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The Alchemy Between Us's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Playability | #213 | 4.600 | 4.600 |
| Theme | #232 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
| Cleverness | #281 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
| Artistic Style | #317 | 4.800 | 4.800 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- Beautiful artwork, love the cute theme. Clever idea for a 'short story' game!
- Simple, but expresses a lot of complexity of emotion and building comfort with another person. Beautiful art, relaxing (despite the potential awkwardness), and clever. Fantastic job.
- Lovely story of two people finding "alchemy". Mechanics are simple, music is very soft and appropriate, Normally I'd like to see a progress gauge, but I think this game works better without it. Overall well done. Make more games!
- Seriously great art and atmosphere in this game. I would however criticise that alchemy and chemistry are different things. While your game doesn't have that much going on mechanically, it does well with what it has and is reasonably challenging. Really enjoyed playing overall, well done!
- One of the best games I've played so far, love the vibe and atmosphere, the music, the entire design. This is a really standout entry. An incredible entry which communicates emotion and interaction well, even without words. A real contender, in my opinion
Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes
Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Wait, let me check again... still yes! 🙌
Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes
Tell us about your game!
The Alchemy Between Us is a minimalist 5 minute game that tells a tiny story without words about two people that can't keep their eyes off each other.
### How To Play ###
To play the game you need only your mouse. Look at the other character to gain "Alchemy". But watch out, if they look back it turns into "Awkwardness" 🫢 The rules are simple:
- fill up your Alchemy Gauge to increase your alchemy level
- but if your Awkward Gauge is full, you are set back one level
Reach the final level to see how the tiny story unfolds ✨
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Comments
Congrats on top 3! It's a very beautiful entry.
Thank you! <3
Seriously, congrats for making it into the top 3! I'm so happy!
Thank you so much, David! 😊
Congrats on top 3!!
Thanks! ❤️
Congrats on the Top 3 result! Y'all did an awesome jorb!
Thank you! 🙌
Congrats on being TOP #3!!!
Thanks! 🥳
I like it. Very cute
Thanks! <3
Great simple game and very fun mechanic, love the alchemy vs awkward meter love the look too
Thank you! 🙌
This is such an adorable game, im melting. Very creative way to implement the theme
Thanks! ❤️
My kind of jam. <3
Beautiful graphic, soothing music, amazing atmosphere.
Great take on the theme.
Very well done!
Thank you! <3
Gorgeous social anxiety simulator. Honestly, this is brilliant and a beautiful work of art.
Haha, I’ll keep that in mind as an alternative title 😅 Thanks for playing! :)
I liked the concept of Alchemy - Awkward Gauge, the visuals and bgm fit so well, and it feels nice to see the story going slowly, I thought it was cute.
For me at some point it feels natural when to look away due how the ambient was, I think is well done.
The game is simple but I have fun with it!
(My old PC didn’t run the game well so I had to go to my brother's PC to play this hahaha)
Oh wow, even switched PC to play - optimizing performance is on the todo list for sure ;) Thank you so much for playing and your feedback! 🫶
Wow, I love the visual choices! The shader, the color pallete. Gives that special feeling of key moments that happen during sunsets. The game itself is really cute, and the transition between title screen to gameplay and vice-versa was butter smooth! Really added to the immersion!
The visual and audio aspects come together to make it a very charming and serene experience. A cool detail is how the character we play as has their face hidden by their hair. Gives room to interpret how they look at the other person.
Very cozy. Well done!
Thank you so much for your feedback! 💖 Only a few people told me, they’d wish the hair wouldn’t hide the face. But as you said, it leaves room for interpretation, and I think that’s good - I’m glad you like it, too!
This is both beautiful and really inspiring for me. I love minimalist games that are all about the visuals and feeling. The way that you incorporated the emotion you're having the player feel into the game mechanics is beautiful. It actually felt challenging and kept me engaged throughout the game.
This might be my favorite game to come out the jam so far, I'm not kidding.
Thank you so much, that’s so nice 💖 It makes me so happy when I hear players connect to the game like you did!
this is not a game... it's art!
How can there be so much gameplay without actual gameplay? It's all in our head. Beautiful. Really enjoyed it!
Thank you so much 💖 Haha, “gameplay without actual gameplay”, love that sentence! :D
Pretty fun game.
Do you have any plans on expanding the game in the future?
Thanks for playing! 🙌
Yes, I am thinking about turning it into a “full” game. I don’t have a very specific plan yet, but I am really fond of the simplicity of the concept, so I’d like to keep that a theme. First ideas include telling a longer story across different environments, and having things in the environment for the player to look at, interact with, and for the characters react to. Maybe adding some puzzle-like mechanics.
This is of course very vague at this point. I’ll have to do a lot more experimenting and prototyping to figure out a game loop that does not feel repetitive, and the game will need a lot more content in the end, all while keeping the simplicity & “special vibe” many people told me it has.
(Reposted from the itch page, don't mind me.)
Sundown in the city is one of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see, yet we can't keep our eyes off each other.
I invited him up here so we could finally get a moment alone for the first time in forever, but now that we're up here I can't think of a single good thing to say. I keep trying not to stare, but the way his shaggy hair ruffles in the breeze keeps catching the sun as if he was actually sparkling.
It feels like I've been here forever, stupidly trying to think of something to say. He must think I'm so weird, fidgeting here in silence. I glance over again to see him looking back at me, and the tension twists in my gut like a knife. Stupid! Stupid! You're such a weirdo!
I hear him shuffling on the stucco of the rooftop, and resist the urge to look again. Surely this is it: He's getting up to leave because I ruined everything. His hand brushes against mine... and settles there. The tension in my chest erupts into a warm cloud of butterflies that flush my cheeks to the beat of my pounding heart.
In my periphery I see him turning toward me, his mouth expectantly ajar. His eyes glance up to witness me viciously jerking my head in wide, flailing circles as the demon in control of my body finally asserts itself. My hair, overcome from the strain of whirling about my skull like a length of barbed chains, forces its way through the very material of my cranium, coming to rest somewhere in front of my neck.
As my dark lord and master makes his presence known before ushering in an age of eternal night our eyes lock for the final time, and the awkwardness of the moment peaks. His hand lifts away from mine and he shuffles back a pace, returning his gaze to the city skyline once more.
(Reposted response from the itch page, don’t mind me.)
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This is not a review, this is a masterpiece, I’m gonna frame it. With that beautiful beginning I went from “awww” to laughing tears in the end. That twist was point on, and him moving away the nail in the coffin, so good! I am honestly surprised you are the first to mention the jank with her head and the hair, because I knew it was there 😅
Thank you so much, Nevakanezah! It’s so well written. This makes me so happy 💖
Feel free to repost this masterpiece as often as you want 💖 I’d pin it to the top if I could!
I mostly needed it so I could get a clean link to the comment for a list of my recommendations I was building. Turns out you can't really link to a specific comment on itch pages; only jam ones.
Ah, gotcha ^^ Though, just in case you need it in the future, there actually is a link. It’s the timestamp for some reason 😅
Wtf, this is beautiful!
amazing work. thanks for this 5 min.
Thank you for playing! 🙌
Took a moment to understand what I'm supposed to do, but I got it eventually. I really liked the environment and the vibes in this one, great work :)
Thank you so much for playing 🧡 Glad you figured it out! Making a small tutorial, or making it more intuitive right from the start, is definitely on my list of possible improvements.
I don't know where you got this footage of my first date but you portrayed it beautifully. I love the ethereal music and the monochrome red look
Haha, just the usual first date experience ;) Thank you so much for playing 🙌
beautiful art and music, great use of the themes. I liked the use of UI with the alchemy and awkwardness bars on the ground.
Thank you! :) I wanted the UI to blend a bit into the environment.