I have been playing this game as if it is a drug itself, but I have a few suggestions to make place it on the next tier of addiction.
Game starts automatically paused (because I always pause it and go straight to the ingredients list anyways)
Machine-butting option to enable/disable via the settings.
More delivery methods, like inhalants(asthma inhalers), nasal spray(migraine relief), eye drops(allergy relief), liquid(cough syrup) and patches(painkiller).
Analyzer stops pulling items if it has already analyzed them fully (and has an option to toggle this on or off so it can still be an incinerator if needed)
Speaking of analyzer, I think I need incentive to upgrade it. I love the shaker’s upgrades, so maybe the analyzer can upgrade where it will tell you the concentration range of the current ingredient’s next level (putting removes warts into the upgraded analyzer will tell you the concentration range of Combats ADHD, but not it’s optimal concentration). Maybe also you could buy and analyze your competition’s drugs, assuming that your analyzer is upgraded.
An ingredient should show all levels of what it’s effects can be. This list should also show concentration ranges and optimal concentrations, if already known. This will greatly help in pre planning as I find myself making several tst lines just to determine the optimal line for what I actually want to make.
Side effects and cures positive effects) should impact your selling priced based off of what other effects are present in that drug. For example, what is wrong with the side effect of Causes Sleepiness when it in in an Cure Insomnia drug? On the flip side, don’t expect to get popular by selling a cure for ADHD that has the side effect of causing anxiety.
And speaking of popularity, how about giving a bonus to companies that have high overall drug ratings? I take pride in my “nothing lower than a C” motto when my rivals are getting F and averaging D. Maybe this could be in form of a bonus that gives me a bit of an edge in a saturated market?
Marketing Campaigns - Campaigns should cost a lot of money up front and its residual result should show similar to a drug’s rating bonus but should dwindle over time. Maybe you can keep them on for multiple months, at a cost, but I am trying to avoid suggesting something that somebody just turns on as soon as possible and forgets about. Some campaigns should only be available if your company has high overall ratings, while others are only available if your ratings are low.
Examples:
Influence buyers to pick yours over the competition - maybe another way to give you an edge in a saturated market, or maybe just a penalty to the sales of that category of drugs for your competition. Maybe this should only be an option if you achieve that high standard for your drugs.
To try to increase the demand - Inform the public of just how terrible it is that they suffer from <INSERT ANY AILMENT HERE> and give them the great news that they don't have to any longer! Your specified drug/ (or drug category) will see an increase in sales, but so will your competition's.
Downplay side effects - The side effects of this drug are almost entirely negated, but just for a time. There might be a chance that when this campaign runs out, the fallout from these side effects will be worse for a while. This option might only be made available if your company's over drug rating is under par.
Lobbying - Asking a law maker for higher regulation or taxation on certain drugs or categories of cures in order to hurt your competitor, or to see that your drugs (and only yours) are more profitable for a time. This should be a bonus similar to marketing, but more potent, and maybe result in some permanent bonus such as removing a side effect since a law was passed (in a completely unrelated matter) saying that a drug derived from a particular ingredient cannot be found to cause a particular side effect. However, this should have the potential to cause you some sudden headaches. Maybe that particular law-maker comes under fire and your shady dealings are revealed, maybe he gets greedy and demand a sum of money unexpectedly with threat of affecting your sales if you don’t pay him, or maybe your competition can pay him a bit more and “buy” him from you. Lobbying in general should be reserved for a low-rated company.
Charity - Getting involved in the community and in suffering areas by giving them free shipments (not free for you though) of a particular drug. As a result of all your money, perhaps that drug will see a boost in sales, cause your rivals some grief for not doing the same or maybe even give a permanent bonus to that particular drug since it was praised so much by the media when it was being so freely given. This should be similar to lobbying, but instead only for a higher ranked company.
Sugar pills should make you money, but only if you market them properly based off of the current demand for a particular cure maybe, and the profit should decrease quite fast until its costing you. However, it may be wise to take it off market before somebody analyzes it and discovers your secret and hurts your rating, and that can happen at any time. Or maybe you want to take your chances and give them a chance to become a fad and you can see profits soar (I’m thinking weight loss pills in real life). The chances that either one of these things happen should be dependant on the type of rating you have as a company, but they should be very rare and the profit on sugar pills should slope to making you no profit and costing you the cost of production regardless.
F-rated drugs can kill people. This will balance out the A+ that cures people.
Ability to move sockets in a room, maybe just at a very high cost and only to certain areas. I say this because sometimes the placement is just terrible! Also, the ability to add sockets to a room, although only a few per room. I only suggest this because it frustrates me so much when there is an unneeded socket just sitting there all useless or the particular socket placement is too close, I end up putting small lines in the room and not the middle half of the room sits there unused.
Contracts to make a particular, otherwise unavailable cure/drug in a certain time frame in a certain volume. Success will get you money and maybe access to that ingredient. failure will make your efforts in vain, and maybe come with a penalty. This should be challenging enough where I have to stop and decide whether or not I even want to mess with it. Maybe this ingredient requires a lot of high-end equipment (you know, that stuff at the top of the research page that I never bother using) or maybe its concentration range does not show until you actually raise the concentration to within it.
Regardless, keep up the good work and I will look forward to the future for this game.