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A jam submission

AlchemickalView game page

Wreak havoc with the power of alchemy in this roguelite twin-stick shooter!
Submitted by rodbotic (@rodbotical) — 2 days, 23 hours before the deadline
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Alchemickal's itch.io page

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

It's really hard, but it makes it cool even though I didn't get very far.

Polished game. it's hard to mix elements in the middle of a battle but that could just be part of the challenge.

I think the tutorial is nice the way it is, you can take your time trying things out and you get a hint about mixes.

Also, i'm retarded and forgor about weapon ugrades, i'm sure it would've made the game easier (though it wouldn't have kept me from dying)

the shopkeeper killed me on my first run.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing!

it's hard to mix elements in the middle of a battle but that could just be part of the challenge.

It's intentionally hard, yes, but I will see what I can do about further streamlining it.

Also, i'm retarded and forgor about weapon ugrades

I don't blame you, they are tucked away in a side menu so it's easy to overlook them. I am going to change the way this works so they're more noticeable.

the shopkeeper killed me on my first run.

You did that to yourself...

Submitted(+1)

Really nice game, polished. 

Both fun and challenging. Didn't stumble upon any technical issues.

Only gameplay issue I had was that I can't move while cooking making it impossible not to be hit by ranged unites if you want to change your attacks mid fight.

Solution would be to add slow down timer or make it so the player can move while he cooks damage types.

Developer(+1)

Thanks again for playing!

Submitted(+1)

I've seen this game in a lot of previous DDs but only just got around to it. It's great! I'll echo what others said in that it's very difficult and while I can appreciate how much went into making different combinations of mixtures, it feels like only the single mixes are worth it, though maybe that's me not experimenting with them.

It also would be nice to have a reminder that you can upgrade your weapons- my best run I accidentally had enough to buy 5 at once.

Are you going to add bosses? It feels a little cheap that the goal is only to find the floor portal.

And the shopkeeper needs to get mad if you hit her.

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for playing!

 it feels like only the single mixes are worth it

That's to be expected considering how the enemy roster solely consists of trash mobs for now. Hopefully, future enemies will require more complex strategizing!

It also would be nice to have a reminder that you can upgrade your weapons- my best run I accidentally had enough to buy 5 at once.

I wholeheartedly agree, even I forget to upgrade my stuff sometimes. I'm thinking of adding a workshop bench somewhere in the dungeon—maybe on the shop island—where you can upgrade stuff.

Are you going to add bosses? It feels a little cheap that the goal is only to find the floor portal.

Yes, there will be a boss every three floors.

And the shopkeeper needs to get mad if you hit her.

I will not let you down.

Submitted(+1)

Wow, this was a really hard game. Although the tutorial does a pretty good job of teaching the main mechanics, it's really hard to actually manage swapping mixtures while fighting enemies. Still, it's a pretty unique mechanic and having to manage so many things feels quite addictive. I really liked how I could just drink water to extinguish the flames on myself, really cool that it works so intuitively. Definitely feels like the damage output of enemies could be toned down a little, especially in the first level. Things can get out of control really quickly because of the barrels, too.  I had a lot of trouble with the bomb enemies, especially around the 3rd or 4th level when a room would spawn 4 or 5 all at once and getting close enough to be in their collective blast radius was near instant death.
Also, they need to be BIGGER. And make them jiggle when you shoot water at them.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing!

And make them jiggle when you shoot water at them.

I wanted to make them jiggle when you hit them period, which would eventually cause her to get mad, but I didn't have the time...

Submitted(+1)

i still find it weird how pretty much all enemies are either ranged or kamikaze, which makes trying to attack them with the scythe extremely dangerous
game's pretty hard as balls but that's by design
ahem, AWOOGA

Developer(+1)

More enemies are planned, including melee ones. Thanks for playing again.

Submitted(+1)

Cool concept, it gets quite complicated very quickly though, pretty tough. I also killed myself by drinking fire in the tutorial, so probably a skill issue on my part. I feel like the scythe attack could be a tad bit less delayed.

Developer

Thanks for playing!

I feel like the scythe attack could be a tad bit less delayed.

There is a weapon upgrade that makes it swing faster, but I could tweak the base speed.

Submitted(+2)

Finally we can say it

They are NOT too small!

Developer

This opinion is not universal.

Submitted(+1)

I sucked, then I learned how to dodge and heal and not scythe the barrels and I sucked less. But I still suck. I think I will have to play smarter if I want to get past the first two floors. I like the main mechanic of the game. Switching between the chemickals gives an extra strategic element to the gameplay.

Great visuals and gameplay! I really liked the UI specifically. I can tell a lot of effort was put into this.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Very nice. It took a couple of tries to get my muscle memory back but then I got two bosses at floor 1 and snowballed from there.


The new purchasable buffs are a godsend, the shield saved me on floor 2 from being chain frozen to death and on floor 3 from having dodged into 3 newly spawned mines. I think you should lean less on passive damage resistances and more on the ones that modify the alchemist's moves and abilities if you want the player to feel like they're choosing a build, right now it's mostly flat buffs without much synergy or strategy, but as a first implementation and for what is the first third of a full run I think you've aced it.
The ethereal dodge one is really fun, it's great to be able to put obstacles between you and the constructs.
Going by the description alone the one that gives you a chance to absorb enemy elements seems like something I would either fail to notice when it happens or not be in a position to use that specific element effectively.
I still think mines are a bit too oppressive in the smaller rooms but since they're rare in the first two floor and the shop upgrades give you a nice safety net it's not as bad as before.

The merchant lady's audio was very bass boosted and distorted, idk if it's just too loud or it simply didn't agree with my headphones.

After changing the resolution the arsenal was the only one that didn't rescale properly until I restarted.


Very nice overall! Will play more of this.

Developer

Heyo, thanks for playing again!

I think you should lean less on passive damage resistances and more on the ones that modify the alchemist's moves and abilities if you want the player to feel like they're choosing a build

Fair point, I added the resistances basically as content padding. I'd love to hear whatever buff ideas you might have.

Going by the description alone the one that gives you a chance to absorb enemy elements seems like something I would either fail to notice when it happens or not be in a position to use that specific element effectively

Yeah, that one's very situational.  The yellow buffs are all quite powerful so my idea was to have a kinda crappy one to dilute the pool a bit. Maybe I'll buff it.

The merchant lady's audio was very bass boosted and distorted, idk if it's just too loud or it simply didn't agree with my headphones.

Terribly sorry about that, evidently my laptop's speakers have shit bass. I've deployed a hotfix that should help.

After changing the resolution the arsenal was the only one that didn't rescale properly until I restarted

Noted.