I really like this jam's theme (Failure is progress).

My idea is to somehow simulate scientific progress that happens over a long period of time:

• You fail the majority of times,
• but you leave more knowledge behind,
• which next generation builds upon

One of the ways I see it might be implemented in a game is an alchemy game where the goal is "to find an antidote to some disease" (idea is not coronavirus related, just a coincidence I realized after the fact):

• You play as an alchemist
• You might combine elements or do other operations with them (e.g. boil, freeze, electrify) to get new elements
• Each alchemist has a limited amount of time (e.g. 20-40 minutes), before (s)he dies because of age
• Some operations (e.g. boiling oil) might cause elements to explode and make you die immediately
• Once your alchemist dies you can't continue to play the game
• Given the conditions you are 98% likely to fail, but
• The important thing is what you leave behind to next players
• You can write a "diary", which all future players will see. Diary is displayed like a chat - messages from all players in chronological order. In fact, there is an option to make this part in an actual chat app (Telegram) and add/remove users to the diary as necessary.
• You can write a "summary", which all future players will see. Because diary contains all of the messages in chronological order, it might be hard to find important info. That's why you need "summary" - it's displayed like a document, which (unlike chat) you can edit/update to organize the knowledge/findings. In fact, there is an option to make this part in an actual document app (Dropbox Paper) and give/revoke access to the document as necessary.
• There is just one (or maybe a few: 2-5) player, playing at any moment in time, so each new player/alchemist represents a new generation

What do you thing?

I like the general concept, but I see problems with this direction, which I don't know how to solve:

• There are too many combinations. With 10 elements, there are already 45 (=10*9/2) ways to combine any two of them. And even more elements which you can get by combining elements again. One option is to make the majority of combinations "clearly wrong", either by making them deadly or by some other means. The option to make most combinations deadly seems bad, as players will die way too fast.
• I don't want it to be a random brute-force guessing game. I would like to make it some kind of a puzzle game where a lot of information comes from previous players, but where you also have to think (and not just guess and write your observations).

Other genres with the same general concept, I also think about:

• Platformer, but each new player simplifies the level: opens doors, places torches, activates traps, etc. This seems boring though, as there is no meaningful human interaction between players.
• Maze, but you can leave behind notes and maybe break wall a few times (1-2). By the way, you can watch how I made a maze in Unity in 8.5 minutes here

Ideas, suggestions and solutions to game-design challenges are appreciated