Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

Recursive AlchemistView game page

Use recursion to brew potions and solve charming alchemy puzzles—one client at a time.
Submitted by Samuel — 16 hours, 11 minutes before the deadline
Add to collection

Play game

Recursive Alchemist's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#42.8002.800
Graphics#43.2003.200
Gameplay#52.6002.600
Overall#62.7002.700
Theme#72.2002.200

Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

HostSubmitted

Really mind-bending puzzle mechanic! It started to get really tricky after the first few recipes. Very interesting and unique! I love the alchemy theme, sound, and graphics. Only issue I had was getting stuck on the narrow hallways between rooms! You have to be pixel-perfect sometimes haha. Really nice game

Developer

Thanks! I saw your video and it was really cool — it's always great to see someone playing our games!

Submitted

That's actually a good point.  Once upon a time when I was doing a bump action rpg test, I was working with that problem and settled on having the player move toward the nearest wall opening if they were a couple pixels short of entering.  Like, say, you were walking right and walked into a wall corner with the opening being below the unit.  Instead of moving right, the unit would move down, toward the hole, even while still facing right.

Submitted (1 edit)

This is quite the cute, cuddly and fairly consistent design you have, here.  I like all the little details, including the different floors, all the different NPCs, how you employ multiple mechanics for the creation of potions which certainly add to the challenge and complexity of the game.  I also like that you take "Alchemy" literally for this submission. :D

Overall, it is an excellent piece of work and I wish you 1st place in this competition (Though I'll probably be wishing it for everyone else, as well :) ).

Notes:

  • There is a layering problem where the cauldron floats over top the witch.  You can see it when her hat is 'under' the cauldron, instead of over.
  • You can start another ritual on top of an existing ritual on the go (or at least, the screen pops up for it).  If you do it enough times, it starts to glitch the game something fierce.  I had to refresh the browser page so it became playable again.
  • I did notice that you can leave the recipe page up while you go around and gather ingredients.  I do not know if this was a bug or not, but it can be useful while selecting ingredients.  However, it can get in the way when you have other windows open, such as the ritual window.  Maybe there should be a cap for how many windows you can have open at the same time?
  • I like that once the first potion is delivered, all the remaining tutorial popups vanish.  Nice catch!
  • Once or twice I caught the floating "E" disappear when I was in front of an ingredient.  Maybe it was just me and how I was navigating, but still...
  • Being a southpaw makes it awkward to use the mouse AND the WASD layout. Any chance for an arrow key option down the road?
  • Too bad there is no option to run.  It does make progression feel kinda sluggish when you have to go from one end of the room to the other to gather ingredients.
  • If I have a graphics nit, the pixel art scaling is a little inconsistent with the ingredients; they stick out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise a near-perfect layout.
  • Bonus Point: Custom mouse pointer. :)
  • Bonus Point: Diagonal movement. :)
  • Bonus Point: Witch.  Everyone likes wizards, right? :)
Developer

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you noticed all those details — it means a lot! And haha, yes, we went full literal with the alchemy theme this time 😄. Best of luck to you too in the jam!

Submitted

Awesome visuals and really cool puzzle concept! It took me a few rounds to grok how the ordering of the ingredients worked, but after that it was smooth sailing. I did noticed that the collisions were fairly tight—I kept  wishing for a smaller hitbox and a little more speed when trying to make the turns to grab my ingredients. Thanks for making and sharing your game!

Developer

Thanks a lot! Happy to hear you enjoyed the visuals and the puzzle concept! And yeah, you're not the only one who mentioned the tight collisions — definitely something we'll look into improving. Really appreciate you playing and sharing your thoughts!

Submitted

Incredible graphics, but I don't understand where the arrow theme is used?🥲 On the game tips?