Falrika the Alchemist [Official release date: 2024.2.1] [Official demo available!]

As promised, here’s my WIP, which I hope to finish in at least two months (yes, you’ve read it right; I’m a fast and efficient writer).

Brief Outline: Falrika Marmont is just a simple girl with a simple dream: To become an alchemist. Through a series of events expected and unexpected, and with the help of people who will guide her along the way, her journey will be one that is out of the ordinary.

Setting: The setting is the high fantasy world of Amitabhilia; specifically, in the fictional kingdom of Lebenswasserheim. The kingdom spans many towns and other places and is generally a peaceful and benevolent one.

Features
  • A light-hearted, slice-of-life, narrative-driven adventure where you play as a cute female alchemist owning her own atelier.
  • An episodic story format, where each chapter is mostly self-contained.
  • You can pat cats and dogs! (There will even be an achievement for petting all of them!)
  • Four romantic options (2 female, 1 male, 1 non-binary), all with their own endings.
  • A comprehensive codex that tells everything you need to know about the world of Amitabhilia.
Characters

Falrika Marmont
Age: 17
Race: Human
An aspiring alchemist. Her luck fluctuates between extremes; and when she gets unlucky, her experiments end up exploding. Nevertheless, her “never give up” attitude endears her to many.

Frida Panteleimon
Age: 35
Race: Human
A retired alchemist who once owned the alchemy shop that Falrika now uses. She is kind of strict and kind of blunt, but she still has a kind heart.

Romantic Options

Joverlyn Ashborne
Age: 18
Race: Human
An offensive spell-caster adventurer who is also a chatterbox. Likes to crack some jokes every now and then.

Neroko Folifort
Age: 17
Race: Feralkin
Wanting to follow the example of Sgt. Hershey Aedoll, the first feralkin soldier of the kingdom, this canine land-type feralkin wants to become the kingdom’s first feralkin alchemist. She’s particularly enthusiastic about her chosen craft.

Reycard Diospada
Age: 19
Race: Half-elf
An adventurer who comes from a distinguished family of swordsmen. He doesn’t actually like swords, but he chooses to bear with his current combat paradigm due to the guidance of his loving parents.

Niko Iyali
Age: 20
Race: Elf
Full name: Nikolinecear Iyali. A former elf patrolman who wants to become an adventurer, and has a serious disposition. Even though they’re biologically female, they prefer to be non-binary.

Non-romantic Options

Kimpoy Aurelious
Age: 23
Race: Half-elf
A beginner adventurer who is articulate with the knife. His exceptionally keen senses, which are unusual for a half-elf like him, earns him the moniker “Kimpoy the Vigilant”. He values free speech, but he also has to defend what is right for him.

Jojo Sickwati
Age: 36
Race: Human
Also known by his moniker, “The Triggerman”, due to the usage of a hand cannon, which he modified to lessen its destructive potential. He goes on his personal “crusade” against journalists who maligned his name in the past.

Dimael Elshaarawi
Age: 24
Race: Human
An adventurer hailing from a town of former nomads. He is a young father who fights to ensure his children don’t have to risk their lives as adventurers in the future.

Charlize Catacutan
Age: 20
Race: Human
An adventurer having a long-distance relationship with a non-adventurer woman her age. She is a paladin who isn’t ashamed of showing her feminine side to everyone.

Demo
Support me on ko-fi (yes, you should. I’m really short on money right now.)

Credits
Story and Programming: Benedict “Moonlight Bomber” Villariaza (yours truly)
Cover art generated with getimg.ai, enhanced by F1rstZer0
Logo made by Benedict “Moonlight Bomber” Villariaza, with assets created by yinakoSGA and prdatur on OpenGameArt.org

73 Likes

I’m only at the beginning but it’s cute, I really like it (especially petting the cat :cat2: :heart_eyes_cat:) I have problems to name my shop (because I do not have good names for it lol, the problem is me so don’t worry :sweat_smile:)
The story reminds me of the Atelier’s Games I played on my PS2 (Atelier Iris series)
I only been sad that I can’t name the character or her appearance. But it’s okay :smiley:

3 Likes

Ohh, a lot of thought went into world building; the art is so pretty-- all overridden with Pet.The.Cat. :heart_eyes_cat:
But seriously, it’s a cute game, can’t wait for more!

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Barrel!
Wip from my favourite franchise.
Keep it up :slight_smile:

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Yes, @Queen_Zelda, @Antza, and @Etwo, I really meant for this story to be cute and light-hearted, because there are really no overarching villains in this story, since they’re all eliminated in the backstory.

Thanks for the compliments.

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When I read the name of the setting I thought of the show Amphibia. :smiley:

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It actually comes from Amitabha, one of the incarnations of the Buddha in Buddhism and has the literal meaning of “infinite light”.

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Its atelier

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Alright, an update for everyone. I’ll roll out weekly updates, uploading a chapter per week, in particular.

I just want to hear from you what sub-plots you want me to write, considering the gender-locked MC as well as the ROs and non-ROs.

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And here’s my weekly update, containing Chapter 2.

Here, Kimpoy Aurelious makes his debut, and there’s an accidental invention to boot!

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Obligatory weekly update, with Chapter 3.

Another alchemist joins the crew, and she has dog ears!

Fun fact: Neroko Folifort is highly inspired by the hololive Vtuber Inugami Korone. And that comes from someone who is not a huge fan of Vtubers in general.

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And it’s another weekly update with Chapter 4.

The refugee named Jojo Sickwati is an invaluable addition to the party with his trusty hand cannon (yes, there are guns in a fantasy world).

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The weekly update continues with Chapter 5.

Reycard Diospada the swordsman hates swords, and he wants to become a paranormal investigator instead.

And yeah, nobody replied to my question in the writer’s support thread about the subplot of a woman being murdered being too brutal for the game’s overall tone. On the flipside, though, the subplot itself has a happy ending, as the ghost behind it is exorcised in the end!

Additional note: Reycard’s first name is based on the Filipino singer-comedian duo Reycards, who were active from the 50s to the 90s.

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Sorry if my weekly update is a little late. I was short on money and thus didn’t have internet for a week. But now, I do!

Now onto what Chapter 6 contains: Falrika and company meet the warrior Dimael Elshaarawi, who is a young father.

Fun fact: Dimael is inspired by the warriors of the B’laan tribe, an indigenous tribe living in Southern Mindanao, Philippines.

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It’s now time for Chapter 7, and the non-binary elf Niko Iyali joins the party.

Fun fact: Niko’s fighting style is a combination of those of two Filipino action stars, Lito Lapid and Jun Aristorenas.

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Another weekly update is upon us, and thus Chapter 8 is uploaded.
Here, Falrika meets the paladin Charlize Catacutan, and she and her party even go to the paladin’s hometown and meet her girlfriend.

Now that all ROs and non-ROs are introduced, I’m setting up two polls, which should ask the obvious questions.

Favorite romantic option?
  • Joverlyn
  • Neroko
  • Reycard
  • Niko

0 voters

Favorite non-romantic option?
  • Kimpoy
  • Jojo
  • Dimael
  • Charlize

0 voters

Please state your reasons for your choice.
And also, as usual, suggest some things that will help improve the characterization of Falrika’s party members, especially for the least favorite ones.

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Note that the poll is still open right until I finish the entire WIP.

Alright, now that that is out of the way, may I present to you this week’s update, Chapter 9, which has Falrika’s party split up to both tackle an alchemist request and rehabilitate the resort, which means going to both the western and eastern ends of Amitabhilia.

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It’s another weekly update, and Chapter 10 is now up!

Here, someone attempts to spoil the party of one of the kingdom’s well-known socialites, Lady Nadine Limbaugh, and it’s up to Falrika and company to stop them!

I’ve also sneaked in a reference to Stone Cold Steve Austin in this chapter.

Furthermore, there will be a slight delay in the release date of the next chapter, as I’ll be busy with a local gaming convention where I’ll be exhibiting a visual novel I’ve made.

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I thought this was about an Iranian astral alchemist. Pretty bad rewrite…

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You may be thinking of Heavens’ Revolution: A Lion Among the Cypress.

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