Inventors and tinkerers abound in the Victorian era, harnessing the power of clockwork, steam, and electricks to build machines capable of anything to give glory to Queen Victoria!
In the steampunk worker placement game Steam Works, you'll put your mechanics to work collecting components and power sources, then you'll literally build devices by assembling those sources and components. What's more, those devices in turn become action spaces for other players to use!
Each player takes on an inventor persona with unique starting components or special abilities accessible only to themselves. But the heart of the game is in assembling modular component tiles into a device for other players to use. Sources may provide one or more of the three power types — clockwork, steam, or Tesla-style electrickal power — to the components connected to them, which in turn provide a wide range of effects for gaining resources, prestige points, or more component tiles. Devices start simple with just two components (one source and one component), but devices with three, four or more components will become possible — as soon as the players assemble a device to let it be possible. Because of the modular mix-and-match nature of the components, the available action spaces vary widely from one game to the next, providing great replayability: each game players will create devices never seen before!
- doesn't look great
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine Building — it's another engine building style game where you're trying to connect things and then they make other things work.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The Morrigan Game Factory though, what a great escape room game. It might it's it's definitely in my top escape room games.
- Noobs in Space is one of my favorite little games that's so unique and interesting. You have a deck of cards, you deal them out to everybody. Everybody has cards in their hand, and then you just solve those cards by saying things out loud, working together to play cards, and hopefully you solve it. It communication is the key. You can say anything you want, uh but you just can't show cards. And it's hilarious and fun. Very, very enjoyable.
- If you really like what we're doing here at the Dice Tower, then there are different ways to support Dice Tower.
- Tell your friends about the Dice Tower.
References (from this video)
- Cool concept and interlocking machines
- Player interaction through shared machine spaces
- Output can feel underwhelming; vibe not reaching peaks
- Small iconography and compact tiles hinder usability
- Engine-building and interlocking machines
- Industrial steam-powered manufacturing
- Euro-heavy, mechanical
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Worker placement + engine-building — Place workers on machine tiles to build connections and earn rewards; can use others' placements
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this game is the definition of elegance in the game and there's zero bloat
- the engine building part I thought was pretty damn fantastic
- a filler that works; it's smooth and it's fun
- one of the best two-player games out there
- embrace the carnage
- the final product is better than the sum of its parts