Very nice! It was very fun to play and would be a great mobile game. I like the hint system also. Are all of the recipes actually possible to get with the despawning though? I couldn't really figure out any recipe after the gold ore and the fire ones since my fire/ore/everything else kept dying. Maybe a timer to show when everything is about to die would be a nice addition? Not necessary though. Great job!
Play game
Hard to be a God's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #17 | 3.722 | 3.722 |
| Mood | #24 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Innovation | #24 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Humor | #25 | 2.444 | 2.444 |
| Audio | #27 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Overall | #36 | 3.056 | 3.056 |
| Graphics | #41 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
| Fun | #43 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
Thanks a lot for playing and for the feedback!
All the recipes are possible to get but for more complicated ones like metal you need to build the inputs in parallel, not one after another, because both inputs take 3-4 mutations to get to while most elements only survive up to 3 centuries. You're right that it might be frustrating if you don't know the recipe though. A timer is a good idea! Also, could be decaying sprites to illustrate the decay stage.
Thank you very much for the kind words!
That was really dope, and more of a puzzle game than something like doodle god, since i have to contend with the decay system. I second the grid recommendation, I feel like the only real issue is in some of the communication of what is and isnt working, visually. This is crazy impressive for 48h tho, well done!
Submitted
Cocooning For The WinterHi, all!
Thank you very much for all the feedback. I've taken the main points and implemented the improvements in a post-jam update. They include the following:
- Fixed bug where one item mutated into multiple items in one time travel run.
- Fixed issue where an item was only used in mutation if it was colliding with less than 2 other items.
- Added Mutations tab to the Journal where all discovered mutations are shown and hints about undiscovered mutations can be taken.
- Added minor aesthetic improvements like fading in/out of elements, "New mutation discovered!" popup, and a delay between time travel and journal opening.
- Slightly adjusted max age of elements to remove some of them from the world faster and keep the screen cleaner.
You are more than welcome to check out the post-jam build and share some more feedback. I truly hope that with improvements it has become more playable, enjoyable and it would be easier to get to the endings.
Note that the WebGL build is the post jam version now. Download original builds to play the jam version of the game.
Thanks!
I really enjoyed it, though I had trouble figuring out what to combine at times. I thought I was on to something with scientist + fire, and it took me ages to get to that situation due to the decay mechanic, but nothing happened. I was thinking at first, perhaps the fire decays before the game checks if two objects can be combined, but I found out that, no, fire + scientist does nothing.
I Think it could be improved by having a grid system, Another one of my concerns was that maybe the fire + scientist just didn't detect each other? I had a few moments where the monkey + brain didn't work, but I was able to fix it my moving them around slightly. By placing things somewhere in a grid, that would remove the concerns that two objects aren't colliding. Just place them in the same square.
In the end, I got to the lump of gold? I think that's what the object was- I didn't check the journal and it decayed before I was able to figure out what to do with it. Really cool game though! Nice work.
Submitted
ACE MetricThanks a lot for such a thorough review!
Wow, great job! You got the copper/metal/gold nuggets, which is two recipes away from one of the endings. And there is no fire + scientist recipe indeed, the fire is only used to get the nuggets. I guess I made it a bit too complicated for a jam game, as I don't think anyone has reached any endings so far. Which have some background graphics I've put a lot of effort in. Should've put it into the game design instead. =D
Hmm, I used capsule colliders to detect collisions. Usually, it wouldn't detect a combination in case you have more than one object colliding at the same time, so that might be the issue. Wanted to fix it but didn't manage in time. Yep, a grid is a good idea or I was also thinking of a way how play can explicitly connect two items by clicking through them or at least if the game showed some visual feedback that the items are combined. Thanks a lot for pointing out this user experience issue!
Thank you for trying it out and for the kind words!
I love it! I've been trying to get past the simple scientist and the guy with heart for 30-40 minutes but can't find any recipes that would match them.
But this is amazing, so chill yet so addictive. I haven't played anything like this and I don't think I've ever been hooked on any jam game this much.
This has so much potential if developed more, I can see it becoming so successful that you're gonna be finding clones of it on google play :D
Great job!
Submitted
Micro MutatorsWow, thanks a lot for such a kind feedback and I'm really glad you enjoyed playing it! =D
Oh, you actually got quite far! I won't spoil the recipes just yet because I'm planning to release a post-jam update over the weekend with some hints so that it's easier to bypass blockers and get to the endings.
I haven't played many games like this either but @Melcope has mentioned a somewhat similar classic game called Doodle God. I tried the free version on mobile and it was quite fun, so maybe you would like it too. :)
Been spending the past 30 minutes trying to find those endings. Unfortunately, currently stuck at fire and totem. The game itself reminds me of older games like Doodle God. Had fun! Hopefully will continue to have fun as I try to find those endings.
Submitted
Slime SiegeWow, well done, you're almost half-way through! I really hope you will. But if not, I'm planning to release a post-jam update with a recipe book this weekend so that it's easier to keep track of items and know what to aim for.
Thank you for the recommendation, I'll try the Doodle God out too.
Thank you very much for playing and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you very much for playing and for the kind words!
Yeah, I was thinking whether to go with real-time crafting but decided to try something new and make it turn-based. It made it unexpectedly easier to code as well. Besides, it would feel kind of weird that an animal evolves into a human in just one year rather than in a century or so. Yes, as if it's not weird at all that a tree and a cell give you a heart in 100 years. =D
But you're right that it would make the game more dynamic for sure.
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! Yep, had to remove things from the screen so that it wouldn't get overcrowded while using an excuse that things can't survive several centuries. Currently, the extinction time only differs for trees and totems that survive one century longer. But I did plan to use more of it and one idea was to add some logical rules like remove people when there are no animals and trees or remove animals if there are no trees. As usual, had to stick to the minimum scope due to time constraints.
Nice idea with a good twist to make it work with the theme. Some of the interactions have me stumped with how unintuitive they are.
The need to set everything up and keep track of it all means I often forget the things I have/haven't done so I can't connect the journal text afterwards with what worked. The naturalistic writing of the journal is nice, but it confuses matters instead of reporting on your progress.
Submitted
Mother's Little Helpervery nice game, I wish it had some hints on what to merge
Submitted
The Devouring MutationsVery cool concept, and great visuals and sound! It's a fairly solid game but I had a hard time figuring out what goes with what. Some hints would've been nice. Although I did get to stage 2 or stage 3 transformations, some of the combinations were not so intuitive. Still, pretty awesome for 48 hours. 馃憤
Submitted
The Escape
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