I’m currently in the process of conceptualizing an intriguing system for a game I’m developing and would greatly value your input.

The mechanic I’ve been considering involves implementing a randomized potion recipe system. At the start of each new game, the world would generally retain the same pool of ingredients (gleaned from activities such as monster hunting or harvesting various plants), but the true twist lies in the potion recipes. They will be randomized for each playthrough, creating a unique and novel experience every time.

The idea is to challenge the player in a captivating way. From the onset, players will have access to low-grade potion recipes, generously shared by the game’s NPCs. The fun and challenge come in when players have to uncover the recipes for more potent mixtures. This discovery process will involve experimentation with various ingredient combinations, with the game providing subtle hints based on the player’s potion making skill level. As your skill level improves, so does the feedback on your mixtures, suggesting the need for more or less of certain ingredients.

Does this concept resonate with you as an engaging and enjoyable game mechanic, or does it strike you as potentially frustrating? I’m eager to strike the right balance and would really appreciate your honest feedback.

In addition, if you’re aware of any other games that have implemented a similar system, could you kindly mention them? It would be interesting and beneficial to explore how this idea has been executed elsewhere.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Hey there,

My initial thought is, usually a randomised system hints on replayability. If you expect most of your users to only play your game once, but just want to randomise it for uniqueness, it might add more complexity than it’s worth.

At the start of each new game, the world would generally retain the same pool of ingredients

If you do that, you really need to balance it right. Will one player be able to randomly mix a very strong potion early on, while another player will have to wait until the end of the game?

Worth keeping in mind that, making a game balanced takes a lot of time and effort. Making said game random, makes it even harder of a task.

The idea is to challenge the player in a captivating way.

I think I see what you are going for. Trying to create an experience that the user can enjoy, and that they can’t predict too much what’s going to happen, or they can’t use a guide, as a lot of the core mechanics are randomised. This is a neat idea, but it does add to the complexity of an otherwise already complex game.

This discovery process will involve experimentation with various ingredient combinations

I like this idea, however from personal experience, if a game expects me to mix ingredients, but only a small combination of ingredients work, that discourages me from experimenting. I can’t tell if that’s an opinion a lot of other people have or that might just be me.

Does this concept resonate with you as an engaging and enjoyable game mechanic, or does it strike you as potentially frustrating?

To be completely honest, I’m just not sure you’ve added enough information to answer this. I can picture a game using the concept that is fun to play, but I can also picture a game using this but being boring. I’m not entirely sure if this is a very innovating idea, I feel like I’ve played games that have experimented with similar gimmicks, although no specific title comes to mind.

Having said all that, if you go ahead with this idea, a randomised game gives a unique experience not only to each user, but also on the same user playing the game multiple times. Making the game in such a way that it needs to be replayed multiple times to reach the end might show more of that content to users.

Sorry for the wall of text. Needless to say these are all my personal opinions, so feel free follow only the ones you like :)

The way you describe it sounds like a frustrating system to me. Depending on the rest of the game, it can range from no one using potion making, to completely ruining the game.

For example, solving a crossword is fun, because there is a challenge, they give you a clue and you must use your intelligence to solve the puzzle.

Now imagine a crossword puzzle, where there are no words or clues and you simply have to place letters until you get it right. Do you think it's fun? Is there a challenge? Is there motivation?

As @Afloof.dev says, you also have the balance problem.

"The idea is to challenge the player in a captivating way" A random map can be challenging, because you have to think about how to adapt to a different map (challenge), but in potion making, if it just comes down to trial and error, it will just be boring. .

In the video game "Skyrim" you can experiment with ingredients for potion making (by eating them or mixing them).   I only rarely did this and downloaded a list of potion recipes from the internet. That was because in experimenting I lost a lot of ingredients, and it was not worth it, especially for the more precious ones. As for your game, as we don't know what other mechanics/story you have implemented, other than potion making, it's hard to say if it will be fun.

I appear to be in the minority, but I remember enjoying crafting in MineCraft even before I discovered its wiki (and this was before crafting recipes appeared in the game itself).

I do agree, though, that doing away with so-called “shaped” recipes would have made it a lot less frustrating.