Opus Magnum
Catch the falling elements of the alchemical Great Work and turn them into gold. Four stages, three fires, about three minutes.
A browser game
Opus Magnum
Catch the falling elements of the alchemical Great Work and turn them into gold. Four stages, three fires, about three minutes.
The work rests
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I made this game the way I make projects for clients: many separate parts, brought into one piece of work. If you need something interactive, write to me.
How the game works
Alchemists called their work the Opus Magnum, the Great Work: turning raw matter into the philosopher's stone. They followed it through four stages and recognised each by the colour of the matter in the vessel: black, white, yellow, red.
The game follows the same four stages. Your vessel is the Ouroboros, the serpent that eats its own tail. Whatever falls through the ring goes into the work. Gold is counted in grains, and the athanor, the alchemist's furnace, burns on three fires.
Nigredo — Calcination
Everything begins in the dark. Catch any element that falls and keep the dross out of the ring.
Gather 15 elements
Albedo — Separation
Now the work asks for one thing at a time. Catch only the element the recipe names. Anything else spoils the batch.
Follow four recipes
Citrinitas — Conjunction
Opposites must meet. Catch a pair in order: the first half waits in the ring until its partner comes. Watch the Green Lion: it eats a waiting Sun.
Join three pairs, then catch the Key
Rubedo — Multiplication
The last fire. Everything falls at once. The Pelican doubles your gold, the Phoenix relights a fire. When the time runs out, catch the Philosopher's Egg.
Hold out 30 seconds, then catch the Egg
Codex of elements
Ouroboros
The serpent eating its own tail: all is one, and the end returns to the beginning.
Your vessel. Move it with the mouse, a finger or the arrow keys.
Sun
Gold and the fixed principle. The goal of the work and its starting point.
A recipe element in Albedo and Citrinitas.
Moon
Silver and the volatile principle. The Sun's partner in every union.
A recipe element in Albedo and Citrinitas.
Green Lion
The raw solvent that devours the Sun: matter breaking down so it can be made again.
In Citrinitas it eats a waiting Sun.
Caduceus
The staff of Mercury, the messenger who joins what is opposed.
Pairs with the Green Lion in Citrinitas.
Salamander
The creature that lives in fire and is not burned.
Doubles your gold for five seconds.
Retort
The glass vessel of distillation, where vapour turns back into liquid.
Pairs with the Salamander in Citrinitas.
Armillary Sphere
A model of the heavens. As above, so below: the work keeps the timing of the stars.
A recipe element in Albedo.
Hourglass
The patience of the work, which cannot be hurried.
Slows the fall for five seconds. In Rubedo it adds five seconds.
Pelican
The bird said to feed its young with its own blood. For alchemists it stood for multiplication.
Doubles your gold for six seconds.
Phoenix
Rebirth from the ashes and the red of the finished work.
Relights one fire.
Key
The key to the work, given only once the opposites are joined.
Opens Rubedo.
Philosopher's Egg
The sealed vessel in which the stone is born.
Catch it to finish the work.
Philosophers' Tree
The fruit of the finished work, growing from the vessel.
Grows when you complete the Opus.
Dross
The waste that the fire has to burn away.
Puts out one fire.