Apothecary by huf0001

[raw]
made by huf0001 for LD 43 (JAM)

Apothecary. You have some patients and some herbs. Figure out what works for what symptom, and try not to kill anyone.

Books: click on them to open them, click a page to turn the page, and click outside the book to close it.

Patient files: click on one to open it, click herbs to prescribe them (you can add as many of each as you like), and click the file again to close it.

Click finished when you’re done prescribing herbs and see how you did. Then you can close that book and have another go with herb uses you discovered updated in the herb book.

Update 1: one of the team members noticed a rather large bug when playing it due to a missing folder of files in the build. Included that, recommitted it, and updated the links.

Update 2: swapped the GitLab and Google Drive links for itch.io links. Also provided description of how to play the game above.

Ratings

Overall 967th 2.762⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1003th 2.333⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 398th 3.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 934th 2.643⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 858th 2.714⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 849th 1.947⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 561th 3.262⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

Sol Roo
05. Dec 2018 · 11:51 UTC
Hey, I like the idea, but I do not know how to advance once I select a decision. If you could explain me that I will replay it :)
🎤 huf0001
06. Dec 2018 · 00:21 UTC
@sol-roo not sure which decision you're referring to, so I'll just try and cover all the interactions.

Books: click on them to open them, click a page to turn the page, and click outside the book to close it.

Patient files: click on one to open it, click herbs to prescribe them (you can add as many of each as you like), and click the file again to close it.

Click finished when you're done prescribing herbs and see how you did. Then you can close that book and have another go with herb uses you discovered updated in the herb book.
Sol Roo
06. Dec 2018 · 09:42 UTC
@huf0001 Oh i did not see the "finished" button, my bad
DeadlyAlive
07. Dec 2018 · 01:33 UTC
Very unique game! I like the way you need to explore what each herb does. Music fits just right too. Gj!
AfroAnt
07. Dec 2018 · 03:32 UTC
Really enjoyed the graphics, and audio, and applying real-world/natural apothecary facets. If only I was smart enough to beat the game :P Good job!
10. Dec 2018 · 03:53 UTC
I had to rename the LDGameJam_Data folder into Apothecary_Data to get this to run. I would've appreciated a few hints as to which herb heals which ailment, instead of having to shove all of them down different individuals throats, but maybe that's what being an apothecary is all about :p
Dr. Mario would be an excellent apothecary.
🎤 huf0001
10. Dec 2018 · 04:38 UTC
Re-uploaded the zip file with the appropriate folder's name changed.

Making you find out through trial and error was what we were going for.
Mordokay
10. Dec 2018 · 17:10 UTC
Very interesting game and with a lot more polish people would actually buy it!. I knew some of the plants and by the treatments and symptoms I read I suspect this game is "facts" and not "fiction".

Overall: Had lots of fun playing it!
🎤 huf0001
12. Dec 2018 · 03:37 UTC
@mordokay The herbs were all ones @penthrower1 found in her research, and where we could we used their actual effects and appropriate dosages. Some herbs didn't have quite as much information as we'd have liked, so those parts are guesses and not entirely factual unfortunately.
YYZ
14. Dec 2018 · 01:27 UTC
A great game idea. I feel it could've been ultimately executed better as it had potential. I found myself at the start just randomly guessing what worked against which illness, which wasn't much fun.

While I understand the idea of the game is about trial and error, purely having random guessing through trial and error alone doesn't make a game fun as it isn't very engaging. Most players wouldn't have background knowledge on herbs or what they do, so perhaps some text on the herbs, and hints would actually make it based on players' intuition and reading skills and actually be more rewarding/fun to match the herbs to the illnesses. This is just my opinion though!

I'm not sure if there was supposed to be a strategy to the treatment of the patients. I ultimately resorted to just selecting every herb and giving it to every patient just to unlock the all the "answers" in the treatment research book to avoid the trial and error as I figured that was the fastest and most efficient way as the only other way was with random guesses.

It might also be possible for the UI to be improved as it isn't very intuitive to navigate. At the start, I was looking for the close button at the start to close the book when it told me to, but eventually I think I could just click outside to close it.

I didn't really feel the use of the theme strongly but nevertheless good job on making the game and I hope that you continue to make more games in the future! :)
Artur Hawkwing
17. Dec 2018 · 17:38 UTC
Interesting game, but a bit tough (and slow) to start out. However, the idea was very cool and the game ran well. The atmosphere was awesome (especially the music and page turning sounds).
TheCrittersCove
18. Dec 2018 · 00:16 UTC
Neat concept, but kind of rough execution. Trial and error can be fun to some degree, but it's a bit tedious having to go look back at the book. More visual cues in general would help keep players engaged.
Mr ChocolateSalmon
22. Dec 2018 · 00:12 UTC
It's a nice looking game, and the core mechanic is interesting. However, it turns into trial and error really quickly. By the end I was just giving everything to some people to see what would work. It would be nice if a character's file disappeared when you correctly treated them, as opposed to having to redo their prescriptions each time. Good job though!