How to playthe first hour
The first hour of the game, frame by frame: what happens on screen and what to take away from it. The frames come from the live game and the hints on them are real - what is on the frame is what is in the game. No spoilers here: the section does not go past the first hour.
1Intro
The workshop is yours now. The Boss went out for solder and never came back, and WINT - a robot he built out of rejects - has been keeping watch over the garage. This screen appears once, on first launch: read it and press “Open the garage”.
2Science first
Science comes first. The “Hands and kiln” node costs nothing and opens the machines of the first minute. Tap a node to light up the path to it; the card has the “Research” button. Every later node opens with the same gesture.
3Dig
Raw materials are dug up. The “Digging” row in the Workshop opens the sites, and “Dig” puts clay on the shelf. A site tells you its name once you have put a shovel in it.
4Machine and tooling
A machine is an operation; the tooling is the shape. Without a mould the press just squeezes air. Pick “Brick mould” in the tooling row above the slots: it decides what comes out.
5Loading
Loading: tap clay on the shelf and it goes into a slot. The brick recipe isn't known yet, so the button says “Take the risk”: only a run will tell what comes out. Press it: the load goes into the machine, and the green bricks land on the shelf one by one even if you leave the screen - they have shape, not strength. A recipe you already know shows up as an “I know” pill on the result card: a tap lays the whole load, and it stays in the slots after you press - press again.
6Firing
Green bricks go into the kiln, onto the “Firing hearth”. Firing can't be undone: you won't soak a brick back into clay. The shape is chosen before the kiln - a fired piece stays that way for good.
7Selling
Selling brings coins. Tap a brick on the shelf to open its card, then “Sell”, and confirm with “Sell for ₵N” in the sale window. Coins pay for learning: science costs money.
8The goal
Your goal is a project. A blueprint is a parts list plus a cash contribution. On the “Projects” tab open “Water wheel” and press “Make it the goal”: the list stays in sight in the Workshop.
9On your own
WINT steps aside but stays in the header: the button with his face opens the help window. Hints will still come on their own - at your first encounter with something new.
10Risk
An unknown load is a gamble. The game has no recipe for sand in a brick mould, and the button says so: “Take the risk”. Recipes are reasoned out, not brute-forced: if you know bricks are formed from clay, you already know how to play.
11A miss
A miss costs materials, not your patience. Didn't work - the materials are gone, but every load leaves its machine's scrap: slag, flash, swarf - sold for pennies. The dead end is remembered: next time the button turns red. Right machine and mould but the wrong amount - WINT will tell you so.
12An oddity
An oddity is a legitimate reject. Graphite in a crucible doesn't melt, it sulks: out comes “Very hot graphite”. Rejects have their own museum in the album, and collecting them is nothing to be ashamed of.
13Storage
Storage is counted in places. A full shelf stops digging and the automatons. Sell the extra or put it into a project - science will add room later.
14Contribution
A project takes contributions in coins and in parts. When you can afford it, WINT leads you to the goal card: the “Pay in ₵N” button. Parts go into the project from the same window and free up shelf space.
15Automation
An automaton fills up to its quota and stops by itself. After the “Collectors” node, the “Automation” tab lists collectors: “Buy” one, and clay digs itself while you are busy elsewhere. Set the quota to zero and it sleeps.
16Ask WINT
When you're stuck, ask WINT. The header button opens the help window, and “Open the handbook” brings you here, to the site, with a link for your stage: the handbook shows only what you have reached, no spoilers.