Gaea by bach

[raw]
made by bach for LD28 (JAM)
Gaea is an atmospheric little game that builds a unique galaxy every time you play it. Mine as many triangles from the planets as you can before the galaxy dies and literally never exists again. The more triangles you mine, the better the upgrades to improve your mining speed. (See last screenshot for what the upgrades do)

My focus was on creating an interesting atmosphere, with a minimalistic yet somehow fascinating game mechanic. The galaxy is generated via a Julia set fractal. Each system procedurally generates a little soundtrack (best enjoyed with headphones). You get to see and hear a galaxy generated from a fractal. The game is meant as a bit of a sarcastic look at our consumerism.

The game needs JAVA to run. On Windows and OS/X you should be able to just double click to run. On linux you might have to run it from cmd line ("java -jar gaea.jar"). I will try and put a web version of the game up once I get a free minute to do so.

POST YOUR SCORES!

Controls
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Everything is controlled with the mouse

LMB: Zoom to system / Mine planet
RMB/ESC-key: Show galaxy

Move mouse over triangles to collect them.

Credits
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This game was created with libgdx in under 72hrs by Stefan Bachmann

Ratings

Coolness 28% 1479
Overall(Jam) 3.90 28
Audio(Jam) 3.61 69
Fun(Jam) 3.48 78
Graphics(Jam) 3.78 144
Innovation(Jam) 4.05 5
Mood(Jam) 4.06 16
Theme(Jam) 2.51 352

Feedback

embero
17. Dec 2013 · 08:30 UTC
Tris: 887
Planets: 463
Systems: 0
Clicks: 696

I like this idea and it's well done.
Controls feel smooth, music and sound are nice too.
+1
Jakub Koziol
17. Dec 2013 · 08:35 UTC
It's difficult to understand what's going on at the beginning so some additional instructions + keybindings would help a lot. But other than that great work! Really nice feel.
Gaspard_
17. Dec 2013 · 21:27 UTC
Triangles: Mother F*cking 7258
Sytems 1!!!!
planets 1214
clicks 522
Gaspard_
17. Dec 2013 · 21:35 UTC
15000 triangles, and 5 systems
Now I've got triangle eyes... this is awesome!!!!!!
Gaspard_
17. Dec 2013 · 21:49 UTC
Great Game!!!!
Vladp995
17. Dec 2013 · 22:05 UTC
Nice game, I got 86k triangles :D
TheWhiteLlama
17. Dec 2013 · 23:34 UTC
After some minutes of learning the game without any instructions it's really nice to play and challenging ( for me it is!)
Reminds me on cookieclicker a little, but that's nothing bad. I like those games where you get more and more and more... this way even I can live my megalomania :D
CaptainKraft
18. Dec 2013 · 21:25 UTC
Really cool ideas for this game. I love what you did here and I love the game. You're awesome
AlanZucconi
20. Dec 2013 · 13:45 UTC
This entry was awesome! *_* I wasn't expecting the nuke to literally... destroy the planet! :D
Fervir
20. Dec 2013 · 22:09 UTC
Amazing atmosphere!
I had to play a second time because it was so relaxing to play!
Love this game, great job!
SpellingPhailer
22. Dec 2013 · 18:11 UTC
That was awesome! Loved the puzzle aspect and the minimalistic visuals.
Dry Tree
24. Dec 2013 · 00:39 UTC
Triangles: 34,841
Planets: 2662
Systems: 6
Clicks: 387

And after playing for a solid half an hour I think I need a surgeon to take a look at my clicking hand!

Seriously though this is really really good! Took me a while to figure out how to play, but once I did I was hooked. Very nice use of colour, a powerful message subtly portrayed, anything with fractals is cool in my books, and it's fun and compelling to keep playing (even if your finger is hurting!). One of the best I've rated yet - great work! :)
ezolotko
26. Dec 2013 · 06:11 UTC
This is one of the best games in this LD.
🎤 bach
26. Dec 2013 · 15:13 UTC
@everyone: Thanks for playing! Good to hear you enjoyed this :)
Photon
26. Dec 2013 · 15:15 UTC
A bit of a click-a-thon, but surprisingly atmospheric and actually kind of cool. Wonderful.
Managore
27. Dec 2013 · 11:21 UTC
Great idea for a game! After many attempts I managed to get 389506 triangles, 5579 planets and 10 systems!
Arkrothe
27. Dec 2013 · 12:06 UTC
How do people get so many triangles o_O. I got 2677 on my last try :/. But great game! I'll definitely play it a lot more. Also would love to see this on android or something.
Colapsydo
27. Dec 2013 · 13:32 UTC
First looks and clicks, I was far from convinced.
Then I had a look to the screenshot with instructions and the game became totally addictive.

Great cohesion between graphics and sounds, you succeed in creating a unique atmosphere.
Djoron
27. Dec 2013 · 16:35 UTC
He, really nice.
Triangles: 92355
Systems: 3073
Planets: 5
Clicks: 420

After the first run so far. This is quite fun, good job. :3
I'll give it some more shots for sure.
Djoron
27. Dec 2013 · 16:50 UTC
How did I get that many Triangles the first time. .___.
Can't seem to get over 30-40k now. ^^

Oh well, still, really nice little game you made there.
postmodestie
28. Dec 2013 · 01:08 UTC
Wow, hard to get better. Great game! Great atmosphere! Libgdx rulez!
Husky
29. Dec 2013 · 07:54 UTC
It reminds me of cookie clicker lol.
mcapraro
29. Dec 2013 · 16:43 UTC
great feel to this game and i love the deeper message!
OnlySlightly
29. Dec 2013 · 17:37 UTC
Very engaging and innovative gameplay. I love that the color scheme changed every time you received a new galaxy (though some of the color schemes made it difficult to read). Great game!
larb
29. Dec 2013 · 22:29 UTC
Awesome entry. I enjoyed it more when I had enough workers and let them do everything, instead of clicking like a maniac.
Xaychru04
03. Jan 2014 · 22:41 UTC
This game is awesome! It kept me playing for about half an hour, it's not easy to play with a trackpad, I'll try again tomorrow with a mouse. After many attemps I managed to destroy one system!!! Really addictive and relaxing, I had so much fun playing it! :D
themachinestarts
05. Jan 2014 · 23:36 UTC
288069
I really wish the galaxy didn't end and I could clear out the whole thing. It would also be really cool if I could have my automated guys keep collecting while I'm in a different system.