Xeno Nano Pond by invader

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

Bacterial battles on alien planets.

Controls:

  • Use mouse wheel to zoom in/out
  • Right click - spawn some food
  • Left click - spawn some toxic waste
  • M - mute
  • P - pause

Ratings

Overall 1003th 2.9⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1015th 2.575⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 775th 3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 206th 4.075⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 887th 2.925⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 632th 2.725⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 903th 2.156⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 853th 3.125⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 2🗨️

Feedback

ditam
13. Oct 2024 · 18:29 UTC
That's pretty cozy! Very nice visuals and sounds. I'm not sure what's the end goal if there's one, but I had a bit of fun just clicking around and watching life just happen. The credits sneaking in slowly was a nice touch - it fit the relaxed "sit back and watch" atmosphere.

BTW it looks like the descriptions for left clicks and right clicks here are swapped, aren't they? Whatever it was I dropped with the left click made the bacteria divide (seemingly regardless of the random type that was dropped - is there a difference?), and the other stuff seemed to have turned them into food.
Dimoseek
13. Oct 2024 · 19:07 UTC
game are veery funny!
Colander
18. Oct 2024 · 15:17 UTC
I do like the aquarium simulator concept, but I didn't really understand how the food/waste work
ironhandMD
18. Oct 2024 · 15:19 UTC
nice game! the gameplay was relaxing, the light popping sound and floaty environment was cool! keep it up!
Suchista
18. Oct 2024 · 21:53 UTC
Nice simulation, I'd like more variety or a goal.
jk5000
19. Oct 2024 · 19:11 UTC
A fun little simulation.
Miku
19. Oct 2024 · 19:51 UTC
I think that this is an interesting concept and is a fun interpretation of the theme! These are indeed very tiny creatures, and there's quite a lot of them. I did enjoy watching the creatures float around in the tank, it felt relaxing. I do have a few points of feedback that isn't meant as a slight at the game, but it's something that I noticed during gameplay that might help in later iterations:

The game could use a bit more tutorialization. The player doesn't really have much of an understanding of the game or what the numbers mean, and interacting with the game doesn't really clearly show the impact, the bacteria just simply exists and continues with your intervention. Perhaps you could make a tutorial that starts with a small batch of bacteria and it is your responsibility to raise them.

I think this sort of approach could also teach you what all of the metrics that are rising means. It also helps you slowly introduce what you are supposed to be doing to the player, as well as an opportunity to teach to players different types of bacteria and what they are spawning / despawning. This could also increase the interest of the player in increasing the numbers of the different colonies.

Another point is that I was lagging a lot on my browser tab when playing this game, I think that a more zoomed in view might work more. Every time I was also spawning new food or waste, it contributed to the lag a bit which made me a bit less inclined to click to spawn more things.

Overall though, it'd be interesting to see where else this concept could go, and with a little bit more polish, it could be really fun building up your bacteria!
Fractal
20. Oct 2024 · 21:38 UTC
Interesting, but it gets a bit boring quite quickly without any goal.
LDJam user 1930
22. Oct 2024 · 18:04 UTC
Fun to play around in, but it would even more fun with some goal to work towards :)