You may have seen some players tweeting MYSTERIOUS CLAY THINGS IN UPPER CASE. It's possible, if you can find the way in, to create a Clay Man character and live a grim Clay life. This is an Easter egg that I put together very quickly one weekend, which is why it's a little rough round the edges. We haven't discussed it publicly because we wanted to preserve the mystery, and we don't officially support it, but we keep getting support requests anyway. So this blog post is an FAQ of sorts. NB spoilers.

How do you create a Clay Man character?

It's something you can only do with a fresh account. I won't be more specific than that. Ask around.

When are you going to add more content for the Clay Man?

Possibly never, certainly not on a regular update cycle.

Will it ever be possible to visit Polythreme in the main game?

Oh yes.

When are Clay Men going to be allowed to fight?

Clay Men aren't allowed to play K&C and never will be. They're too strong and too gentle.

When are Clay Men going to engage in social actions?

Possibly never. They live clumsy, lonely lives.

So what's the point?

SPOILERS! look away now.

You have a little bit of freedom as a Clay Man. You can find pets. You can hoard secrets. Occasionally you won't lose at arm-wrestling. But in the end the most you can do is OBEY GRUDGINGLY. The lack of content is part of the point.

You could say it's our Cow Clicker, but obviously we don't loathe social games like Ian Bogost does. So it's affectionate. (It does predate Cow Clicker, if anyone was wondering.)

How do you mean?

The life of a Clay Man is unending, hopeless grind. I wanted a story where the grind was the point, but where it was still a little bit of a story, not a one-button pseudogame. Games about monotony aren't new (qv Every Day The Same Dream, tedium) but those games don't have an established and fundamental mechanic for repetitive action that you can comment on. Or a natural escalator to greater loot, that provides expectations you can subvert by stepping off it. So this was an opportunity for ludonarrative consonance (steady!)

You did an art?

Oh don't start that again. Sure, I was trying to say something. Obviously it's a throwaway piece, but I enjoyed writing it and the feedback's been intelligent and interesting. More feedback is, as always, welcome, but it's always going to be a deliberately stunted game. Call it bonsai.