Maxwell's Apprentice

submission to Mini Jam 214 "Machines" Hosted by ZahranW July 2026

The game is about the Governor as a device in a machine that keeps it from....getting Out of Control since Getting out of control was the constraint criterion for the jam.

This was done in a fast hurry as the 2nd game so far that I've done using Grok Build.

And it kind of shows that it was in a hurry because it's very verbose where i am wrestling the concept before RE-slimming Down like a later phase where elegance would take over.

Because in the beginning you're arguing with AI before the concept has really stabilized.  But it's in early stages of coherence where you can actually win the game and it navigates ok with tutorials and a score system etc.

Therefore it is a little bit like Machinist's Boots in that regard (which was -also- an edutainment play to popularize science, and also about machines) but the main game doesn't entirely make sense.  I decided finding that to be an impasse, to work on the other elements of the structure of the game like the cutscenes, figuring i'd get there some other day beyond the end of the jam...

I feel like i went to Grok Build and said "make it realistic around control systems" and it said "Ok fine boss" and then i said "but this is too easy to win these sections" and it said "part of realism is nobody would be stupid enough to actually put the factory at risk" and then i asked like the Breakfast test question like "but what if someone's really dumb and risks the plant" and then Grok failed that and said "dont be stupid they wouldn't".  So right now in the game you have to really harsh the controls to fail the stages.

main website:

https://exedexes1.com/