''Waterworks!'' is a card-based

strategy video game Strategy is a major video game genre that emphasizes thinking and planning over direct instant action in order to achieve victory. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as a genre, strategy games are most commonly defi ...

developed by Mateusz Sokalszczuk (also known by his online name Scriptwelder) in co-operation with the

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk ( pl, Uniwersytet Gdański) is a public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and is also an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History ...

and funded by the Polish

Ministry of Science and Higher Education {{Unreferenced, date=March 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A Ministry of Higher Education is a government department that focuses on the provision or regulation of institutions of higher education. In some countries these exist as ministries compounde ...

, which focuses on managing the water systems of the Polish city of

Grudziądz Grudziądz ( la, Graudentum, Graudentium, german: Graudenz) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its prov ...

during the

Middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Gameplay

''Waterworks!'' is card-based, with the player using a series of cards in order to grow

's water management system. As the game progresses, the water systems built become more complicated. The growing complexity of water systems the player must build correspond to those of the actual city of Grudziądz, which had to improve its waterworks as its population grew.

Development

''Waterworks!'' was initially conceived by Waclaw Kulczykowski of the University of Gdańsk, who was developing a thesis on the water systems of Grudziadz. The game took about a year to develop. After release, a patch was released that fixed numerous bugs relating to the storage of resources.

Reception

''Waterworks!'' was positively received by critics. ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'', in their review of the game, described it as "a superbly designed resource-management strategy game", and praised its card mechanics.

References

Video games developed in Poland 2020 video games Digital card games Construction and management simulation games Strategy video games MacOS games Video games set in Poland Windows games Armor Games games Single-player video games {{Card-videogame-stub