A bit cunfusing, but simple and fun. Liked it :)

Took a bit to learn, but very interesting! The mood was very well done, even without sound; between the captions and the way the mechanics worked together, it definitely created the feel of a primitive creature trying to find its way in the world.

I have no quibbles. Nice work! :thumbsup:

Pretty interesting game, although I couldn't figure out how to make it very far, and I still don't know what the yellow things are for. Nonetheless, this was a neat concept, and I liked its execution as well.

Very cool mechanic, although its a bit unclear what triggers some of the interactions in the world of neurons. Artstyle is on point and elegant. Needs some ambient music to set the mood.

Very very good. There is no point to it but playing it is really fun. Music and sound effect could really bring a lot to it ! I don't know how you could turn it into an actual game but the mechanic is really good !

This is awesome. The graphics are perfect in my opinion, and the gameplay is super responsive and fun. Really cute little game, had a great time with it.

Wow this is really a great game, puzzle mechanics with lot of concept and reaction which are working together. I really like it.

Such a cool idea! Not very sure if I'm playing it the right way but I really enjoy arts and mecanics. As @dariusa said, a bit of audio would have make the game even greater ! Really nice job!

I really like this game! The splitting is very satisfying and the graphics are visually interesting. I think I found the unlimited energy source but then every neuron started exploding in sequence which was slightly confusing. Overall, really cool. Nice entry!

Heya! :) I just wanted to say that I tried your game and I loved it.

The graphics look great, and I really liked the concept. Also, the tutorial is a nice addition and allowed me to learn the game quickly.

Overall, an awesome and innovant little game that deserves the high score I gave it. Out of the games I’ve played so far I played this one the longest! Seriously, great job!!

I really liked this idea and its potential, would love to see what you could get from working on it for some more. Very simple, yet a lot of depth, good job!

Interesting idea. Couldn't find the victory condition. Thought it might be the yellow thing, but that didn't seem to trigger. The pink ones are a nasty infection. I also don't really understand why neurons sometimes just up and die. Usually it is due to a lack of power, but other times they just seem to die off without any real reason.

Couple little UI niggles: I would have liked a way to shut off the forced tutorial on repeated plays. I'm not sure I agree with 'food' being colored red. My first game I just started expanding to escape them thinking I was under attack. For as much as the tutorial says, it doesn't explain. Maybe less text dedicated to controls and more to concepts.

All that said, I think this is a promising prototype to a very good game!

Very-very good! I like, when on Ludum Dares people makes some prototypes of new gameplays, but not old gameplays with some little features. Very juicy and nice.

Very interesting game. I love games with different mechanics.
Is it posible to win?

Thanks everyone for your feedback. :heart: I'm surprised it is as well received as it is, especially the graphics.

To anyone confused: I won't explain too much, as exploring the interactions is half the fun. But it would certainly help to better convey what things are doing. And to find better conveyances (red -> bad, green -> good).

@nyckos: Thank you so much :heart:

@remzo: Nice that someone found it. I didn't quite manage to get the effect I was hoping to achieve, but slight confusion is at least a start.

@papykent: There is no right or wrong way to play :)

@kabalatrance: There is no winner in the race for survival.

A slick physics based exploration/survival simulation.

I would have liked the world to go on forever. Survival has never been this *relaxing*.

Good work!

This is just fantastic--really excellent. The gameplay is really compelling and unique, and I think the graphics support everything really nicely.

It definitely needs some music or adaptive sound that pulses in time with the neurons charging (well, maybe it doesn't "definitely" need that, but that's what I'd do). If the whole game were musically pulsing that would be really intense and beautiful!

I love the simplicity. It's a bit confusing at first but very entertaining to play around with and figure out. I wish there was some kind of goal to it but it's fun nonetheless.

Nice experience, soothing, too bad it misses a nice atmospheric music. I liked to see my network expand and slowly decay, I didn't get the metaphors but I played like three times. Tutorial is a nice things, but it shouldn't replay if I hit restart.

Very clever, simplistic, but challenging and fun. Nice entry!

Didn't know what I was doing but I did it for a while... something compelling about this concept and the feedback from moving and expanding neurons.

An interesting experience. I really like the tutorial is based off of achievements-like checklist system. It would have been nice to see a timer on how long one survives, although this probably ruins the point of the game being a metaphor.

The abstractness of the game makes it rather difficult to figure out what the intended message was. Does the game require multiple playthroughs, with different strategies to discern the ideal, optimal path for survival? The game claims that neurons working together helps it last longer, but it looks to me like a larger body leads to faster power draining, so would splitting up to smaller parts been a better strategy? There's just too many questions to ask, and I suspect for me, discovering the solution to each question won't get me any closer to the intended metaphor.

Graphics and squiggly physics are great, is awesome to see this kind of games that try something different. It would have been nice to have a more clear goal, but the achievements help moving forward but it's hard to see if what you are doing is good or bad.

This is very interesting to play around with! It feels more like a toy than a game, because I couldn't make out a specific goal except for "surviving", but I guess that's what life as neurons is like! Yeah, I missed sound. The infectious thingies were nice to discover! "Movement" felt a bit slow. The tutorial was really well done, and I think I will steal this idea of putting up check lists! :] The minimalist graphics are cool and fitting!

Pretty cool idea - I had fun exploring the way the system works. The network/web physics gave a nice tactile analog feel that reminded me a bit of that game World of Goo, and the overall premise of having to expand to survive was a great use of the theme.

I think the mental space this game put me in could have created an awesome mood, it's too bad you didn't have time to bring in sound!

Would have preferred the tutorial not to recycle when I restarted after learning, but I did die mid tutorial so I suppose that it was good it repeated at least until I totally finished it.

The flow of energy through the system, and the way the nodes change their size and intensity, did an excellent job at conveying the information I needed to learn/play.

Intriguing entry, nice work!

Pretty fine game!
I love the slick animations and the smooth gameplay.
TO me you got something really good that you sould expand.
It is also suitable for a mobile port due to the simple mosue controls! :)

You did a great game congratulations.

Very, very interesting game with an exceptional mood! At first is may seem a little unclear what to do or where to mov forward, but I thinks this just adds more to the atmosphere. Really a great entry!

I love games where you make networks like this. Very nice entry. I would have loved some feeling of progress though, or some sort of emergent goal, but none came for me. Very great concept though, and I assume quite a bit of implementation time went into this. Would love to see a more fleshed out game using this concept. Very nice!

Thanks for all your comments. :heart:

@huvaakoodia I also would have loved to create an endless world, but I didn't manage to do that within the jam scope.

@omiya-games Actually you can see the time you survived, but only after all your neurons died. More neurons do indeed use up more power. I wanted there to be an advantage to keeping networks alive, but currently the most efficient way is to keep the network as small as possible.

Cool game! There is something beautiful about these networks - like creating constellations in the sky. The tutorial was a great addition, I do wish it wouldn't appear for subsequent plays. This game would be lovely with a nice ambient soundtrack - something inspired by Carbon Based Lifeforms would be perfect: https://goo.gl/dmx3vC (I guess I could just play that as I play!)

This is hands down the most beautiful game I've played in this round of LD and among the most enjoyable. I love the aesthetic and the gameplay is unlike anything else I've played for this theme. Excellent work!

Very nice game feel, the jiggling is so nice!

I have no idea what's going on tho lol

very cool!

finally got to play it longer today and it feels really awesome how you are being followed by these viruses and how you constantly need to grow to survive.

good job!