Log inNTR:BSS 2- Prerelease Update: Brewing System
The brewing system in Naughty Time Rendering: Brewing School Shenanigans is heavily inspired by the old Flash game Magic Shop by RoninSong, where simple ingredient combinations could lead to different transformation outcomes.
In Brewing School Shenanigans, that idea becomes part of the school routine: gather ingredients, combine them with a base potion, choose a test subject, and see what happens.
Gathering Ingredients
Ingredients are mainly found by exploring the Underworks beneath Oakenshire Academy.
There are four types of ingredients: Plants, Minerals, Animals, and Essences.
Each ingredient belongs to one of these categories. As the school term progresses, rarer ingredients become available. Early in the game, the player only has access to a smaller pool of materials. Later terms gradually open the door to more unusual ingredients and more possible recipes.
This helps the brewing system grow alongside the story. The player is not given every option at once. Instead, the recipe list expands as Natrick and the Brewing Club move deeper into the school year.
Recipes and Transpotion
Every transformation potion is created by combining two different ingredients with transpotion, the base fluid used by the Brewing Club.
The structure is simple:
Ingredient A + Ingredient B + Transpotion = Transformation Potion
Because each recipe uses a pair of different ingredients, discovery becomes a major part of the system. The player may know what some combinations do, but many recipes must be learned through experimentation.
By the end of the game, there will be 12 ingredients in total, resulting in 66 possible ingredient pairs.
Brewing is built around this process of recipe discovery. You gather materials, test combinations, record the results, and slowly build a better understanding of what each ingredient pair can produce.
The player can currently brew up to three times per time period, making brewing a repeatable part of the daily routine rather than a rare event.
Choosing a Test Subject
After brewing a potion, the player must choose a test subject.
The potion is used immediately, transforming the selected character based on the recipe result.
Currently, the available test subjects are: Natrick, Jenny, and Fohlen
Revita is planned to become available later as the story progresses.
Each test subject gives the system a different result. A recipe that works on one character may not behave the same way on another. Because of that, the same brewing system can create different transformations depending on who receives the potion.
Compatibility and Failed Results
Not every potion works on every subject.
Some transformation potions may be incompatible with certain characters. When that happens, the result is a failed dud explosion instead of a successful transformation.
This gives the system a second layer beyond simply finding recipes. The player is not only discovering what each ingredient pair creates, but also learning which characters are compatible with each potion.
Transformation Results
When a potion succeeds, the selected subject transforms immediately in the Brewing Club.
At the current stage, this mainly happens through an immediate brewing interaction: the player brews the potion, chooses the test subject, and sees the result right away. This is the core feedback loop of the system.
Later, some transformations may become interactable during the brewing scene, allowing the player to get additional spicy actions from the transformed subject before the scene ends.
Separate from that, some transformations may unlock transformation events outside the Brewing Club. These would happen later during free-roam or other parts of the day, especially if a transformation lasts long enough to affect what happens after brewing.
These features are not fully implemented yet, but they are part of the planned direction for making transformations matter beyond the initial potion result.
Research and Progression
In future updates, the player will be able to perform research in the Library Archive.
Research is planned to improve the brewing system by increasing brew time and helping the player gather more ingredients in the Underworks. This gives academic progression a practical role in the game loop.
A more prepared Natrick will be able to experiment more efficiently.
The Role of Brewing
From a development perspective, the system gives me a flexible way to explore different kinks without forcing every idea into the main story. Since each recipe can produce a different transformation, brewing allows optional content to exist as part of the game loop rather than as disconnected side scenes.
