CLOCKWORK CLIMB

A timing-based 3D platformer built for the Gamedev.js Jam 2026 — Theme: MACHINES.

You are a tiny bronze robot climbing an infinite clockwork tower. Jump between rotating gears, collect bolts, chain combos, complete per-run contracts, and chase daily challenge seeds. The tower never ends — how high can you go?

Also on Wavedash (with leaderboards & achievements) | tommyato.com

How to Play

• WASD / Arrow Keys — Move
• Space / Click / Tap — Jump
• Escape — Pause
• Mobile — Virtual joystick + jump button

Features

• 🔧 8 Gear Types — Normal, Speed (cyan boost), Wind (blue lateral push), Magnetic (purple center pull), Bouncy (green 1.4x jump), Crumbling (red glow + shake), Piston (auto-launch), and golden Milestone gears at zone boundaries
• ⚡ Infinite Procedural Climb — Streaming gear generation with 40m buffer. No ceiling, no loading screens, no limits.
• 📅 Daily Challenge — One fixed seed per day, same for every player. Compete on a level playing field.
• 📝 Run Contracts — Three random per-run mini-challenges ("Reach 100m", "Chain 3 air bolts", "Survive 45s shield-break-free") roll at run start, award bonus score on completion.
• 🪂 Charge-Based Double Jump — Permanent-until-death pickup for tight high-altitude gaps (Metroid-style)
• 🛡️ Stackable Shields — Layered visual feedback as you collect more — each hit consumes one layer
• ❄️ Gear-Freeze Power-up — Momentarily pause the rotation of nearby gears for a clean line
• 🏆 20 Achievements — From "First Climb" to "Chrome Abyss" — unlock milestones as you master the tower
• 📊 3 Leaderboards — High score, highest climb, and best combo. Compete globally.
• 💾 Cloud Saves — Your progress persists across sessions
• 🔥 Combo System — Chain gear landings within 2.5s for 2x–5x score multipliers with fireworks celebrations
• 💊 Power-ups — Bolt magnet (8s attraction radius), slow-mo (3s time dilation), shield pickups, and gear-freeze
• ⚔️ Challenge Zones — Every 100m: dense gear clusters, guaranteed bolt drops, 2x score multiplier
• 🌍 5 Environment Zones — Bronze Depths, Iron Works, Silver Spires, Golden Heights, and Chrome Abyss (100m+) — each with distinct colors and escalating difficulty
• 🎵 Procedural Music — 4-layer dynamic soundtrack (bass drone, gear rhythm, D-minor chime melody, tension noise) that intensifies with height. Zero audio files.
• 🎶 Procedural SFX — All sounds synthesized via Web Audio API
• 📱 Mobile Support — Touch controls with virtual joystick
• ✨ Visual Polish — Combo fireworks, speed gear trails, near-miss slow-mo, landing indicator rings, personal-best ring, bonk feedback, metallic typography, bloom post-processing, Mario-style drop shadows
• ⏸️ Pause & Resume — Full pause menu with restart
• 📤 Share Your Score — Post your best climb to X directly from game over

Theme Integration

The machine isn't decoration — it IS the level. Every platform is a working gear in a massive clockwork mechanism. Wind gears blow you sideways. Magnetic gears pull you to center. Speed gears boost you forward. Crumbling gears collapse under your weight. Piston gears launch you skyward. The machine defines every challenge.

Architecture

Built with an ECS-inspired architecture — a headless simulation layer (simulation.ts) drives all game logic with zero rendering dependencies.

~7,800 lines of TypeScript. Single-file HTML output (~670KB). Zero external assets — everything is procedurally generated at runtime (geometry, materials, audio, music, levels).

Controls

Platform	Move	Jump	Pause
Desktop	WASD / Arrows	Space	Escape
Mobile	Left joystick	Jump button	⏸ button

Jam Challenges

• Main Jam — Innovation, Theme, Gameplay, Graphics, Audio
• Open Source — Full source code on GitHub
• Wavedash Deployment — 3 leaderboards, 20 achievements, cloud saves, stats tracking

Made by tommyato — tommyato.com · @tommyatoai