Moon Settlers by Alex Duh
Build structures on the moon to generate essential resources in order to survive in space for 30 days!
Moon Settlers is a base building survival game, with several resources to manage and hazards that threaten your survival. The biggest limitation is the amount of space for buildings; use the 'Hammer' tool to clear up space to construct new structures!
The only input required is the mouse, but Spacebar, 'P', and the 'Escape' key can pause the game. The moon can be rotated while right-click is held. Right-click will also cancel out of build or dismantle mode.
If all the settlers are lost then the game is over.

I created all the art and sound effects. The game was made in Unity.
| Link | https://alexpsi.itch.io/moon-settlers |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/moon-settlers |
Ratings
| Overall | 1117th | 2.474⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1125th | 2.222⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1062th | 2.528⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 748th | 3.368⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 991th | 2.167⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 690th | 2.25⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 917th | 1.844⭐ | 18🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1075th | 2.083⭐ | 20🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 2🗨️ |
Shame that the meteor shower always destroys the same two buildings - would be cool if there would be some variety to that, some surprise. I also adore the sound of the meteor fall :grin:
@mira I like the idea of a grid, that would solve the ambiguity of the moon and buildings' shapes
@fabula-rasa The meteor shower actually destroys all non-advanced buildings; there are some rules that I didn't really explain because I like the feeling of discovery, but that could be a negative if crucial information is never discovered or results in frustration
There's also a bit of an exploit where you can place buildings in space.
I like the idea of having to destroy and replace buildings to manage needs, but the build time is a bit tedious for that and the clunky building placement makes it a bit annoying.
Congrats on submitting a game to LDjam!
This one felt a bit frustrating to me. It didn't seem there was much incentive to build anything other than greenhouses and synthesis reactors. Sometimes the greenhouses stopped producing food, and I wasn't sure why. The headquarters seemed too large to ever fit with the other buildilngs I needed.
And as addressed in other comments, fitting building in felt more like cheesing the game's hitboxes rather than satisfying tetrising things together. I never felt like I was making empowered decisions, just sort of hoping that I had left enough space to fit other buildings.
It looks like I can rotate buildings? One of the comments mentions it, and it appears so in the screenshot, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Lastly, I think I hit a bug where the messages scrolled way too slowly, and clogged up my screen.
This is a game with potential and a fun core loop of trying to manage your base and resources. With a little more balance, and some more polish, it could really shine.
Figuring out that building a hospital stops ruined food supplies was satisfying. I got to a point where I can more or less infinitely sustain the colony by having a hospital and rebuilding the greenhouse&reactor after each meteor shower, overpopulated colonists will die though.
It's a bit silly that the settlers start munching their fingers after less than a day of no food, water and oxygen should be the more urgent ones.
I like that you simulated the colonists, would be nice if they showed status effects like hunger/thirst/disease. Also some death animation would be nice feedback.
@pen-island-games There are some major visibility issues with the text scrolling, and the mechanics can definitely feel clunky. I'm still quite pleased with this result, I feel like all my core ideas are well-represented here.
For rotation, currently only the moon can be rotated, which applies a rotation to all buildings already on it. I may update the game to allow scroll-wheeling to rotate before building
@bliny-lynx I did initially go for a more realistic vibe with regards to resource consumption and survival mechanics, but didn't follow all the way through for balance and emotional reasons (settlers dying used to increase food supply) I'm glad you utilized one of the advanced structures, most people seem to ignore those in favor of basic resource generation!