itch.io

thanks a ton, it's awesome to have input on the development of the game.

two notes, one being some buttons seems unresponsive, such as tinctures and seating worlds into lenses, not working multiple times until spammed, along with some general lag and clunkiness to interaction.

and one i personally want is maybe more interaction with the star map sections, like being able to move your world or lodge to a preferred place and maybe have contested or beneficial territory or slots therein each section to encourage competition and feuds beyond the little, basically moot once you have established stores, amounts of resources the vault gives, for example i want to have my worlds in the ouroboros section, but my planned central divine world lodge is in caduceus.

thanks for the updates. I'm proud to take up spots on the hall of fame.

also, it seems the offline calculations are somewhat off. there are times it works well, but in general there seems to be stutters as just recently i left for three hours, and only gained about a hundred fire essence and some change, even while having a fire world multiplying the gain.

second question, will there be content beyond the planets? so far this is very cool, but once you get to the planets it is limited by being a long grind for incremental benefits for your worlds. i think there is a lot of cool stuff that can come as progression, like locking planets into your essence lenses for stronger but more set configurations and patterns, maybe even one as the core of the mandala since there are seven planets. and, sticking to the alchemic and heavenly tradition theming of the game, maybe once you get all the planets to ascended and locked into a configuration or constellation, you can use them as pillars of heaven to make your own star, a next level to the mandala, or eventually galaxy, even piercing into the platonic realm of ideal forms or underworld where actions on earth create false shadows to create your own subordinate homunculi worlds, 70 that can each get 10 of their own subordinated for 777 total, and maybe even create new ideal forms and laws to specialize your build and work to creating your own heavens?

please feel free to ignore, i just took a break from writing and my creativity was still running and i wanted to give suggestions and ramble for such a cool game, I'm a sucker for alchemic games. loving it so far!

starforger #142

thanks, coming back to the gains is great. also, is there a way to change the essence type of a planet? i have like four terran and would rather have a balanced collection for the income.

please, i beg of you, allow the game to run in the background. every time i switch to another tab it just pauses completely. 

from Starforger #142

when summoning the demon, I've got the mirror incantation. but after that I'm lost. is there specifically something i need to do at the temple? what are the steps?

just reloaded the game again and started a new campaign and the auto click started working with area of effect so i don't know what it was before, but it's fixed now.

as for the brute force clicking to improve soil, i apologize if i didn't express myself well enough. To me, there is just a feeling of disconnect between a few of the game features and systems when playing for a while, like it's trying to be two games at once. putting so much effort into establishing an ecosystem is great and i love a lot of the base system there. i am also aware that soil improves over time but it has been extremely slow even with everything up to oak trees and flourishing animals around, taking over an hour for lush soil to get to get any notable progress in my experience, to the point that it isn't really an option or even mentionable next to just spamming clicks for 20 minutes, and cannot spread said healing effectively. My point is, the disconnect I'm feeling is between the fact we spend so much effort growing, evolving, and specializing tiers of plants only to get upgrades for our clicking and their own survival, not to actually make progress on the whole map if that makes sense. i understand this is partly a clicker game, but even cookie clicker had automation options, though that isn't the best example. Even if i do push my vitality click and transform the whole map, it just doesn't feel satisfying or a coherent part of the progress loop given the premise of regrowing a devastated world, especially on larger maps or harder ones.

My suggestion to separate soil upgrades from clicking was my thoughts on a way to fix this, by making the player rely on the life they establish themselves instead of brute force it gives a more central feeling to curating, specializing, and upgrading plant tiers to create a functioning whole ecosystem as it would be the needed way to progress and vitalize the map instead of what follows behind it in a way. Same goes for my suggesting the same with the cloud tools, needing to have the proper hardy plants to start the process on barren tiles, and then carrying over such evolved plants over to more challenging maps like the dune grass and the desert to start out, instead of just upgrading the tile and making it rain would feel more satisfying and add more of a real challenge to the game other than grinding, while locking it behind the Will power system allows you to get the same use but rewarding the base premise of building up life and revitalizing the world and prestige upgrades.

my point with the animals was also pretty unclear looking back, as i am aware they spread seeds, i just meant having some more unique behavior like burrows or nests and species specific effects that can help with the curating of the larger system if you create a place said individual species thrives, but i understand this is still in development and i don't mean to say this is needed now, just an idea.

I hope i communicated by main issue more clearly here. Keep up the good work!

thank you. having read through now and played some with the new info, i have some notes for feedback.

 1. having the soil tier system so limited to the player's clicking is really a bummer, especially expanding into more desolate types. as is, it is unbearably slow to even get lush soil with a fully established grove on top of it with full oak trees, and having to manually clear new ground and then work it to higher tiers is just exhausting and really a turn off for a game about establishing an ecosystem like this, at some point it should be able to handle itself and grow or even surpass our capabilities once we get it set up.

2. plant culling is currently very clunky for lack of a better word. having no options to ever get it other than clearing swaths of growth is a bummer but can be worked around, but the evolution system is what throws me off mostly. the main use of the specialized plants seem to either be to survive disasters, survive inhospitable land until it can become more lush, or refill nutrients to the land,  both of which are not really done. for example, a heat resistant grass or small plant does nothing to protect the more valuable plants on the tile that cant be specialized in such a way, or even past themselves, and that also means you have to basically kill and regrow everything each disaster or evolve everything which  is just not a good solution.

3. just a bug, automatic clicking does not seem to include the area of affect upgrade so it's practically useless.

now, for recommendations, feel free to pick or ignore any of this, it is your project after all and i am merely saying what i would personally enjoy more in a game like this so no offence intended at all. i would have specialized plants have more of an effect on their environment and tile, such as deep rooted ones that get their own trickle of resources also fuel the soil partly, or have more resistant plants act as insulators, which could go with larger groups as well as forests are known to both keep in heat when cold and act as cooler areas when it is hot, in general if you work that much, including culling your own growths for them, then they should be more than just a stop gap until other life can fill it. also, i would largely divest soil improvement from clicking entirely, our domain should be lifer and setting up an ecosystem and not past that, if anything lock it behind will like other big powers to change the environment, this also goes for the cloud tools such as deeper rooted plants pulling up water to create small ponds or pond tiles to then make more clouds and underwater plants, allowing life to do that heavy lifting such as the dune plant specifically working to revitalize sand or sandy soil or a tap root bush to bring up groundwater to create ponds and onward as examples of a purposeful terraformer plants to infuse vitality and change the composition of the environment. give animals more variety and a larger role in advancement in general like burrows that help surrounding soil nutrients or other symbiotic behaviors other than just dying for a small boost such as helping in the spreading of seeds and thus terraforming. insects are largely ok as is, even if the nerf to their biomass and thus upgrades cripples a lit of the middle game speedy progress, all i would want is more variety in use if anything. finally, i would expand the 'story' progression as it were, such as what the Everwood actually is, and more selfhood and characterization from our character as it, perhaps the original root of life that started it all here on earth either naturally or from the stars, and what caused the current barren state of the world such as a world war and where humans are now be it extinct or my favorite as out among the stars which would open up later interaction and missions, kinda like the game terraforming titans also on itch, and more structure to the map progressions such as moving to desert once you have the starting meadow level done, like a proper campaign with stages whether it ends with earth or beyond as life wished to reach. if you want to keep the personal map part for prestige currency then i would make them optional to the side to help the main game or even acting as a background boost as the world is revitalized.

All in all, great work and very promising, i would just like to see more identity to the story, reliance on setting up an evolving ecosystem than brute forcing everything, and just more depth and progression as a whole. I'm happy to play it and have any role in supporting it or giving feedback for improvement. 

all in all, incredibly fun and just needs some expansion and especially clarity to steps, abilities, and ability uses and interactions between different elements in game.

ok, i have seen the percentage tick up but the vitality didn't seem to change so perhaps there are separate sources that feed tile progression.

i have yet to see soil tier climb by itself despite full ecosystems up to trees being on or around it with many, many insects and upgrades referencing it.

i have discovered how to ripen small plants from grass, it seems that once you have an established clump there is some threshold of stored vitality on top of that so just spam vitality up to and over a thousand.

first off, it seems tools you are supposed to unlock later can be used from the start.

second, i have little idea of what to do past a certain stage, i have clumps of grass and it says the small plants will come at 50 vitality but that does not count up over time or with anything i do so I'm locked out of the progression and just stuck spreading grass. squirrels have appeared but i have no idea what to do with that or how it happened.

third, i do not know how to prestige or anything, much less use those currencies.

fourth, just a run down on how different elements progress and interact would help massively, especially in a campaign, as right now you can only flail about and hope to figure it out. a more refined ui would help clarity as well with resource labels you can see without hovering over them.

man, you work fast. most issues i had are already solved. though, i still have some words.

my recommendations depend entirely on the direction you want to take the game. if you just want some fun little incremental to burn half an hour then you are basically there, but if you want something a bit more big or just time sink then:

1. i would recommend other types of swarm units, divers fill attack, bombers fill AOE, but i think it would be fun with a more developed class system such as defensive units that act as a shell around the main swarm to prevent losses, units that either support nearby units or respawn them, stationary area denial, etc. of course many of these only work on a larger map and may lead to a more planning heavy zerg-style game bit i just like that.

2. larger maps in general, the asteroids are a nice start but there is potential for much more in my opinion. depending on if you want to stick to the quick wave action then it could be more maze like or even allow player set up, if you end up going slower more true devouring and replicating zerg feeling then larger generated maps with perhaps point of interest to give buffs or win.

3. as of the current state, it is a 15 minute experience at best, and that's fine if you want it like that. if you want more then i would recommend a variety of enemy behaviors and types/strengths, perhaps having a choice or tree of enemies to pursue fights against to get or develop your own troop types, and just general things to work around or discover in order to keep from the loop of just moving in a circle or just sitting still.

4. i still have little clue what the formation button truly does, and would appreciate an explanation or perhaps tool tip system like the stats when hovering over it.

all in all, still incredible work all around, but there is only so much feedback i can give without knowing the intended plan or scale of the game such as what the particles actually are like a zerg galaxy devouring swarm, nanites, if there will be story, if its just a basic arcade game, etc, as its already a decently rounded small experience as is. my apologies. I'll come back if i can think of a good name to recommend.

pretty fun. though i have a few notes if you'd have them.

1. orbiters work a little weirdly as the chase and just ending up behind swarms, id rather they go around the front of my swarm as a spear tip.

2. orbiters seem a little weak and could due with their own buffed upgrades with bigger gains compared to base particles.

3. swarm amount seems a little underwhelming in amount compared to the enemies.

4. rebirth is both very hard to achieve past the first and could use more content such as specialized upgrades or choosing to unlock branches of particles.

5. the tracking on bombers is weird and just causes them to freeze if there is more than one big group, and tent to blow up at the same time and thus be useless.

6. there seems to be little benefit to moving other than getting the two factions to attack, so having particles do better when moving in the direction of what they impact could work.

7.the multiple particle groups are great but could benefit from both more such factions and perhaps larger and obstacle filled enviroments.

so, its a great concept overall, all id suggest is some refining and adding more.

Thank you for the hotfix. However, I'm still having trouble finding The Absolute Pattern even if i have literally every upgrade purchased all up to framework being finished. is there a specific set of requirements i need to or need to not do?

so, how do i reach the final ending? i have submission, refusal, control, and integration. i also have all fragment upgrades purchased, but i cant seem to find the last ending. also, i cant seem to accumulate any starting paranoia due to said fragment upgrades, completely cutting off any progress past that point from what I've seen so far, unable to get any eyes or control loops.

another question, how do i get past the eye staff on day 22 after the implant slimes took away the portal boob

on day 13 on steam, for some reason i cannot brew a potion. i can select items and everything else, but the button to finish the potion cant be interacted with.

stage 5 is almost completely unplayable compared to the rest of the game. constant soft locking, impossible to win scenarios if you aren't exactly perfect. not to mention its a complete time sink in an active way in an idle game where you cant even use your built economy to help. other than that, it has a decent story and very cool starting concept of colors as fundamental forces underlying creation.

how do you complete the true ending? i have all the fate upgrades purchased but not all the soul ones.