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What creative projects have you been working on?
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
I'm still working on my game where you pop bubbles and grow plants to clean the air :)
Should I rename it from Air Garden to Bubble Garden?
I have a prototype available for playtesting if you're interested, it's playable on web browser at:
https://mellowminx.itch.io/test2?secret=pRQesBcZu7L8ytRczaao485UCQQ
(Note-- I haven't yet coded the "level unlocking" functionality, so please play the "Peaceful Glade" level first before the "Lively Meadow" :D)
Or you can check out a screen recording of the gameplay at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4kdidxdn0i8dm0byrgnma/airgardengameplay.mp4?rlkey=c4geh1rzi1k30hhf9emslhfbx&dl=0
I really appreciate constructive criticism and any suggestions, it's very helpful to me as a newbie solo indie dev!
I have these specific questions at this point in development, but you're welcome to comment on anything else if you have feedback.
Should I rename the game from Air Garden to Bubble Garden?
I think the latter might just make the game's vibe/content clearer from the title alone.
Should I remove the "clean air" currency and just have plants be self-reproducing?
Currently, some plants produce clean air, and you use the clean air to buy more plants. Other plants remove toxic air-- and that's a separate mechanic from the clean air. But if that's not intuitive, I could just remove the clean air system and just have plants be self-reproducing. Each plant can just spawn bubbles that contain its baby plants and you can pop them to get more of that plant. Then, you can explore around the map to look for new kinds of plants.
I haven't built a prototype for this yet, still just thinking about it.
Thanks for your time! If you'd like to check out my gamedev work or subscribe to my mailing list, my website is at http://mellowminx.com/ and all my links are there :)
Looks great, and I like the concept! I didn't play it for too long and I'm not much of a gamer, but I'll give some feedback with that disclaimer.
Mechanically I don't think it was unintuitive. A color-coded resource is pretty standard.
Besides being descriptive, you might want a name to be distinct to help with remembering or finding it. In that sense "Air Garden" is a bit more conceptually overloaded, with aeroponics and air plants like succulents?
I think the thumbnail is probably going to give the largest impression of what your game is about, and it's effective enough there isn't a big difference between your two options.
Have you thought about looking at companion plants for reference? Always cool when you pick up some real-world knowledge from a game, and the tables of what plants synergize or what they attract/repel might be useful for brainstorming.
Instead of popups you might consider something like "Notes" on a menubar, possibly with a badge indicating unread tutorial entries? At the start of the game I was paying attention to putting some plants out and had 4 popups at the same time. I felt like I needed to stop what I was doing to read them, and when one faded the one I was reading jumped. Once gone they seemed to be gone for good. If not, making them clickable to dismiss instead of the small "x" would be helpful?
Keeping the most recently placed plant active would be another QoL change, for bulk planting.
Thanks so much for playing and for sending all these great QoL notes, I'll work on these!
The companion plants link is a great resource, much appreciated! I'm also thinking about a hybridization mechanic for plant reproduction (like two different plants near each other could potentially spawn a new plant type).
I got attached to the name Bubble Garden before checking to see if there's already a game using it, and it turns out there is, shucks :)) I'm thinking of Plant Bubbles instead.
No trouble! Bummer about the name, but Plant Bubbles is a nice replacement.
I'd thought about making a joke suggestion of Spiro Agnew (from the Latin for "breathe" and, uh, a portmonteau of "agricultural renewal" (Nixon did found the EPA at least?)) but thought better of it.
Hehe thanks! :D
If possible can you add keyboard shortcuts? Will be quite useful to allow select plant by pressing for example 1,2,3...
I will definitely add that to my list for the desktop version, thank you!
I always had a lot of ideas, but in the end, I didn't publish anything - the inner voice telling me "why should anyone care about your thoughts" always won.
It wasn't until this year that I said "screw it, at least I'll learn something".
I started a blog about struggling with a midlife crisis, trying to reboot my life, travel memories - like this article about one very interesting day on the Way of St. James: Intense day
Right now I'm in the process of reviving a language learning app that once helped me a lot - don't ask me why I never tried putting it online even though it helped me. If I make it work again (the old API that I used years ago stopped working), I will publish it.
I am also working on an app for analyzing training data - something to help me with questions like "which training intervals work best for me" or "how will my FTP increase if I do X".
Sometimes I didn't share my apps with anyone because they seemed too simple, but whatever... here is a super-simple app to help you build habits - you just accumulate days of doing (or not doing) something you want to do every day, like meditate or not drink sugary drinks. The trick is to use your loss aversion to build habits. I made it for myself and maybe it's working for me because I have some kind of a hoarding personality, I don't know. Try and tell me: µ habits
I have other apps that have only one user - me. Most of them are simple, with minimalist design, nothing fancy... I bought a domain and I will start putting them out there: µ apps
I wonder how many of you also started dozens of projects that you ended up never sharing with anyone?
Bread!
I don’t like baking too much because it’s very picky. Too many things need precision, like ingredient ratios, temperatures, times, and decoration. But in just one week’s time, I have managed to make a pretty amazing whole wheat sourdough with remarkedy little effort. The hardest part was cultivating the starter, and most of that was just remembering to check it and to clean the jars I was using when changing it between feedings.
My bread was made with no measuring, no weighing, and no kneeding or shaping. Because I was using whole wheat flour, which is less bioavailable than white flour, it took a long time to proof - so long that it autolyzed, thus the lack of kneeding. The bitterness of the whole wheat combined with the sourness of the sourdough made it taste slightly sweet, which is surprising because there is no added ingredients. It’s just whole wheat flour and water. I didn’t even grease the Dutch oven I baked it in.
It’s not perfect yet; my oven was too hot so the crust is overdone and bitter. But that is easy to fix.
Invariably cross-stitching 😊
Finished some more pride bookmarks. I think I got some of the colors wrong, or maybe it just looks that way because the fabric is too white and/or the lighting and/or the camera.. but generally happy with them.
Currently working on some flower stuff, probably gonna do a quote from Lessons in Chemistry in the middle but not decided yet
I bought the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. I've never really tried recording and editing videos before. I'm more of a photography person.
I've gotta say that video is fun too. I can do simple edits now, but still pretty much a novice.
What surprises me is how much I'm learning with the help of "AI" too. I can select a few videos in some video editing apps, then the app will automatically edit and create a highlight video. After doing that a few times and taking notes. I started to edit the recommended edits and became a bit more confident in editing the videos myself.
I've been slowly working on a DIY miniature kit that I got this spring. I've been working on it sporadically, so I'm excited to finally finish it.
The kit is sam's study by rolife if anyone is curious.
I completed the furniture and the lighting (which was a pain in the ass but it all worked out in the end), so all I have to do now is finish a couple dozen books and some other small decorations.
Thanks for this - these are so cool! I purchased the study and the coffee house after falling down the rabbit hole of DIY miniatures like these on Amazon. Also bought a “Lego-like” Izakaya Shop.
Do you know of any other companies/communities about these types of models? It looked like a few Chinese companies on Amazon are copying each other and there weren’t a ton of different kits (still more than I could probably ever do) but I’d love to find more.
Not sure if there are any North American suppliers to be honest, but I've been very safisfied with Rolife. I heard some decent things about cutebee too, but I have not made one myself.
The only community for miniatures I can find online is on reddit, but there are some amazing miniature builds there. It's fun looking at the different ways people customized Sam's study! I'm hoping one day I can customize one of these kits myself too.
I think I found the /r but it looks to be age restricted and requires an account. Yeah, no. ☺️
I have 3 Rolife kits now. Unsure if/when I will start them but my 8 year old self would have killed for these instead of Barbie’s Dream Home 😆
That was quick! Which ones did you end up getting? I highly recommend getting a craft knife, some tweezers, pliers and a self healing mat. I got a bundle of these tools from amazon. Most of them are marketed for gundam building, but they're perfect for these miniatures as well.
Have fun building them!!
Yeah, I kinda go all in when starting a new special interest. I also showed them to my friend and now she has ordered a couple. You should be making a commission from your post! 😆
Rolife: Wooden Hut, Sam’s Study, #17 Cafe
Flever : Sakura Tree House (way bigger than I thought, box is about double the size of a Rolife and weighs about 4 times as much)
QLT: Japanese Street View Izakaya Shop (800 mini Lego-like tiny pieces)
My friend picked up Rolife Cathy’s Garden House and Cozy Kitchen.
One item you forgot to list is that you also need a lot of patience. 😆
I used to do papercraft so I have all of the supplies at hand, thankfully.
Thanks! I’m hoping this will be a nice change of pace. You have fun, too!
Hahaha, the Japanese Izakaya one seems like a gateway drug to doing the official adult lego sets! I've been getting into lego a lot lately too, they have some awesome display models. Miniatures are cheaper though, so that's why I transitioned...
I just bound my first book. I printed out an open source RPG system in registers, folded, stitched and glued them up. Then, made a kludged version of book cloth and cut and bound the cover and attached it. End result, a one off copy.
Next stage is prepping and painting a set of classic D&D character classes for playing the RPG. Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Thief, Elf, Dwarf, Halfing.
I really want to take my little enclosed utility trailer and turn it into a portable wood cnc/3d printer. bed size would be about 40"x60". so I'm gathering a parts list. going wood cnc first with plans to add in 3d printing later.
That is so cute and sweet 🥹 I don't know anything about building stuff, but I can recommend the industrial design discord server Minor Details https://discord.gg/s352rGnShn in case you want people to give you suggestions for materials and design. It's a pretty friendly server with high-quality discussion!
The idea of your lil ratties having the opportunity to hang out with you whenever they want is just so wonderful and cool :)
this all sounds very interesting to me. i would love to see some of your work if you would like to share!