Jack Smith Game Review

Jack Smith Game Background

Jack Smith is a medieval-themed weapon-crafting game set in a fantasy world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals developed by Flipline Studios in 2012. The game follows the exploits of the namesake blacksmith, a donkey who joins the fight against the dastardly villainous mouse Dudley by forging weapons of quality for the royal army. Build an assortment of weapons for fighters to the best possible quality and watch them use it against enemy monsters. The quality of your weapons determines the fate of each battle.

How to Play Jacksmith

Getting Started

To select, left click with your mouse or tap on the touchscreen with your fingers. On the loading screen, select Continue on the bottom right corner of the loading screen to bring up the welcome screen. On the welcome screen, select Play at the bottom center to begin.

Choose from one of the 3 save slots to start the game. Selecting an empty save slot starts a new game while selecting an occupied one loads a previously saved game. Select the X button on the top right corner of an occupied save slot to clear it. You can keep a copy of your save file on your device by selecting Save a Backup; select Load Backup to play a previously backed up save file. Your web browser automatically saves your game progress after each level.

When you start a new game, you must first type in a username on the namespace provided. After that, a cutscene plays explaining the premise of the game. You can get past the cutscene and start the first day by selecting Skip Intro. The first few days of the game act as a tutorial, explaining the game’s various controls.

The Forging Process

The game is divided into 4 parts:

• Taking weapon orders
• Casting weapons
• Refining weapons
• Finishing weapons

The steps toward refining and finishing weapons vary between each type, so only a general overview is described here.

Each day begins with Jacksmith announcing that his smithy is open by blowing a horn. A sign below Jacksmith’s window indicates the number of soldiers coming for the day. Soldiers will appear one by one with a distinct order depending on their species. Select Order above the soldier to get their weapon order. This appear on the top left corner of the screen. Select Craft below each of the crucibles, then select the type of weapon to start forging.

At the casting screen, select the weapon design and the metal needed to make it. You can only create a weapon with a metal if you have enough ore for it. The amount of ore you have is shown on the top of the container, while amount needed for the weapon is shown below. Once selected, the metal will fall into the crucible and melt down for a time. You can select and pull down on the bellows on the bottom left corner to speed up the process of melting down the metal. When the timer hits the green region, select the pulley, then slowly pull down to pour the metal onto the mold. Pulling too fast will create a poorly formed weapon. Do not let the metal overheat; it will result in a brittle weaker weapon.

Afterward, you must assemble the weapon. How this is done varies with the type of weapon chosen. Check our section on weapon assembly for more details. The general rule is that you must assemble each weapon as carefully and as evenly as possible to ensure the best possible quality.

Add the finishing touches as carefully as you can to finish the weapon. Select the parts from the right side of the screen, the drag and drop them to the weapon. Once you’re finished, select the finish button on the bottom right corner to give the weapon to the soldiers. The 3 counters on the top center of the finish screen will show you how well you did in each stage of construction.

At any point in the construction process, you can select the scrap button on the bottom right corner. This will dispose of any flawed or otherwise poorly made weapons and allow you start over from scratch.

From the third day onward, you can buy materials with the gems you’ve earned by selecting the window where the merchant goose appears. This will open the shop screen and allow you to browse for components or ores. The merchant goose doesn’t have everything on stock, so be sure to check on him once a day to see what he has.

The Battle

Once all the soldiers of the day have a weapon, the battle begins. The outcome of the battle depends largely on the quality of the weapons you forged. The battle is itself automatic, but you can interact with the battlefield in two ways. First, you can select and hold (on a touchscreen) or move your cursor (on a desktop) to pick up as many dropped items (ores, parts, gems) as possible. The second is to fire cannons to assist the soldiers. Select the cannon balls on the left edge to shoot them at the enemies.

The soldiers’ performance is measured by the health bars of the weapons on the bottom left corner of the screen. Each time the monsters and minions attack, the weapons lose hit points. When the weapon’s health bars are empty, they break and the soldiers wielding them predictably flee. The battle ends when all the monsters are defeated or when all the soldiers are routed.

If you defeat the enemies, you end each battle with a treasure chest containing designs and materials for epic weapons you can create later in the game.

Weapon Assembly

Swords

After casting, swords must be hammered. Select the edge of the sword to hammer it. To hammer the sword as best you can, strike at the edges. Make sure as much of the edge has been hammered as possible to create the ideal edge; a properly edged blade is a thin translucent white color. You only have 18 available hammer strikes, so make every last one count.

Drag and drop each component of the hilt (the cross guard, grip, and cap or pommel) as centered as you can manage.

Bows & Arrows

Your first task after casting is to draw out the now-cast bow to form as straight a line as possible. Move each side of the bow as evenly as you can to get a straight line. You can only pull at the bow so much before it’s at maximum tautness, so move each side with care. Once that’s done, select a grip and center it as you can manage.

The next step is to make arrows. Add an arrowhead and fletching to both ends of the shaft to finish the arrow. Keep both parts centered as you add them to the shaft.

Axes

After casting the axe parts, you must assemble them together as neatly as possible. Axes have 3 components (2 blades and a cap). Once you put them in position, they will be hammered into place. Add a pole, grip, and cap to complete the axe, being careful to keep them as centered as possible.

Shields

Shields are the simplest items to make. After casting, you only need to paint them and stick an emblem at their center. The paint should cover as much of the shield as possible; the meter above the screen shows how much paint you have left. Choose large strokes to cover as much of the shield’s surface as possible. You should keep the emblem centered when you place it.

Pikes

The first thing you should do once the pike head is forged is to hammer it like you would with a sword. Unlike the sword, you only have 6 hammer strikes, so make each one count. Like with the sword, the hammered edge appears as a band of thin, translucent white around the pike head.

Once you’re finished, you must assemble the pike’s shaft. The shaft has 3 poles, which alternate between 2 grips and 1 cap. Make sure each of these components are centered when placing them.

Maces

The first thing you should do when assembling a mace is to carefully stick each of the spikes in the pattern shown on the top right corner of the screen. There are 11 spikes or pegs to position in total.

After that, you must assemble the handle. Choose a pole, grip, and cap and center them as well as you can.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Summary

The donkey Jacksmith and his apprentice, the sheepdog Scout, are accomplished metalworkers that have fallen on hard times. However, when the beauteous daughter of the king and queen is kidnapped by Dudley the evil mouse wizard, Jacksmith sees an opportunity. The king posts a reward to whoever saves the princess!

But, being more skilled as an artisan than a warrior, our hero and his loyal apprentice decide to become equippers to the warriors sent to actually rescue the princess. Rather than directly engaging the enemy forces, they choose to supply the army with quality weaponry and provide cover fire for those engaged in battle.

Currency

Gems are the game’s main currency. To buy items from the merchant goose, you must have a sufficient number of gems. These are typically earned as items dropped by enemies when they are defeated. You also gain a significant amount of bonus gems for finishing all weapon orders before the game’s bonus meter, located on the bottom left corner, expires. The more time left on the bonus meter, the higher your gem bonus will be. Finally, you also earn gems as a one-time reward for any of the 80 achievement badges you can earn throughout the game.

Quality Matters

Weapons have two basic stats: power and durability. Power refers to their ability to inflict damage on enemies. Durability, meanwhile, refers to how long they last before breaking. Well-crafted weapons will last longer and inflict more damage, while poorly-made ones will result in the army being routed early. Some weapons have a third basic stat, luck, which refers to the likelihood that they will lead an enemy to drop more loot with each hit.

The first level of quality is the materials used. You have an infinite supply of copper ore, while all other metals can be collected during battle or bought from the merchant goose. The materials available are as follows:

• Copper (weakest)
• Bronze
• Iron
• Steel
• Gold
• Crystal (strongest)

Note that some epic designs sometimes use weaker metals. Be sure to keep some on stock so you can make them.

You also have an infinite supply of regular components, though they offer no bonuses against enemies whatsoever. Components that are collected or bought often have a bonus against specific elemental enemies, provide a boost to the weapon’s power or durability, or increase a weapon’s luck. These special components are often the key to creating epic weapons.

The final component of weapon power and durability is its construction. From the beginning, you must make sure that the metal used to make the weapon is heated to the right temperature and poured into the molds slowly. Bladed weapons must be hammered evenly around every edge. The components added to the weapons must be snapped into place carefully. Misalignments and imperfections will cause a slight to significant deduction in the weapon’s overall effectiveness and longevity in the battlefield. Poorly attached parts also do not give as big an elemental bonus as they should.

Cannonball Support

By the third day of gameplay, you will be introduced to the cannon. This refers to the support fire launched by Scout from Jacksmith’s wagon. You begin with one type of cannonball and are introduced to more types as the game progresses. The cannonballs vary in their effects and can help you tilt battles in the army’s favor early on. Each cannonball must recharge after use.

To shoot the cannonball, you can either select its button on the screen or, if you’re on the desktop, press a number key. The types of cannonball are as follows:

• Cannonball (1): Causes blunt trauma damage and recharges the fastest among the cannonballs
• Fire bomb (2): Causes damage and sets target on fire, causing additional damage over time
• Repair bomb (3): Restores the hit points of every weapon currently wielded
• Electric bomb (4): Specializes in attacking lightning elemental enemies and reducing their attack strength
• Booster bomb (5): Temporarily gives every weapon wielded a boost in power
• Ice bomb (6): Freezes and stuns the enemy; it is the slowest-charging cannonball in the game

Epic Designs

An epic weapon provides all the soldiers on the battlefield with a bonus during the day they are used. They are made from specific components, which are listed in their blueprint. Each of the 6 types of weapon have 14 different epic types, for a total of 84 epic designs in the entire game. To properly use an epic weapon, you must have its design; building an epic weapon without its blueprint will not grant you the bonus.

After defeating all monsters in the battlefield, the soldiers will come across a treasure chest that contains the blueprints and components of an epic weapon. These epic designs are stored in your design book, which you can access either by selecting the book on the shop window or the designs button on the menu screen. Later in the game, once you have all epic weapon blueprints, you’ll find the parts for a random epic weapon within each chest.

You can view the epic weapon guide by selecting the design book on the shop window or by selecting the designs button on the menu. The design’s page on the epic weapons screen will let you know if you have the right parts to craft the weapon. Designs you have enough parts to craft are marked in green. You can also highlight specific components for an epic weapon by selecting the bookmark button on the bottom right corner of the epic weapon screen.

Elemental Combat

The game’s combat system was built as a match up system. Most of the monsters and enemies in this game belong to one of the element types; enemies that don’t (basic ones) usually succumb to any and all types of weapons. The elements are as follows:

• Fire
• Water
• Ice
• Stone
• Wind
• Lightning
• Plant
• Shadow

Scout lists down all the monsters you’re bound to encounter in each day of battle, and their elemental icons appear on the bottom right corner of the game screen. During the battle itself, the enemies appear with a health bar below them. When the health bar expires, they are defeated.

Unlike other games with complex matching systems, the one used here is simple. Weapons and weapon components are listed as being effective against a certain type of element directly. Thus, to effectively counter a fire-type enemy, you’ll need to get weapons and components listed under the fire elemental category.

You can also examine the bestiary to see the elemental typing of each enemy you’ve encountered. You can open the bestiary by selecting it’s book on the shop window or selecting the bestiary button on the menu screen.

Areas and Levels

All gameplay time is divided into days. A single day consists of the time you spend forging weapons and the battle against enemies that takes place afterward. The day ends when the army is routed or the monsters are defeated.

The game has 7 areas, which you traverse over the course of several in-game days. The number of days it takes to cross an area vary between levels. Each area has a theme and many of the foes encountered within have a predominant element. The areas are as follows:

• Lowlands
• Cinder Springs
• Alpine Ridge
• Boneyard Dunes
• Evershade Forest
• Wormwood Hollow
• Castle Ruins

The game continues past the plot’s resolution. After defeating Dudley himself (and earning a kiss from the princess), you can continue your travels to hone your craft. Keep playing for as long as you want or until you’ve completed the entire game.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

Combat Tips

As much as possible, equip the army with weapons that give them a bonus against your enemies’ element. Choose weapon models with a bonus against a specific element and embellish them with parts that give them a bonus against an enemy element. If you’re facing down enemies with multiple elemental types, a good rule of thumb is to always have at least one weapon geared toward a specific element.

Consider mixing and matching parts so that the weapon has a bonus against more than one elemental type. Meanwhile, consider saving design blueprints for epic weapons with an elemental advantage for when you must face down several enemies of a particular elemental type.

As the game becomes more challenging, start bringing out the epic weapons that bolster durability or power. The boost they provide could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Income Matters

Having a sufficient balance of gems is the key to acquiring enough of what you need to craft more effective weapons. Use parts that boost luck to increase the amount of items dropped by each enemy you defeat. This will not only increase your income after every battle but also help you save on gems by giving you more ores and parts that you won’t need to pay for.

You can also improve your income by increasing your gem bonus at the end of each day. This involves improving your skills in assembling each weapon so they take less time. For newcomers, this is often easier to do at the start of the game and becomes difficult as the game progresses. If you’ve earned enough skill to master quick and accurate placement, you can regain the time bonuses.

Educational Aspects

Although not as challenging as the Papa Louie restaurant games, this game’s time management elements will still put a player’s task switching and prioritization skills to the test. In addition, it also tests a player’s ability to manage resources for the task at hand. That said, this game’s depiction of smithing is simplified and is in no way meant to illustrate the actual work done by medieval weapon smiths.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is suitable for older school-aged players and above. Many younger players might find the controls confusing and difficult to master. We recommend this game for people who like time management games and medieval fantasy combat.