Terraformental
Posted December 13, 2024. Updated March 14, 2025. Played 16471 times for a total of 26281 hours.
description
Try to survive and perhaps eventually even tame an unknown planet in this incremental semi-idle game.
Inspired by Increlution, though if you've played that game, please be aware that the looping mechanic in this doesn't start unless/until you reach a certain point. So you do have to do some planning to make sure you survive long enough first time around.
This project is currently in early access, with a prologue and two chapters of the story available. I aim to release major content updates at least once every 2 months.
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/nMqMxKw6Y5
Ko-Fi Donations: https://ko-fi.com/shadygames
Download (via Itch.io): https://sh4dowsand.itch.io/terraformental
There's a list of known issues in the bugs forum on the Discord server, so please check there before reporting any problems.
latest update
Bugfixes & Minor Additions v0.3.1.0 March 23, 2025
Changes
- Remove Power Cell now available in Talos after repairing power systems (and discovering rover power)
- Unique death message if you lie in your pod after waking up
- Reduced base time for inspecting the dam control booth
- Added combined action for driving to the lost rover, getting supplies and driving back.
- Added alt logs for reaching the dam on time/too late and with/without the codes
- Added an alt death message if you die at the dam after being too late
- Added alt 'rover out of power' log if you run out while trying to find the Talos-Dam route
- 'Gather Supplies From Outside' action is now hidden if you already manually left and collected them
- Added an 'Inspect Rover Charger' action to Talos after you discover rover power
Fixes
- Parking in Talos now only requires either finding the tunnel or discovering rover power, not both
- Resource hover tips no longer say 'lasts forever' when the resource is full but draining (went into negative but immediately paused)
- Fixed potential crash when loading saves in a certain format
- Typos
newest comments
One of the first game's I've played and decided to review (played basically the top 2-3 recommended games in every category on this site).
Love the storytelling through the time-gated increasing efficiency mechanic. (I hope you don't over-listen to the naysayers)
My only feedback would be to even out resource gain speeds. (it does feel a bit tedious that MC is taking 5-6 seconds to grab water pouches in a new zone when he scoops up 20 in 1 in Talos, exaggeration I know, and I get that they may not be all located in the same space, but it's jarring to the player when the same resource takes longer in new areas)
Since you already allow queueing of tasks, you should also implement a hotkey (like shift/ctrl click) where you queue tasks to the end of the task list (i.e. FIFO instead of only FILO)
And honestly, once this game is fully fleshed out, might as well sell it for $2-5 or something on Steam, get something back for this project and maybe help motivate getting it done faster.
This game is ruined by the fact that the beginning portion is so repetitive, and you have to do it every time you restart your loop (dozens of times). The game basically punishes you for exploring the world or experimenting. Countless times you will run out of water and be forced to restart and stare at the same set of progress bars until you get back to where you where. The developers try to help out with this by making tasks become faster the more you repeat them, and by combining certain tasks together, but it does very little to help with the sheer mindless repetition you need to go through.
My suggestion to the developer would be to simply add a x2 time speed up that would unlock after a certain amount of loops. It wouldn't change anything gameplay wise since there are no actual mechanics to this game aside from waiting for progress bars and reading text. This addition would pretty much solve the early game slog.
Aside from those criticisms, I found the story and the world compelling enough to push through, although I couldn't finish the game because I just didn't want to go through yet another loop anymore.
Made an account just to say I love this game. Looking forward to the next update!
Somehow this game takes the concept of prestiging/resetting in an idle game and turns it into a major plot point. I love how it's turning out and am excited to see where the story goes next!
Grindable enough to create a great feel of progress, yet engaging enough to keep me interested in the game after several hours. I find myself actually excited to see where this game ends up.
top comments
This is REALLY good. Consider me sufficiently interested. First time I've commented on galaxy and I've been playing more or less daily for months. Great little flavor blurbs; a couple of interesting thought sections as a player; intrigue into the artifact and story as a whole; enjoyment in the system of gameplay and although no real interest in possible future combat, I would still do it with a smile while also loving even more of this king of gameplay evolved through new ideas in future chapters. I really hope you continue with this project. Thank you so much.
Cool game, I can't wait to see it get updated.
Looking forward to more! I enjoyed the story telling aspects, and the non-linear loops, I know in Increlution you could just choose to skip some things, but I like that you just don't even have those things to skip.
I did find one bug though, if you explore the rover the second time the "bypass" option still exists and you can take that to "save" time (it's still not quick enough not to die of thirst though
Another weird issue, in Laurion, i installed a water recycler into the rover, which destroyed the rover's ability to make water bottles? WTF?
Wonderful! Only thing would be to have a text size option. On 4k the text is super tiny.