STORY AND GAMEPLAY
STORY
As on the previous page, this story shall be told through a short, beginning cutscene with a few still images and on-screen text, not all that dissimilar to Sky: Children of the Light’s first cutscene. The cutscene will depict the Archmage’s Apprentice travelling uphill to the tower their teacher resides in, realising their teacher is busy in their own lab, and deciding to create potions by themselves to surprise their teacher.
If the player successfully creates a potion the game has prompted them to, they will receive a small ‘congratulations cutscene,’ depicting the Archmage praising the apprentice for their hard work. The player will then be returned to the menu, and can then be given a new prompt for a potion.
CORE GAMEPLAY
The game comprises of a start menu and a singular level, which is linear in its structure. It requires the player to first select an ingredient, then a second, and then a modifier. They will then be presented with their results and the option to play again.
Here is a flowchart of the game, including the game over screen and the various ways to achieve it:
Each ingredient has a numerical value, which won’t be visible or known to the player. These can then be combined with another different ingredient:
Here are each of the modifiers, listed with their different effects:
Different potions will have different strengths, which will change the display on the result screen:
Here’s a chart of what the different ingredients create:
PREVIOUS ITERATION
The previous iteration of the game included the player having to make three potions of increasing complexity in order to defeat a Dark Archmage who’s invaded their kingdom and taken the Archmage of Light (their teacher) prisoner in the tower. Any mistakes they made during creating the potions would bring them a step closer to a game over. Completing three potions would result in a victory. There was also the mechanic of riddled recipes to confuse and challenge the player. However, I’ve decided that this was too convoluted and confusing, and instead opted to create something more relaxed.
My game’s current iteration entails picking two out of six ingredients and mixing them to try and create the strongest potion possible. Each ingredient has a number, which is either added, halved, or doubled (depending on the chosen modifier) to create a final score. The goal is to create the strongest potion/the potion with the largest total. This is far simpler than my initial plan, and relies on simple maths to work. The only issue is that it isn’t compelling, so it’s fitting that this game would be targeted towards those seeking stress relief or relaxation as a casual game.
To bring an extra layer of challenge to the game, a randomiser button will be added on the main menu to give the player a prompt for what to make. This could be given with a hint, which could be in the form of a riddle to link back to one of my original ideas for the game, to give the player a clue to work with. As above, if the player creates that potion, they will receive a cutscene.
As a final step to make this more compelling, a final ingredient to make this more complex could either add, subtract, or double the total number made with the previous 2 ingredients:
In the current iteration of the game, instead of having a time limit or a recipe, the player gets freedom over what they do. This game would be a good way to destress or to practise problem solving, as the mechanics are mathematical.
The scores of the potions will be shown on the victory screen, along with the name of the potion, which will be listed next to the number and potency.
