Brewing

**Brewing** is one of the core gameplay mechanics in Potion Permit, and is how the player crafts Potions to cure the residents of Moonbury Town. It is accessed through the **Cauldron**.

## Overview and Controls

The Brewing mechanic is begun by walking up to the cauldron in the center of the main room of the Potion House and interacting with it ("J" in PC, "X" on console). This will open up a list of potions the player is able to currently create, and selecting one of the available recipes will open up the cauldron.

### Cauldron

Once open, the cauldron has a few notable visual attributes; a list of ingredients/Materials on the left arranged by Element (Fire, Water, Earth, or Wind), a grid over the water with certain squares outlined on the grid, and a curving set of ten circular lights (found to the left of the water grid, but to the right of the materials).
#### Material List

Each Material in the list will have a small icon that shows both how many blocks/squares it fills and in what shape (such as ▜, which fills 3 blocks in a corner). Materials you currently have will be lit up, and the corner of the image will number how many you have. Materials that you have discovered before, but have none of, will have the material greyed out but the fill-shape remaining. Materials you have not discovered yet will be a black silhouette. The button to swap between materials of different elements will be shown at the top of the material area ("Q" and "E" for PC, "LB" and "RB" for console).

#### Brewing

The Brewing process itself is done by arranging the materials within the cauldron grid correctly, **completely** filling the outlined template given by the potion recipe with no more and no less.

This is done by hovering over the desired Material with the yellow brackets [], then selecting it ("K"/Enter on PC, "A" on Console). Once selected, the material will appear within the top-left of the cauldron water grid, in a tetris-like shape. Each shape can then be moved (WASD on PC, joystick on console) across the grid until it is over the grid squares you wish to place it. Pressing the select button ("K"/Enter on PC, "A" on Console) once more will lock it into place, though only if it is an area available within the outlined potion template. Using the back/cancel button ("L" on PC, "B" on console), will remove the last material placed in the cauldron. As an example:

Template in Cauldron for Wound CleanserTemplate filled in with 2 Basil and 1 Jasmine
Once the entire potion template outline is filled in with materials, you can then complete the brewing process by pressing the confirm button ("K"/Enter on PC, "A" on Console). The completed potion will immediately be added to the player's Inventory. The recipe button ("J" in PC, "X" on console) will also complete the potion, while adding a record of what materials you used into your recipe book for later use.

#### Material Limits

The ten lights are small, with half of them covered in bronze metal, and are easily missed. They represent how many Materials total the player can use to craft a potion, and will light up as each material is added. For example, one material added to the potion template will cause one light to become green, while 2 materials cause 2 to light up, and so on.

Additionally, certain recipes will only allow the use of specific elements, while rejecting others. When this is the case, the rejected elements will have a red slash or cross over them, both underneath the potion's name and within the material menu.

### Saving Recipes

After creating any potion five times or more, the player can choose to save a personal arrangement/amount of materials they used by turning it into a "recipe." These recipes are accessed from the potion selection list. After hovering over the desired recipe, rather than using the confirm button that starts the regular cauldron GUI ("K"/Enter on PC, "A" on console), instead use the "Recipe" button ("J" on PC, "X" on console). This opens a short list, with each section showing the materials used and how many of each were used. Selecting ("K"/Enter on PC, "A" on console) the desired potion recipe once will prepare to craft one potion, though using the movement buttons (WASD on PC, joystick on console) the player can choose to brew more than one potion at a time. Pressing the select button once more will automatically brew the potion(s), skipping over the manual crafting and using up the noted materials.

This aspect allows the player to craft multiples of a Potion at one time.

*Time to research for Bug Repellent.*

There are known bugs related to the content on this page. They have only been mentioned to assist the player's convenience and avoid potential frustration, NOT to discredit the game or its developers.

*Known Bugs Include:*
* Recipes not saving.
* Recipes taking until the next day or login session to show up on the saved list.

## Unlocking

At the beginning of the game Xiao will bring Runeheart to the Potion House, and she will repair the broken cauldron. Once repaired the Chemist can immediately start using it to brew potions, so long as they have enough Materials.

Screen after the cauldron's repair
### Cauldron Upgrades

The Cauldron can be upgraded through the various "Cauldron Upgrades" available for purchase at Hearts and Sparks smithy. The initial Cauldron will have 5 out of the 10 lights open, showing that by default. Each Cauldron Upgrade will open one more light, which will allow the chemist to add one more material to a potion per light.

### New Potion Types

The player starts with five default potion recipes, which cure the most basic of illnesses. More recipes are obtained by upgrading the Clinic through Bulk and Build, and/or by completing special "Chemistry Test" Quests given by the Medical Association. Each time these are completed successfully, the player will recieve a group of new potion recipes.

Screen after completing any "Chemistry Test" Quest