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The Evolution of Factomancer: From "Color Blocks" to a Magical World

Factomancer · published 6 months ago

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Hi everyone!

Today, I want to take a moment to look back and share the journey of how Factomancer’s visuals have evolved.

Looking back at our progress since July 2024, I realized something important: You shouldn’t chase perfection in the early stages. Even if the game looks "unpolished" or even "ugly" at first, you have to bring it into existence before you can make it beautiful.

Here is how the world of Factomancer came to life:

🟩 July 2024: The "Color Block" Era

Everything was just a placeholder. We were busy brainstorming core mechanics and trying to figure out what the "soul" of the game would look like. No art, just ideas and cubes. It wasn't pretty, but the foundation was being laid.

🦴 January 2025: Building the Skeleton

We built the first rough scenes. It was still quite raw, honestly, but the basic interactions and systems were finally there. It worked, and that was enough to keep us pushing forward.

🎨 October 2025: Finding Our Tone

This is where we started taking the art direction seriously. We wanted to create a magical, cozy world that still provides an engaging, tense experience. We spent hours researching styles to find that perfect balance between "machinery" and "magic."

✨ The Polish Phase: Magic & Machinery

After validating our concept through playtesting, we dove into the details. We refined the UI/UX based on your feedback to ensure the experience is consistent and easy to understand. We’re discarding what doesn't work and doubling down on what makes the game feel alive.

📍 Where We Stand Today

Looking at the game now, compared to those initial blocks, we feel incredibly proud. It’s not "perfect" yet—and maybe it never will be—but it finally feels like the world we imagined. There are still more clouds to add, trees to plant, and UI to polish, but the vision is clear.

We’d love to hear from you! What do you think of our current art style? How does it make you feel? Drop a comment below and let us know!

Join our upcoming Playtest! We will be starting a new round of public playtesting in the coming weeks. If you haven’t already, please Wishlist us to stay updated. Your feedback is what helps us shape this journey.

👉 Join our Discord to chat with us: https://discord.gg/jk5KDjXEu3

Thank you for being part of our journey!

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In-game event14 Aug 2026QOL & BalancingThis update focuses on quality-of-life improvements for pinned recipes, along with a couple of balancing fixes based on your feedback, notably around the core hex and an exploit tied to the dividend spell. Pinned Recipes · Pinned recipes are now saved and reloaded with your game save · New animations and visual polish on pinned recipes · Clicking a pinned recipe now opens the grimoire directly…Major update6 Aug 2026Demo Update: Leaderboards & ProgressionHello dear Factomancers! We are delighted to share this new version of Factomancer with you, bringing a wealth of exciting new features! The main focus of this update is progression and the leaderboard . One of our main goals with Factomancer is to bring together different kinds of players: those who focus on speed and those who enjoy planning and optimization. With the addition of the pause fe…Major update3 Jul 2026Demo Update: In-Game PauseDear Factomancers, We're excited to share an update that we hope will allow even more players to enjoy the experience we want Factomancer to offer , while still offering a rewarding challenge for our veterans. It's been a little over a month since the demo launched, and we're still very touched by your support and enthusiasm . Thank you to everyone who has played it and joined our Discord serve…