Magic Game

In secret of evermore (SNES RPG) you collected ingredients to create magic formulas.  Your dog sniffed out the locations where you could dig out an ingredient.

how do you get ingredients in the witches brew...   Its like cooking with precise formulas and timing   but where is the fun in it?   Maybe the way the Vat bubbles and boils when you throw something in.   Maybe you can mix test tubes  and create small explosions.   They after you've created your masterpeice you go outside and practice it on little creatures crawling around outside.  HA

Maybe the puzzles are in decrypting an ancient text.   You have to peice together the information from the pages of a book.
When you get part of the spell right, the letters of the text highlight.  The accuracy of the spell results in different colors for the highlight (like sharps and flats in music)

Once again, these magic spells become more like a performance art then a precise formula.   Just like DDR is only memorization and doesn't allow improvisation.    What happens when you create spells with alternative ingredients because you are missing something?

The reason you create spells is that you fill requests from other people.   So you have to pull all your resources to solve their problems.  You can send them on quests to retrieve what you need.  You have to be careful about who you send, since some ingredients are too dangerous for them to get.   You can refer to your texts and notes to discover the whereabouts and dangers of each ingredient.  Some are mysterious and some are obvious.

Use all the terms a baker would.   Add in some zesty and repulsive stuff that seems more evil for the black magic.  

pouring: using the analog sticks or mouse.  You can drag up or down with left/right mouse button to control pouring of 2 bottles at once or use the dual analog for same thing.  You visually see the recipe change and decide when it reaches the right consistency.

mixing: touchscreen, analog or mouse - visually show the mixture become more uniform...

releasing gas that was captured in a bottle (for example dragons breathe  or smell of an orchid)

toss: Some ingredients are too dangerous to be closeby when they are added.  You can back up and toss them into the mix instead and watch the chaos.  The further away you are the better, but harder to make the shot. 

Making repeated mistakes can hurt your reputation or cause you injury or death.  Don't try this at home.

Another layer to the story could be choosing to create a spell that doesn't do what was requested, but does something you want that is evil or good.  The outcome on the victum will change your reputation (good/evil) and your clients will change accordingly.   A good person will have different intentions then an evil person for your magic.   Sometimes the client will bring you more ancient texts to learn from.   Or you send them on a quest to find/steal books from other places in the world.

All the characters, ingredients, and world locations will be invented and part of the Grasp of the Fallen universe.