Witch on the Water

A game about manipulating seafarers, mixing reagents with revenge, and brewing up a storm.

Introduction

The seas have not been peaceful in living memory. The three major factions of Empire, Guild, and Church engage in constant petty naval conflicts. Seeking the upper hand, each sends a representative to enlist your aid. As the last surviving member of a group of alchemists, you wield a rare blend of magic and science to ensure victory for your clients. But as you begin to pull the strings from the shadows through battles and political favor, the conflicts grow to a point of all-out war… and some may begin to suspect that you have your own vengeful motives for wanting to steer fate!

So, turn to your cauldron. Add a pinch of enmity, a dash of spite. Turn friends against friends, turn whispers into gales. Brew up a storm of shadows large enough to drag them all down to the depths below…

Details

• Peer into your cauldron to see a tiny naval battle from a god’s-eye view.
• Mix reagents into the ocean depths to create powerful emergent effects.
• Meet and manipulate a cast of high-ranking schemers.
• Balance the need to satisfy clients with the danger posed by their ambitions.
• Gain enough influence over a faction to seize control of the waves!

Game Design Document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14MSx7UpvePIrWIzG7082RSebTkadoX_t/view?usp=drive...

Controls

• All controls are point-and-click using the Mouse

How To Play

• After the opening cutscene, the game begins in the cabin of your boat.
• Click on ‘New Quest’ to receive a visitor who will ask you to help them out.
• You can reject their quest, but that’s no way to make friends.
• If you accept a quest, you can click on ‘Start Battle’ to attempt to complete it.
• During a battle, two navies of ships will fight to defeat each other.
• The side you’ve been asked to help will be in rough shape, so you’d best get busy!
• Click on an elemental reagent on the left to pick it up. Then click on the cauldron to drop it in.
• The heart of alchemy is synthesis: One reagent will do nothing on its own! Two reagents together, however, will combine to form an effect.
• Once the battle’s won, the person who asked you to help will be more in your debt, and the winner of the conflict will get closer to conquering the seas.
• Get someone entirely in your debt before any faction conquers the seas to win!

Effects

Here are all the effect combinations! Feel free to skip this section if you want to experiment for yourself...

• Wind and Wind: Creates a strong gust of wind moves ships in a way opposite to the prevailing wind direction.
• Water and Water: Creates a whirlpool that draws in ships towards the center.
• Lightning and Lightning: Creates a bolt that instantly destroys a random nearby enemy ship.
• Wind and Water: Creates a fog bank that slows and blinds enemy ships
• Water and Lightning: Creates choppy waters that sicken enemy sailors, weakening their ships for a long time
• Wind and Lightning: Creates a storm that deals occasional damage to enemy ships in range
• Shadow and Wind: Creates a powerful fear effect that scares away ships
• Shadow and Water: Turns enemy ships in range against each other!
• Shadow and Lightning: Revive sunken allied ships from below the waves to fight again!
• Shadow and Shadow and Shadow: Release The Kraken

Credits

Made in two weeks for the July 2024 Pirate Software Game Jam, with a theme of Shadows and Alchemy.

• Project Management: Matthew Marsland
• Game Design: Matthew Marsland and Jordan Reece
• Code: Matthew Marsland
• Art: Jordan Reece
• Writing: Pip Andersen
• Audio: Ellen Kate Malpas
• Voice Actors
  • Ellen Kate Malpas
  • Pip Andersen

"Witch on the Water" 
Written by Ellen Kate Malpas
Performed by Ellen Kate Malpas and Douglas Jones

Additional Licensed Sounds:

• quiet morning 01 by rucisko -- https://freesound.org/s/634434/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
• strong waves on rocks.wav by bruno.auzet -- https://freesound.org/s/706466/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
• Arcade button press by Sadiquecat -- https://freesound.org/s/737420/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
• R12-28-Cannon Shot and Whistling.wav by craigsmith -- https://freesound.org/s/486026/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
• Wooden Door breaks by Saladsounds -- https://freesound.org/s/723974/ -- License: Creative Commons 0