I had trouble with the sulfur mine until I figured out that, unlike most games of this type, each weapon type has its own attack button and cooldown, meaning you increase your damage potential if you bring them all. Not that you’re missing much. The sulfur plant only lets you manufacture rifles.
…the nomad offering to sell me a Scouting skill I couldn’t yet come near to affording before the map portion of the game even started. Obviously in retrospect I should have tried safely returning home sooner, but I had it in my head from the beginning that Scouting was necessary for building up a memory of map/exploration at all. I left the browser tab open for a day and after the Scouting option had failed to reappear, finally started experimenting and discovered how exploration is supposed to work.
In any case, there’s a satisfying interlocking of game systems here, and discovering all the nuances of how exploration/progress works was a treat.
But one critique of the late-game crafting/purchasing structure:
It ends up not mattering, because by that point it turns out the game is nearly over — though I don’t know what happens if you don’t survive the last bit on the first try — but it’s an odd choice to make Alien Alloy a fully renewable resource but one that would take thousands of clicks to build up from fur. You have everything you need to make an infinity of them, but traders will only make trades one purchased unit at a time.
I’m also not so sure I appreciate the abruptness of the ending.
This game reminds me of how my brother and cousins and I used to go out after it would and try to make little seaside villages out of sticks at the edges of water puddles. It evoked these memories very strongly for me. It’s a rare treat to play a game that has compelling gameplay that is new to me, while at the same time givng me nostalgia for past games or experiences from my life. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, it’s tough for me to word.
Also, this instantly draws comparisons to Candy Box for me. While both games seem to have very similar gameplay, they apparently have very different goals. Candy Box felt like a concept exercise on “How far can we stretch the idea of ‘press button, receive candy’,” in a vein similar to Frog Fractions.
The progression of ideas felt linear and horizontal, as more complex systems were added that were somewhat unrelated to the ones that came before them. First there’s lollipops, then there are candy-based NPCs, then there are various , then there’s a crafting system…
This game felt like it was about scope. You start incredibly zoomed in,
then you zoom out and get a glimpse of your village, then you start to unveil an economy based on furs, then you discover a vast world to explore. I had no idea that the game was post-apocalyptic until thirty minutes in.
Two very different approaches built on the same framework.
This game was actually really interesting and fun. I spent hours getting into this dark world. At first I thought it was in modern times, then I thought maybe it was at the dawn of civilization – the surprise came through exploration.
Oh my gosh! Have fun with this awesome game 🙂 If you liked Candy Box…
This game is really fun! I love how a fire lit room can grow to a village. 🙂
Yesss
This is really good. The exploration aspect, the slow building up of a map excursion by excursion really hooked me.
But I almost missed that completely because I had made a couple of bad assumptions. This was definitely almost 100% my fault, but it was triggered by
In any case, there’s a satisfying interlocking of game systems here, and discovering all the nuances of how exploration/progress works was a treat.
But one critique of the late-game crafting/purchasing structure:
I’m also not so sure I appreciate the abruptness of the ending.
This game reminds me of how my brother and cousins and I used to go out after it would and try to make little seaside villages out of sticks at the edges of water puddles. It evoked these memories very strongly for me. It’s a rare treat to play a game that has compelling gameplay that is new to me, while at the same time givng me nostalgia for past games or experiences from my life. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, it’s tough for me to word.
Also, this instantly draws comparisons to Candy Box for me. While both games seem to have very similar gameplay, they apparently have very different goals. Candy Box felt like a concept exercise on “How far can we stretch the idea of ‘press button, receive candy’,” in a vein similar to Frog Fractions.
This game felt like it was about scope. You start incredibly zoomed in,
Two very different approaches built on the same framework.
After Candy Box, I’m feeling like a new genre or something is arising here….
(this game takes an oddly dark twist once you get a compass)
So the weapons…does it make any difference *how many* of a weapon you bring?
No, one of each weapon is the way to inflict maximum damage.
This game was actually really interesting and fun. I spent hours getting into this dark world. At first I thought it was in modern times, then I thought maybe it was at the dawn of civilization – the surprise came through exploration.
Awesome work.
Wow, a really good game, I did’t like the ending though. I had got laser gun and grenades 🙂 . 🙁 to bad it ended