Introducing OCRA

Welcome to my project: The Organic Chemistry Reaction App, OCRA!

OCRA is a puzzle game where the puzzles are real chemistry puzzles. More specifically, they are chemistry mechanism puzzles. I want this app to become a useful tool for chemists of all skill levels to practice their organic chemistry knowledge. I think chemistry mechanisms are fun, but many external factors combine to make it difficult for people to practice them. I hope this app can eliminate those factors and allow chemists of all skill levels to test their knowledge.

This game is designed by a chemist, for chemists. If you don't know very much about organic chemistry, you will find it hard to enjoy this game until tutorial features are added. The game isn't yet fleshed out enough for "all skill levels" yet. I strive for authenticity in the game: real chemical reactions drawn the way real chemists would draw them and solved the way real chemists would solve them. No cutting corners, no dumbing things down.

My vision is to have a massive library of puzzles (10,000+) and have the game assign puzzles to the player at random, but with an understanding of the player's skill level. This is not supposed to be a game where you start at puzzle 1 and complete every puzzle in order. It is supposed to be a game with so many puzzles that you will be continuously challenged and never encounter the same puzzle twice. My vision is something like a chess puzzle game, where the game gives you a random chess puzzle that is close to your chess puzzle rating (basically an Elo system on a scale of 0 to 3000+). When I say the game should assign puzzles based on your skill level, I'm talking about your in-game "chemistry puzzle rating", not your level of education. Hopefully, the two values mirror each other.

One last thing: I'm a chemist, not a game developer. Be gentle with me when discussing aspects of game development because its all new to me.

OCRA is available on Google Play as well: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ocra.ocra

I'm also making Devlog videos on youtube if you want to follow along there: