A jam submission

Transmutation TechnicianView game page

Operate a transmutation machine, convert worthless rocks into high-value metals

Submitted by XYZT — 32 minutes, 29 seconds before the deadline

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Transmutation Technician's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Playability	#258	4.000	4.000
Cleverness	#282	4.000	4.000
Artistic Style	#970	3.000	3.000
Theme	#1330	2.000	2.000

Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

A really interesting take on alchemy! However, I unfortunately cannot see how shadows fit into the game, even after reading your GDD. Game play is ok, but the sliders can be a little sensitive and fiddly, and the game stopped abruptly after a transmuted gold into iridium in an attempt to create lead for the second challenge. However, I am a fan of the clean yet well organised interface that you designed, and smaller details like the label on the glass door.

Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
Yes

Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
Yes

Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes

Tell us about your game!
You are a TRANSMUTATION TECHNICIAN operating a complicated machine used to transmutation metals in metallic chunks. Your goal is to take worthless metal chunks and convert them to high-purity and high-value metal ingots by operating the controls on this machine.

I wanted to make a game where the player operates a complicated machine that actually works on some mathematical principles. However, the interface obscures this from the player such that operating the controls of the machine may provide a sense of discovery (while the underlying math makes it so there is something worth discovering).

When I continue to devleop the game, I intend to add a retrofuturistic setting (set so far into the future, humanity has forgotten how these machines work), and leave information in cryptic manual pages (like in TUNIC). The player has to navigate a pseudo-post-apocalyptic and grim world, using money earned from this job to reveal more of the world.