TinySim by JPatrick

[raw]
made by JPatrick for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

screenshot1.png

Adjust the sliders to change the environment, see what tiny creatures evolve. Use the mouse to move - Scrollwheel to zoom, left click and drag to pan.

Creatures that have the same wall/fill color can create children that have mutated traits of the parent. Occasionally new species altogether will spawn.

Creatures can evolve - Size - Uses more food to exist, but can eat a wider range of food + can go without food for longer - Tail - Consumes food, but allows for better hunting for food - Poison - Consumes food, but kills neighboring creatures of different colours - Indicated by small red particles - Poison Resistance - Consumes food, but immune to other poisons - Indicated by a thicker outline. - Better Hunting - Consumes food, but can look further away for targets - Eyes - Consumes food, but much wider target range

Sliders: - Mutation Rate - How likely a child will be different from its parents - Metabolism - How much food creatures need to consume over time - Food Nutrition - How much nutrition creatures get from a given size of food - Creature Density - How dense the creatures are - If too dense creatures without a tail struggle - Food Spawn Rate - How often new food is added

More of a simulation than a game - I wanted to be able to take over a species and guide its evolution but didn't get there in the end.

Jam Entry - Made solo under compo rules other than the time taken.

Ratings

Overall 957th 3.024⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1039th 2.476⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 182th 3.762⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 351th 3.905⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 909th 2.857⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 907th 2.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 976th 2.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

Iwant_Pizza
09. Oct 2024 · 00:14 UTC
Looks amazing but no such amazing like amazing, butttt u know
SerenityDev
09. Oct 2024 · 00:26 UTC
Very unique entry! The lack of any real player interaction definitely makes it difficult to spend too much time in, but I still found it quite interesting. I've had it running on my other monitor for a while and it's fun to watch the little creatures roam around and evolve. There's no entry quite like this, you've made a very unique program that I got some decent enjoyment out of.
john-wuller
17. Oct 2024 · 00:05 UTC
This is a cool life sim! While I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a "game", it's a very interesting study!
Zach M
17. Oct 2024 · 02:32 UTC
A very cool and different submission; surprisingly fun to just watch them roam around.
smilewood
17. Oct 2024 · 04:03 UTC
This is an interesting evolution simulator. I agree with you that being able to guide a single species in the evolving world would have been more involved as a game, but as the groundwork for something like that this as awesome.
Andriana Mantidfly
17. Oct 2024 · 04:07 UTC
I have never seen games so innovative on this jam, I adore evolutionary biology and I was once interested in YouTube channel projects that encoded similar simulations of bacterial life. I love this game, thank you for doing it.
LDJam user 383241
21. Oct 2024 · 05:08 UTC
Nice! I really like simulation style games and your presentation of the genre is unique and interesting. Given more time, what kinds of interactive gameplay would you add?
zbrogdom
21. Oct 2024 · 13:48 UTC
This could have been a really cool game based on this concept, I'd love to play it.
T C
22. Oct 2024 · 02:49 UTC
I am fascinated with this submission. I love seeing the size varieties, how clustered/spread out species get, how far or little they move over time. Was really rooting for my clustered tiny friends minding their own business on the edge of the circle, completely surrounded by food, but hyperactive tailed yellow boxes came in and ruined their vibe. Oh well maybe next time, little friends! The sim does start to lag after awhile, but it's super fun to see what pops up and what gets made. Super neat design, excellent work behind the scenes making this function!
Ninai
24. Oct 2024 · 23:33 UTC
I really like this interpretation of tiny creatures, its really interesting to watch. A few of my tailed creatures struggled and got stuck at the side of the petri-dish which was weirdly mesmerizing to watch and keep track off. Loved the mutation system and how colorful it got, when high mutation was activated.
Would have loved to have some form of legend or guide in game that helps recognizing some of the resistance traits. Or make it a bit simpler to look up.
All in all really interesting and impressed you did this all on your own.
Cool stuff!
🎤 JPatrick
24. Oct 2024 · 23:55 UTC
@ninai Haha, surprised you enjoyed that bug with the tails - They're spawning too close to the edge so their tail is outside the dish. I was meaning to fix it but I always found they eventually got themselves unstuck so didn't get round to it. Thanks :)