Mini Beaker by LDJam user 375281

Hello hello! You will be spending a few days on a remote research facility, focusing on handling all kinds of viruses and bacteria. The plan ? Meet the crew... Learn a lot about science... And figure how to properly contain deadly diseases! Enjoy this peaceful visit, in one of the most secure place on the planet, far away from the troubles of the LudumDare.
The game only plays with the mouse.

Ratings
| Overall | 4th | 4.472⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 21th | 4.264⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 32th | 4.17⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 3th | 4.632⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 23th | 4.689⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 9th | 4.415⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 3th | 4.566⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 24th | 4.385⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 65🗳️ | 98🗨️ |
I couldn't get past the catapult level, either, though, I'll try this game later again.
As for improvements, I think the only thing I would recommend would be clarity. I knew I probably wasnt supposed to let the dust clouds finishe what they were doing, but I didnt know what it was that they were trying to do. I knew I should answer my moms phone call, but I didnt really understand why (other than the fact I love my mom, of course).
All in all very impressive for a 72 hour game!!
Smashing the tiny creatures feels very satisfying.
Great entry.
Uhh additional feedback tho, why does the name and thumbnail have nothing to see with the actual game? Maybe I'm missing something cause I'm confused. In game it's Tricky LD creators with cute creatures, here it's mini beaker with a poker coin or something like that.
The first time you launch the game (assuming you don't have a save file), the main menu is greenish and the title is Mini Beaker (a beaker is some kind of petry dish. As non english speaker we didn't realize most people didn't know the word). Basically it's the title screen for the "lab intro" part of the game, as well as the game we describe in the ludum page. After you see the fake credits, and reach the actual game, the main menu changes to reflect the actual game and actual name.
We probably didn't make it obvious enough as most people don't notice 😅
Started off fairly easy and ended pretty hard at the last level. Good job.
Now something that could be more annoying for you is that no one's gonna recognise the fake name afterwards. I mean if people are looking for it on itch, or some content creator checking LD's winners, things like that. Would probably have been better to have a name the work with the joke and is recognizable.
It would be good to see an in world 'de-motivator bar/mechanic' as it seemed a bit of a random click as to how it was de-motivating the creatures exactly. Fun cheers!
Quality stuff! And pretty darn challenging! Well done.
Polished art and sound. Very clever game design. Very meta!
This was my favorite jam game I played so far. Nice work!