Zaphox · making Refractory

Primeworks has a new name: Refractory. Same game: a neon factory where beams of light wake color in rock, and every prime is a new color. The name says what it is about: light, bent and sent where you want it. zaphox.itch.io/refractory #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

Refractory's palette: one color per prime, eleven so far. A rock takes the color of the largest prime in the sum of its beams, so 12 = 2×2×3 is red and 26 = 2×13 is orange. A new prime only colors sums that were dark; it never repaints an old one. #gamedev #gamedesign #indiedev #godot

How the dark in Refractory works, in Godot: one SubViewport cleared to the ambient grey, every light a white quad added onto it, the lot drawn over the world with a multiply. Anything with a hue draws above it, so a red rock stays red. One pass, however many lights. #gamedev #indiedev #godot

Something lives in the dark: moths. They fly out grey to your silos and turn the color they drink. A laser of another color pops one and it drops what it drank. Or light a lamp: fed moths circle it. zaphox.itch.io/refractory #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

The further from the start, the darker the cave. Your own light cuts it: the lamp you carry, every beam, every lit rock. The colors never dim: a red rock is the same red at the rim. Free in your browser: zaphox.itch.io/refractory #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

New in Refractory: labs. A lab takes light from every side and wants a sum of exactly N. Here N is 8: blue 5 + red 3 lights it green. A lone 5 is too little, two 5s too much. Every number you prove moves N, so the rigs get rebuilt. #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

Research in Refractory is a sieve. Each number a lab proves lights up on the board, in the color of its largest prime. Point at one and only its multiples stay lit. Play it in your browser: zaphox.itch.io/refractory #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

A new optic in Refractory: the phase lens. A beam through it passes the first rock it meets and presses the one behind, so the veins inside a rock mass can be mined without digging to them. Here with the violet turret's 11. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

New tool: the absorber. It swallows any beam that meets it, from every side. Here a 5 and a 2 make 7, so the rock glows yellow. Drop an absorber in the 2's path and the rock falls back to 5, blue. Free in your browser: zaphox.itch.io/refractory #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

The tech tree in Refractory now has seals. A seal has no price: it waits for flow, turrets piped to the tech building making enough of each color at once. Nothing is spent and it stays open, so a stockpile banked early can't carry you any more. #gamedev #gamedesign #indiedev #godot

Refractory's title screen caught up with the new name. It is still made of rocks: turrets fire one beam at a time, and each letter ends on its own prime's color. Play it in your browser: zaphox.itch.io/refractory #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

Changed the core rule of my mining game: a rock now takes the color of the largest prime in the pressure on it. 3+3 = 6 stays red, 5+5 = 10 is blue, 3+7 = 10 blue too. Green is only powers of two, so it's now the rare one. #gamedev #gamedesign #indiedev #godot

In Primeworks a rock's color is the pressure on it. Laser 5 makes it blue, swap to laser 3 on the tool wheel and it turns red. Each laser now comes from an altar of its color. The drill just breaks it. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

The tech tree in Primeworks is now four color triangles round an empty center. Light an altar to free its core, finish a triangle to open the way to the next altar. Buy all four and the center opens the map. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

Primeworks 0.3.4 is out: a new opening. The tech building hands you a tube, one pipe lights the blue altar, and the altar gives you your first laser. Devlog: zaphox.itch.io/primeworks #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

the little guy has an eye now 👀 it follows your cursor everywhere, and when you zap a rock with your laser it turns the color of the beam 💙💚💜 #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming

primeworks 0.3.3: every turret now shows what it yields, and the HUD adds it up per color. Also new: a sprint, a settings menu, and the player finally has an eye. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godot #gaming