Transmutation engine editor, elemental puzzle: 24/24

About this game

Developer: Zachtronics · Publisher: Zachtronics · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Minimalist & vector · Screen type: City & Base Management

More Opus Magnum screens in the Gallery

What to study

A different puzzle inverts the first frame's problem: here PRODUCTS is not one molecule but four loose elemental atoms, blue air, red fire, teal water and green earth, each drawn as a coloured triangle glyph, and REAGENTS is the single bonded molecule they must be pulled from, so the machine's job is disassembly. The editor's grammar does not change at all: the same three left panels restate the new problem, the same hex grid holds a compact machine of glowing elemental atoms seated around two dark discs, and the new part is the silver six-armed mechanism at upper right, hub numbered 3, fanning its arms over the berths so one programmed hub does the work of several single arms. The readout strip scales the problem up without changing its shape: PRODUCTS 24/24 instead of 6/6, COST 120G, AREA 21, and the three instruction tracks carry a denser tile mix, + and - marks and piston arrows among the rotations. Colour does the teaching: once the four elements are introduced as red, teal, green and blue, every atom on the grid is legible at a glance without a single label. Frame at about 0:42 in the Opus Magnum Trailer (Steam), pipeline candidate candidates/v0_0009.png at 42.1s, copied unchanged (MD5 matches the candidate).

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

side-panel status-row grid-overlay

Components

Parts on screen.

Toolbar

Screen inventory

• left panel 'PRODUCTS' showing four separate elemental atoms as the goal: blue air (upward triangle), red fire (upward triangle), teal water (downward triangle) and green earth (downward triangle)
• left panel 'REAGENTS' showing a single bonded molecule of those elements as the input
• a compact colourful machine at centre: glowing red fire, teal water, green earth and pale salt atoms seated in berths around two dark central discs
• a silver six-armed mechanism at upper right carrying green earth and pale atoms, its hub numbered 3, with arms numbered 1 and 2 below
• the readout strip reading 'PRODUCTS: 24/24', 'COST: 120G', 'CYCLES: ----' and 'AREA: 21'
• three instruction tracks (1, 2, 3) filled with a denser mix of tiles including + and - marks and piston arrows

Top 3 colors

#3f534c 25%#191f1f 21%#52685f 17%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© Zachtronics, Opus Magnum screenshot: Opus Magnum Trailer (Steam), shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Zachtronics.

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-22. verified 2026-10-22: pipeline candidate frame inspected visually at full resolution (1920x1080); real game UI (four elemental PRODUCTS atoms, bonded REAGENTS molecule, six-armed mechanism with hub 3 and arms 1/2, readout PRODUCTS 24/24 / COST 120G / CYCLES ---- / AREA 21, three filled instruction tracks) confirmed visible and legible; no trailer caption, watermark or logo overlays the editor

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-22); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.