Monthly ·
Clockwork Duelist — Think Three Beats Ahead
A strategy-lite brass battler. Program three moves from a hand of punch-cards, pull the lever, and watch tiny automata settle it beat by beat.
The Game
Clockwork Duelist is a strategy-lite battler about thinking three beats ahead. You and a wind-up automaton each secretly program three moves from a hand of brass punch-cards, then the round resolves beat by beat on a music-box stage — fast, readable, and occasionally heartbreaking.
Core Loop
Six cards: Strike High, Strike Low, Guard High, Guard Low, Wind-Up (skip a beat to double your next strike and break guards) and Sidestep (dodges any strike, but sidestep twice in a row and you're punished). Fill your three slots, pull the COMMIT lever, and watch the outcome matrix play out — clangs for blocks, thunks for hits, sparks everywhere. Crack three of your opponent's cogs before they crack yours, across up to five exchanges with sudden death if needed.
The hook is the telegraph: before each round the enemy leaks part of its program in steam puffs and gear ticks ("beat 2: something HIGH…"). Climb the ladder and opponents telegraph less — and start counting your habits.
The Cards
| Card | Effect |
|---|---|
| Strike High | Attack the upper line |
| Strike Low | Attack the lower line |
| Guard High | Block the upper line |
| Guard Low | Block the lower line |
| Wind-Up | Skip a beat — double your next strike and break guards |
| Sidestep | Dodges any strike — but twice in a row gets punished |
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Click / Keys 1–6 | Play a card into a slot |
| Backspace | Remove a card |
| Enter | Commit the program |
Touch & iPad: tap cards in, tap slots to clear, one big COMMIT lever. Resolution can be tapped to fast-forward. All targets at least 48px.
Session & Scoring
- A match runs two to four minutes
- Crack three opponent cogs to win, across up to five exchanges
- Sudden death if the exchange limit is reached
- Ladder rank and total wins persist in localStorage (
anagnorisis-clockwork-duelist) - The complete outcome matrix is viewable from the title screen — the game hides its opponent's plans, never its rules
Visual & Audio
A music-box brass theatre: warm dark wood, two silhouetted clockwork duelists with visible turning gears, copper-and-verdigris palette, embossed punch-card icons, a rotating governor flywheel as the beat timer, and a comic spring-pop defeat with scattering gears. Tick-tock underscores every resolution; clangs, thunks, boings and a music-box arpeggio do the rest.
Technical Notes
Single self-contained HTML file, vanilla JS, procedural art and audio. Turn-based, touch-first, ladder AI ranges from random to habit-counting.
Sixth release in the Apps & Games monthly series — a new game every month.
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Content on Anagnorisis is summarized, paraphrased, and editorialized from publicly available sources for length and clarity. Original sources are linked where available. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
