The Little Scientist 4K

[jimeowan]

Hi everyone, here is a new game for you to try! I just submitted the game for validation got my game validated, but I'd still be glad to hear your feedback (plus, since it looks like we can still update the Jar before the contests ends, I might take the time to make some changes after your suggestions). Since it's my first entry, I must have spent about 12hrs making the game, with a lot of trials & errors and gameplay changes. I hope you'll like it!


Play the game

[size=12pt]Top 5 players[/size]

Author's score: 116s
1. Pit (131s)
2. Riven (135s)
3. Shazer2 (229s)
4. ra4king (239s)
5. ReBirth (495s)

You just beat a high-score? Screenshot or it didn't happen!

[size=12pt]Story[/size]

"After an epically failed teleportation experiment, you find yourself on an abandoned planet. Fortunately, you're a scientist, so build what you need, and find your way back to your scientist friends."

[size=12pt]Instructions[/size]

Controls

• Left click to move/interact/select an item to build
• Right click to build

Buildings

• Punch trees to get wood
• Build mines to get rock
• Build reactors to get dangerous green thingies
• Build labs to make everything work faster
• Build rockets to leave this lonely planet

[Chromanoid]

very nice i had fun, it took me 755s to finish i collected too much resources because i was greedy...

[Damocles]

Very cute game.

Played the first level.
Do the green things attack later?

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[jimeowan]

Thanks for your replies!

Do the green things attack later?

Nope, it's just uranium, used to build rockets.
I considered adding creatures/fights, but I couldn't fit it in

[Grunnt]

Hey, this has got charm  I liked playing, it's very simple to control which is a good thing.

[Karmington]

Really nice! The mechanic of how to get to the third and fourth planets is unclear to me however, for a while i was just going back and forth between the first two wondering is the game just open-ended or what am I doing? The little colored circles at the bottom convinced me that there was four planets though, and I persevered to the end, 968 secs. Cheers, very nice little game.

[jimeowan]

Really nice! The mechanic of how to get to the third and fourth planets is unclear to me however, for a while i was just going back and forth between the first two wondering is the game just open-ended or what am I doing? The little colored circles at the bottom convinced me that there was four planets though, and I persevered to the end, 968 secs. Cheers, very nice little game.

Actually the planets are disposed in a square:

Wan | Too
---------
Sri   | For

The direction you choose when launching your rocket determines where you land.
Now that you're saying it, I admit it can be hard to find it out! Maybe I could give a hint by renaming the planets to "Toplefth", "Toprite", "Donlefth" & "Donrite" 

[Pit]

Really cool game Perfect controls, charming graphics and it feels very polished. The only thing I'm missing is some kind of conflict (beside the timer). Too bad you don't have space left for fights.

And at first I had troubles too finding the other planets^^ Although I assumed it had something to do with the direction of the rocket. So some hint would be a good idea in my opinion

[ra4king]

Took me 654 seconds to finish the game. Really really really addicting! Great job!

Haha I'll also chime in and say I was completely confused how the game ended when by luck I landed on the right planet

[teletubo]

616 seconds.

Just lovely !

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[loom_weaver]

Game worked well on my system (MacBook Pro running Safari).

If you can work it in, the placement of the various items could have an effect on each other.  For example the nuclear power plants could slow down the growth of nearby trees.

Thumbs up for the originality and polish on your game!

[ReBirth]

Hehe 495 seconds. Will multiple labs affect the speed?

I see there's lot of rotations here, but fourtunately it doesn't reduce the performance. Great work!

[jimeowan]

Thank you everyone!

Haha I'll also chime in and say I was completely confused how the game ended when by luck I landed on the right planet

Yeah you're not the first to say that, I'll make a little update to give some better hint to future players.

If you can work it in, the placement of the various items could have an effect on each other.  For example the nuclear power plants could slow down the growth of nearby trees.

Oh I thought about making the placement have some importance, but not this nuclear plants vs trees thing, good idea. I'll try to fit it in =)

Hehe 495 seconds. Will multiple labs affect the speed?

I see there's lot of rotations here, but fourtunately it doesn't reduce the performance. Great work!

1 lab = speed x2, 2 labs = x4, 3 labs = x8, 4 labs = x16   (the last one might be too much, maybe I should lower the limit)

Actually Graphics2D.rotate() makes it actually easy to work in polar coordinates, I barely have 1 or 2 places where I use trigonometric functions in my code. If you're interested, the sources will be released at the end of the contest.

[Riven]

First try: 440 sec.
Second try: 222 sec.
Third try: 202 sec.

I bet I can get it under 150s.

[Pit]

My record right now: 168 seconds 

[Riven]

My record right now: 168 seconds  

Nice, this time I got 186s.
158sec

[jimeowan]

Ok guys I edited the OP to add the high scores!
From now on it's 'screenshot or didn't happen' 

[Riven]

Ok guys I edited the OP to add the high scores!
From now on it's 'screenshot or didn't happen'  

Screenshots are easily faked.

Anyway, 138s.

[jimeowan]

Ok guys I edited the OP to add the high scores!
From now on it's 'screenshot or didn't happen' 

Screenshots are easily faked.

Anyway, 138s.

Yeah, but would anyone fake it?

[Riven]

Yeah, but would anyone fake it?

I meant they are as trustworthy as a text stating 'I beat the game in X seconds'.

[Damocles]

you could insert some validation-code generator on the screen, so you can check for fakes

[jimeowan]

I meant they are as trustworthy as a text stating 'I beat the game in X seconds'.

You're right, but it's all about the ratio faking effort/worth of faking it ^^


EDIT:

you could insert some validation-code generator on the screen, so you can check for fakes

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. Totally doing that for my next entries.


Now here is the author's score:

[Riven]

 

[Pit]

I've tried it many times, but it's always something around 150. This is the best I've got:
Old Highscore (147s)
I guess I have to change my strategy^^ But I have absolutely no idea, how you can get close to 116...

[jimeowan]

I guess I have to change my strategy^^ But I have absolutely no idea, how you can get close to 116...

There is a hack, press Alt+F4 to build a rocket instantly

Not sure how I did exactly... But what I can tell you is that I quickly made several laboratories!

[Damocles]

There is a hack, press Alt+F4 to build a rocket instantly

Oh, you got me with that one 

[Pit]

134 seconds Now I'm satisfied^^
Old Highscore (134)
What I was wondering though: Is there always the same amount of wood on the planet right at the beginning? Because it seems to me as if some times there would be a bit more than other times.

[ra4king]

249 points! I could have gotten much lower if I weren't so resource hungry, LOOK AT ALL MY RESOURCES!

[jimeowan]

What I was wondering though: Is there always the same amount of wood on the planet right at the beginning? Because it seems to me as if some times there would be a bit more than other times.

It's randomly generated, but it should always be more or less the same.

[Pit]

OK, I think this is the best I can get: 131



It's quite surprising how challenging this game can be, even without any other challenge beside the timer