Have been lurking for a while and it seems this game pushed me to finally make an account because it’s really good and has a lot of potential! I have seen other games like this, one flat plane and expending resources to build a base, but this one actually has one of the better feeling gameplay cycles and so far feels like it would be fun even without the weight gain content. That said of course the weight gain is such a good cherry on top, being so big while the game still feels playable is very nice! You’re doing a great job with it!
Can’t help but get ideas for it due to enjoying it so far, especially not knowing what kind of vision you have for the final version. If you have set ideas for where you want it to go you can just ignore this but I had some ideas for how to extend the gameplay while keeping the scope of the project small:
The main thought is to have a large map, but keep it flat and mostly empty, with crystal deposits dotted around further and further away from the base, this would encourage the player to create forward defenses to speed up their crystal production.
One more very simple addition could make this larger map way more interesting though: Simple rock/rubble tiles. These would be simple rock sprites placed similarly to the steam vents visually, except their purpose is to prevent the player from building in those locations. This would make areas away from the base harder to work with and make you consider space management.
The rubble/rocks could play into a good way to have a decent drawback for Fusion (I like the other 3’s limitations/benefits, give or take what balancing they need), make Fusion take up a LOT of space. This would make the player rely more on steam vents for late game forward bases as maybe they can’t fit something crazy like a 5 tile sized reactor without being interrupted by rocks in the way. This sounds like a good limitation to me.
There could be rocky hill backdrop areas with cave openings slimes spawn from so they aren’t limited to just the edge of the map on a larger map (with rubble in front so the player can’t just block it somehow).
Maybe you have to find ship parts further out in the map? And have to spend energy on them like building upgrades to “recover” the part? This would give a reason for needing lots of energy as it could take end game levels of energy to get one back.
I also like the idea mentioned in the thread of slimes “hurting” the player by temporarily adding weight to the player they can’t use as energy, basically clogging their maximum until it goes away. This adds stakes to adventuring. Maybe the slimes are the ones that do the damage to buildings, while a flying enemy would go after the player for this without damaging stuff?
Sorry for the huge post, this game has been a mind worm for me. Again, really enjoying it! (And the farm game too.)
Link to download
-enemies can no longer attack during dialogue
-fixed the weight 10 standing sprite
-updated a better GUI
-added footstep sounds
-added hit sounds for enemies so you know when buildings are getting attacked
-space highlighter is now blue for better visibility
-player animations now slow down at higher weights
The GUI is beautiful. Exact energy, names of the buildings behind you for when you’re too fat to see it, and the design is great. Couldn’t ask for anything else.
The change to the research station renders it unable to be manually destroyed, though. I ended up having to delete everything on the right side of the map just for slimes to destroy it for me due to my initial setup.
Cool update! Worth noting that it does appear to screw with existing save states so it’s best to restart.
Putting the “thump” into Spacethumper I see (or, more accurately, “hear”)! Liking the massive footfalls and the MCs final weight size. She’s practically using her stomach to walk at that point!
For an added challenge I decided not to buy any speed boosts as I wanted to see if it was even possible to move but alas, even at the biggest size, sensible base design of having sufficiently spaced fusion reactors and a maxed energy range meant energy loss was a non-issue. Two F3 reactors, one next to the right side of the ship and one next to the crystal extractor was all I needed.
With two Mk III turrets and repulsor walls (but reinforced walls would have sufficed) on each end of the map, my endgame boiled down to simply holding up for the couple of minutes to pump energy into the extractor for sufficient crystals to get max size and get the final research (fix the ship). No sense of increased peril or threat escalation - along with forgoing the suit accelerators I eschewed the suit repulsor strength as I had no need for it.
I definitely feel a greater variety of enemies are needed to spice up the endgame. Aerial or bouncing ones to mitigate your walls, or ones that are attracted to the MC (especially at bigger sizes) to be consumed by her and inflate her, slowing her down and gumming up her energy bar for example. Brings her suit repulsor into effect and can help ratchet up the endgame. An additional failure state of having the MC overwhelmed by slime-inflation if her energy bar is ever fully filled with slime, perhaps.
Also, a minor point but it would be nice to have a final dialogue upon reaching the biggest size, or upon having sufficient energy to fix the ship. Slightly anti-climactic there.
On the whole the game is promising, but the endgame lacks “oomph” currently.
I think crystals are a pretty nasty bottleneck right now, and could really use something to alleviate it. an extra upgrade rank for the auto miner, or being able to boost it without holding a button for minutes on end come to mind. Especially if you plan to make the tower defense parts of the game more involved.
I found an odd bug with the crystal mines, you can have the ghost outline of a mine still be able to mine crystals with out it having it be built to level one. There’s also a odd feature with the energy transfer speed upgrade and the mines venting feature, where you lose more energy but you gain the same amount of crystals so it’s better if you don’t take that upgrade.
I wedged a nail file between my keys on my keyboard to hold the key down, since I’m generating more power than I can spend it, then I left my computer to go make a cup of coffee.
There is something perversely satisfying about that, that even with venting energy into overclocking crystal extraction you still end up amassing energy and getting heavier. <w<
The idea, sure, but in-game, you can’t generate while you’re depositing energy. When you generate more than you can use, it just pauses the meter where it is.
I had actually gotten to a point where I was slowly gaining energy while holding the key down, which I did with a shot glass I have on my desk. I had a fusion reactor mk.III by the crystal extractor, and I would’ve put another mk.I by it had it not been for my double turret setup.
