2021-10-03 15:15
Thanks for the game :)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → Unstable Concoction
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 238 | 3.53 | 124 | |
| Fun | 293 | 3.31 | 125 | |
| Innovation | 384 | 3.04 | 124 | |
| Theme | 341 | 3.37 | 124 | |
| Graphics | 154 | 3.77 | 125 | |
| Audio | 155 | 3.49 | 122 | |
| Humor | 244 | 2.82 | 105 | |
| Mood | 224 | 3.34 | 113 |
Thanks for the game :)
@TheViralGriffin Thanks for playing :)
Really enjoyed playing this game
Pretty fun! Great music and sound effects, cute graphics. Wish there was more variety to the minigame or some additional challenge, after I made 10-15 potions and couldn't find a new one I gave up because the minigame got a bit monotonous. Varying speeds/obstacles/etc would have really bumped up the fun on this one! Still had fun playing though, great job!
It has borrowed from the popular alchemist simulator, but it is difficult to achieve more gameplay and long-term goals due to insufficient development time, but the pixel style may be a good direction.
Interesting game. I really like the art and music. I do like the gameplay quite a bit, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.
I think that the game is too random. It's too hard to figure out which ingredients need to be used to make what. That's about it though, I like the minigame.
Oh, also, You should probably include the fact that you need to stir the cauldron. I spent a few minutes figuring that out, only to read your itch page.
Again, really nice game, especially for 48 hours :)
Extremely charming game! I love the exploration aspect and the mini games were easy to understand
Hello, I played this yesterday and found it charming. The graphics and the way how the game is built is really cute. It was quite difficult to find the correct recipes though!
@stefanie-leitch I focused on 1 mini game to finish it on time. Thanks for the feedback
@the-crane Thanks for playing
@mateu The idea was to include some logic in mixing like little alchemist i guessed i failed there. The tutorial section does mention that the stick needs to be dragged. Thanks for playing.
@parker-nalch Thanks
@zantze Ya i got a lot of feedback that the recipes are hard to figure out. Thanks for playing.
Really cute game! I could definitely see this as a potion crafting minigame in something like stardew valley (but with potions)
@slimmerburger Thanks for playing
Very charming little game! Hard to find recipes though since there are only very vague hints as to what ingredients should be used.
@xinera Thanks for playing
Nice game! I really liked the graphics, and the game-play was pretty fun. I also liked all the little order stories. However, I felt like recipes were a bit too sparse - almost every combination was unstable. I think that having more potions and less ingredients would go a long way into making this less frustrating. Overall, great entry!
@frogman Thanks for playing.
Cool graphics! I felt like the brewing part got a bit boring after a few times. But I liked your music and sprites!
@katanoueki Thanks for playing.
I really liked this game! It's cute and having the little bit of dialog with the customers added some humor. Finding new recipes is fun, but I think having a list of discovered recipes would have been nice, since I'd forget if I already tried a recipe and then I'll go through the minigame just to make acid water again. Overall I really like it though, good stuff!
@theviraldragon I noticed you commented [my game](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/unstable-potions) :smile: You're right we had very similar concept, but the execution is very different. I like your graphical style, mixing-minigame and concept of experimenting.
Love the artwork, very rarely I get to find a new phaser game. I think I love this genre of chemistry type games. The dialogues were fun, and brilliant that you made this in 48 hours.
@dobryn Thank you for the kind words :)
Nice game! It's a bit hard to get started, so some hints as to which ingredients you need to combine would be nice. I love the art, the music, and the stirring minigame. Neat idea!
@zedutchgandalf Yup you are right. I needed to add a recipe book or something. But didn't have time. Thanks for playing and the feedback.
This was cool! I really liked the idea of a relaxing potion brewing game, where the 'unstable' is the potion that you make. Cool! :) The gameplay was good and clear, the art really nice and music truely fitting! It all matched the calm atmosphere really well. The text on the orders was also really nice, as it gave you a feeling of the bigger fantasy world out there. Great job! The game just felt a little frustrating to me at times. In the end I was just randomly trying combinations of ingredients. It would have been really cool if the orders hinted a little bit towards what combination you need. Perhaps these hints could become more and more vague the further you get. I also could not remember which combination I already tried, so a little reminder for this would have been nice as well. Another little point of feedback is that right now there is not a lot of satisfaction once you complete an order. Maybe it is a bit of a stupid idea, but I think it would be really nice if there was some number going up the further you get (like money made, or alchemist skill level, or 2/10 potions found, or something like this). So that the player gets a sense of progression. This might just be me though :P I really enjoyed this game, and I think you could improve this game pretty easily using all the feedback you are getting! If you do, let me know so I can give it another try :D
@wuppos Thanks for the valuable feedback. I wanted to add a potion book and shop mechanics as well and didn't have time so focussed on making the music and sound effects so it is complete at least. Thanks for such valuable feedback and thanks for playing.
Awesome work. This game is really polished. I struggled early with the brewing/stirring mini-game, but once I got it I was making heaps of potions. Good job on this title.
@haydads Thanks for playing
+ the interface is very neat I like how the elements fir together, I think even more might better - its kind of hard to figure out the recipes and feels a little too grindy
@hartvichio Thanks for playing.
Very nice graphics and an awesome idea! The game was really fun to play too. The only thing I would add is a recipe book of some sort to make figuring out the recipes easier.
Thanks @munkkeli for playing. Yes i had the idea of a recipe book and hints in that and a shop mechanic but couldn't fit it in the time.
Awesome game!
thanks @rafael-garcez
Reminds me of those games where you combine elements into more and more elaborate combinations, can't remember what they were called... The alchemy setting really serves to ground the mechanics, good job there :grin:. Ditto on what someone else said about it feeling like there's a broader fantasy world out there, it's a great way of telling a story without overwhelming the player.
Thanks for playing @fabernull
Very charming game. I like the brewing game of gathering the potions, and learning which ingredients make which brew was fun. The music and visuals fit the vibe really well. It would be cute to add a recipe book that fills up like a Pokedex or something. Really well done!
Thanks for playing @jonah-srg
Wonderful game!
Lovely pixel art!
Thanks @mrbell270 and @m11
Love the pixel art!
Thanks @chesschaser
I like the art of your game, you have really nice sprites! Also the SFX are very good and fit the style of the game!
Thanks @erikengineengineer
Hey nice work, I like the minigame and the old-school pixel style the game has. 😀
Small bug: the potions were not going not the potion tab, but I think you noticed.
I which there were some clue on how to brew different potions because once I did all the 2 items combinations I didn't know what to do and it seemed too much work to try every 3 items combinations
Ah the music is so good!
Great game, well executed. Great visuals, great audio. Fairly engaging although I would have liked some sort of hint system, for example "this ingredient is gritty and dry". I do recognize that is a big ask for a 48 hour game, and I do not fault you for it in the slightest. :)
I got stuck at gritty paste and I think I tried every 2 ingredient combo in my inventory. :laughing:
Awesome submission! I love how you've implemented the stirring minigame. Everything works really well together
Thanks @dekajoo @shellofagirl @myles-doupe and @goldenevolution for playing the game and leaving feedback.
Very nice graphics and audio, and a consistent game alltogether. Somehow stiring was not intuitive to me, i was trying to move the green rectangle :smile: Also I had no idea what needs to be mixed for quite some time. Anyhow, really nice job alltogether on your game.
Thanks for playing @hotaloca
Very nice game i spend a lot time to this) and have really fun!
Amazing! It's really fun to just mix things together and figure out what makes what. I loved the art and music ane playing the game just felt really great. Fantastic Job!
Nice game! There's not much for me to add that hasn't already been said - the music stood out to me, and I really liked the idea, even if there was a lot of guesswork involved. I'll also point out that I think the tutorial screen helped a lot! I would have had no idea what to do without it, and it was easy to find (even if I didn't read your description)
Thanks for a fun entry.
Such a great game ! I really liked to try and learn what is working or not :) Everything is very polished and the litlle sounds everywhere are perfect ! Really good job !
Thank you so much for this game! I love the fact that brewing is a minigame and not a reflex test!
Cheers! [-LB](https://ldjam.com/users/the-lame-brain/)
I like the concept, I brew some random stuff but I couldn't even figure out how to brew the first order haha. Maybe you should have limited the number of ingredients to 2 instead of 3 in order to reduce the guesswork on the part of the player?
Started off really confused. didn't realise you had to stir the pot until I read a comment. Once I worked that out though it became easier. Would be good to have a list of combinations you know already so you can remember which ones you haven't tried.
Super lovely artstyle and interpretation of the genre. I (or rather my brain) had some problems with controlling the arrow of the minigame (while knowing I should stir the pot, I still accidently clicked the arrow, for example) :D
Thank you for this charming game!
I love this game. Reminded me of childhood <3
This is a really fun game with nice graphics and sound!
I have one issue though: I don't what ingredients to use to make the right potion.
I know that the player is encouraged to try new things and all that, but small hints, or maybe descriptions for each ingredient, would've gone a long way to make the experience a bit smoother.
Aside from that though really great game!
Great game, really enjoyed it. It started to get a little difficult to figure out the recipes once you got more ingredients though.
Having the game be purely trial and error to determine the potions was a little tedious. Even telling you a recipe once you figured it out so you wouldn't accidentally try something twice would have been nice. Overall nice job and an interesting way to determine success or failure. Also good take on the theme.
I didn't mind the game being a trial and error style game. With no rush on the orders and the calming music playing in the background it was a super relaxing experience. I did read the instructions beneath the game, which I think helped get me started with ease. I'm sure with more time, these could have been somehow incorporated into the game itself. Nice job on incorporating all the little details! Well done!
Amazing game! I like how you match two minigames, and personally I like collecting and discovering. There's something very peaceful in its gameplay.
In addition to my previous comment, implementing stirring the cauldron the way you did was ingenious.
Absolute PLEASURE to play this game. Massive little alchemy vibes, made me feel like some mad scientist brewing up disastrous concoctions! One piece of advice would be add a small "show solution" button for people who are REALLY stuck. For example, I only ever got to the energy tonic one and could never progress further, Im pretty sure its got something to do with poisonous tonic but idk. I even got 3 of the potions but never got the tonic unfortunately.
Also I would take away the stirring thing because after a while it just becomes tedious, especially if your using trackpad against those fast moving ones. I feel like just finding the right combination should be challenge enough. All in all though, one of the BEST gam james ive played so far. great job!
I had fun playing the game. I thought finding the different combinations was fun but it got hard to figure out once I unlocked more ingredients. Very charming game though.
Cute game. There are a few minor QoL changes I would like such as being able to use keyboard to stir and not needing to click "try again" after a failed brew.
I also took a peek at the code (because I didn't want to figure out the recipes so I cheated) and I saw you had your items in an array:
``` Items: [ { id: 1, name: 'Fire lily', type: ItemType.INGREDIENT }, { id: 2, name: 'Aqua bloom', type: ItemType.INGREDIENT } ] ```
It's probably too late to change now, but in the future I recommend against hardcoding IDs like this because the ID doesn't tell you anything about the ingredient and also it is duplicating the index of the array. Instead, consider converting `Items` into a dictionary and then using descriptive IDs:
``` Items: { "FIRE_LILY": { displayName: 'Fire lily', type: ItemType.INGREDIENT }, "AQUA_BLOOM": { displayName: 'Aqua bloom', type: ItemType.INGREDIENT } } ```
Now creating recipes is a whole lot easier:
``` { ingredients: ["FIRE_LILY", "AQUA_BLOOM"], product: "ACIDIC_WATER" }, ```
If you want to iterate over all items, you can use `Object.keys(Items)`.
I also liked how the code permitted recipes that require more than two ingredients. Very nice practice.
I think this game is really interesting conceptually. I like the artstyle and the music.
However the gameplay at the start can be a little tad too confusing at least at the start even if the gameplay experience is lots of fun once figured out. I get the point of what is trying to accomplish. But perhaps by clicking on the order you can see clues on what is needed instead of a description of said item.
This way, you can keep the trial and error gameplay you wanted, while also providing some tips for player to start out.
Overall solid entry especially in 48 hours.
I really like the concept here, and it's executed really nicely. I think a lot of these brewing games are so complex but I was able to pick this one up really quickly. A nice entry!
really fun game, i liked the mini game in the cauldron.
Thanks all of you for the valuable feedback.
Good game, remind me a lot Potion Craft. It could have been better if we had hint of already knew potion recipes to avoid do them in loop because we have a goldfish memory :D
Such a nice and relaxing experience, thanks for making it ;)
I'm not sure ... is this purposely build very very very similar to "Potion Craft"? The one SplatterCatGaming recently showcased on YT?
I love that you have to figure out the recipes through trying and failing! Good job! :D
This is very cool ! Maybe just add an history of what we tried would have been neat :smiley:
Your game is pretty fun, so please make it more next time. Good and inovative game, good work. . Almost nailed that theme, but it still very thing what I imagine as this theme.. Nice art design.
One last note: I always write down honest review, because everybody need that, not just nice craps with some bullshit, but sometime I will aperceite very good games. So if this review insult you, but use it well :) Anyway every game is counting so :)
I love game like this. I spend hours mixing things up to see what comes up! Simple and clean graphics and nice music!
Congratulations!
Sem título.png
Thanks for playing @euler-moises
Nice Game you have here. I like the art design and the concept. I wish if the discovered recipes are saved so I can know if I've already created that or not. Also sold potions are not disappearing. Liked it so much! Thanks for creating it.
Interesting theme interpretation. It's fun trying to figure out the recipes. The graphics are beautiful and the sound is cool. Gameplay is simple and functional.
If you'll allow me, I'll make a few remarks at points that I think you should consider improvements if you make future versions of this game:
- The sound was too loud. As pleasant as the music and ringtones were, the sound could be at a lower volume, or else you could put some kind of sound control (if this control exists, I ended up not finding it hahaha, so please disregard what I'm talking about .
- I think you should somehow indicate or give more tips regarding the recipes. As fun as it is to find out for yourself, there comes a point that the possibilities of ingredients are so many that the player may end up having problems managing it (again if this already exists, please also disregard it haha).
Finally I would like to congratulate you for making this good game, the overall experience is pleasant!
Pretty similar to potion craft, but pretty fun. I like it.
First of all thanks for the tutorial at the beginning !! The sound was a little bit disturbing during playing but I love the sound design. I also really love the gameplay, it my favorite so far. The design is really neat, I think it's my favorite too ^^ I had some troubles finding the recipes, I think having some tips would be helpful at first !
It's fun! It took my quite a while to figure out that I don't need to use 3 ingredients all the time :smile:
Fun and simple, well done. Lots of way you could expand that others have already pointed out. One more simple loop like a currency system or other crafting requirements (mortar and pestle to crush a basic ingredient, etc) could help with the repetitive nature of it. Or having the mini game change as you progress through recipe "difficulty".
The game as a whole has a very high degree of completion. Here are some suggestions 1. The theme, art style(like color) and UI layout are a bit similar to "Potion Craft", I hope there are some obvious distinctions, otherwise the sense of resemblance is a bit strong 2. The tutorial gives too much information at once, which is a bit difficult to read. It is recommended to give it slowly. Even if you want to give it together, it is recommended to mark 123456 to help players understand the reading order 3. The level experience needs more detailed planning. It is difficult for me to guess the relationship between the four unknown plants and the mission objective. The game did not slowly teach the effect of each plant. For me, I can only experiment blindly. 4. If all recipes require only 2 ingredients, according to the [code](https://github.com/AmeenAhmed/LD49/blob/master/src/constants.js), it is best to add a limit in UI. Otherwise there will be a lot of wrong attempts
Ahh, a new take on the Alchemy mechanic, finding the recipes is fun! And I love the way stirring the brew is turned into its own mini-game — it's like potion making in Harry Potter where apparently the precise way you stir the potion matters. I'd really like this to have more mini-games like this, and maybe the mini-games themselves to be a bit faster. This way brewing a potion would feel even more like this advanced diverse task, and you'd feel getting more proficient at it as you learn and experiment. A potential future full-featured version of this game is what my perfect potion-making game looks like!
I always love these kinds of games, though I wish there was more of a strategy to figuring out new recipes - maybe one of the ingredients could be shown at first, or include some kind of description for the ingredients that hint at their uses. Anyway, fun stuff - the brewing minigame could stand to be a little faster IMO :)
Love the crafting mechanic and mini game part of it. It would be cool if there was a recipe book of your found recipes as well so you could what you've made and how you made it so it's easier to track what ingredient combinations don't work. But anyways, it was a solid game overall, great job!
Really cool to mix crafting and action games, really liked the idea ! Might be a good idea to have a recap of the recipes we already done, and maybe small hints about how to make the required potions
изображение_2021-10-06_203733.png
Вот такие бывают забавные штуки на LD.
Спасибо за котломешательство и зельеварительство!
Nice game~There has a upgraded vision:) 123.png https://store.steampowered.com/app/1210320/Potion_Craft_Alchemist_Simulator/
Nice job and excellent game ! It reminded me that the game named potion craft which I played. But the potion system is different to play .I think the game play is friendly and fun. Cute UI with pixel and nice music.
It is a good idea, but it needed more time I think. The art was cohesive and fit the theme well and the music track never got annoying; which is the risk when you loop it. The UI felt like you had a lot more planned but never got around to doing it, there was lots of unused space.
It got kind of frustrating to find the right combination of items. Maybe if the orders gave you hints about what items you needed to use that would have improved it a lot. A way to keep track of what combinations you have already tried would have been good too, I can imagine if you had tens of items you would lose track easily.
The brewing minigame got very repetitive, and became almost pointless, it felt like busywork. If it increased in difficultly or added variations then it would have gone a long way.
I also had a bug where the scroll bar teleported to the middle of the screen when I clicked on it.
This was a chill and charming experience! I found the artwork to be great, and the minigame of stirring the cauldron to be fun once I read the itch.io description. I did encounter a bit of difficulty in making some of the potions, only because there weren't any indications as to what ingredients would mix into other forms. However, overall was a good use of the theme, and was fun!
Nice game, like it. Just mix everything with everything, relaxing.
Great game! Very captivating and fun, nice take on a crafting mechanics! Really love "true" pixel art (all pixels are of uniform size, no "Rotating" pixels, etc), and true 8-bit music (not just a generic electronic music with 8-bit-ish samples among others). Very inventive crafting process, steering adds a lot more fun to the process!
Super cute game. Loved the mini-game of stirring to change things up. As others have said, keeping track of which combos make which potions is a bit much for how many combos are possible. Music and art was on point. Great work!
Very interesting game. The art style and user interface is gorgeous! I like how you even added a small mini game. I got to #6 Dusty water, but have no idea how to continue. Not really a fan of simply trying different item combinations without clear guidance... But maybe I'm just too dumb :)
Overall good game!
it reminds me of potioncraft game and this game is really great as well as yours
Nice game, like the gameplay.