Windup · Stillcraft

What's inside

Everything Windup does.

Nine tin toys

The frog squats and jumps, the monkey pushes, the bear holds the core, the ballerina balances, the drummer keeps posture, the bird hinges, the robot turns, the penguin works the feet, and the acrobat, built from a blueprint, pulls.

Where are you?

At the desk, by the kettle, in a queue, brushing teeth, on a call, outside or with kit: three movements that fit, the stopped and rusty toys first. 84 movements, most needing nothing at all.

Every rep is a click

Each rep turns the key with a ratchet click; holds tick by themselves; squats and jumps can be counted by the phone in a pocket. Ladders make a movement harder step by step.

The day plays as a tune

Each set puts a pin in the day's drum, each toy a note of its own. In the evening the music box plays it back while the toys march: an even day is a melody, a crammed evening one chord.

Today's score

Each morning a sheet of four notes, one toy for each quarter of the day. Play it all and a record goes into the album: seventeen old tunes to collect and play.

Tin to gold

Gears and springs recast a toy in brass, copper, silver and gold, but only with sets done with that very toy: copper brings a somersault, silver glints, gold gilds it all over.

The weekend fair

On Saturdays and Sundays a striped stall opens with two of six fair toys — a skier, a hare, a diver, a miner, a clown on a unicycle, a sailor — each a new family of movements and a new board on the shelf.

Parades and rust

Wind every toy in a day and the shelf parades under bunting. A toy left alone for weeks rusts through and tips over; three sets in a day stand it up again.

No overdoing

A third winding inside half an hour overwinds the spring and pays nothing: the app rewards spreading movement out, not cramming it.

One quiet reminder

When the toys stand still for a while in your waking hours, one notification asks for the key. Unanswered, they space out; after three it's quiet till morning.

Screens

Captured in Windup.

Windup: The shelf — **The shelf**Wound toys run, stopped ones wait.

Windup: Where are you? — **Where are you?**Three movements for the kettle.

Windup: A set — **A set**Every rep a click of the key.

Windup: The music box — **The music box**The day plays, the toys march.

Windup: Records — **Records**Today's score and the album.

Windup: The workshop — **The workshop**Capsules and the weekend fair.

Tin to gold

Metal	Gears · springs · sets	What it brings
Brass	40 · 3 · 10	A brass key and plate
Copper	100 · 8 · 30	A somersault every sixth round
Silver	250 · 20 · 75	Silver glints as it runs
Gold	600 · 40 · 150	Gilt from head to toe

Get it

Get Windup.

Install

Version: v1.0.0
File: Windup.apk
Requires: Android 9.0 (API 28) or newer. No Google services needed.
Permissions: Notifications only, for the one gentle reminder. No internet, no account, no ads, no analytics.
License: MIT · font m6x11 by Daniel Linssen, Cyrillic by Natto Games

Download the APK on your phone.
Open it and allow installs from this source when Android asks.
Set your waking hours, then wind your first toy: tap where you are and pick a movement.

Download APK All releases

Build from source

JDK 17+ (Android Studio's bundled JBR works) and the Android SDK. Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Room, DataStore, WorkManager; every toy, the shelf and the music box are pixel art drawn in code, and the sounds are synthesised.

git clone https://github.com/bigdevwhale/windup.git
cd windup
./gradlew testDebugUnitTest assembleDebug   # app.windup.dev, next to a real install
./gradlew assembleDebug -Pdemo              # app.windup.demo: six weeks already wound
./gradlew testDebugUnitTest -Prender --tests '*RenderArt*'   # toys and scenes to PNG

Good to know

Questions people ask.

I have no kit at all.

Most movements need nothing: a chair, a wall, the stairs, the floor. Tick the kit you do have in the workshop and the rest appear too.

Why can't I do it all at once?

You can, but the drum knows: a third winding in half an hour overwinds the spring and pays nothing, and the evening tune turns into one chord. Spread out, the same minutes play a melody.

What if I skip a week?

Nothing is lost. Toys rust a little; after a few weeks one tips over, and three sets in a day stand it up again.

Is anything sent anywhere?

No. The app has no internet permission. Everything stays on the phone.