Gaffer

A year at a lagoon glassworks

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Uneven heat: reheat the whole piece before you finish

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SAVED

Gaffer

LIGHTING THE FURNACE

About Gaffer

Gaffer is a free 3D glassblowing game. The island of Sabbia sits in a lagoon two hours by ferry from the city, and its glassworks has been cold since old Maestro Orsolo lost his sight. Every lamp chimney, window pane and harbour globe on the island came from that furnace, so the town went dark with it. You are the apprentice who relights it on the first evening of spring, with one year of the townsfolk's commissions to bring the light back.

The glass on your pipe is a live simulation: forty rings, each with its own radius, wall thickness and temperature, drawn with the real glow of hot glass from white through orange to dull red. Only rings above working heat move when you blow or pinch, hot glass droops when you stop turning, and cooling locks the shape for good.

How to Play Gaffer

Turn: set the turning speed and leave it. At or above the EVEN mark the hot glass stays true; below it, the piece droops off the pipe.

Heat: hold Heat to put the piece in the glory hole. Choose tip, half or whole to decide how much of it goes in, and watch the heat strip: orange rings are workable, deep red rings are stiffening, dark rings are rigid.

Blow: hold Blow and the hot glass swells, the hottest and thinnest rings first. Short puffs give you control near the ghost outline. Too much breath bursts it.

Tools: the marver rolls the piece on steel to even the walls and take out droop, the jacks pinch a neck or seal a float, and the paddle squares the foot.

Finish: crack the piece off into the annealer. Reheat evenly first: a big difference in heat between neighbouring rings cracks it.

Controls

Keyboard: A and D (or the arrow keys) set the turning speed, W holds the piece in the glory hole, Q and E choose tip, half or whole, Space blows, 1 to 3 pick up the marver, jacks and paddle, X applies the tool and [ and ] move the jacks, F finishes, G shows the ghost, H asks for a hint and Esc pauses.

Mouse: click the on-screen controls, hold on the piece to apply a tool where you point, and right-drag to look around.

Touch: the turning slider sits at the bottom left, the large HEAT and BLOW buttons at the bottom right with the depth chips above them, and the tool tray at the bottom. Hold on the piece to place the jacks; two fingers look around. Turning keeps going on its own, so you never need two held touches.

Tips

Heat before you blow. A cool region will not move, and the hot region next to it will run away.

Keep it turning. Droop set into the glass costs points for good; only the marver takes it out, and only while the glass is hot.

Read Orsolo's notes. The grade card says what happened, such as a belly fuller than the sketch, so the next attempt can fix it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is each piece graded?

Out of 1000 points in four parts. Shape (500) compares your outline with the commission's sketch along its whole length. Walls (200) rewards even wall thickness. True (150) measures how far the piece droops off the pipe. Function (150) depends on the piece: a cup's capacity, a float's seal and balance, or the evenness of the glow a chimney throws. 500 earns one star, 700 two and 850 three.

Why does my glass burst?

Breath swells the hottest, thinnest rings fastest, and a ring that thins to a skin while you are still blowing bursts. Heat the piece evenly before you blow, blow in short puffs once it is close to the ghost outline, and stop when it fills it.

Why did my piece crack when I finished it?

Crack-off puts the piece in the annealer, and glass cracks there if one ring is much hotter than the next. The heat strip warns you when the heat is uneven. Reheat the whole piece in the glory hole before you finish. A better annealer forgives a larger difference.

Why won't the glass move?

Only hot glass moves. Rings that glow orange are fully workable, deep red rings are stiffening, and rings that no longer glow are rigid. Hold Heat to put the piece back in the glory hole, and choose tip, half or whole to decide how much of it goes in.

What does Continue keep?

Everything at your last save: the season, every commission's best grade, your coin and favour, upgrades, the gallery of your best pieces and the lit windows across the lagoon. The game saves after every piece, purchase and setting, and when you hide the page. A piece still on the pipe is never saved, so Continue returns you to the board with that commission open and its batch not charged.