Dev Diary #2: Recipes vs. Experiments

Hi everyone! We’re back with our second devlog where we’ll talk about one of Ways of Alchemy’s core mechanics — potion-brewing!

But first, a quick heads up: we just released a new free demo for Steam Next Fest running from February 24 to March 3. We’d love to hear your feedback, even if it’s just a few words, to help us refine the game for release this spring.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3519740/Ways_of_Alchemy_Demo/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=hub&utm_campaign=alchemist&utm_content=woa-devlog-2-demo-link
[h2]Problem: Balancing Alchemy and Gameplay[/h2]
We wanted to create a game about alchemy that showcases the many aspects of an alchemist's life. It’s an incredibly interesting topic, but a lot of games tend to fall into one of two extremes – either they focus entirely on puzzle-solving to brew potions, or they simply tell a story about alchemy without any gameplay mechanics that represent what alchemy is.


There's a common issue with alchemy games: once a potion-brewing mechanic is introduced, it tends to consume everything. The entire game starts to be based around this single mechanic and players who don’t enjoy it will simply drop out. While this approach can work wonderfully (Potion Craft comes to mind as a fantastic example), it wasn’t what we were aiming for. We wanted to create a more diverse experience: if you don’t like complicated puzzles, keep playing, there are some other things for you!


However, it’s pretty clear that alchemy is all about potion brewing. How can we make an alchemic game that allows players not to focus too much on potion-making?

[h2]Solution: Two Brewing Approaches — Experiments and Recipes[/h2]
We found a solution by adding two options: recipes and free-form experiments. Following recipes is totally fine! But if you’re the kind of player that likes efficiency and enjoys creating recipes all by yourself to feel like a real-life alchemist, being creative and discovering something brand new – you’re going to love the experiments.


[h3]Experiments[/h3]
In free-form brewing, each potion has a formula that depends on the ingredients’ properties. The foundation is critical — the very first ingredient you put in a cauldron and which magical pillar dominates its properties will define the type of potion you’re going to get. After that, you need to add ingredients whose properties will complete the formula.

The free-form brewing system considers additional factors:

1. You as an alchemist must be skilled enough to handle the ingredients you're working with. Your mastery of reality's pillars must exceed the concentration of those pillars in your ingredients.
   
2. Secondary properties of ingredients matter — things like concentration or volume can affect the result. Using an overpowered ingredient for a simple potion will influence the outcome.
   
3. Your alchemist’s skill comes into play — if it exceeds the requirements of the ingredients, it can impact how powerful your potion becomes, or even result in brewing multiple potions instead of just one. Knowledge is power!
   

[h3]Recipes[/h3]
If a free-form brewing system sounds too complex for you, or you want to learn more gradually without facing a challenging puzzle right away, we have recipes. To follow them, simply place the recipe in your cauldron along with the specified ingredients, and get a potion at the end! It’s not quite as effective and unpredictable as experiments, but it doesn’t require complex management of your alchemist's power and formula tinkering.

Come to think of it, this not only solves the gameplay challenge but also nicely reflects how professional knowledge works in the real world: having trusty instructions and following them is great, but with experience, you can make the process more effective and even write your own instructions. Do you agree?