01
The hero
The name in stacked brass with gear-tooth Gs and glints, over a riveted brass nameplate, on dark riveted iron.
A riveted brass slab serif built like a machine · v1.000
GEARWRIGHTGEARWRIGHTGEARWRIGHTGEARWRIGHTGEARWRIGHT
Gearwright is a steampunk slab serif assembled from machined plates: bracketed slabs, an engraved groove down every stroke, rivet heads and a G with gear teeth. Its rim, plate, shading, lit edges and detail are separate layer fonts, so the same title can be brass, steel, copper, gold or verdigris.
Type tester
Try it with your own words
All five layers are stacked here in the hero's brass, brushed and lit from the top. Try steel, copper, gold or verdigris, switch Effects off for flat layers, or the layers off for Solid. Lowercase keys type small capitals; Plain G swaps out the gear teeth.
24 px
The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙
36 px
The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙
56 px
The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙
88 px
The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙The Iron Duke ⚙
This preview covers Basic Latin, the machine extras and the pipes. The full font adds every accented letter.
Features
Made for game interfaces
Riveted brass slab capitals and small caps in layer fonts that stack into machined metal, with a gear-tooth G, gears, gauges and pipes for steampunk games.
01
Machined in five layers
Rim, Plate, Shade, Bevel and Detail stack into riveted metal with a back plate, shaded and lit edges and an engraved groove; Solid is the whole letter in one colour.
02
Built like a machine
Sturdy stems, bracketed slab serifs, squarish rounded bowls, beak terminals and ball-terminal figures, each finished with rivet heads.
03
A G with gear teeth
The default G wears a ring of cogs. Stylistic Set 1 swaps in a plain G with the same rivets and spacing when one gear is enough.
04
Capitals & small caps
Capitals on the uppercase keys and small capitals on the lowercase ones, with the same groove and rivets, so The Iron Duke sets like a nameplate.
05
Any metal
Recolour the layers for polished brass, steel, copper, gold or green verdigris, from one family.
06
Gears, gauges and pipes
Three gears, a valve wheel, a pressure gauge, arrows, two riveted dividers and heavy pipe pieces that join into networks line by line.
Built-in icons
22 icons you can type
Each icon is a character in the font. Click one to copy it, then paste it into anything set in Gearwright.
Machine parts
Pipes
Case study
How Gearwright was designed
Why I made it
Steampunk titles live on brass: nameplates on boilers, airship hulls, the dial of a pressure gauge. The usual route is a Victorian slab serif with a metal style pasted over it, and the rivets and gears are clip art arranged around the word rather than part of it.
I wanted letters that look manufactured. If the rivets, the groove and the gear teeth are drawn into the font, the same nameplate works in a poster, a menu and an engine, and a puzzle game can type its own pipes.
Plates and rivets
Every letter is put together like a machine part: strong stems, slab serifs with brackets, bowls that sit between a circle and a square, beaked terminals and figures that end in balls. An engraved groove runs inside each stroke and rivet heads hold the plates down.
The G is the showpiece, a letter set inside a gear wheel. It's the default, and Stylistic Set 1 gives a plain G for words where a gear in every G would be one too many.
Five layers of metal
The stack is Rim at the bottom for the dark back plate, then Plate for the metal body, Shade for the edges turned away from the light, Bevel for the lit edges and glints, and Detail on top with the groove and rivets. They share every width and kerning pair, so five copies of a title line up exactly.
Colour each layer, or give the Plate a gradient, and the same word becomes polished brass, cold steel, copper, gold or old verdigris.
Gears and plumbing
The extras are the parts a workshop needs: three kinds of gear, a valve wheel, a pressure gauge, four arrows and two riveted dividers with a gear in the middle. They take the same layers, so a gear stacks into brass like the letters.
The pipes sit on the heavy box-drawing characters: straights, elbows, tees and a cross. At the default line spacing the rows connect, so you can type a whole pipe network for a puzzle screen or a frame for a menu.
In use
02
The Photoshop template
The editable hero layout from the download, with the brass name over a framed steel subtitle on warm brown.
03
As a title screen
Skyforge: a brass title over a copper plate, with airships, a setting sun and a menu in brass and steel.
04
The layers
Solid and the five layers on their own as Gw, then stacked into brass.
05
Any metal
Ironclad in steel, Copper Kettle, Gold Standard and Verdigris Bell, each in a matching frame.
06
Machine extras
A pipe network built from the box-drawing pipes with a gear, valve wheel and gauge, next to the gears, gauge, arrows and divider.
07
The details
Capitals and small capitals, the gear G and the plain G of Stylistic Set 1, tabular figures and accented names.
08
Character set
Capitals, small capitals, figures, symbols, arrows, accented letters and the machine extras, in brass.
What you get
Everything in the download
- Desktop fontsOTF for design apps, TTF for game engines and Windows, every layer.
- Web fontsWOFF2 for every layer, with unlimited web use.
- Game engine packBMFont bitmap fonts (.fnt, .xml and .png atlas) at 32, 64 and 128 px, for Godot, Unity, GameMaker, LibGDX, Phaser, MonoGame and Love2D.
- Photoshop templateAn editable hero layout with live type layers, layer effects and textures.
- README and licenseSetup tips for design apps, websites and game engines, and the full license.
License
Included with every purchase
- Games and apps, embedded for unlimited copies sold
- Logos, merch, videos, streams and print, with no limit on sales
- Installed on unlimited computers: yours, your team's and your company's
- Websites, with unlimited page views and traffic
Ask me first
- Products where customers type their own text in the font
- Resale in asset packs, templates or font collections
Please don't share or resell the font files. For anything the license doesn't cover, email me. idris.hadjoudj@gmail.com
FAQ
Before you buy
How do the 6 layers work?
Gearwright comes as 6 layer fonts (Rim, Plate, Shade, Bevel, Detail, Solid) with the same spacing and kerning. Type the same text in each, stack the copies exactly on top of each other and give each its own colour. Gearwright Solid also works on its own in one colour.
How do I build the pipes?
Type the heavy box-drawing characters (U+2501 to U+254B): straights, elbows, tees and a cross. Rows connect at the default line spacing, so keep the line height as it is and the pipes join from one line to the next. They come in every layer, so they stack in brass too.
Can I use a plain G?
Yes. The gear-tooth G is the default, and Stylistic Set 1 (ss01) swaps in a plain G with the same spacing. Turn it on for every layer you stack.
Can I use Gearwright in a game I sell, or for its logo?
Yes. Commercial use is included for games, apps, logos, merch, videos, streams and print, with no limit on sales, and you can embed the fonts and bitmap fonts in games and apps for unlimited copies. Products where your customers type their own text, and resale in asset packs, need an extended license: just ask.
Does Gearwright work in Unity, Godot and GameMaker?
Yes. Use the TTF files in any engine that imports fonts, or the included game engine pack: BMFont bitmap fonts at 32, 64 and 128 px for Godot, Unity, GameMaker, LibGDX, Phaser, MonoGame and Love2D.
Can I use Gearwright on my website?
Yes. WOFF2 web fonts are included, and web use is unlimited, with no cap on page views or traffic.
Which languages does it support?
Each font has 391 characters, covering Western and Central European languages.
Is Gearwright part of a bundle?
Yes. Gearwright is in The Complete Font Collection, every font I've made in one download.
Give your game a voice in Gearwright.
Related reading
The thinking behind this
Longer write-ups on the craft this font draws on.
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