Skip to main content

On Sale: GamesAssetsToolsTabletopComics
Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

I have some thoughts if you are interested in exploring options to improve this game.

At the start, I was surprised to find that genocide and slavery were not 'upgrade' options, since I was getting instructions from "God". I realize I was thinking in the context of the god of modern christianity, and maybe this is some cool god that isn't into all the terrorism stuff, since the god never actually gives its name. With that said, consider giving this god some detail in their identity. For example you could give it some wacky motive or guiding philosophy that the player would not anticipate.

The God character props you up as 'an overlord of humanity', which I interpreted as you are one of the terrorists commonly referred to as 'rulership' in its modern context. This makes a bit of inconsistency because the modern concept of rulership wasn't invented until using monies became normalized across cultures. Before monies, the closest thing humanity came to having overlords was community roles like tribe leaders, which is quite different. Back then, distinct tribes would simply massacre each other, not subjugate or rule. Since trading was invented before money, an overlord shouldn't be possible until at least trading. Consider an alternative, such as perhaps a 'major god' giving the instructions, and you are a 'minor god' instead of an overlord.

I noticed I don't get the chance to teach humanity to invent clothing. Was that intentional? Hey, skin is fun, a nudist planet doesn't bother me one bit, I just wasn't sure if that was a bug or a feature. If it's a feature, consider maybe calling it out somehow. It might be a fun chance to add some comedy to the game. Although, the invention of clothing had tremendous impact on humanity's survivability, and is likely a pivotal point of our existence ever since. Without it, humans would have been at greater disadvantage against their natural predators and 'exposure to the elements'. Similarly to this, the invention of knives is noticeably absent. In reality, knives were invented first, then clothes, then fire.

I suggest changing 'pottery' to "Furnace", and preceding that with "Containers". The first containers were likely made from woven stalks and vines, while pottery is really just one little part of a broader practice of burning mud or clay, which included making things like bricks, statues, and utensils. To specify just pottery seems weird. You could make similar consideration on changing 'metalworking' to "Metallurgy'.

The list of 'things to learn' has a disturbing lack of disciplines like the natural sciences. I think you could have two lists, the 'practices' and the 'disciplines'. Disciplines would be upgrades that improve the effectiveness of the practices. For example, biology, botany, and chemistry would all be some things that could improve farming. Chemistry and physics would be things that can improve metallurgy. Physics itself is such a broad discipline that you could break it up into several distinct fields.

One discovery that seems like it belongs in the later half of the list is fundamentals. Realizing things like light, air, and heat exist has dramatically ramped up humanity's inspiration and creativity for manipulating our environment. That lead us to discovering other fundamentals like gravity and entropy, which has ramped up our inspiration even further. The fundamentals are maybe the most important human discovery since the hammer, knife, clothes, fire, and infrastructure.

Prestige or end-game idea:

As humanity advances into improving their comprehension of nature, it threatens your own existence because they realize that literally everything can be the result of natural forces and you, as a god, are entirely unnecessary and therefore probably not real.  At some point, humanity starts upgrading itself, producing points of their own that you don't get to spend. If humanity's points generation gets higher than yours, you lose. You have to start attacking humanity with natural disasters, which destroys a random upgrade when successful (maybe theirs or yours), in effort to keep humanity's points down. If you destroy too many things back to zero, it's like a full reset and you start over with a freshly ignorant humanity. I can see some holes in this idea, it definitely still needs some work, but maybe you feel it's worth exploring?

As it presently is, I agree with the previous commenters. This game is too basic, it doesn't have any hook for the player, it doesn't give you any reason to care about the goal, it needs more to it.

Hello there, Thank you for taking the time to share your honest thoughts with the game. People like you who give very detailed feedback is very valuable to us. We will take a look and improve the game. We will work to get some of these features implemented! We appreciate your honesty regarding the current state of the game and agree that there is room for improvement. We're fully committed to addressing the issues raised and incorporating your suggestions to create a more enjoyable gaming experience.