Tardigrades on the Moon

Backstory

This game is a fun interpreation of simulating moon life for tardigrades (aka waterbears) based on a recent event where a crashed Israeli Lunar lander spilled tardigrades on the moon.

Development

Development of this game took place for 72 hours in Philadelphia between Friday October 4th 6:00pm to Monday October 7th, 2019 6:00pm as a part of Ludum Dare 45 game jam. The game was developed by Chris Mondok, Bill Rossi, and Peter Zafonte. Music was done by Ryan Shello, who plays for This Kills Me and Fuzzy Slippers. You should check them out! Graphics and artwork were done by Miki Tharp. You should also check out her art! Special thanks to Mary Lou Fooder who provided moral support.

Theme

The theme of the Ludum Dare 45 game jam is "start with nothing". This game incorporates that theme by having tardigrades that start with nothing and must multiply and gain technologies to win.

Gameplay / Generation 1

The tardigrades start out near the capsule that cracked open during the crash on the moon. Your goal is to survive by multiplying and reaching three generations and performing tasks such as building canals, growing moss, and ultimately moving a battery back to your capsule.

You begin with TEN tardigrades who can dig canals by clicking on an open ground tile. Ideally, you want to connect dug canal tiles to water sources so that the available water will flow through the canals. Keep in mind the little fellas get thirsty so they will often retreat from what they are doing to get fluids. If they don't make it back to a water tile before their fluid meter runs out, they will go into a tun state. But not to worry, the time scale of this game is short enough where you can rehydrate tun state tardigrades by building canals with water underneath them. Tardigrades will also get hungry after working, and they will seek out food when they are hungry. Tardigrades that have enough moss will reproduce by clicking on a mossy rock or sometimes randomly when they are idle.

Generation 2

Once you reach THIRTY TWO tardigrades you will have the ability to grow moss on rocks near water. Click a rock near water to send tardigrades to grow moss.

Generation 3

Once you reach ONE HUNDRED tardigrades you will have the ability to move a battery to your capsule... and see what happens. Click the battery to send tardigrades to move the battery.

Controls

• All actions are performed by left clicking on various tiles as described above.
• Hover over the bar graph on the top left hand corner of the screen to see game stats.
• Hover over the tardigrade to see its fluid level (blue circle) and moss level (organge circle).
• You can pause the game by pressing p or the pause key on your keyboard. YOU WILL REGRET THIS!
• Cancel building by clicking again on the space that's under construction.
• Some actions (like reproducing) can be clicked repeatedly to enlist more tardigrades.
• Click the button in the top right corner of the screen that says 'normal' to increase. Speeds include 'fast' and 'super-fast'. Keep clicking to toggle through the speeds.

End game

You win the game by moving a battery to your capsule. You lose the game by having all tardigrades in tun state. They won't die (they're indestructible), but you will feel shame. Good luck!