Waterworks!
Waterworks! is a card-based strategy video game developed by Mateusz Sokalszczuk in co-operation with the University of Gdańsk and funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which focuses on managing the water systems of the Polish city of Grudziądz during the Middle Ages.
Gameplay
Waterworks! is card-based, with the player using a series of cards in order to grow Grudziądz's water management system. As the game progresses, the water systems built become more complicated. The growing complexity of water systems the player must build correspond to those of the actual city of Grudziądz, which had to improve its waterworks as its population grew.Development
Waterworks! was initially conceived by Waclaw Kulczykowski of the University of Gdańsk, who was developing a thesis on the water systems of Grudziadz. The game took about a year to develop. After release, a patch was released that fixed numerous bugs relating to the storage of resources.Reception and Cultural Impact
Upon release, *Waterworks!* received significant media coverage in Poland as a successful example of "gamification" in education. The project was featured on national broadcaster TVP3, where it was highlighted for its ability to teach medieval hydro-engineering concepts to a mass audience. The game's distribution strategy, releasing it as a free browser-based title in English and Polish led to over one million play sessions worldwide on various different licensed gaming websites like CrazyGames. This success resulted in the creators being named finalists for the "Popularizer of Science 2020" award, organized by the Ministry of Science and the Polish Press Agency.With its global success Waterworks! was positively received by critics. PC Gamer, in their review of the game, described it as "a superbly designed resource-management strategy game", and praised its card mechanics. The game was also voted 3rd Best Game of July 2020 and 4th Best Srategy Game of 2020 by Newgrounds.