Critter Forge
A part not wired to the core is scrap
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Build · Wire · Fight
Bolt on whatever you like.
Only the wired-up bits work.
Twenty points, a five-by-five chassis and a core in the middle. A part earns its place only if its ports trace a path back to that core — turn it the wrong way and you have paid for scrap. Then it fights, and you find out what you actually built.
- 01Drag parts on
- 02Check nothing is dead
- 03Take it up the ladder
01Ports must line up on both sides of a join02The machine tells you what is wired to nothing03Every gun you add is also a cooling problemAbout Critter Forge
Critter Forge is a free building game with a fight at the end of it. You lay parts onto a five-by-five chassis with a core in the middle, spend at most twenty points, and then watch the thing you made take on somebody else’s. The building is the game; the fight is where you find out what you got wrong.
Ports, and why half your machine is scrap
Each part has openings on particular edges. Two parts are connected only where both of them have an opening on the edge they share, and a part is only live if there is an unbroken chain of those joins back to the core. A claw has exactly one port. Put it to the right of the core and it works. Press R twice and it is the same claw, in the same square, wired to nothing — and it still cost three points. The machine will tell you a part is dead. It will not tell you a part was a bad idea.
Why more guns is not the answer
Firing makes heat. Radiators shed it, and they shed more of it with open space around them, so a chassis packed edge to edge is a chassis that cooks. A machine that fills its heat bar stops dead until it cools, and a machine that is stopped is being hit for free. The first thing most people build is four weapons and no radiators, and it loses to a claw and a fin.
Weight, speed and range
Armour scales rather than subtracts: it takes a real bite out of a big slow hit and much less out of a fast trickle of small ones, so plate beats a lance and loses to a spitter. It is also heavy, and weight comes off your speed. Speed decides whether you can close the distance — which matters enormously, because the claw is the hardest hitter in the game and useless until you are on top of somebody.
The ladder
Eight opponents, unlocked one at a time, and each of them is a specific problem rather than a bigger number. One is fast and made of paper. One is a wall that will out-last anything that overheats. One out-cools everything you can carry. They are machines built into the game — not other players, and the game never dresses them up as people.
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Ranked on XP earned from opponents beaten and machines that survived them. Today resets at midnight IST, the week resets on Monday.
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Critter Forge — frequently asked questions
Is Critter Forge free to play?
Yes. It runs in the browser with no download and no sign-up.
What am I actually building?
A fighting machine, out of parts laid onto a five-by-five chassis. You have twenty points to spend and a core in the middle. Everything you bolt on has to be able to trace a path of connected ports back to that core, or it is scrap that you paid for.
What are ports?
Every part has openings on particular edges — a claw has one, a power cell has four. Two parts are joined only where both of them have an opening on the edge they share. Turning a part with R changes which edges those are, so the same claw in the same square can be a working weapon or dead weight depending on which way round it is.
Why does my machine keep stopping mid-fight?
It is overheating. Firing makes heat, radiators shed it, and a machine that fills its heat bar stops dead until it has cooled off. Every weapon you add is also a cooling problem, which is why a chassis packed with guns usually loses to a smaller one.
Does armour just make me win?
No. Plate is subtractive against nothing — it scales, so it takes a real bite out of big hits and much less out of a fast trickle of small ones. It is also heavy, and weight is speed, and speed is what decides whether you get to use a close-range weapon at all.
What does SPACE do?
It fires the special part on your machine, if you fitted one. You get three uses a fight, not a cooldown, so the question is which three moments are worth it. The Heat Purge is the one that most rewards waiting: dump a full heat bar at the right instant and you keep firing through the window where your opponent cannot.
Are the opponents other players?
No. The eight opponents on the ladder are built into the game — they are machines, not people, and the game never pretends otherwise. Each one is a specific problem: one is fast and fragile, one is a wall, one will out-cool anything you bring.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Parts are dragged with a finger the same way they are dragged with a mouse, and the special fires from an on-screen button during a fight.
Tell us what to fix
Found a bug, or think something should play differently? This goes straight to the developer — no account, no email address required.