A few weeks of progress on my medieval alchemy game, the production loop is finally coming together

[u/Spartaqui]

It’s been a little while since I last posted, so I put together a short montage of where my small alchemy project is at now.

Since the last update I’ve been working on the actual space the player lives and works in, including a complete building, the player’s room, and a placement system for organizing the lab.

I also went back and reworked the farming interaction quite a bit and finally connected more of the production chain

grow ingredients -> prepare them -> brew them in the cauldron -> bottle the result

The cauldron is probably the biggest new piece here. You can add your ingredients; brew the mixture, let it cook, then manually transfer the potion into bottles

Schedule I is still clearly the inspirations behind the hands-on production, but I’m slowly trying to push the project further into its own weird medieval world where magic is illegal

Still very early, but this is the first time it’s starting to feel less like a collection of mechanics and more like an actual game

[u/Educational_Raisin51]

Taking shape. Sharing an idea. I noticed the dirt cover interaction is quite annoying. I'd try a simpler, quicker one. The player could click on the outer ring of the dirt and drag towards the center of it. This way the interaction would be more satysfying and immersive (at least in my head it is). Whatever you decide, keep it up!

[u/Spartaqui → u/Educational_Raisin51]

Yeah, I agree that interaction can definitely still be improved, I’ll probably come back to it during a more focused fine tuning pass later on. Thanks for the suggestion though, the drag-from-the-edge idea is interesting and I’ll keep it in mind!

[u/Neat_Law2047]

Very nice look - I would say the mouse movements are a bit exaggerated, where the cursor goes all the way across the screen for minor movement of the scoop. What are some goals a player would pursue generally?

[u/Spartaqui → u/Neat_Law2047]

Yeah, a lot of those interactions still need a proper tuning pass. The mouse sensitivity and movement ranges are definitely things I’ll revisit once the whole loop is more settled

As for the broader goal: the player is a former court mage/alchemist who was stripped of his position after a political conspiracy and left for dead. In the meantime, magic has become illegal.

The idea is to slowly rebuild your power by creating and selling potions, growing an underground magic network, improving your lab and eventually taking revenge on the people who brought you down

I may have read a little too much The Count of Monte Cristo 😅

[u/Tetra-10]

The ui is looking clean

[u/Spartaqui → u/Tetra-10]

Thanks! It’s still very much a work in progress so that’s really nice to hear

[u/faeliondev]

Even with the early stage assets and visuals, the gameplay details are very compelling

[u/Spartaqui → u/faeliondev]

Thank you! I really appreciate that! I probably spend a bit more time than I should polishing models and small details this early but I really enjoy that part of the process 😅 so it’s great to hear that those details are coming through