicionamento de planetas e envolveria rodadas de jogo com placar de pontuação com múltiplos jogadores online.
gustavo.christino
08. May 2020 · 04:07 UTC
Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
The game is very interesting and the mechanics involving only the mouse was very striking (an extended type of idle-clicker, with many management features).
I wish there was a button to speed up time, especially if I have things besides comets and aliens to worry about.
Unfortunately, the asteroid belt doesn't seem to have much of a function (other than earning points) (in addition to being extremely large, hahahahah).
Everything I say is for a post-event version, because for event time I found the result they obtained very good.
As for learning, it was all simple and fast. The tutorial in the menu (although long) was very clear. Not to mention that each acquisition had its own explanations.
The game flow fades over time (at least in normal game mode), as there are not many things to do. If there were some systems nearby (where the aliens would come from) to dominate, and each with its economy and interrelationships; I think it would be an interesting challenge. Hahahahah. Just digress a little.

2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
The graphics were good for the windy weather, fulfilling their roles.
The audio is (equally) adequate (in my view).
The narrative could migrate to something beyond the idle, especially outside the time of Ludum Dare, where they could greatly increase the various random occurrences or even add a narrative.

3 - Culture:
The game brings together elements from different genres (idle, clicker, administrative, etc.), also comprising elements of science fiction, futurism and others.
With proper polishing and / or extension, it can stand out as a piece that brings together all these topics.

4 - Monetization:
I believe that the game could be placed on a website so that it can be played online (with advertising banners).
Another form of monetization (in my view) would depend on firmer rules in relation to the positioning of planets and would involve rounds of game with online multiplayer scoring.
🎤 The Missing Bracket
08. May 2020 · 11:54 UTC
@gustavo-christino your comment is very helpful. i also wanted to add things like alien battles, speed-up button, and rare resources but i had no time to add all of this as the deadline was too tight, i will add stuff like this and import it to android in the future. also the game ends when your scientists colonize every planet in your solar system, it's mentioned in this page, itch, and in "how to play". anyway thank you for posting pictures, it means alot for me to see people enjoying my game ;')
gustavo.christino
08. May 2020 · 14:09 UTC
(:

~~Edit: I ended up commenting something out of place here. ^^~~
LaZZyDev72
08. May 2020 · 16:30 UTC
the game is very interesting Love the idea. keep it up.
Mircea123
09. May 2020 · 18:07 UTC
https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=JgxkilF5XUM&list=PLIIOUpOge0LsGJI_vni4xvfBQTuryTwlU

Here. I divided the link in two parts. Now you should be good to go, @the-missing-bracket.