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The Case of Caldwell Concoctions's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Playability | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Theme | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Artistic Style | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Cleverness | #282 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- I am very impressed at the effort that you made for the story in the game, really well done! And the use of "real" images reminded me very much of the Myst games, surprised to see them missing from your inspirations! I think what is lacking here is variety - the player is faced with more or less the same problem in each room: decode note(s) and then select potions. Or maybe other combinations could have different effects? Either way, this is a solid effort.
Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes
Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Yes
Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes
Tell us about your game!
The Case of Caldwell Concoctions is a narrative puzzle game where you explore an alchemy lab gone wrong. You have to mix the correct combination of potions in the room to proceed to the next one, which can be found out through notes and visual clues. The notes in the levels tell a story over time, with each member of the lab getting their own conclusion. Details about characters can be seen in the notebook with C.
Controls -
WASD - Movement
Space - Select menu option
Left Click / E - Interact
C - Open Notebook
Tab - Menu
A/D - Flip page
S - Close note
Extra Notes
I lost internet in my flat on the 22nd so a lot of this game was developed without internet access on my pc (hence the overuse of some assets). I really enjoyed making a more story focused game.
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Comments
Wow this is a complete game. No prototype here.
There were some moments at the start where I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing. The first diary/notes mentioned Sugar tea so I thought "Oh I guess I need to make that?" nothing happened. Then I looked around and noticed the grate on the ceiling and the tree in the room and started to put it together.
By the 2nd room I had figured out the goal was to find the combination to transform myself in some way that would let me escape the current room. From there it was just finding the right combination in every room and it was pretty smooth sailing.
The narrative was really interesting. I liked the gumshoe wrapper around the story. The notes were compelling and the notebook with the character/developer portraits was a fantastic touch. I especially liked it filling in as you progressed and their fate being revealed.
The art was fantastic throughout the whole game. The low-poly/low-res style was great but you didn't sacrifice any readability with the notes or potion labels.
The audio was also fantastic, not much in the way of music but it was satisfying when the transformation cut scenes happened to hear a little.
It was a little cheeky that you started hiding the potions that were needed a little out of sight. Not enough that it was frustrating but more of a "oooh you" after finding them.
The ending was a surprising change of pace, I wasn't expecting the almost-jump scare and charge at the player. It's a little sad that the player ended up the same way as the creature that beat him, oh well. Not as bad as being a tree or a rat I suppose!
I suppose my only constructive criticism would be to give the player more initial feedback in the first room that their combination doesn't work. The tutorial page on the wall made no sense to me. Step 1 mix Step 2 circle? Huh? Having the player say something like "These mixtures don't work" would have helped at least in the first room until the player understands the mechanics and what a positive outcome looks like.
Overall this was literally a complete game and I had a fantastic time playing it. I'm genuinely surprised how you managed to pull off such a polished and content complete game in just a couple of weeks. Well done to all involved!
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the game! I definitely hear the comments about being more clear in the first room, that'll be the first thing that I change once the jam is over. The tutorial page on the wall was a bit of a last minute addition and I think it has actually confused people mora than it helped, I'll try to make that a little better too. Thanks for the review!
I did not expect so much of a story. The art assets are good, but there is a small inconsistency.
I think this needs a better introduction. Introduction is very important, I was clueless about what the puzzle actually is and the steps labeled does not help much and could be a little misleading. I find the first and second parts mismatch between system and the real world. These should be something common enough for common people to be able to think of. And the key item(the potion in this case) should be easy to obtain. Hard to obtain items are acceptable for non key items. The hint should be more clear. If the hint is the text then the text should have different font color.
I am able to complete the game despite being clueless for almost 5 minutes on some part and was skeptical about continuing the game. As much as I like the game, I strongly recommend making the introduction better. Because that may be the common part where the player would choose to leave or stay.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely try to make the beginning of the game clearer. I've noticed especially that some people were not sure what they were actually supposed to do in the first room, so perhaps I should make the intention (i.e, get to the next room) a bit clearer.
Fun detective alchemy game! I chuckled a few times at the humor. There was a brief moment when I stressed out that I couldn't put a potion down once I'd picked it up. I was a detective investigating everything in the room while holding a giant bottle of tea. No worries though, I finally figured it out. Overall a fun game!
It was great! Game looks very nice and the music was great.
The clues (both visual and notes) were very good, I got the right combo on my first try in most level which is a testament to that. Plus with how the game works you can't really get stuck which should prevent having to look for a walkthrough.
Levels had good continuity, you could see where you came in from, nice touch.
The ending was great :)
Gameplay is a bit simple but it's good for this length, if expanded into a longer game would need to add more mechanics imo.
Excellent game! Took me way to long to realise I was using the potions to escape the room (that's on me), but once that clicked it was a blast to play! Loved the room transitions and the story was interesting and well written. Great job team 😁
Glad you enjoyed it, though the team was just me :)
Nice art style, and the story is quite interesting too. The potion wordplay was also quite unique and fun, it was just that one puzzle in staff room 2 that I was sort of clueless about and resorted to the solution you gave.
Anyway, nice work!
I really enjoyed this, the puzzles were awesome and it feels really well put together! Very intriguing story as well!
Using mixing of bottles to progress the story was a wonderful idea. Choosing what to mix wasn't the most intuitive at first, but once I got the first mix correct it all started to make sense. Excellent job!
Awesome art style!
Wow, i have never seen someone put so much game into a game jam! That was incredible! The effects were SO COOL, i was excited to drink the potion every time just to see the transition to the next room. I really like the idea of the wordplay to make a potion-- although the learn curve was steep (I looked at the first few answers), once I realized it's a word game over anything else I really had fun. 10/10 would turn into a mouse again 🐭
Very nice lol, I like the graphics, the writing, the way the player movement feels, overall good vibe.
It was fun figuring out the potions without looking at the hints lol
I absolutely love the 'vibe' of this game - the music, the mood the sleuthing. Feels super polished. Going to settle down with a bottle of Soggy and do a more thorough playthrough when I have time.
P.S thanks for the hints :D
Thanks for the comments, glad that the vibe works :)
Awesome. I love the overall feel of the game. The music, the rain, the art style, the writing. Great work!
Lovely atmosphere, lovely puzzles, lovely story telling, great fun!
Great humor in this game. I spent extra time trying most of the combinations hoping for some sort of hidden joke to appear. Concept is clear and easy to follow, the narrative keeps the attention as you look around the environment for the next set of potions.
Glad you enjoyed it, if I had more time I would have definitely added some joke or Easter egg combinations!
Great game love the visuals :D.
Wow, visual storytelling is quite hard to do and you really did a very nice job there. I got a bit stuck in the beginning but then I figured it out. I didnt play through yet though but I will return to this gem later and then give more detailed feedback! So far I love it!
Thanks, I tried to put a lot of effort into the visual storytelling. Hopefully the continue feature will work as intended :)
I will report :D
Well done, its polished! I was a bit stuck in the beginning but then I got the hang of it. Well done you should be proud!
Thanks!
Amazing visual storytelling!! Very well done. Really fun word play mechanics that reminded me of board games like So Clover! or Codenames. I really enjoyed figuring out the puzzles. Thank you for the solutions tutorials in the description as well.... you'll see where I got stuck.... 19:06 is when I figured out there was a missing potion I hadn't found yet....omg that was so frustrating I thought I was losing my mind trying to brute force it...
Other than that one room, everything else was perfect! The ending was excellent and gave me a real horror feeling!! Amazing lighting and color design. Overall, the visual storytelling was just top notch, it was really fun to figure out what the solution was just by the visual clues. To be honest, the whole drama between the laboratory scientists felt a bit superfluous, as it didn't seem to have a direct relation to gameplay, but it was interesting nonetheless as it made the world feel more fleshed out and immersive.
At first it wasn't totally clear if my potions were failing. In the first room, before I had a successful potion, i had no context of what a fail vs. success was. If you were to add a message like "Hmm.. that didn't work" or force the first room to be a guaranteed success with just two ingredients, it could introduce a successful brew right away so the player knows what they're looking for without any trial and error. But in the first room, it didn't take me long to pick up the clues I needed to figure it out. Once I noticed the tree sitting in the chair I "got it"! Very clever.
Excellent game! I had a lot of fun :)
Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed the game! The part you got stuck on was the part I was worried about lol, I was worried that I had hidden the potions too well (and clearly I did). And the feedback about correct vs incorrect potions is a good idea, annoyingly it would have only taken 2 more lines of code to add that in but I didn't think about it!