That was a weird beast - in a good way. A bit too slow maybe. Also props for the Linux version!

+1 for Linux version. 'Twas a bit to slow for my liking, but I got the hang of the puzzles.

You're right it does take patience! Neat idea and I really like the use of basic geometric shapes for the representation of all the materials. Cool!

I kind of wish there wasn't that long drawn out timer. As it stands right now I don't think it really serves any purpose besides making me wait. I wanted to start clicking everything right away. If there was some sort of link damage happening during the timer it would make more sense.

Is there actually a reason for it that I'm not getting? It was a cool idea it just moves too slow as of right now.

I want to like this game. But I feel like right now you've made something, while it may be cool to you, is totally opaque to me. I would like to understand what your vision for the game is, but as of right now it makes no sense at all / doesn't work. (I honestly can't tell if there's a game you've hidden in there somewhere or if there are bugs that are causing it to fail to work.)

My experience playing:
* I hit the "add atom" button and then draw links until I'm at molecules. I can link them in a line or a tree, depending on how I draw the links, but this makes no difference in the actual game. Between this is a lot of tedious waiting.
* I now hit "add molecule," same.
* I now hit "add cell" until I run out of link health. Game over.

Now, you might say "use the 'heal link' button" but it does, literally, nothing. It takes an energy and adds 5 link health. But, in the time it takes to get 1 energy, I lose 5 link health. All that button does, that I can tell, is waste time treading water.

Which brings me to another point: the game is totally opaque and the controls are non-intuitive. It took me until late in Molecule for me to realize I could rotate the screen with the A-D keys. Not that this seemed to make any difference in the game. The clicking to link things sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, with no feedback at all if it doesn't work.

If you want this game to be functional, you should:
* Write some directions.
* Make how you construct your stuff matter.
* Have "heal link" perform a function.
* (related) make it possible to pass "Cell" stage.
* Have an actual puzzle or strategy going on.
* Maybe don't make us wait through long stretches where nothing happens. I will admit, by the time I was doing the 15 second countdown with "cell" I was opening other browser windows.

That all said, this could be a good game. It just requires some elbow grease and some actual explanation. Yes, games which just let you figure things out are cool, but they use intuitive controls. Your game does not: you need instructions.

P.S. HOCMA stands for Human Organ Cell Molecule Atom.

Loud! But once I turned down the volume (may have been my fault) it was a strange trip. :P

yeah a little slow, indeed

Interesting idea :) One of my favourite games so far.
I also like tha narrative :)

Really well done!

Awesome concept! This feels unique, couldn't really understand how it really worked, but had fun playing it!

Interesting concept, nice even though there is not really any decision to make in the construction.
The music sample was a bit short though ;)
A bit slow and nothing to speed it up.

Have to admit I didn't really understand the game mechanics. Kept on adding and connecting things and each time the timer reset, and I guess I need to connect enough of them. But I don't understand how I can improve my energy regeneration speed, seems it got slower and slower. Is it from the link health? And I ended up with the camera in front causing me to not be able to connect anything since the other target was out of view.

However, I really like the concept of matching sound effects with the music - creds for that! Also, the basic shapes in the graphics look pretty good.

I dont understand everything but it was very nice experience with nice sound design and visual!

Interesting game but it seems it be a bit slow. The connection between objects was awkward and provided no indication on why it failed to connect.

Well this is definitely an odd concept. It isn't bad, but definitely unique and stands out. I am guessing the interpretation of the worlds connecting is the elements connecting together.

I liked the idea of transforming atoms into molecules and the latter to organisms but I wished that my links would create a different molecule or organism instead of the same one. I understand of course the limitations of the 48 hours so I am guessing that might be your intention.

That said, the wait wasn't something I liked at all. When I reached the organism and the 20 seconds wait I couldn't take more than collecting 4 energies then I had to let go.

Perhaps if the wait time was reduced it would work better or at least we'd have something to do within the wait time. Again, that might be something related to the competition's tight schedule.

It took me a while but I figured out how to easily pass the levels which added to the bad sense of waiting.

All in all, the concept was interesting and I liked how it worked out and how it played. The only down side is that you had to wait A LOT of time. The sounds are OK but I am guessing they are all randomly generated with some polish they can add a lot of atmosphere to the game. :)

Good work ^_^

cool aesthetic but i wasn't quite sure how to interact with the atoms/molecules aside from creating more.

It was a little slow but I liked the idea. Well designed.

Human Organ Cell Molecule Atom

Overall, well done. It took me a few minutes to understand what was going on. It does drag on once you get to the point where you're waiting 10+ seconds after each action. I enjoyed the audio at first, but after a few minutes, the repeating music started to get on my nerves. Overall though, I think you did a good job.

Hard to understand what the goal was, but I think there is potential if taken further :)

After while the sounds become a bit annoying (the piano).
I like how connected is mentioned here.
I understand why you put slow and I like it

Lovely audiowork!

Slow and music is killing me after 150 loop :D But also interesting but i'm not so patient to complete it :D

Seems like a nice idea, but the gameplay is soooo slooooow :)

Nice graphics and funny voice. :)

Game seemed very strange...either I'm missing something or the 'heal link' button seemed to have no net gain. This ultimately meant the game boiled down to 'add x' and creating the link. You probably need to give more detailed instructions, as at the moment, my input as a player feels ultimately deterministic.
That all aside, both graphics and audio had a lovely elegance to them and the idea of playing god and connecting things from the ground up links back to the theme nicely.
To summarise: a lovely concept, just poorly communicated to the player.

It was slow, which is not a bad thing as long as you are not doing nothing. I must have been doing stuff wrong because I felt that link health just delayed the inevitable and did not improve your situation. I would say that this is competent!

It's pretty good if you don't like to rush in games. Also, i would to see more choices.

the glameplay is good but slow.

Maybe I've missed the point of this 'game' but it feels like I don't actually have any agency whatsoever. Healing just delays your progress and it's undone after the next tick is over so it's entirely pointless.

To win, all you have to do is create the number of items you need, then wait till you have enough energy and link them in one go. The organism stage takes 13 minutes, minimum, to do. You can just leave the tab open, go have dinner and come back, zero consequences.

There is only one puzzle, repeated ad nauseum. Once you've figured it out there's no challenge. Plus, that 10 second piano loop *really* grates.

There's promise in the idea, but the actual gameplay here is honestly not a very fun experience. The timer feels arbitrary and unnecessary, and the piano loop is super annoying.

Cool concept, but it definitely needs fleshing out. Also the timer is too long. Good work though.

Slightly confusing, but beautifully presented.

Nice game, but too slow, maybe that was proposital, overall nice.

Well done, great Audio :)

Very loud and slow but definitely a very interesting game. Takes ages to get the hang of it :)

I couldn't really find the game hidden there. I'm adding atoms and I pass the level. It looks kind of interesting though. Ah and music is so repetitive.

It's a bit slow and the gameplay needs to evolve a bit, but the concept has potential. Graphics are ok for a compo, sound could be a bit better. Good work!

Yeah I don't know what's going on, lot of clicking randomly and trying links, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no indication as to why. The camera is also pretty annoying, it zooms in on the thing I clicked but now I have to slowly rotate the camera to be able to make links and the camera then snaps back to the rotation where I can't see anything.

Not sure atoms counts as worlds either.

It's good that a jam game got voice overs in it though, don't see that very often.

Love the narrative. Majestic. Core game play seems unbeatable or at least I have no idea what I am doing.

Interesting concept.
But you should tell me what to build. Right now I can just add atoms till I die.

The most problem here is everything is extremely slow. Nice gameplay tho.

a little too slow for my taste but i like the idea and how you linked it with the theme ^^

Nice game! But I kinda made me go crazy that every time i had to select again a node cause for some reason it didn't link with the others, the view got reset and i had to turn again to see the point to link it to

Cool idea, but a little too slow, resources usually work a little better when you have something else to focus on when they're low. I think the game would be more enjoyable if I didn't have to wait for energy, or if there was something I could do to gain energy faster. Also I think you could have made the music loop a bit longer, the melody doing the same thing was fine, but the "velocity" of each note being the same every time the loop repeats is a little jarring. But apart from that it's a pretty good game idea!

I like the idea of creating everything from the smallest atom to organisms but this wasn't really that exiting...
That is due to the way to progress is pretty much waiting. The later levels even punish impatience and the only way to beat them as far as i'm concerned is to wait and stockpile your energy and then spend it all in one go to make the links.
The simplistic visuals works with the idea though.

I can't disagree on Ben Lehman's comment. I like to discover game mechanisms by myself, but I was completely lost trying to understand what I had to do in this game. Nice try to innovate, though, and I like the overall mood of the game.

Pretty nice idea. Well done.

Hey! That was interesting game!

I really liked this game, still don't fully understand it but it was relaxing time working it out, audio was great too!

I had about the same reaction as Ben Lehman; I feel like this could be cool, but right now it's too opaque

not a fan of the forced sit-and-wait mechanic. the synchronization with the music wasn't worth it.

idea was cool. graphics were nice. audio was excellent. overall, good submission, and ncie work.

Cool idea. It could be better with a real chemical base. The game mood is great, and slow, but it could be better with simply not having to wait, that the configuration of the structure matter even with a puzzle (rebuild a configuration).

The start is pretty interesting and it gives deepness to a game who would be without too abstract.

A good base.

Definitely opaque, as others have mentioned. By the third level I had figured out what was going on. One issue is, if you never start your link, you can sit there and let your energy accumulate without any danger from link health (stays at 100 until you place your first link). Once you have enough energy to beat the level, you can proceed very quickly. This means the best strategy to play the game is to go make a bowl of cereal and come back in 5 minutes.

Very interesting idea, and some good production value (altho the piano loop is reaaaally short). I'd love to see what you could do with this if you have more time. It would be cool to monkey around with the gameplay and see if you can dial that in.

Great entry tho. In some ways broken, but in many ways brilliant.

:| I didn't understand the gameplay :/ Although the general idea seemed to be good :)

Interesting concept! Solid entry.

Hold
Off
Creating
Matter,
Alright?

I'd like to know more about what the intention was here. It seemed interesting and I stuck with it until the organism stage until I just lost the will. Great voice work though, there was clearly effort and thought put into the whole concept, I wish that was a little more accessible.

didn't mind the game, a bit tediouse at times.
Humanistic oarnge cells made of atoms

Nice. Well done.

The audio is really amazing! But i dont can play, I dont understand how can do anything.. The game needs a tutorial. I think

Great entry. The concept is good but the game is a little slow.

I didn't really grasp the concept. I clicked around randomly and things happened. But I'm not sure what I was supposed to do.

I'm not patient enough to wait 13 minutes straight doing nothing while listening to the same 10 minute loop. This game isn't even letting me run it in the background. Sorry if I missed something but this game is just annoying the shit out of me.

If there is a game hidden somewhere, feel free to tell me and I might replay it.

nice idea, I'm always fond of this 'interesting' games that get produce during LD, nice job :)

Strange game.
The player is more rewarded when he actually does nothing. By adding a single link, the life will start decaying at the speed of 5 per cycle, leaving you with a timer of 20 cycles. Healing does literally nothing since what you earn is completely lost at the next cycle. So if you have more than 10 links to create when you add your first and not enough energy, you're screwed :/
As many has stated, the best strategy is to wait until you have enough energy and then, end the level in seconds. But as the game keeps going, the cycles are longer, the objective is bigger. You need to be patient, indeed.

The concept is interesting though, you worked on something where you can create non linear molecules/cells/organism. (Top-down view would have been better i think). There is still room for improvements, but for a 48h challenge, it's still a good job.

-volume!

I really really tried to work out what to do but didn't manage it :(

Totally agree with what Ben Lehman said ^^U

It was a little bit slow

Nice idea, minimalistic but really cool :)

Great audio cues! It takes time to get into, but it is an intriguing concept and an interesting take on the theme. Well done!

As not-god, I have no clue what I'm doing!

Nice ambiance and voicing. It really feels godlike.

The god voiceover was a nice touch.

I think I failed to understand what to do, but seems interesting. I wish I had some tutorial or something like that.

Nice entry, well done.

I don't really know how to put it nicely... but you made a game about waiting!

There is no point in creating the links early on since you can't sustain it, so you have to wait until you can link everything in one go... And you even made the timer longer with each level!

Nice simple graphics, didn't really understand what to do and what I was doing. So you might want to make a tutorial for it :)

pretty cool even if i hate chemistry :)

It looked very nice at the beginning but game is getting slower and slower with every level.
Short music loop doesn't help and make you wanting to close the game window.

I don't understand the concept of the game. However, I will congratulate you on the music, audio and innovation ;)

I must be missing something. Is there any purpose?
Ikeep adding and nothing seems to happen. It's slooooowwwww....

Simple, but well executed idea. The music is a bit annyoing, but overall I liked H.O.C.M.A.

One of the most personal concepts on this LD. Congratulations!

Oh, and plus for a (working) Linux version. Some kind of quit button would be nice, though.

the soundeffects are a little annoying over time, and the voice could be recorded in better quality. allso a little tutorial would have been nice.

Had no real clue what I was doing exactly and then my links faded and I eventually lost. Like others have said the wait times can get pretty unbearable. I liked the godlike voiceovers!

I like the concept and the take on the theme a lot but the implementation of the idea is not at the same level. The only challenge is having patience because everything else is just direct.

Wasnt really sure what I was doing but I included it in part 22 of my Ludum Dare 30 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/_5a2Oj9U9sk

I don't I got the meaning of this game, but it did look nice.

Nice concept idea but I think you should rethink the waiting mechanic because it's not for everyone to like.

I'm writing this review while waiting for some energy to come. I like the mechanic of the game, but I believe making people wait 14 seconds for every action needed to progress is too much. Ooops, I died due to link health issues. If to evolve cell level to microorganism I needed 14 cells, plus 13 links, plus 13 heal link that makes 40actionsx14seconds/action = 560 seconds, or 9 minutes 20 seconds. I'd prefer I had limited time that expanded when doing the right action. So, in general I like this game, but life is too short to wait so much just to see the next level.

nice idea :)

Cool idea and good use of the theme, but the execution could use some work. How you build things doesn't seem to have any effect later on, there's a lot of waiting, and the heal link button effectively does nothing. The audio is great though. I hope you can expand on this!

Neat concept, the execution could have been better - it did not feel like the player had much choice about what to do.