Robot Factory

Robot Factory is an idle game drawn as a side-on cutaway of a bright, boxy toy works in cream, teal and cherry red. Afternoon light comes through the sawtooth roof onto riveted girders, swinging pressure gauges and a conveyor that snakes through the whole hall. Press the big red crank button and a blank of tin lands on the belt: the stamping press slams it into a body shell, the welding arm throws sparks over the head and arms, the paint booth breathes a cloud of colour, the key winder drives a brass wind-up key into its flank, and the quality lamp flashes green as the painted smile goes on. Then the packer lifts it into a crate, a little tow truck hauls the crate away, and the bolts land in your tin.

Six machines make up the line, and every one you buy takes a blank one stage further, so a finished robot is worth many times a bare pressed shell. Levelling a machine makes it cycle faster and feed more blanks a second, with a free bonus every tenth, twenty-fifth and fiftieth mark. Worker robots keep cranking without you, a faster conveyor moves more tin, a second belt opens behind the first, crate trucks squeeze more out of every shipment and a steam whistle blows a burst of free cranks every few minutes. Blueprints unlock new patterns — a tin dog, a rocket bot, a teapot bot, a drum bot and a huge tracked giant — each worth more than the last and each with its own little wind-up walk. Meanwhile the floor keeps you honest: a machine jams and smokes until you tap it clear, a rush order doubles every robot's value for thirty seconds, a gauge climbs into the red, an inspector calls, and now and then a finished robot hops off the belt and runs for the door.

When the line has grown as far as it can, retool it. Everything on the floor goes back in the crate and comes out as gold gears, which make every later run richer and unlock a new factory livery: midnight blue plate, candy pink, or polished chrome. Achievements and a showroom of every model you have ever built stay with you across retools, and the night shift keeps working for up to eight hours while the tab is closed, with a card waiting to tell you what it boxed. It saves as you play, so you can put it down mid-crank and pick it up later.