Mycorrhiza
Made for the Bitsy Connections Jam
Using Bitsy and image-to-bitsy
Mycorrhiza are fungal-plant relationships that share resources and allow communication throughout forests. They can become disrupted or damaged through human activity such as intensive farming, construction and deforestation.
There's no set ending to this game, so feel free to exit when you have finished exploring. Thanks for playing :)
Here's a great talk by Dr Suzanne Simard, an ecologist who researches forests and mycorrhizal networks :)
Comments
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Lovely!
Thanks ^_^
Wow! Fair play on your game, it's lovely.
I'm also working on a game around the same fascinating topic. It's in the early stages but it seems people enjoy learning about this stuff. There are so many systems at play in nature, all interconnected and dependant, it's mind blowing stuff. I'd love to see this stuff being taught to younger children, hopefully it would give our human selves more appreciation for what we are collectively destroying.
Thanks for sharing the link! I don't know enough about this stuff but it is fascinating and would love to learn more. The Hidden Life of Tree's is also pretty decent.
If you'd like to chat more about gamedev or this topic of fungi, feel free to reach out!
Thank you so much! Yeah I agree, the topic is incredible and just shows how important for us as humans to appreciate that our actions may interfere with systems in ways that we don't have knowledge about currently.
I just downloaded and played your Fungi Garden prototype - I really love how it looks and the chompy sounds! I think the idea of puzzle solving is interesting too, especially since the research around this is so new, it kind of feels like a puzzle to be solved in a sense. Good luck with the rest of your development on it! I actually made a prototype for another game on mycorrihzal networks with my partner for LD46, which was more puzzley - there's a writeup/video about it here if you are interested http://www.shimmerwitch.space/?title=202004Mycofungal
I just started reading The Hidden Life of Tree's recently, it's so fascinating. I also borrowed a book called 'Wilding' from a friend which gave an introduction to mycorrhizal networks too and from what I've read so far seems to be a pretty positive account of how it's possible to help forests and woodlands heal themselves. I found the talks that Dr Simard has done that are on youtube really inspiring too, I'd love to hear if you have any other recommendations for learning about this though!
Awesome work! I love the hidden network connect concept and MUST praise the use of anaglyph glasses! <3
Hilariously, we have similar visual interpretations on how to convey these networks! The wobbly lines, and representation of resources os circles or blobs! I guess we must have been connected to very similar sources over the internets, haha!
We are applying for a small amount of regional funding to develop a new prototype up to a state of a playable demo. We've taken a different direction with our visuals - something our team is more familiar with - and have a lot of work ahead of us. We have something interesting in our Game Design Document, but sure these things grow and change when you see them in real life.
I'd love to keep in touch! Thanks for sharing your other references, I'll be sure to let you know if I find more interesting sources on mycelium or mycorrihzal networks stuff :D