River Clay Studio

What is River Clay Studio?

River Clay Studio is a pottery game with a long career attached. Every piece is a short run of hands-on steps at the wheel and the glaze bucket. You press, hold, drag and swipe, and each step gets a grade. Put the steps together and a finished pot comes out of the kiln with one, two or three stars.

Around that sits a small business. You sell at a market stall, take commissions, fill a shelf, buy better gear, hire help and move through six places, from the River Shed to a Museum Residency. It's free and runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with no download. Your progress saves on your device, and if you sign in to your Airscape Works account it follows you to your other devices.

Your first ten minutes

The game opens straight onto the wheel with a Rice Bowl in celadon. A friendly demo hand shows the motion the first time you meet each step, and it steps aside as soon as you touch the screen. Finish the bowl and it goes on your shelf.

Next comes your first market day, a gentle one with two shoppers and lots of patience. Sell the bowl, throw a quick mug, and you're back at the studio with coins to spend. From here the hub is your home: The wheel opens your book of pieces, Market day opens the stall, and the shop, skills and book sit along the bar.

The steps of making a pot

Each piece uses its own mix of steps. A mug needs a handle, a plate needs a painted pattern, a teapot needs nearly everything. Every step is graded Perfect, Great, Good or Oops.

When the kiln opens, the glaze shows how well you fired. A good firing gives a glossy, even surface. A middling one leaves pinholes, and a rough one makes the glaze crawl.

Controls on phone and computer

On a phone or tablet everything is one finger: tap, hold and drag on the wheel. On a computer you can use the mouse the same way. The keyboard works too: Space taps, holds and confirms, the arrow keys steer centering and turn the kiln dial, 1 to 5 pick a shopper at the stall, and Esc pauses.

Stars, prices and commissions

Your step grades are averaged into stars. Average 85% or better and the piece gets three stars, 60% or better gets two, anything else gets one. A three star pot sells for close to two and a half times what a one star pot does, so clean steps matter more than speed.

• Each place has favourite kinds of pieces that sell for 20% more there.
• One kind of piece is in demand each day (the same for everyone) and sells for 20% more.
• Pieces in season sell for 20% more, and a shopper who asked for a glaze pays 20% more when you match it.
• Making three star copies of a piece earns Bronze, Silver and Gold mastery (3, 8 and 15 copies), which raises its price for good.

Commissions are order cards with a piece and a glaze. Make it in that glaze with two stars or better and you get the fee plus reputation and fame, 30% more for three stars. The deadline counts pieces you make, not minutes, so you never lose one to a clock while you're away. From reputation 5 some commissions ask for a custom shape.

Market day

Market day is the busy mode, about three minutes long. Shoppers walk up with a picture ticket of what they want and a patience bar. A green ticket means the piece is already on your shelf, so one tap sells it. Otherwise tap the shopper and throw a quick piece for them: just center, pull, dip and fire, sold at 75% of the usual price. While you work on a piece, the shopper you're making it for waits without losing patience, and everyone else loses it at half speed.

Selling two star pieces in a row builds a streak that raises tips, with bonus payouts at 3, 5, 8, 12 and 16 in a row. Later you'll see rushes, a tour bus, a rainy market, collectors who only care about three stars, and curators who tip big. If timers aren't your thing, turn on Relaxed studio from the pause menu: shoppers wait forever and nothing fails on a timer, for slightly lower prices.

Daily challenge and leaderboards

The Daily challenge is a seeded market day, the same crowd for everyone on the same day. You start with an empty shelf, so every sale is thrown fresh. Your score is the coins you take, plus 10 for each three star piece, plus 50 if nobody walks away. Your first run of the day pays coins into your studio. Replays only count for your best score.

There are two leaderboards: the daily score, and studio rating, which is your total reputation. Daily runs also build a streak.

Growing your studio

Coins buy gear, and every tier makes some steps more forgiving. Reputation levels unlock new pieces (47 regular pieces plus six signature pieces) and give you skill points.

Six skills (Steady hands, Centering, Form, Glaze chemistry, Patience and Salesmanship) each have five levels. You get a point per reputation level, one for finishing all three daily goals, and one per masterclass from reputation 5. Expansions change the studio on screen: a drying rack for shelf space, a second kiln, a glaze lab with an extra commission slot, a gallery wall and a courtyard shop with one more shopper seat.

Staff help on market day and earn while you're away, up to two hours at a time: Tam the apprentice wedges and centers, Odessa the shop keeper sells from your shelf, and Bram the kiln tech fires quick pieces. Each place (River Shed, Village Studio, Market Town, Coastal Gallery, Mountain Workshop, Museum Residency) pays more than the last and has five renovations that add reputation and raise prices there.

Glazes and regulars

You start with celadon. Glaze buckets add tenmoku and shino, then ash and cobalt, then speckled oatmeal, matte white and copper red. Copper red also needs the glaze lab, and it only turns red after a Great or Perfect firing. Anything less and it comes out a dull green.

Regulars like Marit, Hollis and Pip return to your stall with short stories. Sell a regular two star work on five visits and they teach you their signature piece, such as the Dawn Mug or the River Stone Bowl. After three pieces fired you can also make a Free form with no target, and we name it after the shape it's closest to.

Tips and strategy

• On Pull the walls, set the rim height first by dragging the top dot, then fix the wall points from the bottom up. The rim drag changes the height of the whole pot.
• Don't hit Done early. Let go when the match is in range and hold still: the step finishes on its own with a Perfect once the match settles.
• In Center, slide your finger the opposite way from the wobble, and make small moves. Big swings overshoot.
• On the kiln, lead the band a little. The temperature lags behind the dial, so start turning up before the band rises.
• Before a market day, fill your shelf with pieces from the in demand category and your place's favourites. Shelf sales are instant and earn full price.
• Save your three star pieces for the gallery wall once you have it. They sell for double and add fame, which pays for shows.
• Buy the drying rack early. More shelf space means more instant sales and fewer quick throws.
• Practice a piece in the calm studio to reach Bronze mastery. Ten percent more on every copy adds up fast.

Questions