Objects

Clay bank

Clay is the first thing a light for a show is made from.

dig — clay

Regrows always.

Flax shallows

Flax becomes linen, and linen is the first screen.

pull — flax

Regrows 40 s.

Sesame patch

Sesame oil burns clean and steady, the fuel of the first show light.

pick — oil seed

Regrows 30 s.

Charcoal burn

Charcoal draws the puppet's outline and blackens it until no light gets through.

rake — charcoal

Regrows 60 s.

Goat pen

Scraped thin, a hide becomes a puppet, the first image that moves.

collect — hide

Regrows 90 s.

Potter's pit

A fired clay bowl holds the flame: the first light a show is made by.

3 clay → 1 lamp bowl

Its job until her lamp stands on the stage, and again whenever the lantern workshop holds part of a lantern short of its bowl and she carries none: the bowl is the lantern's flame.

Oil press

Pressed oil keeps the lamp burning for as long as the show lasts.

4 oil seed → 1 lamp oil

Loom

A woven sheet catches the shadows: the first screen.

5 flax → 1 linen sheet

Puppet bench

Cut from hide and drawn in charcoal, a puppet is the first image that moves.

1 hide, 1 charcoal → 2 shadow puppets

Dye pot

Black dye makes a puppet opaque, so its shadow has a hard edge.

1 charcoal, 1 lamp oil → 1 black dye

A puppet only reads if it is truly opaque.

Plate firing

A clay plate with one small hole lets a thin beam into a dark room: the pinhole of the camera obscura.

2 clay, 1 charcoal → 1 pierced plate

The potter's pit's second job, once her lamp stands on the stage, except while a lamp bowl is asked for. Prototype recipe.

Camera obscura hut

A dark room with a hole in one wall shows the world upside down, the idea every camera is built on.

20 clay, 4 linen, 1 pierced plate → the era gate

Built, not crafted. Standing inside it is the first time she sees the world upside down.

Shadow stage

A light, a sheet and a puppet between them: the first cinema.

lamp, oil, linen screen, puppets · 8 seats

A sheet between two poles. The whole game is already here in miniature.

Sand spit

Sand melted with a flux becomes glass, and glass turns a shadow into a picture.

shovel — sand

Regrows always.

Kelp line

Burned kelp gives the soda that lets sand melt into glass at a lower heat.

haul — kelp

Regrows 45 s.

Copper scree

Copper made into brass is the body of the magic lantern and the tube that holds its lens.

chip — copper ore

Regrows 70 s.

Limestone cut

Limestone burned to quicklime glows white in a flame, a light far brighter than oil.

break — limestone

Regrows 60 s.

Ash kiln

The kiln burns kelp down to soda ash, the flux every glass recipe needs.

4 kelp, 1 charcoal → 1 soda ash

Glass furnace

Sand, soda and heat make glass clear enough to carry a picture and bend light.

3 sand, 1 soda ash, 1 charcoal → 2 glass blanks

The first three-input recipe. It will starve on whichever one you forget.

Lens grinder

A ground lens gathers the lamp's light and throws a picture across a room.

1 glass blank, 2 sand → 1 lens

Sand is the grit. Prototype recipe.

Slide cutter

A glass slide is the first frame: a picture that light passes through.

1 glass blank → 3 slide plates

Brass foundry

Brass holds a lens in line with a flame and does not rust in the heat.

2 copper ore, 1 charcoal → 2 brass

Lime kiln

Burned limestone is quicklime, which glows white in a flame: limelight.

3 limestone, 2 charcoal → 1 quicklime

Colour grinder

Ground mineral colour mixed into oil is the paint a slide is coloured with.

1 copper ore, 1 lamp oil → 2 pigment

Copper green ground into oil. Prototype recipe.

Painter's studio

A painted slide is the first picture made to be projected, and she chooses what it shows.

1 slide plate, 1 pigment → 1 painted slide

Where the player chooses the subject. The first authorship in the game.

Lantern workshop

Lamp, lens and slide in one brass box make the magic lantern, the first projector.

2 brass, 1 lens, 1 lamp bowl → 1 magic lantern

Gauze weaving

Gauze is thin enough for a lantern's picture to show through it, so a ghost hangs in the air.

3 flax → 1 gauze

The loom's second job, once the Slip is open. Prototype recipe.

Wheeled lantern

A lantern on a wheeled stand rolled back from the screen, so its picture grew while the audience watched.

1 magic lantern, 2 brass → 1 lantern on wheels

The lantern workshop's second job, once the tent has shown. Prototype recipe.

Tent raising

A lantern and a sheet under canvas made a show that could travel from fair to fair.

1 magic lantern, 1 linen sheet → 1 lantern tent

Built, not crafted: the lantern inside and her linen as its screen. Prototype recipe.

Room fitting

A dark room with the lantern hidden behind a gauze made the audience forget there was a lantern at all.

1 lantern on wheels, 2 gauze, 1 quicklime, 20 sand → 1 phantasmagoria room

Built, not crafted: sand floors the dark room the lantern rolls across. Prototype recipe.

Lantern tent

A tent with a lantern and a screen is the first show that charges at the door.

magic lantern, painted slides, linen screen · 25 seats

Charges at the flap. The first time a show has a door.

Phantasmagoria room

A lantern hidden behind gauze and wheeled back from it made ghosts grow in the dark.

lantern on wheels, gauze, quicklime · 60 seats

Lantern behind the gauze, wheeled back from it so the ghost grows. The era gate.

Rag heap

Worn linen and cotton rags are what paper was made from before wood pulp.

sort — rags

Regrows 35 s.

Iron seam

Iron ore smelted into bars becomes the gears and springs that turn a picture into motion.

mine — iron ore

Regrows 80 s.

Coal drift

Coal burns hotter than charcoal, hot enough to work iron.

mine — coal

Regrows 70 s.

Smithy

A smith turns ore into iron bars, the stock every gear and spring is cut from.

2 iron ore, 1 coal → 1 iron bar

Gear cutter

Evenly cut gears turn a drum at a steady speed, so each drawing comes round on the same beat.

1 iron bar → 3 gears

Spring winder

A wound spring keeps a toy turning after the hand lets go.

1 iron bar → 2 springs

Paper mill

Paper takes a drawing cheaply, so one motion can be drawn twelve times over.

4 rags → 3 paper

Print shop

A printed strip sets twelve drawings in a fixed order, and the order is the motion.

3 paper, 1 black dye, 12 cels → 1 strip

The strip is the show. Twelve slots, and the order is the whole craft. Its ink is the dye pot's black dye, as at the drawing desk.

Drawing desk

Each drawing is one small step of a motion on from the last, the craft animators still practise.

1 paper, 1 black dye → 1 cel

Its ink is the dye pot's black dye, carried up from her bank: printer's ink is lamp-black in oil, which is what the pot already stirs, and a pot with an ink job would need a rule for when it stops dyeing puppets. Prototype recipe.

Mirror bench

A ring of mirrors shows each drawing in turn without the zoetrope's slits, so the picture is brighter and steadier.

1 glass blank, 1 silver leaf → 4 mirrors

Silver leaf is not made on the Lane: the toy seller sells it (`TOY_STALL` in `bible/rules.ts`). Prototype recipe.

Toy workshop

Optical toys like the zoetrope sold moving pictures to the parlour before any screen showed them.

2 gears, 1 paper, 1 brass, 1 strip → 1 zoetrope

The zoetrope carries the strip it was made with; the brass is carried up from the Slip's foundry. Prototype recipe.

Praxinoscope fitting

A ring of mirrors at the centre of a turning drum shows each drawing steady and bright, with no slits to look through.

4 mirrors, 3 gears, 1 spring, 1 brass → 1 praxinoscope

The toy workshop's second job, once she has sold a zoetrope. Prototype recipe.

Limelight fitting

A block of quicklime heated in a flame glows white, the brightest stage light before electricity.

1 quicklime, 1 brass, 1 lamp oil → 1 limelight

The lime kiln's second job: a quicklime block in a brass lamp with an oil flame on it. Toma's price. Prototype recipe.

Theatre raising

A praxinoscope lit from behind and thrown onto a screen let a whole room watch one loop at once.

1 praxinoscope, 1 limelight, 1 linen sheet, 6 iron bars → 1 praxinoscope theatre

Built, not crafted: the limelight behind the drum, her linen as its screen and iron for its frame. Prototype recipe.

Belt yard

A belt carries goods from one station to the next, so the works run without anyone walking between them.

2 gears, 1 linen, 1 iron bar → 3 belt segments

The first station that removes a walk instead of adding one.

Praxinoscope theatre

Reynaud's theatre threw a looping strip of drawings onto a screen for a paying audience, three years before the Lumières.

praxinoscope, strips, limelight · 20 seats

Small seats, bright light, a loop that never ends. Novelty decays fastest here.

Silver seam

Silver salts darken where light falls on them, which is how a photograph is made.

mine — silver ore

Regrows 120 s.

Salt pans

Salt joined to silver takes the light, and a salt bath fixes the picture so it stops darkening.

scrape — salt

Regrows 50 s.

Bone yard

Bone boiled down gives gelatin, which holds silver on a glass plate.

collect — bone

Regrows 90 s.

Silver refinery

Refined silver is the metal every photograph was made from until the digital camera.

3 silver ore, 1 coal → 1 silver

Chemist's bench

Silver, salt and iodine mixed make the salts that darken in light.

1 silver, 1 salt, 1 iodine → 3 sensitising salts

Iodine retort

Iodine burned out of seaweed made the first photographic plates sensitive to light.

4 kelp, 1 coal → 1 iodine

The kelp line from era 2 gets its second job.

Gelatin works

Gelatin holds the silver salts in a thin, even skin on the glass.

3 bone, 1 hide → 2 gelatin

Plate works

A glass plate coated with sensitised gelatin takes a picture, but only while it is fresh.

1 glass blank, 1 salts, 1 gelatin → 1 live plate

Comes out alive and starts dying. This is the era.

Camera workshop

A box camera is a camera obscura small enough to carry, with a plate where the picture falls.

1 lens, 2 brass, 1 timber → 1 box camera

Its timber is bought at the chemist's stall (`CHEMIST_STALL` in `bible/rules.ts`). Prototype recipe.

Exposure

Light through the lens darkens the silver where the picture falls, and leaves the image hidden in the plate until it is developed.

1 live plate → 1 exposed plate

A box camera standing on a camera pad, the studio's or the rig's, exposes a live plate carried to it at once; the plate keeps its age. Prototype.

Darkroom

In the dark a developer brings out the picture the light left in the plate, and fixer keeps it.

1 exposed plate, 1 fixer → 1 photograph

Fixer bench

Fixer washes out the silver the light never touched, so a photograph stops darkening.

1 salt, 1 quicklime → 2 fixer

Dark tent sewing

A photographer in the field carried a darkroom as a tent, so a plate could be developed beside the camera while still fresh.

1 linen sheet, 2 black dye, 2 timber → 1 dark tent

The fixer bench's second job, once the darkroom has developed a plate. The fixer bench, not the loom: the tent is a darkroom that works with its fixer, and the Quay sells its timber. Prototype recipe.

Wire drawing

Iron drawn thin through a die makes wire, strung across a track to fire a camera when it breaks.

1 iron bar → 4 wire

The spring winder's second job, once the Lane's gate is open. On the Lane, not the Quay: the winder already draws iron bar into coil, and it keeps the Lane's smithy busy. Prototype recipe.

Trip-wire rig

Twelve cameras fired one after another by a running horse took the first sequence from life.

12 box cameras, 12 springs, 12 wire → 1 trip-wire rig

Built, not crafted, at the racetrack: a box camera, a spring shutter and a wire across the track for each frame (`RIG`). The first time a sequence is taken from the world rather than drawn. Prototype recipe.

Disc printing

Muybridge had his photographs traced onto a glass disc in order, so turning it showed the horse run.

12 photographs, 1 glass blank → 1 disc

The print shop's second job, once the rig has fired: its tray already sets frames in order. On the Lane, not the Quay: a photograph does not spoil, so the walk costs time and no plates, and the Quay gains no place. Prototype recipe.

Zoopraxiscope fitting

The zoopraxiscope turned a glass disc of pictures in front of a projecting lens, the first projector of motion taken from life.

1 lens, 1 brass, 4 gears, 1 spring → 1 zoopraxiscope

The toy workshop's third job, once the Lane's gate is open: the drum toys' heir, a geared spindle that turns a disc in front of a lens. Its light is the gallery's limelight. Prototype recipe.

Studio raising

A glass-roofed room with a chair, a backdrop and a camera was all a portrait studio needed.

1 box camera, 1 linen sheet, 4 timber → 1 portrait studio

Built, not crafted: the camera on its pad, her linen as the backdrop and timber for the frame. Prototype recipe.

Gallery raising

A lecture hall with a zoopraxiscope and a screen let a whole room watch a horse run that nobody had drawn.

1 zoopraxiscope, 1 limelight, 1 linen sheet, 6 iron bars → 1 zoopraxiscope gallery

Built, not crafted: the limelight behind the zoopraxiscope, her linen as its screen and iron for its frame, as at the theatre. Prototype recipe.

Portrait studio

A portrait studio sold a family its own likeness, the first photograph most people ever owned.

box camera, live plate · 1 seats

The product, not the show. The sitter walks in on their own; nobody carries one. Pays the whole era.

Zoopraxiscope gallery

Muybridge's zoopraxiscope threw his photographs of a running horse onto a screen, in order and moving.

zoopraxiscope, disc, limelight · 40 seats

A horse, taken from life, running. Nobody has seen this.

Cotton field

pick — cotton

Regrows 60 s.

Sulphur pit

dig — sulphur

Regrows 90 s.

Saltpetre cave

scrape — saltpetre

Regrows 90 s.

Harbour dock

buy — camphor, foreign glass, prints

Regrows a ship every 4 min.

Acid works

2 sulphur, 2 saltpetre → 1 mixed acid

Nitration plant

3 cotton, 1 acid → 2 nitrocellulose

Flammable from here on. Keep it away from every flame on the map.

Celluloid rollers

2 nitrocellulose, 1 camphor → 1 film base

Emulsion coater

1 film base, 1 salts, 1 gelatin → 1 coated film

Perforator

1 coated film, 2 gears → 1 reel of stock

Film vault

film stock → safe storage, no heat

Dynamo house

3 coal, 4 gears, 2 copper wire → electric power

Arc lamp works

2 carbon rod, 2 brass, power → 1 arc lamp

Buying this removes fire risk from a whole district. Light stops being dangerous.

Movement bench

6 gears, 2 springs, 1 brass → 1 intermittent movement

The invention the whole game has been walking towards.

Cine camera workshop

1 lens, 1 movement, 2 brass, 1 timber → 1 film camera

Projector workshop

1 lens, 1 movement, 1 arc lamp, 2 brass → 1 projector

Glass-roof studio

1 reel, cast, a set → 1 exposed negative

Not timed. It takes as long as the shot the player stages.

Developing lab

1 exposed negative, 1 fixer → 1 master negative

Cutting table

2 or more negatives → 1 edited film

The era 3 strip editor, grown up. Same screen, real footage in the slots.

Printing lab

1 master, 1 reel → 3 release prints

Kinetoscope parlour

cabinets, reels, a coin slot · 1 seats

One at a time, which is why it loses to the hall.

Nickelodeon

projector, prints, a piano player · 90 seats

A converted shop. Weekly programme change, which is why the factory can never stop.

The picture palace

everything, and every person hired since era 1 · 300 seats

The finale. The last shot of the game is the audience, not the screen.