Life Vac

You are an amoral scientist who found the secret to create life! You are going to use this secret to get rich!

Create life and raise life in your petri dish. Sell it when it is grown and active for maximum rewards. How much money can you raise before the number of experiments end?

This game was made in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 44! Theme: Your Life is Currency.

Controls

• Use ↑↓←→ and Z, X to navigate and activate the menus.
• The leftmost menu (Run) runs a simulation.
• The middle menu has three stamps that you can place in the petri dish.
• The right menu (Suck) will collect the cells currently in the petri dish and give you money for them.

Rules

• The simulation follows the rules of Conway's Game of Life
• The value of each cell is proportional for how much the cell has been updated recently. Chaotic patterns are worth more than static patterns.
• The patterns sold in the middle menu include chaotic patterns, but also static patterns -- your goal is to find and make a pattern that maximizes activity.
• A recent update to pico-8 made this game really slow :-(
• The game ends after a fixed number of simulations. Make sure to "Suck" one last time before you end the game!

Why this game exists?

This game was developed in a face-to-face Jam at Pico-pico Cafe, back in April, 2019. Several teams did Ludum Dare together, and much fun was had. I don't remember why I decided to make a "Game of Life" for this one. It was a weird choice, and the result game was quirky, but not really fun. I was lucky to collaborate with Mike Hillard, who brought a really unique charm to this little game with his music and pixel art.

Credits/Thanks

• Code and Sound effects by Claus Aranha (find me on wandering.shop or the lexaloffle BBS)
  
• Music and Pixel Art by Mike Hillard
• Made using Pico-8