Play the experiment
Project Catalyst's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Fun | #15 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #18 | 4.250 | 4.250 |
| Mood | #24 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Presentation | #35 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Extremely creative idea! Artsyle was charming and the music was very funky even though it wasn't original. The concept is super imaginative and well executed! I think the enemy behavior was at times frustrating (maybe the dodge could give i-frames) and maybe there should be a way to clear out enemies that you don't need (combine 2 Oxygens for O2 and they disappear). The aiming was a bit tough given the angle but I got used to it pretty quickly. Great work and maybe kids will see this in the chem lab one day haha --- This is a great concept! I love the educational angle and the presentation is just perfect. I did find the controls a bit frustrating in terms of shooting/aiming; especially when the molecules move quite fast/block each other quickly, the player's speed felt slow in comparison. --- 32/40
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Comments
Super fun concept and clean art style! I had fun running around and knocking things over. Also I love the little UFO, it looks like Lex's UFO from our game we made ( ;D little self plug there) . Good job, super fun!
This was a very fun game to play, my only problems might be that there's no buffer for when the player gets hit so he can just keep getting hit by enemy after enemy until he dies. Also, this might be a problem with my PC, but the game ran pretty slow. I really do like your character models and the overall design/idea for the game is very interesting and unique, keep up the good work :)
I love the take on the Connection theme! Everything is so clean and polished (i love the animation for when the atoms splat on the ground)
One issue I had was with enemies being out of view because they were next to the wall, and I would have no idea where they were until I got close and they started chasing :(
Also, even after playing it for a while, I still have no idea when/how the enemies attack, as I could collide with them without taking damage, but other times I would
The amount of polish is crazy good. This game is just so presentable.
One issue that is not talked about here is the AI's behaviour. It's hard to know when they start and stop. And how they will turn around.
And I like that atoms only start moving when you're around them. Like as if they get excited to see you. Or maybe your observation gives them excess energy. Anyways, great thematics.
I love that is educational, but not in a super in-your-face way. I think you hear a lot these days of people sayings, it kind of goofy but the reason I remember this formula or concept is because it was in a game I liked as a kid. So I love that is fun with educational value. The art style is very nice. The one thing I would tweak is difficult curve. I feel like level 1 is easy, and then it just ramps up really fast.I think this is because even though the formula is only a little bigger, there are a lot more things to dodge on the screen. A good way to implement a smoother curve would be making a more open environment for the first couple of levels and then maybe changing it to tighter spaces so the player has to learn how to manage that sepeartly from a lot of guys. Just suggestions. Anyway, really like your concept and I hope your game does well. Thanks for a good playthrough.
I love the gameplay! It was so fun knocking around boxes and running around the office cafeteria pushing stuff around. I can tell a TON of effort went into the game. I also liked how it reinforced educational concepts. Very fun!
For a while I couldn't find any oxygens. Later I discovered they had all retreated to the very bottom of the screen, out of view behind a wall.
I was only able to make three compounds before I died. I tried again and was only able to make two. The controls are just fine in my opinion if it were a laid back game, but for the game to allow only four hits, it felt like the controls weren't polished enough for that level of precision. Maybe I just suck at games. :D
I cannot overstate how much I love the visual design in this game. The animations were very smooth and polished (especially when they form compounds) and the music was nice and catchy. Kudos on a job well done!
I dig the educational angle; mad respect for games that try and make learning fun. You guys definitely succeeded btw, this was unbelievably charming. AND it's a great way to visualize molecular structures, crazy.
Only feedback would be that this game seems more suited for 2D versus 3D, since aiming is a bit tricky in this isometric perspective. But since that'd require basically scrapping everything, it's more of a pipe dream on my part lol
Thanks for trying it out and for the great feedback! Yeah, we originally designed the game with gameplay first in mind but once things all started coming together, it became clear that this could actually be a really interesting quick introduction to bonding. I definitely see where you're coming from on the game being more suited to 2D, honesty, the main reason we went with 3D is because we wanted there to be wacky 3D physics with ragdolls and objects getting knocked around. I tried to make it so you would essentially click directly on enemies with your mouse cursor in order to aim, but this aiming both wasn't fully developed and might not have been communicated well (maybe replacing the cursor with a target/reticle sprite could have helped).
Thank you!
I really LOVE the artstyle! the gameplay feels kinda slow tho, but overall well done!
Thanks! I think the artists on our team did a great job filling the characters with personality and making their looks/actions reflect their chemical properties in a fun way. Bringing together all the art and animations near the end really make it all come together. And yeah, I agree that there is plenty of room in the game to adjust the gameplay feel and make it feel more hectic and fast-passed. Thanks for trying it out!
This is super cool! As a chem minor, I think this game would make for a fun introductory to basic covalent bonding for younger kids. The visuals are great, (I love how the atoms are little bean dudes) the gameplay is fun, I dig it! Forming methane has never been so fun :)
Another compounds that I think could fit in this game would be ammonia (NH3), which would work as a lower difficulty carbon. (carbon makes four bonds, nitrogen just wants three)
The last level was quite hard! The ethane was so tough, I don't even want to think about forming a higher level alkane.
Also, I was thinking about how big you made carbon - it'd be funny to see a heavier element on this scale. I could totally imagine a final level with a massive atom. (Like, uranium would be gigantic)
Wonder if there's some way you could incorporate double and triple bonding? That'd be cool. You could also make the atoms repel each other - which would make it easier to navigate/less chaotic, and more educational.
I wonder how you could incorporate electrons? I think if you reduced the stretchiness of the tethers, and made the scientist pull one electron away from one of the big atoms, and shoot it at the small atom, which then binds the two together in a buzzing yellow electron cloud, that'd be cool. The tethers could have a minimum and maximum length to make the atoms actually maintain a structure. But I get you're sort of going for a simpler look.
I really like this game! I often work at stem summer camps, maybe I'll convince the camp directors to let the kids play it :)
Thanks so much for trying it out and giving this detailed response! Yeah, I definitely think that the base of this game could easily be expanded on to support more aspects of chemistry like double and triple bounds, and I'm sure there would be a solution to managing more complex molecules. I really like your idea on incorporating the electrons more physically within the game and I think that could result in some really interesting gameplay with trying to catch electrons flying around the place.
And yeah, for the visuals on this game, I think the artists on our team did a great job at giving them individual personalities in their design and move set. We tried to make it at least somewhat reflective of their action properties, which is why carbon is a huge tank enemy and oxygen shoots out blasts of "wind".
And finally, I am fully in favor if you'd be interested in sharing this as a quick introduction at a stem camp, especially once we fix some of the issues/bugs, after the judging period is over, that we didn't quite get to in time.
Thanks!
I love this game! The visuals and music remind me of something I'd play in the early 2000s and it's making me so nostalgic. I also love the educational aspect of this game. It's really hard to gamify educational topics but this is great. Fantastic work! Keep it up!
Thanks for the response! Yeah, the game wasn't originally designed to be educational, but I could definitely imagine it working as a quick introduction to chemical bonds if we expanded on the concept more.