🏗️Time Juice🏗️

CRAFTER recipes:

⌛( 📦( 🔴 + 🔴 ) ) = 🟢

⌛( 📦( 🟢 + 🟢 ) ) = 🔵

⌛( 📦( 🔵 + 🔵 ) ) = 🟡

⌛( 🟡 ) = 🏆  

🏗️⚠️UNDER CONSTRUCTION⚠️🏗️ DEV NOTE: The rules of the game are working as intended, but in-game feedback on how you've gotten into a losing time loop is lacking.  You're welcome to give it a go if you think you have a handle on things. I'll be coming back to this game in a couple weeks to fix things up, so it may be a better experience to wait until then.  Otherwise, what you need to know:

1) The CRAFTER does not have enough time to produce output in the current universe before it is destroyed.  It will, however, produce it's contents within the TIME MACHINE as it travels backward in time.

2) CRAFTER's can fit into other CRAFTER's. Nested CRAFTER's will still process recipes as normal when sent back in time. You may also store stuff in the CRAFTER and send it back even if it is not a recipe.

3) Your actions are a function of what you can see "f(observation) = action".  For example, if you see a CRAFTER has been sent back in time through the TIME MACHINE and then decide to take it out, that decision will be recorded and played back on any future cycle where a CRAFTER has been sent back. Why? Causality. Your past self is identical in each cycle and you do not know what is in the CRAFTER until you take it out and can see what is inside. There is no causal effect that would result in you choosing a different action.  That outcome of that action, however, might be different depending on the contents of that CRAFTER.  For example, if the CRAFTER contained RED JUICE the first time you took it out of the TIME MACHINE, but then contained GREEN JUICE on a later cycle, then you will have a new opportunity to record actions through the end of the cycle.  This will result in a new forced action for any further cycles where the CRAFTER contains GREEN JUICE.

4) Left/right order matters as far as forced actions go.  A CRAFTER with (RED JUICE, GREEN JUICE) inside is a distinct from a CRAFTER with (GREEN JUICE, RED JUICE) inside.

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Congratulations!  You just built your first TIME MACHINE.  Unfortunately, it is terribly unstable and will destroy the universe in 5 seconds.  Anything inside the TIME MACHINE when this happens will be sent back to your past self.  You'll need to send supplies back in time to craft the TIME JUICE so you can stabilize reality.

Drag and drop to move stuff around and put things in other things.  Craft any of the recipes above by putting them into the CRAFTER and then sending it back in time.  The final product will then be available inside the CRAFTER when your past self opens it up.

⚠️NOTE⚠️ The unknown contents of a CRAFTER cannot influence the decisions of your past self; once you make a decision about what to do from a given starting state, your past self will always make that same decision automatically.  If you fall into an infinite time loop, you will be trapped forever without ever crafting the coveted time juice.  Plan carefully!

Made for the ThinkyCon Jam 2025 and inspired by several talks, but most prominently Fleb's talk on "Specific Objects":