Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | – | 0 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 97% | 92 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 100% | 97 | 4 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Acclaim gate: the raw blend lands at 91.2, but scores above 88 must be earned in front of a mass audience; this verdict rests on 4,134 player reviews, a largely self-selected fanbase. As more players weigh in, the ceiling rises (full scale unlocks at 100,000 reviews).
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 11 reviews sampled · 10 total reviews in window · weighted 7.9 up / 0 down · computed 4h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (3)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
“It manages to maintain an even balance of being fun and being educational.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Zach Barth (the author of Infinifactory) is back and again creativity, both the developer’s and yours, plays first fiddle. [10/2015, p.71]”
- 84
“This is as dry as it gets. It makes a game out of some peoples’ jobs. And in all its minimalistic glory it is a lot of fun. But conceptually it is not as far as it may seem in the beginning from the author’s earlier works like SpecChem or Infinifactory.”
read full review ↗
Patch history
- UPDATE: Fixing missing leaderboardsApr 23, 2024
- UPDATE: Fixing the crash handler and histogramsNov 14, 2020
- UPDATE: Unexpected bug fixesNov 27, 2017
- UPDATE: Unexpected bug fixesNov 27, 2017
- UPDATE: Monday morning bug fixesJul 13, 2015
- UPDATE: Monday morning bug fixesJul 13, 2015
- UPDATE: Bug fixes for the specification editorJun 28, 2015
- UPDATE: Bug fixes for the specification editorJun 28, 2015
- UPDATE: Create your own puzzles in the SPECIFICATION EDITOR!Jun 16, 2015significant · resets scoring window
- UPDATE: Optimization tools, new puzzlesJun 9, 2015
- UPDATE: Optimization tools, new puzzlesJun 9, 2015
- UPDATE: Small improvementsJun 5, 2015
- UPDATE: Small improvementsJun 5, 2015
- UPDATE: OS X, Linux, and fullscreen!Jun 5, 2015
- UPDATE: OS X, Linux, and fullscreen!Jun 5, 2015
- UPDATE: More bug fixes, UI improvementsJun 4, 2015
- UPDATE: More bug fixes, UI improvementsJun 4, 2015
- UPDATE: Bug fixes, new test routinesJun 3, 2015
- UPDATE: Bug fixes, new test routinesJun 3, 2015
