Heat Death by triggthediscovery
TUTORIAL HERE:
https://youtu.be/dY0qRzy2UX8
Try to outlive the end of the universe in this base building automation game with a twist. As time goes on, the world will become increasingly hostile to you, structures stop functioning as the universe slowly goes dark. How long can you make it on your own?
In a mechanical sense, the goal is to go as long as possible without hitting 0 population, and managing population requires resources, so it's a challenge to get too far.
Controls can be found on itch/in the pause screen ingame. If you're confused about what the various objects in the game are, there's an in game compendium opened with "C"
While both Windows executable and WebGL versions are available, the desktop version is significantly better preforming. If you're playing on windows, it's the version I recommend.
I've made these revisions to fix major issues, and the version that's playable in browser is the most revised version. That said, if you wish to play the versions I uploaded on the deadline (or wish to compare the versions) I've kept those available as downloads on the itch page.
VERSIONS:
1.1 (4/4/2022) -
- Makes some changes to help the webgl version, namely offering "x" as an alternate pause button and removing some logic which was only there for debugging purposes.
- Changed some materials to better differentiate the ores.
- Made it so closing one inventory closes both, originally it was hard to close a building inventory.
- Fixed a bug where bunkers wouldn't accept food.
- Fixed a bug where circuits and plate would display as stone.
- Fixed a bug where text would cover a button.
- Fixed a bug where clicking on components would prompt the user to change the recipe.
- Expanded the "max population" as late game planets would get too big and the number would be truncated.
1.2 (4/4/2022)
- Fixed infinite production bug
- Fixed issue where used items lingered in Factory inventory
1.3 (4/5/2022)
- Fixed some weirdness surrounding menus by separating them more (I think there was some contention with overlapping regions?) and making it so dragging items off the side works as well as above/below
- Reduced time scale. The effects from the heat death should start around 15 minutes in (though it can happen faster if you fast forward)
Ratings
| Overall | 429th | 3.238⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 511th | 2.81⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 281th | 3.357⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 419th | 3.381⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 445th | 3.095⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 409th | 2.81⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 407th | 3.024⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 21🗳️ | 17🗨️ |
Difficult to figure out how to play. I reread instructions 3 times and still only managed to place some items in random places.
I liked the way the sun went around the planet. :)
Congrats!
I have not played any of the popular factory games but this seemed like it was a strong attempt at one. I liked managing the resources, belts and buildings a lot.
The models, planet, sun and lighting were nice visuals. The background music was reasonable for the jam and fit the mood. I did not recall any other audio cues but that would be helpful too.
It is hard to say you should do anything more given how much you accomplished and how stable it is but here are some suggestions for the next features I would want. Solid UI seems to be important. Things like moving a whole stack at once seemed to be missing. The way A/D worked differently as you move North or South was not ideal. I really wanted to rotate the planet with middle or right click. Being able to keep windows open with important information and seeing more continuous status would also help a lot. After (or maybe before) UI, I think having more goals and story front and center would improve the feeling significantly.
Super solid and impressive game. Great job making it in 48 hours!
The main thing that I think would make a massive difference is having item names appear when hovering over them (if not simply printed below the graphic). I spent quite a while trying to build a mining drill (like in the tutorial) only to realise I'd picked something completely different that looked quite similar. I'd also really welcome a clickable "inventory" button somewhere on screen: obviously you show the controls at the very start, but there's a lot to take in there, and I don't know how many people will think of pressing "I" to check in the inventory for items they've never been told they have. I think it would help to have a complete working mine-to-powerplant setup working at the point the game starts, rather than solar panels providing power in a less visible way. Finally, I'm not sure "Target Item:" is the best way to describe the thing you want the factory to produce. Something like "Product:" or even simply "Making:" would be much clearer, I think.
Again, though, it's great to see something this ambitious. It's a great take on the theme too!
I must confess though, I too had to watch the tutorial to be able to play the game. There are some UI issues, and there's this thing with the camera: It seems to operate differently depending on where you are on the globe. But wow it's incredibly cool to play the game and after some time it becomes super chill. I love this genre (I've played some Satisfactory, still gonna get my hands on Factorio one day), and the fact that this was done in 48h is nothing short of impressive. You've done a lot in such a short time.
I played it for over an hour! Great job.
This is a good looking game with some really cool inventory/placement/grid mechanics. But the mechanics are also a bit lacking which makes it's so confusing to understand what's happening at first. Rotating an object without any indication that it's selected is a strange feeling :D
I had to restart like 6 times to figure out which resources I should start mining first to do things I thought I needed to. After that everything seemed to start make sense. I like factory style games but sadly I think the triangle shaped tiles make it a lot less enjoyable. So easy to run out of space around tiles.
All in all, impressive entry!