Every plant is
a little machine.
You are the keeper of a Victorian steam-powered greenhouse — gear-petaled tulips, boiler-fed ferns, orchids that bloom in engineered darkness. The Clockwork Botanist gardens in real time: one real second is one in-game second, and your plants keep growing while the app is closed — up to 7 days away.
// field recordingsInside the conservatory
Eight plates from the keeper's log — the tables, the telegraph, the catalog, and the Emporium where brass keys change hands.
// the core loopThree dials between life and wilt
Plant a seed in an empty pot, tune the machines, harvest at the golden glow, plant again. Every plant answers to three rotary controls.
Mirror Gears
→ light deliveryPolished reflectors on brass linkages, angling conservatory lamplight onto the leaves.
MAX 40 / HRWater Valve
→ water deliveryA copper feed line from the main boiler. Crack it gently — rust forgives, roots don't.
MAX 32 / HRFeed Lever
→ feed deliveryMetered nutrient pellets, ground fine and dropped on the stroke of each hour.
MAX 26 / HREach stage has its own target ranges for light, water and feed — the brass gauges on a plant's detail panel show what's actually being delivered. Deliver above a stat's maximum and the plant is strained: its health drains. At zero health it wilts and stops growing — but it never dies. Re-tune into range and it recovers. Under-delivering isn't dangerous; it's just slow. When the golden glow appears, harvest for Cogs and XP.
// the aetherWeather on an 8-hour mainspring
The conservatory sits in a shifting medium that multiplies what your dials actually deliver. The HUD chip shows the current weather and a countdown to the next shift.
The gauges always show the effective delivery — you can see exactly why a plant is straining. Boosts stack multiplicatively with weather: a +60% boost during Resonance is ×2.4 growth.
// the catalogFrom stamped tin to chainmail gold
Level-ups unlock new seed species. The roster stretches from the humble Tin Marigold at level 1 to the Chainlink Chrysanthemum at level 20.
Tin Marigold
the cog engineA cheerful penny-bloom stamped from workshop offcuts. Quick, humble, dependable — cheap seeds, fast harvests, and the first engine of your fortune.
Chainlink Chrysanthemum
the long haulThe last name in the catalog and the longest grow on the roster. One Instant Bloom costs the same key for any plant — this is where you spend it.
// the guildContracts by pneumatic post
The Chrono-Market telegraph prints slips from patrons around the city. Pin a slip to accept — the deadline only starts when you pin, and delivered plants are consumed.
Bronze Errands
unlocks Lv 1 · refresh dailySteady work for steady keepers. Pays Cogs + XP, no keys — the bread and butter of a young conservatory.
Silver Requests
unlocks Lv 6 · pays 1–2 keysSome slips carry a weather rider — deliver during the named aether for bonus Cogs. Time your pinning.
Gold Commissions
unlocks Lv 12 · pays 2–3 keysTight 6-hour posting windows for the city's most demanding patrons. The bounties barely beat a plain harvest — the real prize is the keys.
Chase the weekly ledger: seven contracts in a week pays +3 Brass Keys. Combined with level-ups (+2 per level) and Gold commissions, that's a steady free-to-play key income toward your first cultivar.
// the workshopKeys, cogs & the hybridization bench
Two currencies, one workbench, and a shop that knows exactly what a keeper craves.
⚙ The two currencies
Cogs flow from harvests and contracts into seeds and boosts. Brass Keys are rare — level-ups, Silver & Gold contracts, the weekly ledger, and hybrid harvests (1–3 keys).
✦ Boosts & Instant Bloom
Boost Growth runs +20 / +40 / +60% for 24h and costs that same percentage of the plant's harvest value — so it's always profitable. One boost per plant at a time.
⚗ The Hybridization Bench
Fuse two Ready plants. If the pair matches a secret recipe, both are consumed and a rare hybrid seedling appears in the first parent's pot. A wrong pairing costs nothing. Ten hybrids exist — from the Cog Daisy to the Twilight Corona, worth 3 keys a harvest.
❖ Premium cultivars
Four exotics sold in the Brass & Bloom Emporium for keys — each includes your first seed free, then seeds cost Cogs like everything else. All four are parents of the rarest hybrids.
// the keeper's handbookNotes chalked on the boiler room wall
Hard-won wisdom from keepers who wilted so you don't have to.
Nº 01Fill every pot immediately+
Idle pots earn nothing. Early on, Tin Marigolds are your Cog engine (cheap, fast) and Brass Tulips your XP engine.
Nº 02Err low, not high+
Under-delivering merely slows growth; over-delivering drains health and can stall the plant entirely. When in doubt, aim just under the top of the range — and re-tune at every stage change.
Nº 03Tune for AFK before closing the app+
Weather shifts every 8 hours and offline catch-up applies every shift. Parking dials near the middle of the range leaves headroom for a Solar Surge or Brass Fog while you're away.
Nº 04Rush levels 6 and 12+
Each is a double unlock: a new table and a new contract tier (Silver at 6, Gold at 12). XP-first play pays off fast.
Nº 05Pin contracts you can already fulfil+
The clock starts at pinning, so grow first, pin second when you can.
Nº 06Keep breeding pairs in reserve+
Hybrid seeds can't be bought — a ready Steam Daisy + Cog Rose sitting in their pots is worth more unharvested than cashed in. And mind the Eclipse Orchid: it wants very low light (2–9), so give it its own dark corner of tuning.
The boilers are warm.
The first pot is empty.
The Clockwork Botanist is still in development in the OrbitalTab dry dock. Follow the studio for launch word — the telegraph will know first.