Vector Workshop: Quiet Machines

About Vector Workshop: Quiet Machines

Vector Workshop: Quiet Machines is a calm contraption puzzle set in a silent machine hall on the sea floor. Each room is a stretch of riveted deck with intake vents, open oysters and the hall's own machinery: glass fins that turn a pearl, jellyfish that push it back, brass junction boxes that stop it, drains that swallow it, valve wheels that open a grate as a pearl rolls over them, pressure pads that hold a grate open under an anchor stone, and pipe hatches that carry a pearl to the other end of the pipe.

You set a few pieces of your own: current fins that lean left or right, anchor stones for the pads, and in later rooms a coral block. Then you run the machine. Every pearl leaves its vent at the same moment and glides until something changes its course, so two and three pearls must be planned together: one may have to open the grate for another. Run it as often as you like; nothing is timed, nothing is lost, and Watch plays the last run again slowly, with each pearl's route lit in its own colour and number.

Twelve hand-ordered rooms bring in one machine part at a time, each with a par found by the game's own solver; then endless deep halls and a daily room that is the same for everyone. When every pearl rests in an oyster the whole hall wakes: lamps light along the routes and a whale passes the portholes. Your progress stays in this browser.

How to play

Rest every pearl in an oyster: when the machine runs, all pearls leave their vents at once and glide until something turns or stops them.
Tap open deck to set a current fin, tap it again to turn it, and once more to take it back; a pressure pad takes an anchor stone.
Valve wheels open grates as a pearl rolls over them; a pad holds its grate open while a stone rests on it; pipes carry pearls across.
Press Run to start the machine, as often as you like. Watch plays the last run again slowly, each route lit and numbered.
Par pieces earn three stars. There is no clock and no penalty for runs: take your time.

Controls

Tap or click the deck — set a fin or a stone, turn it, take it back
Arrow keys, WASD, D-pad or stick — move the sonar ring; Enter or Ⓐ — set, turn or take back
Space, L, Ⓧ or Run — run the machine; R or Watch — watch the last run; Z or Undo — undo; H — a hint
P, Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

Do all the pearls move at once?

Yes. When you press Run every pearl leaves its vent on the same beat and they glide side by side, one cell at a time. Pearls pass through one another, but what one does to the hall, turning a valve, can change the way for the others.

How do valves, pads and pipes work?

A valve wheel flips its grate open or shut each time a pearl rolls over it. A pressure pad holds its grate open for as long as an anchor stone (or a resting pearl) is on it. A pipe hatch sends a pearl out of the other hatch of the same pipe, still moving the same way.

Is anything timed or scored against me?

Nothing is timed and runs are free. Stars only compare the pieces you used with par, the fewest the solver needs, and a solve after a hint earns at most two. Plankton glows swept up on the way add a few points.

What does Watch do?

It plays your last run again at the slow speed, with each pearl's route lit in its own colour and numbered, so you can see exactly where a pearl went astray. Setting a piece ends the replay.

Can I turn the effects down?

Yes. Drift speed changes how fast the pearls move, Light the routes and Whale song can be switched off, and the kit's own settings cover reduced motion, sound and music.

Does the game save?

Yes, in this browser: solved rooms, stars, and the room you were working on with your pieces in place. Nothing is uploaded.