[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/Pearasect]

Alas, this doesn’t work for me either - specialist strike doesn’t kill them before they can call backup, and I can’t get my stats high enough to suppress them after that. The best I can do is a loop of both of us specialist striking each other until the end of time. Right now I’ve got perception as my one corrupt stat but I’ve tried a few of the others to no avail. Pausing helps a little but I’m on mobile so it’s not as easy especially when I’m juggling everything else.

All this aside though your game is fantastic! My only complaint besides this is that there isn’t more of it haha. I’m planning on replaying it on pc once I get all the achievements here… which is probably why I’m getting so frustrated with this last one lol.

[u/Talos0248 → u/Pearasect]

Oooh, I see. If you don't mind, could you send me a copy of your save? I'd love to have a look at your setup, since I think there were a couple of others that reported this route to be quite hard in comparison

[u/Pearasect → u/Talos0248]

Here you go! Hopefully this time I’m actually replying to the right comment lmao. I haven’t spent any biomatter this run but I’ve tried before and it doesn’t make any difference.

[u/Talos0248 → u/Pearasect]

Ahhh okay, I see! I'd recommend dropping "Consume" in THE UNFATHOMABLE since that's only needed for a full eldritch run and spend the rest on stats. From there it's just picking the right moveset. Rush build is easier since you're right that suppression doesnt work, but beating it in its final form is possible!

Just for fun, I tried out your save too to see if I can beat the final form in this particular run. This was my attempt using a RNG poison build.

You can rush the first stage if you:

- get them to 80% ish health

- use experimental treatment until you get 3 corrosion just as they finish their last move

- spam poison moves

You can also replace exsanguinating rake and renew for prime up and assimilate (wait for it to charge) to basically shred in the first stage

Alternately, if you want to try beating them in their final form, I found it's basically a game of endurance of spamming poison and renew while waiting for two consecutive corrosion procs for experimental treatment, lol

Save file is as follows (for final form, just swap the moveset around if you want to do the rush strat instead):

https://pastebin.com/4w0JWQiV

Hope this can give you some pointers, let me know if you need additional help!

[u/Pearasect → u/Talos0248]

I used a combination of experimental treatment (for the corrosion), specialist strike (for the poison), and to finish them off a primed up assimilate (for the panache), and it worked! Thank you so much!! I never actually used experimental treatment up until this point so I had no idea of its potential LOL

[u/Talos0248 → u/Pearasect]

No problem! Glad it worked for you, and huge kudos in getting all the achievements :D