FlowForge: The Conveyor Optimization Simulator

FlowForge: The Factory Optimization Game FlowForge is an educational puzzle game that turns core industrial engineering concepts — flow direction, bottlenecks, conditional routing, and load balancing — into a hands-on, top-down factory building experience. Players act as a factory floor designer, placing conveyor belts, buffers, sorters, sensors, and weight stations on a grid to move packages from an input spawner to one or more output collectors. The game is structured as four progressive levels, each teaching one distinct concept: Straight Line Basics (flow fundamentals), The Bottleneck (throughput vs. capacity), Fragile Cargo (conditional routing with a Sorter component), and Peak Load Challenge (load balancing under a mid-level demand spike). Every level runs on a discrete tick-based simulation engine that spawns, moves, and tracks packages in real time, with live metrics for delivered, blocked, and throughput displayed directly in the HUD. After every run, players get a star rating (one to three) and a Results Modal with a full metrics breakdown. The standout feature is Bob the Foreman, an AI mentor character that generates a three-sentence coaching report grounded in the actual run's data: what happened, why it happened (tied to that level's core concept), and one concrete suggestion for the next attempt. A Hint system also lets players request smaller nudges mid-level without giving away the full solution. Unlike a static tutorial, FlowForge teaches by letting players fail, see exactly why, and immediately retry with a clearer mental model — turning abstract operations concepts into something players build and break with their own hands. ## Components - **Straight Belt** — moves packages in one direction, rotatable. - **Turn Belt** — redirects packages 90° counter-clockwise. - **Buffer** — holds up to 4 packages, releases one every 2 ticks. - **Sorter** — routes fragile packages to an alt exit, others go straight. - **Sensor** — counts packages crossing it. - **Weight Station** — flags and slows heavy packages by 2 ticks. - **Input Spawner / Output Collector** — fixed per level. ## Simulation Engine FlowForge runs on a discrete tick-based engine. Each tick, active spawners generate packages, and every live package advances one cell based on the component it occupies. Packages that can't move accumulate wait ticks and are marked blocked once a threshold is exceeded. Delivered, blocked, and broken packages are tracked as live metrics throughout the run. ## Bob the Foreman After every run, Bob the Foreman (the in-game AI mentor) generates a three-sentence coaching report grounded in that run's actual metrics — what happened, the root cause tied to the level's core concept, and a concrete suggestion for the next attempt. Press **Hint** during a level for a smaller, rotating nudge. ## Scoring Each level awards 1–3 stars based on delivery rate, blocked count, and tick efficiency. Best scores persist via local storage.