Plant Lab by Moebius
### About the Game ###
Plant Lab is a simulation game that lets you mess with the DNA of a plant.
The bigger/more branches/leafs/fruits the plant grows within the maximum of 16 days the more money you make. You can use this money to manipulate even more genes of the test subjects.
### How-to play? ###
In the DNA manipulation screen (first screenshot) you can change nucleotides using the nucleotide changer tokens on the bottom of the screen.
You can buy those tokens with money you earned with your plant.
To manipulate the genetic material you just select one of the changers and click on the nucleotide you want to change to that specific nucleotide.
On the top row you can select which plant you want to use as starting point for your next genetic incursion. The last 5 plants along with their genetic material and some growth statistics are preserved.
In the simulation screen the right top icon shows the current weather. The three bars on the left side are: water (blue), sunlight (yellow), energy (red). The plant uses water and sunlight to produce energy. This energy is then in turn used to help the plant grow. Depending on the plant's DNA the plant will use more or less energy to grow. Nearly everything is encoded in the DNA - even the color of the fruits!
### Notes ###
The game is written entirely in Java using LibGDX.
* Note that this game has no sounds (due to lack of time) and might not be fully ballanced yet.
* Windows version only runs under 64bit Windows versions (most ppl should have 64bit by now).
* If you don't want to spoil the fun you should not look up how the different properties are encoded in the DNA by looking into the source code. You have been warned ;)
### POST COMPO VERSION###
Post compo version with better balancing and three difficulties to select from:
http://by.moebiusgames.com/ld34pm
Plant Lab is a simulation game that lets you mess with the DNA of a plant.
The bigger/more branches/leafs/fruits the plant grows within the maximum of 16 days the more money you make. You can use this money to manipulate even more genes of the test subjects.
### How-to play? ###
In the DNA manipulation screen (first screenshot) you can change nucleotides using the nucleotide changer tokens on the bottom of the screen.
You can buy those tokens with money you earned with your plant.
To manipulate the genetic material you just select one of the changers and click on the nucleotide you want to change to that specific nucleotide.
On the top row you can select which plant you want to use as starting point for your next genetic incursion. The last 5 plants along with their genetic material and some growth statistics are preserved.
In the simulation screen the right top icon shows the current weather. The three bars on the left side are: water (blue), sunlight (yellow), energy (red). The plant uses water and sunlight to produce energy. This energy is then in turn used to help the plant grow. Depending on the plant's DNA the plant will use more or less energy to grow. Nearly everything is encoded in the DNA - even the color of the fruits!
### Notes ###
The game is written entirely in Java using LibGDX.
* Note that this game has no sounds (due to lack of time) and might not be fully ballanced yet.
* Windows version only runs under 64bit Windows versions (most ppl should have 64bit by now).
* If you don't want to spoil the fun you should not look up how the different properties are encoded in the DNA by looking into the source code. You have been warned ;)
### POST COMPO VERSION###
Post compo version with better balancing and three difficulties to select from:
http://by.moebiusgames.com/ld34pm
Ratings
| Coolness | 46% | 1507 |
| Overall | 3.47 | 300 |
| Fun | 2.84 | 694 |
| Graphics | 3.66 | 212 |
| Humor | 2.05 | 615 |
| Innovation | 4.34 | 8 |
| Mood | 2.79 | 607 |
| Theme | 4.22 | 84 |
Editing the genome was really interesting, but it felt a bit opaque. I wasn't 100% sure what my effects would do, or how combining them together changes it.
Did you use an L-System for the plant logic?
And that editing genomes is not very opaque is by design.
On Firefox 42 on Windows 8.1, there are scrollbars around the embedded game though, maybe you should make it a bit bigger in your entry settings (around 20px either side might do it?)
the graphics all seemed to be coherent and personally I loved them, very retro and pretty haha, the plant growing mechanic is a very interesting beast, and I can definitely see myself getting sucked into figuring out how everything works and how each property is affected.
Excellent entry, nice job :)
It took a couple of run to fully understands what's happening on the plant screen after my changes in the lab. I really like farming and tycoon games and it was a great game to chill between two action-packed games. I like your unique approach of the Growing theme.