[Pirate Software - Game Jam 15](https://itch.io/jam/pirate) **Theme:** Shadows and Alchemy raw, unedited brainrambles: # Initial Ideas ### Shadows sneaking, stealth, thief, assassin, trans stealth, shadow puppets, dark vs light, cold, following or chasing someone (shadowing at work to learn, chaperone, protect/guard), being a shadow of one's self, ghost (literal or figurative), environment is cast in shadow (could be positive and necessary condition for survival like some plants/fungi), overshadowed by something/someone greater, dark environment (cave, underground, underwater), shadowy/shady activities, obscurity, shade (shelter from heat), spook/spy, investigator, eclipse, foreshadowing, concealment, hide, silhouette, foreshadowing, four shadows? games that come to mind: [Thief: The Dark Project](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GySn6_aclAM), [Dishonored](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeIn3WjbVbw), [Lost in Shadow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bw4xljLPO8), [SCHiM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG1VYCUB2Qk) ### Alchemy turning base metals to gold, making potions, making poisons, gathering herbs/ingredients, magic, witchcraft, medieval, transmutation, discover cure for disease, discover eternal life, elixirs, chemist, chemistry, transformation (in a mysterious or impressive way), alchemist transforms things for the better, metamorphosis, conversion (not necessarily of things), alter/change, symbols/runes/glyphs, manuscript, recipes, recipe book Full Metal Alchemist law of equivalent exchange (something of equal value must be lost) games that come to mind: [Potion Craft](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZeJsJevF8Q), [Alchemy Deluxe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p902uQ_y3r4) # Ideas Development turn base metals (dull, mundane) into gold (valuable and admired), make things better, upgrade, combine things, merger? ok what if you merge two low tier materials to try and make gold, but due to the law of equivalent exchange, one other material is removed from play. you have to be strategic in how you combine things because otherwise you'll be left with with no materials. so it's a puzzle 🤔 what would the win condition be? make gold? does that mean it's a game with several levels to solve? how do you get more materials? you spend the gold you made to buy more. hmm. this sounds like a maths problem and I think it needs an element of randomness otherwise there will either always be enough to continue winning, or never enough and you always lose. that's where the theme of shadows come into play you are making so much gold, and gold attracts thieves who come out of the shadows to steal your gold. loop: the game starts with a number of materials on a grid (is it an alchemy table? magic rune?) merge the lowest value materials together lv1 + lv1 mat = lv2 mat (but one lv1 mat is randomly removed from the board) lv2 + lv2 mat = gold (but one lv2 mat OR two lv1 mats are removed from the board) you can't merge mixed materials if you merge materials without an available sacrifice, you get consumed by shadows (game over) other ideas: you can use the gold to pay for a guard for X moves to prevent thieves? or maybe you're fighting against thieves maybe when you create gold it paints that tile gold (inspired by Alchemy Deluxe) and in order to win you need to fill all grid tiles with gold - how does the thief steal gold in this case? maybe the thief appears in X moves after you've made 1 gold, and you need to make 2 gold to merge and paint the tile. maybe the thief only takes things from the edge near the shadows? or starts from the edge & sneaks inwards. 🤔 can you merge things as you please, or do you need to place adjacent materials in order to merge them? lv1 mat = lead lv2 mat = gold gold = 2 adjacent lead merged, plus 1 random lead destroyed maybe the ultimate goal is to fill the magic rune (grid) with gold in order to create/summon the elixir of life? (maybe it's a gold heart?) is the grid in the shape of a pixel heart? 💛 how frequently do you get more lead? is it purchased with gold? no because the gold is consumed. maybe you can choose to merge or buy more lead? this could lead to being unable to afford lead and unable to merge... thieves are greedy and only start to appear if there are more than 2 gold on the board perhaps they lurk in the shadows and if you don't use or merge the gold next turn they will take one? will they even get a chance to take? 1 gold = lurk 2 gold = start stealing 1 per turn, but then would the player be able to even merge? omg what if you get numerous thieves on the board and start merging those 👀 if you don't have a third one they die, but if there is a third one they transform into some crazy four-armed four-legged ohno it's a spider thief what have you made oh no it's taking all the gold ok I'll have to save that for after I get the core loop done 😂 --- 3 lead = 1 gold, 3 gold paints tile 1 gold buys x lead you start with enough lead to paint your first tile, with some left over 1 tile = 3 gold * 3 lead 1 tile = 9 lead so maybe you start with 12 lead so that you can paint 1 tile and make 1 gold spare but not be able to use it. 1 gold buys 12 lead so that you won't be left with nothing maybe if there are 4 gold on the board the thief will approach? the grid has a pixel heart on it, in order to make gold, you need 3 lead in a row (or in a `L` shape) and then double click the middle one (the 2 lead either side jump into the middle one and merge). the grid needs to be a minimum of 7x6 to fit the heart shape. if the gold is not adjacent to each other, how does the player not get stuck? they might need more lead to start with 🤔 the thief stealing gold might help get unstuck you gain points for your highscore by making gold, merging gold, and spending gold hmm what if paint the entire grid gold = victory (maybe I should keep this as the MVP, this *is* my first time making a game AND using Godot, after all). paint a heart shape = elixir of life (what happens if you sell it? use it on a thief?) --- setting: an alchemist and a thief alchemist: transmutes lead into gold, wants to try and make the elixir of life thief: steals gold merchant: sells lead for gold (where does the merchant get the lead from? does it matter?) what is the relationship between the alchemist and the thief? (if any?) --- shadows consume you/your materials if you try and merge without the right number of materials thieves come from the shadows if you make too much gold how do you get rid of thieves? you merge 2, and shadows consume them that gets the player thinking: what happens if I merge 3 thieves? what is the alchemist's goal for making the elixir of life? do they want to live forever? or do they want to give it to someone else? do they *know* they're trying to make the elixir of life or does it happen by accident (when making a heart shape with the tiles?) <--- I like this idea for something beyond the MVP what could the board design be? why are we making it gold? could be the shape of a magic rune/circle? maybe it's simply the tiles of the mage's tower and they want to live as lavishly as those in a palace. I like the idea of a magic rune in the grid because then you could be learning one new ability per level. **Loop:** you are a mage experimenting with shady get-rich-quick spells in order to use gold as a material component for activating magic runes. through trial and error, you learn that merging 2 things is unbalanced and both turn into shadows place lead on the magic rune and use your magic to merge 3 adjacent lead to make 1 gold creating gold attracts thieves merge 2 adjacent thieves to remove them. In doing so you now understand on a practical level why shadow magic is illegal. use your gold to buy more lead and be careful to manage your resources merge 3 adjacent gold to paint 1 tile repeat until you've filled the magic rune with gold to complete the level and learn a new ability (maybe in harder levels the merchant gets suspicious of where the gold is coming from and calls in guards) if you fail, does the mage take up a life of thievery? maybe the sprite for the mage and thief should look similar. does the mage even need a sprite? yes because context can be provided through monologue. maybe the game gets darker (thematically and visually) each level --- **Pitch** You are a mage practising some shady get-rich-quick spells to transmute lead into gold. Use this expensive material component to activate the rune for your next ritual, before it attracts the attention of thieves… - You’re a mage in need of expensive material components and have turned to using some shady get-rich-quick spells to transmute lead into gold. Use your ill-gotten gains to activate the rune for your next ritual before it attracts the attention of thieves. --- # Learning Godot I'll think more on this but for now I need to figure out what I need to learn in Godot: **MVP** - [x] get familiar with the Godot interface - [x] how to set up the environment / grid - [x] how to change the cursor image - [ ] how to set up game victory - [ ] how to set up game over - [ ] how to set up UI - [ ] how to set up controls - [ ] how to declare how long a turn is - [ ] how to move the thief 1 tile each turn - [ ] how to add/remove items based on conditions - [ ] how to display and record highscore **Bonus:** - [ ] how to animate the merging - [ ] how to set up title screen - [ ] how to set up restart / quit to title - [ ] how to add sound effects - [ ] how to add music --- # Title Ideas ill-gotten gains, thief alchemy, transmute, transmutation, merge, morph, combine rune, spell, glyph, mage, magic gold, golden, glint, lead dark, darkness, shadow, shady - ~~heart of gold~~ (doesn't fit with MVP) - ~~alchemerger~~ (sounds too much like alcohol) - ~~alchemy merger~~ (sounds like it should be about potionmaking) - ~~transmerger~~ (that's a different theme I'd want to make) - shadows of alchemy, shadow alchemist, shadow alchemy, shadow glyphs - alchemy thief, shadow thief, - gold in the shadows - a glint in the shadows - shadow merger, shadymage, shadow mage, merger mage - gold magic - gold glyph, golden glyph, glyphs of gold - ill-gotten gains, ill-gotten gold, ill-gotten glyphs - shadows emerge - shadowed gold, shadow gold, **shadow of gold**?, **shadows of gold**?, **gold in the shadows**? - gold shadow, gold shadows, gold of shadow, gold of shadows - Glyphs of Gold Shadow, Glyphs of Shadowed Gold - **==Gold in the Shadows** --- gotta update my [game design document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PDc868QL0bXfh2UfTQZ4gcHFdK5G7BPWXiv3qLdawqY/edit?usp=sharing) with the ideas and tasks