I liked the artstyle and graphics but the how to play is too cluttered and hard to read, and it's not very clear what I am supposed to do.

Real good game you made here for your first try! Even though there wasn't much of an end goal, seeing the items slowly dwindle to an inevitable demise is a pretty tense feeling!

I was surprised to read how there were fake items too, that threw me for a loop. Good aesthetic to the items too, it was easy to tell them apart even at a glance. The recipe page was a pretty funny too!

I threw in the cat to see what it would do, a quick bad end was about what I expected!

Overall good job with this!

Great style and solid gameplay. It would probably be cool if there were several cauldrons at once.
Thank you so much for your game! It was fun to play!

For your first game, this is pretty good. Although the rules for when the ingredients on the list are good or bad match could be clarified a bit better.

Absolute first impression within 1.5 seconds of loading the game is, the wall of instructions is not an ideal way to explain the game and just *feels* intimidating and overwhelming.

"Press R to open the guide in game" I had to dig for a while before i found that, while reading the thing in the main menu thinking it was my only chance to get it.

So, in general the learning experience could be done a LOT better.

The game doesnt reset properly when retrying.

A bit of more visible feedback would be nice (the timer is tucked in the corner, barely notice when it changes and how much, oh wait 9 seconds left? let me open the manual real quick xd)

*Tiny nitpick:* the clicking "hitbox" for the items on shelves feels inconsistent? It's either offset, or too far back, and in general could be bigger... Also i noticed you can "interact" with the cauldron through walls. Also, *super mega nitpick:* the position of the lower shelf is a bit awkward to reach (especially given the weird item hitboxes, its a bit finnecky to pick things up)

The drawn stuff is pretty good, the rest of the aesthetics are simple but get the job done for the jam.

With a bit less bugs and a bit more polish this would have been much better.

As a first game AND game jam, *this is impressive.* Keep at it, you'll improve gradually!

Also, Francois is *dead* and OH MY GOD DON'T LOOK UP

Hi everyone!

About the instructions/guide: the idea was to have them as "quickly written chicken scratch" like a student trying to write a lot of notes in a single paper, but in hindsight is it crystal clear that it wasn't a good idea to make unclear instructions to a very short game like this one.

Thank you all for the feedback.

I like the aesthetic of the main menu and the weird notes, and Francois and all that. The first thing i did was put the cat in the pot. It's weird but fun. It doesn't translate that well into understandable game mechanics though. You should pat yourself on the back for finishing and congrats on making your first game. Hope it was fun making it!

Love the concept behind this game and the art for the ingredients. I especially love how the sanguine potion is literally shaped like a heart. It's pretty fun trying to frantically scan the ingredient list as the time ticks down. Also: I initially didn't notice Francois in the game (too focused on potion-making, I suppose), saw the screenshot when I closed the game, reopened the game, and found Francois. Perfect. Nice job!

I freaking love the artstyle / shader effect you have going on. Its a beautiful thing to look at! Nice work. I had fun. Could last like 10 seconds but still had fun :joy: :joy:

fun art

the concept is nice, fun game

I am a fan of the drawn in ingredients and the funky music. I think I would have continued my run if there were some more audio FX for continuing ie, positive audio for good matchs or a increase in tempo to create urgency. Had fun with this one, good job.

I really liked the hand-drawn art! I know you were on a time crunch, but it might've been cool to see that style used even more (for example if all the instructional notes were in handwriting). Would also be cool if the cauldron color changed to match the different potions. Still really enjoyed the overall style, though, and particularly the music.

I enjoyed the drawn in characters a lot too. That was really enjoyable to see.

I find it a cool aesthetic with hand-drawn objects. I feel bad for Francois and his sad ending.

Great fun! The drawn animations and groovy music really fit the game and keep you on your toes. The game is short, fun and enjoyable, and I ended up playing it more times than I expected. There's also lots of little things that brought a smile to my face, like the names of the ingredients or good ol' François. Great job!

François is best cat. The hand-drawn style is great and the subtle differences for bad ingredients was a nice touch to keep you on your toes.

The potion list was hard to use, but honestly, it fit with the theme and mood you were going for. Maybe some circles around the different lists so they were clearly delineated and since the potions were (mostly) color coded, highlighting the names with that color (like highlighted notes) would help reduce the amount of effort required to parse them without giving up the busy aesthetic.