Clogwork, a factory game where pieces have real shapes, launches free Steam demo

Developer stromdev released a free demo for Clogwork on Steam, a factory game built around a design insight that came after roughly five failed prototypes over 10 years. The developer, who says they have 15 years of games industry experience working for others, had long wanted to make a factory game after getting hooked on Factorio, but earlier attempts never clicked. One prototype got far but was not fun: players chose recipes and sent ingredients to make robots, with nothing engaging about it.

The breakthrough came from giving the pieces real shapes. Players can cut them, glue them together, push them, and rotate them, all without leaving the belts. The developer prototyped the idea, loved it, and built the game around it.

The developer acknowledges the game is hard for beginners and is asking for feedback, good or bad. The demo is live on Steam at store.steampowered.com/app/3404030/Clogwork.