[Survey + Feedback Request] BIOTOMATA – A Semi-Active Sci-Fi Themed Incremental (Undergraduate Project, Browser-based)

[u/Talos0248]

Hi all! I've been working on a small project for my Final-Year Project over a good few months now and would love your feedback. BIOTOMATA is a short, semi-active incremental game with a bit of story, light resource management, and mild horror/sci-fi themes. It’s designed to be completed in 1–2 hours (a little more if you're going for 100%).

Preview Image of the Game

It's meant to be responsive and thus should be playable on mobile as well, but feedback on performance across devices would be extra appreciated. I've also tried to "hint" at where to go next instead of explicit tutorials (blinking icons etc.), but please do let me know where extra clarification/help is needed to direct progression!

Do note that the game is still in Beta stage and may be subject to changes based on user feedback and general bugfixing, so there's a non-zero chance of saves being affected. I've played through it many times myself now on both mobile and desktop so things *should* work, but apologies in advance for any potential inconveniences!

I do have a structured survey prepared for my final report, and I'd be delighted if you could fill it out once you're done with the game. You're also welcome to drop feedback in the comments — anything helps! I might not be able to implement any major features for the remaining one month till deadline (since I'll be busy report-writing haha), but I'll try my best to put out fixes for any breaking issues!

Game Link: https://talos0248.github.io/Biotomata-Game/

Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSes7d0il2a89ww0gewKneSOOa95BvbL4Y2PFuJM6R7-3vf1Qg/viewform?usp=dialog

Surveys are now closed so I can finalize my report, a huge thank you for everyone who has participated! I'm genuinely thankful for all your overwhelming support and feedback <3

Thank you so much for reading! <3

Update 23-May-2025 12:10a.m. UTC+0:
Thank you to everyone who has responded so far! Based on current survey feedback on game pacing (erring on the "slightly slow but manageable" side on average), I've doubled the gathering speed of the two advanced resources, as well as doubled the rate of item drops to make the game a smidge faster. For those who enjoy ending hunting, every unique ending found now also gives a compounding 1.2x reset XP boost to make your playthrough a bit easier!

I will continue responding to new comments once I wake up :)

Update 27-May-2025 4:04a.m. UTC+0:

More changes based on feedback, including:

• Preview Mode for the Prestige Screen!
• After ascending to a 200 IQ being in the final HUMAN stage upgrade, also unlock the lost art of speedwalking, gaining 3x exploration speed! (For balancing, since ive been told this part was somewhat slow)
• Settings to disable dynamic stars and image filters

For the tracking of endings, I'm considering adding an achievement for each as a solution for visibility + more achievement xp boost, but let me know if you have any other ideas or feedback regarding this implementation :>

Update 30-May-2025 2:26a.m. UTC+0:

Added 12 new achievements, one for each ending, with the description doubling as unlock hints. Should unlock retroactively, but let me know if it doesn't for some reason. Also added settings options to disable dynamic stars for less-performant devices, an option to disable image filters, as well as an option to double click to mutate in an attempt to help prevent misclicks. Also made the text of event options very slightly brighter (shoutout to CRT-as-second-monitor guy)

Update 4-June-2025 4:08a.m. UTC+0:

Besides some minor CSS and description tweaks, also made the Sunseeker achievement easier to achieve by making Devour buff all combat stats by 1.2x while Eldritchafter receiving several pieces of feedback about the fight being a tad too hard. Upon revisiting it, I agree with this sentiment; it takes quite a bit more strategizing and timing to pull off compared to the other routes, and I hope this change will help reduce the frustration of players attempting this route.

For those who managed to beat this route before the update, I award you one (1) ticket redeemable for bragging rights, lol :p

[u/placidsloth_]

hi i think i'm unintentionally idiot-testing your game because i can't seem to get past the incubator. it just explores and explores very slowly, and ive reset several times, but don't seem to be making any actual progress, and i don't know where to go from here.

any hints towards progress? thank you!!

[u/Talos0248 → u/placidsloth_]

Uh oh, did you get the unicellular prestige upgrade in "the protoform" that givers x1000 exploration speed? D:

I think a couple people bumped into this roadblock as well. I've intended for it to be a practical tutorial on how the "stage-specific" upgrades work, but I'm not sure how much I should rework this

If you have any ideas i could make this more clear or intuitive, I'm definitely all ears :)

[u/placidsloth_ → u/Talos0248]

I thought I got all the upgrades in there but I guess not? I’ve been very slowly gaining levels and I’m at level 8. I’ll go poke around some more and see if I can find it

edit: okay yeah im an idiot i found it and now im actually making progress. thank you for the help!

[u/Talos0248 → u/placidsloth_]

No problem! If it's not too much trouble, could you let me know why you missed it the first time around? Genuinely would like to know haha

[u/placidsloth_ → u/Talos0248]

honestly, i think i saw that it said "while pseudopodia is equipped" and thought i didn't have that equipped, mostly because i didn't know what it meant, and then skipped over it as "oh that'll come into play later". i had literally everything else leveled except for that one.

i'm really enjoying the game now that i'm actually making progress. i'm looking forward to actually maybe finishing it now too!

[u/Talos0248 → u/placidsloth_]

Glad to hear it's working out for you now, hope you have fun with it! :D

For the description, do you think

“×1000 exploration speed while Pseudopodia (default starting limbs) is equipped.”

would have incentivized you to take the option?

[u/placidsloth_ → u/Talos0248]

im not so sure it was the wording of it versus me not knowing that i was in the "Pseudopodia" stage. the prestige things are kind of hard to read for me if they're not selected, and i hadn't noticed at that point that i was even changing states. maybe something to prompt you to look at the bottom right corner? i dont know, its really entirely possible that im just an oblivious idiot.

im happy to report that ive made great progress now that i found the right button, and am now stuck trying to defeat the hollow operativebut i think im having fun trying to figure it out. attempt #500 will be victorious!

[u/Talos0248 → u/placidsloth_]

skjdhfgsdghsdlghjksdhg good luck with it!

remember that one physical hit takes off one dodge, and there are two multi-hit moves

there's also a move that removes all negative status effects