Potion Permit is a gorgeous pixel sim RPG about the life of a chemist in Moonbury, and it’s heading to Xbox later this year. For our latest Xbox Indie Spotlight, we reached out to developer MassHive Media.Potion Permit looks to be an entirely charming and wholesome sim RPG, all about the life of a chemist in Moonbury. We’ve had an eye on this one for a while, so we reached out to developer MassHive Media, with creative director Andika Pradana having been kind enough to answer all of our Potion Permit questions.What is Potion Permit?Potion Permit is an open-ended sim RPG about a chemist in the town of Moonbury. It’s in development from MassHive Media and is published by PQube.When does Potion Permit launch?We don’t yet have a specific release date for Potion Permit, but it’s expected to launch later this year.What’s it about?In Potion Permit, we play as one of the most “accomplished” chemists of the Medical Association. We’re told that “the town of Moonbury has always been wary of the advances of the outside world, preferring to rely on their traditional methods of healing. Until one day, when the mayor’s daughter falls ill, and the local witch doctor can do nothing to help her, they are forced to look outside their small community for help.” That’s where we come in. We’ll be looking not only to heal the mayor’s daughter and the residents of Moonbury, but to convince them all about “the wonders of modern alchemy.” Oh, and we won’t be alone — our “loyal dog companion” will come with us in our adventures.“At first, we were inspired by various game genres with mostly slice of life, simulation kind of games. However, we realized that most types of that genre are focusing on farming simulations and thus we want to twist our direction just a little bit,” Pradana says. “We want to step forward outside the farming simulation games and we decided to go for a chemist life simulation game. However, making such a tiny twist isn’t that easy at all. We tried our best to stand out with our own ideas and direction without disregarding the design of the game. Besides the uniqueness of the gameplay we want to provide, we want to elevate the narration of the game by giving such an unusual and interesting story that blends well with our mechanic.”How does Potion Permit play?So, diagnosing symptoms, gathering ingredients, and brewing remedies will be a big part of the game, but we’ve also got to gain the trust of Moonbury’s inhabitants and build relationships with them, as well as fighting off monsters when hunting for ingredients, upgrading the town, going fishing, playing dice games in the tavern, and more. “Daily life in Moonbury is relaxing and moves forward at a slow pace,” Pradana says. “You, as a chemist, will wake up early and start your day by checking if there’s any patient in your clinic to diagnose and cure. When you feel that you have run out of materials, you’ll need to go to the wild to collect some materials required for your potions. Not to forget befriending the villagers so they won’t treat you as a stranger as they did in the beginning.”We’ll be armed with a hammer, axe, and sickle for gathering ingredients and fighting off monsters, and will need to take the materials and ingredients we find back to our cauldron, where we can brew not only remedies to cure the sick but also potions to help us in battle. “Every patient who falls ill sometimes needs to be diagnosed first when the symptoms are still undefined,” Pradana explains. “Once the symptoms have been revealed, then you’ll know what type of remedy is required to cure those symptoms. The next thing to do would be brewing that particular remedy with any of the materials the player has.” As we become more experienced, we’ll find more complex recipes for stronger concoctions, and it looks as though brewing potions will involve puzzles and a minigame. We also wondered if there was any possibility our chemist might accidentally do more harm than good when brewing remedies, but Pradana assures us, “every concoction within the game is meant to have a good effect as the purpose of the chemist within Moonbury is taking care of those who need help.”As we heal the residents of Moonbury, our reputation will grow, and those inhabitants will begin to trust us a little more. The devs hint that we might “even find ourselves growing particularly close to certain bachelors or bachelorettes.” As our approval rating grows, we’ll be able to improve Moonbury by upgrading public buildings and the explorable areas near Moonbury. “Some parts of the town will be developed over time as players befriend the villagers,” Pradana says. “As the friendship with the villagers grows, they will collectively fix some parts of the town to show their affection and appreciation towards the main character.” We’ll also, it seems, get to “design our own home,” and can craft or buy furniture to decorate it. In our time off, we can chat with the people of Moonbury, check out the tavern, do some fishing, or whatever else takes our fancy; the devs emphasise that there are no time limits — “players are free to go at their own pace.”Potion Permit looks to be an entirely relaxing experience, and we were curious about the decision to add monsters and combat. “Although it will be such a relaxing and cosy game, we would like to balance the overall vibes which could be a little more challenging and rewarding,” Pradana says. “We want the player to be able to discover and explore the island with fairly casual combat elements. Furthermore, to learn about the monsters and plantations lore and the overall world building.”What’s the world like?We’ll be heading to the charming town of Moonbury. Over on the Potion Permit site, we’re told that Moonbury “is a delightfully charming location where time seems a little slower and life is just a little more relaxed than the big city.” We’ll be exploring all around in our adventures. The island, we’re told, “is an independent island separated from the main island. It’s a peaceful island with many types of fields to explore, varieties of plantations, monsters, cultures and more to discover. Although the game will have a relaxing phase, your day won’t be boring as there are a lot of new things to discover every single day.” We haven’t seen too much of the world just yet, but intriguingly, the devs do mention “dense fog, droughts, [and] strong blizzards,” and even “the baking heat of a desert.”Part of Potion Permit’s charm and relaxing atmosphere seems to originate from the lovely pixel art style. “We had experimented on a few different art styles before we settled with this one as this is our second pixel art game,” Pradana explains. “Previously the sprite size was fairly small but we decided to enlarge the sprites so the details of the character could speak louder regarding the storytelling. And since the goal of the game is heading towards cosiness, we shape the design and colour to give more heart-warming vibes.”Any news on the Potion Permit achievements? We don’t yet have the Potion Permit achievements, but Pradana tells us, “since everyone’s goals while playing our game are different from one another, we decided to reward players from several different aspects. But players’ highest achievements within the game would be successfully accepted as a chemist in Moonbury Island. There are also a bunch of collectibles within the game that can be acquired throughout the game from several different activities,” Pradana continues. “We want to make every single activity as rewarding and challenging but cosy at the same time.”Potion Permit looks like just what the doctor ordered — what, out of all that it offers, is Pradana most excited for players to experience? “To immerse themselves in the experience of a chemist’s life, and obviously to empower the feelings that helping other people is not only noble, but cool and fun,” Pradana responds. What do you think? Will you be helping out the residents of Moonbury when Potion Permit launches? Let us know what you think in the comments!
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