''The Clockwork Man'' is a

hidden object Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

adventure

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

series developed by Greek development studio Total Eclipse Games. Featuring a

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

setting, ''The Clockwork Man'' games typically require players to find a certain number of items hidden somewhere on a painted scene, as well as solve a variety of adventure and logical puzzles in order to progress through the game. The original ''The Clockwork Man'' was released in March 2009, with a sequel titled ''The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World'', being released in July of the next year. A spin-off

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

game titled ''A Clockwork Brain'' was released in 2012, exclusively for mobile platforms.

Gameplay

''The Clockwork Man'' games rely heavily on

gameplay, wherein players must search each scene in a series of hand-painted, interactive tableaux for a number of objects listed at the bottom of the screen. Players collect these objects by clicking on them. Apart from object-finding, adventure-style puzzles are further introduced to the gameplay. Once all hidden objects have been collected, and all puzzles have been solved, players may progress to the next scene. ''The Clockwork Man'' introduced a novel scroll and zoom mechanic, allowing players to zoom-in on scenes to get a closer look, as well as pan the camera left and right, which allows players to explore their surroundings using a

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

effect. In case a player is unable to find one of the objects, hints can be requested from the main character's sidekick, Sprocket the automaton, at the cost of depleting its energy supply (which is gradually restored over time). Once players finish the main game, a "Freeplay" mode is unlocked, allowing players to replay any of the game's tableaux, featuring randomly generated positions for each of the objects players are tasked to find.

Games

Main series

''The Clockwork Man''

''The Clockwork Man'' is the first installment in ''The Clockwork Man'' franchise and was released on March 18, 2009. The game was published by RealGames. Set in an alternate timeline featuring a

version of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the player takes on the role of Miranda Calomy, the last in a long line of engineers and inventors with a talent for problem-solving. Accompanied by Sprocket, an automaton Miranda built over the years, and which has developed sentience and personality, the duo embarks on a worldwide quest to find Miranda's long-lost grandfather, and help him compile the parts to the world's greatest invention. ''The Clockwork Man'' was released as an online game download for PC, Mac and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

, while a physical release was made available on

Avanquest BVRP Software SA is a Paris-based software company that has purchased American software companies. A 2007 acquisition placed it, according to one report, as then being the sixth largest publisher of consumer software in the United States. Histor ...

's GSP Click & Play label. In September 2011, Total Eclipse announced the game would be made available on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, along with its sequel, ''The Hidden World''.

''The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World''

''The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World'', also known as ''The Clockwork Man 2'', is the second installment in ''The Clockwork Man'' franchise, released on July 21, 2010 and published by

GameHouse GameHouse is a casual game developer, publisher, digital video game distributor, and portal, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a division of RealNetworks. GameHouse distributes casual games for PC and Mac computers, as well as ...

. It features the return of Miranda Calomy and Sprocket, this time embarking on a quest to find Miranda's parents, discover the titular Hidden World, and stop a group of conspirators from laying waste to it. The game plays similar to its predecessor, relying heavily on hidden object gameplay and logical puzzles, albeit introducing some new features, such as a journal recording the player's progress and including clues and information useful for completing several stages in the game, as well as a map positioned in the lower right corner, which can be used to quickly travel between available locations. ''The Hidden World'' was once again released as a downloadable game for PC and Mac by

, while a physical release was made available as part of Avanquest's GSP casual game catalogue, which bundled the game with the original ''The Clockwork Man'' title. It was later released on Steam by Total Eclipse, along with its predecessor in September 2011.

Spin-off games

''A Clockwork Brain''

''A Clockwork Brain'' was released in 2012 and is the first title in ''The Clockwork Man'' franchise to be released for portable devices. ''A Clockwork Brain'' features an assortment of one-minute puzzles, designed to test players' perception, logic, pattern recognition skills etc. With a distinct visual identity blending Victorian-era steampunk aesthetics and

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

art, ''A Clockwork Brains gameplay draws heavy inspiration from games like ''

Big Brain Academy ''Big Brain Academy'' is a series of puzzle video games developed and published by Nintendo. Similar to the Brain Age series, each game features a number of activities designed to test, measure, and improve the player's mental skills. The first tw ...

'' and '' Who Has The Biggest Brain?''. The game features Sprocket, the automaton character of previous ''The Clockwork Man'' games, as the players' guide. Puzzles in ''A Clockwork Brain'' are not tied to any particular story, and have no real sense of progress, meaning not one puzzle has greater priority over the other. Each challenge features 4 mini-games in sequence, each one lasting exactly one minute, and featuring adaptive difficulty to match players' improving skills. Six more mini-games were developed by Total Eclipse and offered as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

through in-app purchases. Since its initial release on the App Store on February 15, 2012, ''A Clockwork Brain'' eventually became the number one free Educational Game app in the Store. To date, the game has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, and has been highlighted as one of the ''500 best apps in the world for 2013'' by

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

. The game was eventually released on the Windows Store on December 19, 2015, and on the Google Play Store on December 24, 2015.

References

External links

Total Eclipse Games official website''A Clockwork Brain'' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clockwork Man, The Casual games Adventure games Android (operating system) games Hidden object games IOS games Steampunk video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Greece Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2009 Windows games Windows Phone games MacOS games Linux games Mobile games