Saltward

Saltward is a portrait 2D routing puzzle set in a coastal saltworks recovering from a violent storm. Tap the weirs between salt pans to open or close each channel, then study the concentration rings, broad flow arrows, crystal outlines, and patterned hazard marks before choosing when to Evaporate. Every gate action updates the route preview immediately. When the correct mineral threshold is reached, the brine recedes and crystals grow from the same deterministic result used to judge the puzzle. A failed harvest does not erase your current gate arrangement: the affected pan keeps a visible warning for low concentration, contamination, rain dilution, or oversaturation, so you can revise the route or undo a move. The first release contains eight distinct levels: White Pan, Density Steps, Split Minerals, Market Batch, Rain Shadow, Mother Brine, Tidal Intake, and Grand Harvest. These are not color swaps or simple numerical variants. Their layouts and decisions progressively introduce concentration steps, mineral separation, locked phases, localized rain, mother-brine circulation, changing tidal sources, and combined weather routing. Milestone harvests expand into sequences of up to four sun phases. Later stages ask you to close old gates, open new ones, and protect completed harvest goals while the source conditions change. The opening level teaches the core loop in no more than three playable steps: open a highlighted weir, read the resulting flow, and evaporate the first crystal pan without sitting through a long rules screen. The Harvest Report presents crystal purity, brine efficiency, weir efficiency, Rake Marks, and Saltkeeper Seals. Between batches, the Rake Choice screen lets you review three salt-rake options before continuing. Completing a unique level for the first time also adds a Mineral Tile to the Crystal Cabinet. The current release provides collectible progress associated with its eight playable levels. The 48 Mineral Tiles are a long-term collection goal, not a claim that forty-eight levels or all forty-eight tiles are currently available. Saltward includes separate music and sound controls, mute support, reduced motion, and English or Simplified Chinese text. Reduced-motion mode simplifies water movement and crystal-growth animation while preserving static flow arrows, concentration patterns, hazard symbols, and the final crystal state. Rewarded ads are optional. They may be chosen to restore the latest harvest stage, redraw a Rake Choice, collect daily seals, or double eligible report seals. Ads never route brine automatically, reveal the correct solution, relax purity rules, or impose an energy system. A low-frequency interstitial may only be attempted during non-gameplay returns from the Harvest Calendar or Crystal Cabinet to the Saltworks Yard, with a shared cooldown. It does not interrupt gate switching, route preview, or evaporation. All promotional gameplay images come from the real 2D Godot mobile presentation. The pans, gates, flow arrows, concentration rings, hazards, and crystal growth visualize discrete puzzle results; they are not a real-time fluid or chemistry simulation. Saltward does not advertise freehand channel drawing, online competition, real saltworks photography, or offline-rendered crystal effects as gameplay.