Scale Keep

The game

Scale Keep is the harbour balance-scale of the Royal Kraken-Ward, A.D. 1847: a brass beam on a stone tower, two pans hanging from chains, a cargo lighter alongside — and Something asleep under the water. Every crate you stow shifts the beam, and every tide heaves a pulse of extra tonnage onto one pan without warning. Hold the needle inside the tolerance arch and the deep sleeps; strain it too long and the Kraken Stirrings tube fills until tentacles come up through the harbour. It is drawn as a Victorian engraving: sepia cross-hatching on aged parchment, burnished brass fittings, serif labels and Roman-numeral tonnage.

How to play

• Press Space or Enter (or click OPEN THE HARBOUR) to begin the watch.
• Drag cargo crates off CARGO LIGHTER No. 3 onto either pan — the pan you hover over lights up with a dashed drop frame. Crates weigh I to V tons and pay 10 dues per ton.
• Read the Tide Glass: it names the pan the next wave will strike (PORT PAN or STARBOARD), shows its tonnage in pips and flashes WAVE! about two seconds before the surge lands.
• Counter each surge by stowing more cargo on the pan that is rising, bringing the beam back inside the dashed tolerance arch; the degree readout and the NOT IN TOLERANCE warning tell you how far you are out.
• Release a crate below the waterline to jettison it overboard — and beware, a beam tipped past about 26° starts shedding crates into the harbour by itself.
• Harbour dues tick up +2 for every second kept and +25 for every tide held. If the beam stays outside tolerance the Kraken Stirrings tube fills; when it is full the Kraken wakes and the watch ends with your final dues and watch length.
• Keys: P or Esc pause, M mute, R new watch, Space or Enter to start or restart.