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A jam submission

Alchemist's GrimoireView game page

You must take people's requests for potions and scavenge the forest for ingredients while keeping your sanity at bay.
Submitted by HeavensGates (@ryan_stander), M1L45CH, Mgdo — 2 hours, 4 minutes before the deadline
Rated by 7 people so far
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Alchemist's Grimoire's itch.io page

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Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video Game

Was your game made solo or in a team?
Team Lead & Artist: Mila | Programming Lead: HeavensGates | Programmer: Son | Lead Composer: Mgdo | Composer: Zorka Nova | Audio Specialist: Eros

Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
None

Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
None

Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
None

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed the game, to the point where I'm eager to follow the creator's future work; there's a unique vision here on how to shape an experience. The protagonist is very charismatic, with a Coraline-like touch that makes everything feel like a dollhouse theater but lively enough to give that "something's off, but I can't quite tell what" feeling. Although I enjoyed the experience (and thinking that a few years back, this game would have been a treasure in the Flash era on sites like Newgrounds or Armor Games), I have three observations:

Crafting System - It could benefit from a more gradual progression. The system is so robust that it’s intimidating at first, even though it’s more about combining elements by minigames. For some, it might seem overwhelming, while others may appreciate the challenge and dive right in. I understand there are time and technical limitations (I didn’t find any bugs, which is impressive given the complexity!), but a smoother balance in future updates might make the experience more accessible without losing its personality. Three starting zones—a brief buying/selling area inicial potions, an exploration area to showcase the forest’s verticality and gather ingredients no clients, and a potion-making area with intuitive outlines for one potion with ingredients colected previous—would provide a gentler learning curve without taking away from the game’s initial impact. I think the story could develop further with a daily coin goal, telling a bit more of the story and elements in the store, in that dating sim logic of x days to a goal, with intervals for upgrades between x day and the next y day. Simple, but very functional.

Speed and Navigation - The protagonist feels a bit slow in the forest; having a navigation shortcut, like pressing Enter to return a screen or just touch to collect ingredients, would help. I began to feel fatigue while retracing long paths just to make potions. Adding a side-access tab to jump back and forth between the store and forest, accessible as an upgrade, might smooth out the pace for better navigation + give a purpose to extra coins.

Order Labels - Having a label on each order pointing to its matching entry in the grimoire and ingredients to make the order would be helpful as a starting point without breaking immersion. I get that this might go against the alchemist theme, but even a short note field (up to 50 characters) could help organize orders without forcing the player to constantly cross-check details, encouraging synthesis and aiding in note-taking without interrupting immersion.

Thank you for sharing the game; it was a fulfiling experience!

Developer(+1)

I... I'm not even sure what to say here, this is one of the most detailed reviews I've ever received, and it means a lot. Theres a lot of good points here for many things we just couldn't even consider in the time span we had.  I'm glad that you enjoyed it and put in the time to write this all out. I appreciate it, thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

The game looks fantastic and the potion crafting is really fun. I think the ingredient gathering could use some more depth though. The tarot card mechanic adds nice twist to the gameplay loop even though I wasn't always sure what they did. Overall awesome work!

HostSubmitted(+1)

The potions mechanic seems incredibly deep, it's impressive!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for trying it out. Saw you struggling a bit with it in the stream. A lot of polish needed for this game still unfortunately

Submitted(+1)

I love the gameplay loop you've got going on and the different gameplay segments are awesome! The art is also super super pretty! I ran into a bug on the second day where I could use the pestle but nothing got crushed.

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed and liked the art! Hmm, strange, ill  have to see if I can reproduce that.