By Jim Rossignol on June 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am.
Cambrian Games‘ charming piece of interactive weirdness, Phyta, will keep you entranced for a moment or two. In it you direct the growth of a fast-growing silhouette plant with an abstract “black sun” cursor, and to progress you must ensnare a number of golden creatures in the tendrils of that plant. It ends quite abruptly, without much sense of achievement. It is, nevertheless, a tiny and beautiful distraction. Download it here.
Via TIGSource
30/06/2008 at 11:33 PuPPeTeeR says:
It’s a really beautiful game, nice music and simple but really good graphics!
It can be a little depressing, depending on your mood…
Anyway, really worth trying!
30/06/2008 at 11:44 Ci2e says:
Reminds me of Obulis – it looks similar anyway…
I’ll give it a try just so I can experience the abrupt end without a sense of much achievement, hehe…
Okay I just got as far as getting one of those yellow things that looked like an upside down smiley face and couldn’t entangle it with my vines, but it was fun to see as you got farther the sun got bigger and the vines grew faster…
30/06/2008 at 12:02 roBurky says:
This is actually pretty frustrating. Why do the vines begin to stop halfway up the screen? Is there anything to do other than sit and wait for one that will extend far enough to catch the thing?
30/06/2008 at 12:03 Jim Rossignol says:
Left clicking increases grow speed.
30/06/2008 at 12:20 Mark says:
“Little Fish” sounds a lot like flOw to me – not that that’s a bad thing.
Phyta is interesting, nice that he has a Linux version.
30/06/2008 at 12:22 Rook says:
This game feels really evil.
30/06/2008 at 12:42 sana says:
So it ends at Level 5′s angelic winged golden creatures?
30/06/2008 at 13:28 jph wacheski says:
It is quite nicely done, the music is great the first five times it loops,. and then just gets more and more tiersome,. . Procedural music generation would have worked better, IMHO.
What abrupt ending? it just goes on and on,. .
the creatures get progressivly larger and more interesting looking and develop the ability to bust throught your vines,.
Yes pressing the LMB does help the game play.
30/06/2008 at 13:29 Cathartis says:
I’m confused. Does the game actually have an end, or do those angels at level 5 continually respawn until you get bored? Maybe I’ve hit a bug or summink.
Lovely music though.
30/06/2008 at 14:40 Frank says:
I quit on seeing the second angel. Thatgamecompany writes games to create an emotional response. For this game, I’d say that response is frustration or impatience (which isn’t really consistent with the visual style). In other words: boo
30/06/2008 at 14:43 Ci2e says:
lol yeah it never end and instead of tapping the left mouse button you can just hold it down which helps make your vines thicker faster, which is needed to trap the angels. Yeah I’d agree I did feel a little frustrated and impatient for the critters to stop migrating towards the top of the screen…
30/06/2008 at 15:30 Rook says:
Maybe the game’s just telling you you should be less goal focused as that only seems to upset you. Just sit back, relax, take chances when they come, and if you miss them, no big deal, they’ll be another one soon.
30/06/2008 at 15:48 Garreett says:
Wow, what a depressing game, beautifully animated though.
30/06/2008 at 16:33 Yontan says:
damnit. I just forgot what I was meant to be doing for the next 30 minutes of work. :S very pretty indeed.
30/06/2008 at 17:42 PleasingFungus says:
Nnrgh. Interesting, lovely music and graphics, but level three was far too much for me.
30/06/2008 at 17:48 EyeMessiah says:
Can’t catch those damn jellyfish.
NERF JELLYFISH
30/06/2008 at 18:08 spd from Russia says:
wont run :(
30/06/2008 at 18:45 nabeel says:
Pretty little thing.
nabeel
30/06/2008 at 20:02 Heliocentric says:
I’m glad this game exists, but i wish it was a screen saver.
Its seems to me to be playing with your expectations (you are the hero) and the apparent image (you are eating fairy angels!).
Its darn purdy though.
30/06/2008 at 20:15 Scott says:
I loved this. I played for about 5 minutes after realizing that there’s no end. Getting your Sun cursor fully filled out on the 5th level is the technical “end,” after that the winged angels just keep respawning. Yes, this should totally be a screensaver. Oh, and someone should tab the guitar part from the score, which, incidentally, is in .ogg in the data folder. :D
30/06/2008 at 20:40 FatMat says:
This is the kind of games that opens new area of feelings within video games. Always, fear, competition, achievement ; why not just being sad for a while ?
Mix it with the procedural music of Everyday Shooter and you’ll have Everyday Gardener.
01/07/2008 at 08:24 Fashigady says:
Yeah, definitely ought to be a screensaver
12/09/2008 at 20:37 internisus says:
If it were a screensaver you wouldn’t play it for three minutes, notice that you are thick and black and that you are consuming golden creatures, see your tentacles grow faster and more legion, listen to that music, and realize that you are a nightmare. And then you wouldn’t choose to keep playing.
I appreciate that saying this should be a screensaver acknowledges how pretty it is, but no.