itch.io

HEADPHONE WARNING for anyone about to play this, it is really loud for no reason. Also upgrades are on the Right Key.

Clickfests hurt me now more than they are fun, but it was alright. Wish the upgrade button was mentioned somewhere ingame because all controls other than upgrades seem to be explained in game. The theming falls flat for me though even with the explanation in the other comment

Uhhhh, I'll second the need for optimization. Buying Alpha particles crashed both my browser and somehow, Discord. Beyond that the theme was really well used for the five minutes I got to play

Like the twist on theme, though the game as a whole was rather boring. It is fun in the start, but it quickly hits a wall. There are also many upgrades you must take one between multiple options, with no way to reverse them, which I don't particularly enjoy with no way to see if I've made a mistake until afterwards. In fact my choices may have been the reason I met the wall in the first place, but I'll never no due to how irreversible they are

It was really fun and had some puzzle elements in the beginning, but at a certain point in the mid-game that falls by the way side. There were some things that felt active just for the sake of having interaction, like the charge stuff and the fact that upgrade charging could never be kept between Double Compressions, but they were never too awful. Decently fun overall.

Also, why couldn't there have been one last upgrade for an even 4x4? :(

I suppose it's fine enough usage of the theme, but it wasn't in anyway an enjoyable experience. It's just watching progress bars go up ad infinitum, without rhyme nor reason. I can't see how that could be fun to anyone. Maybe there could've been some puzzle element to the crafts part, but the pieces you're working with are so arcane that I could never come close to predicting how anything would up being used

I've really tried to get to the point where I can buy all the Black Hole upgrades, but something consistently breaks to where I end up with a massive negative amount of Star energy and therefore cannot progress. I've given it five runs and the most I got were 7 upgrades before it shattered on me. Even besides that though, the game explains nothing to you and is just a click fest with no other real mechanics, so even beyond the bugs there are fundamental issues with the game

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!

Yup

What does any of this actually mean because I've went through and made plenty of Hades potions in every location and research plenty of times in every location again and I've found nothing

Loved it! Really fun with having to discover everything with the minimal hints, I never felt completely stumped or at a loss and the game never felt too slow or too fast. Unfortunately, the game isn't all that unique as it's just an incremental take on the Sandbox/Falling Sands games of old and the interpretation of the theme leaves quite a bit to be desire, but this still is certainly the most enjoyable game of the jam. I look forward to what you do with the game going forward!

Earth + Fire = Stone

Earth + Water = Mud

Water + Fire = Steam

Water + Air = Vapor

Fire + Air = Blue Fire

Blue Fire + waiting = Fire

Fire + waiting = Ash

Ash + Water = Lye

Vapor + Steam = Cloud

Fire + Lye = Potash

Potash + Water = Lye

Mud + Fire = Shale

Stone + Blue Fire = Lava

Water + Blue Fire = Salt

Salt + Water = Salt Water

Salt Water + (Blue) Fire = Salt

Lava + waiting = Fire

Lava + Stone = Lava

Clouds x Clouds + waiting = Lightning

Sorry if I missed anything

Pretty fun game mostly all the way through. It would remain fun the whole time, if the game was actually able to deal with the high numbers it wants you to push for, but the game starts unraveling past the post where it switches to scientific notification, because it says that you can't use Max of whatever you have for some reason. Balance is fairly average, it's slow in some points, but fast in others, but overall it's fairly nice. The game isn't really unique, but it does a pretty good job of hitting the theme with the metal transmutations, potions, and philosopher's stones

While I would say that the game was near perfectly balanced, I wouldn't say that it was fun. The game itself is alright, but so many minor annoyances add up to just making this an unfun experience. Moving things works like one half of the time, expansions really are not explained well, in the game or the text beneath it, and having to hold click to look at the recipes is just absolutely horrid. It failed often and when I was looking through all my buildings to find out what to do next it would take forever because of having to hold it. The game isn't that unique either, just a crafting game with a worker limit. The ones I have played weren't this awful point and click so you got that going for it. Also, the theme is hardly, if at all. What's done isn't really alchemy, but rather just crafting

This isn't an incremental, nor is it alchemy based, nor is it really a game at this point. Seems more like a framework for one. Although, with a lot more work and some performance fixes it does look like it could compete with other sandbox games

The game is quite unique, but that's where possible praises for the game end. It isn't really fun as the early game was stressful and once you get past it being stressful, it's just boring. The balance is fundamentally broken as winning is impossible due to the weird need to always be researching two things at once to actually make progress in research. The game is also entirely devoid of any Alchemy. One last bonus nitpick: I don't think the AI should be so powerful that it changes people's orientation

A fun little jaunt. It's horribly balanced with the incremental aspects only mattering at the very beginning and very end, but that doesn't make it less fun. It's also fairly unique and hit the theme better than any other game I've plain in the jam thus far

It'd an alright prototype for a proof of concept of a singular mechanic for a more complex game, but as it is now, it isn't really fun or balanced. It also doesn't really fit the theme but it is at least ever so slightly unique

Dreadfully slow and by the time you've hit steel, you've already experienced most of what the game has to offer in terms of gameplay and even then the sole bonus mechanic isn't enough to speed up the game substantially enough to be considered balanced nor does it add enough complexity to make it fun. On top of that the game is pretty lacking in terms of uniqueness and meeting the theme

Genuinely, thank you for this game. It's the first one I've plain this jam that even comes remotely close to fun, and it is actually rather fun. The game is perfectly balanced too. Don't know how this could be called slow as others have been saying, but I suppose I could be being influenced by just having played through two multiple day long slogs, but for me, it was a fairly short game always with something going on which fit it's more active incremental style. It's really unique which is a nice bonus and although I feel like playing god is distinctly different from alchemy, the transmutation circles are enough representation to say that you did decently meet the theme

An okay enough game to unwind with after having plain some other jam games, but not something I would actively seek out. Balance was wack, I don't think buying any H^2 was ever useful, the whole game was just click, prestige, repeat, which also seemed to break progression as it was not effected by the softcap. It's also utterly lacking in uniqueness and theme as this is wholly chemistry based, not alchemy

The game's unplayable. I've tried three times and it consistently starts lagging after about five minutes in. Although, I'm not sure that really matters given how I don't see how this is an incremental game

The game starts off really strong in the beginning but it slows down real fast once you hit the Essence Purifier. Like hitting a brick wall at 50mph kind of slow. This slowness all hinges around the inability to buy any more cisterns, which I don't understand the purpose of, unless the horrible slowness is the purpose, but I hope not. Such a simple restriction turned what could have been an amazing and fun time into one of the worst slogs I've ever played through. I managed to painstakingly, after three days, make elixir, but I did not enjoy my time doing so.

Also, not sure if I fully understand Fast Time because it never happened to me despite my leaving the game for hours at a time.

Why does import save not work anymore? I haven't plain in a couple weeks, but I know it worked then

Really fun until the sandstorms eat everything you own. I tried a lot, but it felt that loss was just inevitable, but that could just be on me

Fairly bland and slow. There feels like there may be something worthwhile in the concept, but this just ain't it yet

Fast and easy fun. Felt like the only game this jam that was perfectly balanced. Definitely a step up over A Dark Void and I had enjoyed that one quite a bit too, so keep it up!

Ends up average  for fun and balance. Reminds me of a much older game than I can't quite remember the name of though, so there may be a bit of nostalgia in there though

Maybe I just don't get it, but I can't see a  decent way through the 2nd wall, it's just too much for me. Otherwise, the start was fairly fun and engaging,. Definitely feels too much like Resource Starve though

I found it really fun to start and end, but a price-based prestige system will always annoy me without multibuy, so the middle was quite annoying

Timing is a nice take on the theme, it's fairly unique and it's pretty fun. The game peters out towards the tail end, where I imagine I could do some perfect setup with a bunch of shuffling, but the fact I have to refresh the page to actually play shuffling makes it fairly clunky and not worth the effort

Fun little story. Balancing's a bit wack with how timewally it is, especially towards the end, but I'm glad the lose condition doesn't actually stick

Bit boring with how the prestige just gives the ability to buy upgrades with nothing tangible boon, but outside of the repetition it's fun enough

Fun enough for what it was, the real highlight is the funny twist on the theme. I never figured out what the cops did in the map section though, it just seemed like you were able to ram through them with no trouble

It's certainly unique, but that's about all I can say in it's favour. This game really just doesn't feel up my alley, but that's fine

While you can play, the game is fun, but there are multiple, huge timewalls that just stop you from doing anything and really drag the whole experience down

The overall most fun and balanced of the games in the jam. I'm happy I dredged through all the other ones just to have played this. Not only that though, the game is actually fairly unique and fits the theme, which is rare for fun jam games. Hats off to you, this was really well done!

Sheer misery.

While the gameplay is a bit lacklustre and lacking direction, this is far and away the best jam game this time around. It's wholly unlike any other game I've played and it feels like the only game that really took the time theme and actually did something with it instead of just naming a currency around it.  Honestly, while this wasn't the most fun or best game submitted, I'm rooting for this to win it. Good luck!

I guess some fault probably lies with me for coming into this game with expectations of it being good after how good Liquids was last jam, but I had no fun with this game. It took too long to do anything and it was just timewall after timewall. It isn't unique and barely adheres to the theme either. I guess I was just hoping for more