Kemist Web

It's here: ecter.neocities.org/kemist

It's a game of falling things, like Tetris and others. Groups of identical elements transform into the next one in a chain. Score is based on combos and how valuable are the elements gathered on the board.

This version works in any browser that lets a page run in quirks mode (yeah, it's not pretty), using keyboard controls or via on screen buttons for touch devices.

It's not much, but it serves its purpose.

I just wanted to play more Naturalchemist

// Screenshot credit: "Natural Chemist" on FB

( Note to self: write a post dedicated to Naturalchemist and link it here )

Naturalchemist or Naturalchimie was a web game made by Motion Twin. It had a bit of a multiplayer element (players joined one of four guilds which competed in some way that i don't really remember anymore). It had a sequel with story, world map to explore, more powerups and elements, but when i played it, it was only in french. Of course i played it despite not understanding any dialogue :T

But going back to original NC (or Naturalchemist Classic) - it was a typical Motion Twin web game. By which i mean you had daily free plays and anything beyond that had to be earned. Either by in-game mechanics, or more often by microtransactions. I had no means to pay for extra plays, fortunately. Otherwise i'd lose all of my tiny allowance on it.

So i did the next best thing - tried to recreate it as an offline game that can be played for free with no limits. That's how Kemist started. And that's how it stayed for a long time, because the code i wrote there wasn't easy to maintain and improve, so i hit a wall at some point and left it as a prototype.

Also, i tried to use PhoneGap / Cordova there, to build a phone version. Both for my Nokia 5800 and my bro's early Android phone. Obviously, it worked way better on Android than on Symbian (no surprise there). It never went far, but it's worth mentioning that there was always a phone version planned. Which is why it had its uncomfortable swiping controls (virtual buttons are a modern addition, marking 18th of february 2025 the last update to this version of the game).

It needs more Love

The Web version is pretty much abandoned at its current state and serves as a playable prototype. I tried restarting the project several times, and it was my way of trying out any framework or game engine to see if i can learn to use it.

In the end, only Love2D was up to the task, and i'm slowly working on the modern, improved version of the game there.

I don't intend to make it 1:1 like Naturalchemist Classic or Naturalchemist 2, of course. I want it to be its own thing, with my personal touch. A lot of it, actually.