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Terrarium's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #23 | 4.444 | 4.444 |
| Music | #40 | 3.889 | 3.889 |
| Overall | #274 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Aesthetics | #350 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Mechanics | #372 | 2.889 | 2.889 |
| Sound | #416 | 2.556 | 2.556 |
| Story | #431 | 2.000 | 2.000 |
| Fun | #488 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game in total?
2
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
https://opengameart.org/content/sirens-in-darkness CC0 Music
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Comments
Nice and cozy game, really enjoyed the atmosphere. Maybe the water depletion can be increased to keep player engaged while waiting for GP. Great work!
Thanks :) The original plan was to add the water tower as an upgrade so you had to pump water directly to the sprinklers then after the upgrade you'd get far more chill watch and vibe but I got caught up with a few fixes and adding the bug graphics/animations in the last day or so.
Definitely will keep that in mind though for when I remake it. Maybe I'll add some soil upgrades so it drains very quickly in the start but then retains it better/holds more later on.
Really chill game. Nice work with balancing all the systems.. it actually feels like a small living world and it is just relaxing to watch things grow. Mechanics are simple but it works for this style. Music fits perfectly, almost drifted off. Fun to just zone out for a bit
This is cool! I'd read your comment about what happened behind the scenes. So much to consider and need balancing. Good job managing all that.
I'm not really familiar with desktop game, but I believe visual should be the main aspect of that kind of game, at least in your case. The satisfaction comes from watching how it blossoms from nothing to an incredible and lively terrarium. Visual improvement will definitely make the game so much better.
Overall, this is a nice and relaxing game. Love the music too.
Thanks! It was more a balancing game. At one point during testing I remember that waste buildup was so bad you basically were forced to do all 5 plants before bugs, and the water would drain SUPER fast (it still goes down faster than I would like tbh) then I ended up making it so slow that it became a non-factor. Eventually I got a playable balance out of it though.
Desktop games/pets are pretty much just idle games but with slightly more interactivity. The main thing with them is to have things to do, but also not be pressured into checking in too often.
I agree completely about the graphics, it's the one aspect I actually kind of dislike but I needed a "good enough for the jam" placeholder - unfortunately I never had a chance to remake it. Moonlight came in pretty late and only had time to do the bug art (RIP the ladybugs are so small in game you can't see all the nice details) but if I remake this game, improved visuals across the board is a high priority for me.
Hi there,
really nice relaxing game, like how you used simple mechanics to give the feeling of a terrarium.
Good job! Music fits and its fun to add some bugs and plants, also watering is simple but works well.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I wanted to keep the mechanics very light so it didn't feel like a resource management sim, but also wanted to make it so it had a touch more realism to it than just "dump 5 bugs and plants in and call it a day" so it was important to find the balance of all the "behind the scenes" stuff. Honestly that took far more of my time than most of the rest combined (minus the bug fixing/refactoring I had to do a couple times).
I wish this had been the first game I played after the jam ended! I could really have used the relaxation then. I still appreciate it now. The music is an absolutely perfect fit. (It is worth noting that you set the game to run in the background, which is pretty vital for something like this but can be an oversight.)
There's not much else I can say, since it's purposefully a simple, zen-like experience. I suppose I could find out what happens if I stop pumping the water. Or if I only added bugs. Or if I never added bugs. However I like my little terrarium just fine the way it is!
Thanks, super appreciate it! :D
I never set it to "run in the background", it just did that naturally. It never occurred to me that it might not actually lol Overall I kept feeling like maybe it was "too simple" or whatever like once you get all 5 plants and 5 bugs you just add water and chill..... but I also wanted to keep it that way too.
As to what happens if you never add bugs or stop pumping water:
- Bugs are the only things that produce waste. Waste composts into fertility (some bugs like the Earthworms, and all plants increase the conversion rate). Plants absorb the fertility which allows them to become healthier. Their health is capped to their fertility so if you have no bugs, you can't get them to that bright vibrant green with the sparkling effects you see.
- If you stop watering it, the soil will dry up (visibly becomes lighter colored) and things will begin to lose health and eventually die off (fun fact: at critically low health the plants emit the same particles as when healthy but since they are color shifted down it looks like disease). Everything that dies turns into waste.
- If waste gets too high (above 30) then it also causes harm to everything in the terrarium. Even if everything dies, it will naturally compost over time. Every time some waste converts, you also get Growth Points making it very difficult if not impossible to soft-lock the game without actively trying to.
- Also, plants generate Oxygen and bugs need it to breath. No plants = dead bugs even if all the water is there (plus the waste will get too high). I always had die off from high waste LONG before oxygen lack was a factor during testing however so I actually hid that stat in the final version but it is still being tracked in the background in case I revise the game post-jam so it becomes more relevant (maybe change it to air-quality and waste lowers it? I've got a few ideas for a post-jam update/remake).
Overall, behind the scenes there is a full self sustaining ecosystem going on that requires both plants AND bugs to thrive. It just needs a bit of attention. It provides a nice little break from whatever the player is working on to water it, an excuse to stretch or just vibe for a bit before going back to it.
At first, I thought of a game set in a terrarium like you, you did really well. Well done!
Thanks! I never made an idle game before, it's a lot harder than it sounds when you try balancing the idle aspects vs actually fun and engaging.
Funny thing, originally I was going to put mine in a jar! Guess we unknowingly switched out our idea for our game's primary setting! (the original folder name for the project was literally "Jar of Dirt" lol)
I actually laughed out loud at this unknowingly change of the idea :D
Not much to say on the gameplay, but this is a nice little desktop toy, I liked seeing the terrarium fill out. Good job!
Thanks! :)
It's pretty simple by design but I feel the real charm is watching everything get put in there and watch the plants come to life getting all sparkly by the end then just vibing listening to music and watching them do their thing.