Early this morning, I released a public build of Chemistry:

https://ratstail91.itch.io/chemistry

And boy, was it torn apart. I'm grateful for everyone for playing my little game and giving their feedback to improve it.

I'm thinking about the next steps for the game, namely getting some more professional looking artwork from Tom, and planning out the water dungeon. I'm thinking of using a 3rd party map editor for planning, that I can later transcribe into the game proper; it'll give me a high-level overview of the level, as well as give me something to get feedback on.

I'm not sure what puzzles are possible with just the water system... I'm actually worried that there might not be enough variety in the system without repeating the same ones ad infinitum.

I might also implement a text/dialog system, so that I can display proper information to the player. This would also make NPCs easier to implement. I know the Legend of Zelda didn't have the most talkative NPCs, but I'm also leaning on A Link to the Past for aesthetics, so mechanics aren't too much of a stretch.