The game is really fun! It's nice to have a game respect you as a player and expect you to be competent enough to figure out how it works. Even beyond the simple concept the gameplay was fun until the end where it has a Noita-like puzzle that I cannot solve even with the hints you've given in other comments involving a mechanic not so much as alluded to in the game. The balance is wonky near the end with the research walling you and making potions not really mattering, but it was pretty perfectly balanced, until the point it wasn't, if that makes sense. The game is thoroughly unique in both concept and execution and it also hits the theme perfectly. Overall despite my few hang ups, this is easily the holistically best jam game this time around!
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The Last Alchemist's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme (How well the game fits the jams theme) | #6 | 3.404 | 3.940 |
| Uniqueness (Originality of the game) | #8 | 3.196 | 3.700 |
| Fun (Overall enjoyment) | #9 | 2.315 | 2.680 |
| Balance (Speed of the game) | #10 | 2.073 | 2.400 |
Ranked from 50 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
So, I really liked this game. Congratulations on getting it out, and I hope it gets more support because I'd love to see it worked on more, and made longer. The lore could also use a bit of love - I really enjoy what's there, but I have a desire to learn more.
I may or may not have made up a pastebin with a critique of things. I won't go into all of the details with it here and spam the comments, but I'll leave the pastebin link here if you're interested.
The tl;dr of my pastebin, though, is my major issues were balance and UI related. The UI was spartan and usable, but could imo be a lot better and make things smoother. And balance quickly, at least for me, snowballed into hilarity as my potions started exponentially increasing in price to the point where by mid-game, I could just ignore potions entirely if I chose.
Thanks for the detailed feedback!
I'll fully admit that balancing wasn't a thing I had much time to work on, and I underestimated how quickly things would snowball. The suggestions you made for the UI were also great. Glad you enjoyed the game, and I'll take your suggestions onboard for my next project.
This game has so much potential and I really would love to see it developed further. Being able to add in-game notes (e.g. player customisable tooltips) would be a way to add QoL to the "discover mechanics yourself" style of gameplay without just making information more explicit as the game goes on. I think overall the game is a bit too spartan with information, not knowing if there are still books to find in places was a huge early wall to me. Also the shop can get so full of dud potions slowly selling it gets quite messy, putting newly crafted potions at the top would be helpful when experimenting with potions. But altogether a great game that I've been thinking about a lot after playing, reminds me somewhat of cultist simulator.
Okay, I have no idea if I want to terrifically applaud this game, or terrifically criticise it. The interface is really clunky, everything is counterintuitive, but the game has surprising depth to it, and once you know what's going on everything makes so much sense. The balance is really off, most of which comes from its counterintuitiveness. (I had no idea that exploring multiple times in a row unlocked new stuff until much later.) Before that I thought you had to manually go through every place, check for reads, and then come back later to check what those reads unlocked. Potion making is an interesting mechanic- But the name of the upgrades suggest so much more to it than clicking a button, which then automatically creates a simple commodity to be sold. It sticks to the theme for the most part, but having potions just be things which are sold is honestly underwhelming.
I'm really conflicted on how I should rate this game. 2/5 and 5/5 at the same time.
Thanks for the feedback!
The original intention of the game was always to create a game where the player had to logically determine what the mechanics did - replicating the feeling of discovery and of research. The findings were to help with that - providing context clues for the player to determine mechanics that were made more obvious as they progressed.
I will, however, admit that there could have been a bit more guidance at the beginning - the aim was always for the game to focus on selling potions, however. A few features did have to be scrapped for time (a catalyst mechanic was reworked into the planetary bonus mechanic, which had a totally different concept, for example.), and unfortunately I underestimated how confusing the interface would be without context.
Thank you for playing!
Not putting up an image for the game was a mistake. It's also a whole lot of things in your face all at once and none of them matter until you get to the research tab - that's a bad thing. Early stages of potion making are seemingly useless throwing away of money. Explores should not cost as much as travel. There should be one free explore. Needs some kind of feedback that you explored and found nothing. Needs some kind of confirmation that there is nothing else to find here.
I see real potential in this game. Don't give up. The first try is always bad.
Thanks for the feedback. This actually isn't my first entry into the genre, but I will admit I focused more on the narrative side - exploring was originally always free, but I was worried that would make the game too timewally.
I will, however, say that all potions are programmed to always make a profit, even if the RNG is at its worst. Fully agreed on the lack of confirmation exploration doesn't reveal anything - the original intent was to challenge players to determining the pattern of where the books are placed, but that doesn't seem to have come across well in-game.
The current plan on my end is to make a version with less writing/narrative, but more items/puzzles to find and a better balancing curve.
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