Alchemist

One day, a royal envoy wakes up and realizes that something in the world has changed. He reaches the neighboring village and discovers there's no way out (physically). He begins to be tormented by nightmares that bring strange knowledge in his dreams. The envoy (main character) transcribes these dreams onto paper and starts to understand that something is wrong, but he has the power to figure it out. In the game, players will need to study new research to gain access to more interesting and powerful abilities, potions, skills, world changes, and NPC interactions

The game is set in medieval times with a 2D top-down view. The camera is locked to the player and only occasionally shifts slightly during more cinematic moments

The game features several mechanics. The main mechanics are: combat, research, and alchemy. There will also be dialogue and quest systems for interacting with villagers. Plus a couple more mechanics that need to be finalized (TBD)

The uniqueness lies in the game's highly flexible base aspects system and combat system. Below, I'll demonstrate it and explain what specifically makes it unique

or check this little shortcut

Specifically, the game has a foundational system that drives all other systems - the Aspect System. It's simple: think of it as basic chemistry, but simplified. You have aspects like Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, and you can transform them into others. For example: Fire + Water = Steam, Earth + Fire = Stone, Stone + Water = Ice.

This system is integrated into the combat system so that all spells cast by characters contain their character's aspects, which affects the environment where the spell lands.

For example: Water + Stone = Ice. A character can't walk on water - they'll drown - but they can stand on ice. Therefore, if you cast a stone aspect onto water, it transforms the water into ice, and the character can walk across it!

This is implemented and demonstrated above. You can defeat the boss in several ways: for instance, by pushing them into water, walking across the ice on water to reach their side of the map and defeating them there, or by taking the high ground - transforming stone into sand and thus removing an impassable cliff! This is just one of several pleasant mechanic synergies I can show - there's more about what else is in the game below.

• 📙 Story: Currently in its early stages with a few character sketches, some lore, and the broad strokes - like "it starts here, ends there." More resources are needed to flesh out story details, develop characters, write dialogue, and create quests
• 📻 Audio: I love music, but what's currently available and what I can afford doesn't fit the game well. There are drafts, but they feel weak to me
• 🌅 Textures: Currently lacking some textures, mainly for UI elements
• 🧑‍💻 Development Time: Right now, the problem is that I physically can't dedicate all my time to development. Unfortunately, I have a part-time job, and switching between projects is unbearably difficult for my brain. I need this investment to eliminate my side job and shift full focus to game development. The goal of €5,000 is exactly what's needed to complete the content I described above. Anything beyond this amount would make me incredibly happy and would go toward additional mechanics for world immersion, more mini-games, and bringing NPCs to life.

I'm a solo developer who has wanted to make games for a long time - in fact, that's why I got into IT in the first place. But I became a backend developer instead. After 7 years, I was deeply inspired by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and finally decided to start making games not as a hobby, but as my main focus. I quit my job and started coding

If we raise the funds, the game will be released in early fall. If not, God willing, early next year. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you everything about the game in this mini-preview, but I hope I managed to hook you somehow and spark your interest with what I shared.

The game is intended to be short - 2 to 3 hours maximum.

As I mentioned above, I run a devlog on YouTube and try to maintain it relatively consistently, and I'm succeeding. There's more about development, what's in the game, and its progress there. If you want to ask questions, you can reach out on Discord (https://discord.gg/Ak4Jje6k) or X (https://x.com/Murbenchik) or email (murbenchik@outlook.com).

As for plans: release the game on Steam and see how people respond. Then, if there's demand, release on EGS and GOG as well. Console releases are also planned, but that will depend on how the main release goes.

Thanks for your attention!