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Vampire AlchemyCraft
Survival with alchemy | Crafting & shadow mechanic | Pirate Software Game Jam 15
Vampire AlchemyCraft is a solo entry for Pirate Software Game Jam 15: a survival game where the alchemy is the weapon. Every ingredient modifies the potion's effect in some way, so brewing is a small decision about what you will be able to do next. The enemies that arrive later are progressively stronger, and the sun is the second threat: standing in sunlight burns MP first and then HP, which makes shade something the player has to keep finding while they are being pushed. Made in Unity and Blender.
My role
- Solo project: gameplay logic, mechanics and content, with the models made in Blender.
- Built the crafting so that every ingredient modifies the resulting potion's effect. That is where the game's variety comes from.
- Scripted the two forms a potion can take: thrown, or drunk.
- Cut a third form for time. An amulet was planned that would have carried passive effects; the deadline arrived first, so the released build ships with two.
Systems I designed
- Ingredient-driven potions: each ingredient modifies the effect in some way, so the ingredient list is effectively the ability list.
- Two ways to use a brew: a thrown potion and a drunk one, so one crafting step feeds two different ways of playing.
- Sunlight as pressure: standing in the sun burns MP and then HP, which turns shade into something the player has to keep hold of while enemies close in.
- Enemy escalation: what arrives later is stronger, and that is what asks the brewing to keep up.
Core mechanics
- Gather ingredients and brew. The mix decides the effect.
- Throw the potion, or drink it.
- Stay in shadow. Sunlight drains MP, and once that is gone it takes HP.
- Survive enemies that get stronger as the run goes on.
Links
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