An experimental game about a virtual aquarium in an old-school window-based UI. Creatures are generated with a random genome, with chromosomes that determine the appearance and function of virtually every body part you can think of. Your role is to watch and look after the tank by feeding the fish, cleaning up after them, and trying not to let nature generate something too upsetting and unholy. Maybe by breeding the creatures, you can map out the aquatic genome and which chromosome does what.

Life finds a way. Most of the time, anyway.

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deadClicks3 days ago

This is vv cool, nice job

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glittered-cock4 days ago

Love the game, but the more you play it, the more difficult it is to keep up with the fishes and their demands, it becomes a sort of kindergarten. The waste keeps piling up, the fishes are in the way and cleaning up is difficult, if it would be possible to do a sort of upgrade to clean automatically all waste it could be easier. Some fishes die of suffocation, and there's no way to avoid it and its kinda sad :p 

Also i dont know why at some point they kill each other. Do they do it because they're really really hungry? Are they carnivores? 

Exept all these questions, really cute game!

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HYPERTELEX3 days ago

Thank you for the very thoughtful feedback! The jam is still on for a month, so I'd be keen to continue to improve this concept. 

On the feedback: 

  • I agree there needs to be a clearer and more sustainable ecosystem cycle where food and waste are a little more manageable without players feeling overwhelmed when there are more than a few creatures in the tank at any one time. Thinking of ideas and will keep you posted!
  • The fact some creatures can't really survive are sort of part of the game's novelty. Discovering emergent issues and features based on the genetics is what really drew me to this idea, and the fact some generate mouths that can't reach the surface is one of them! Maybe I'll include a gene editor that allows you to make a 'perfect' creature once you figure out what the genes do to become more sustainable. 
  • Yes, predation happens when a creature is desperate for food and cannot find any, and has certain features, such as claws or teeth, that allow them to attack nearby creatures for food. Under a more sustainable approach, this would be more rare flavor to the game rather than causing frustration.  
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