Hello everyone!
With the lead up to release we wanted to talk about the new game mode that will be making it's way into 1.0 and also follow up with a little more news regarding 1.0's release date and further questions and suggestions.
At this point in time, we are finalizing and balancing the new game mode, so there may be some small adjustments by the time you get your hands on this.
Having listened to player feedback over the years, we've noticed that the side tasks force players to build factories that become useless after completing the side task series and this has had quite the split between the community. Showing a clear divide in how two types of player, play the game. Firstly, we have the "puzzle players" who love to solve each of the puzzles and this side task is a challenge they love, however we also have another audience to cater for, and that's the "factory mode" players, who prefer building permanent factories that focus on sheer throughput of resources. Which is why we wanted to develop a new game mode that caters for that side of the community.
As part of 1.0 we've been working on the Manufacture mode, which focuses on large scale factory logistics. When we first set out developing the new game mode we anticipated it becoming the default game mode, however it throws you straight into building factories at the space belt level, which we feel can be overwhelming for new players, so we’ve decided to make it an optional game mode, that’s ideal for players who already have a firm understanding of how to play the default shapez experience mode.
In the Manufacture mode, you'll supply specific shapes to a Trade Station instead of the Vortex. This Trade Station will then output a brand new shape type in return, which you'll need in order to supply the next tier Trade Station, and so on.
A Trade Station only continues to output the new shape types as long as you keep supplying it. So, if you want a strong output of the final new shape, you'll need to make sure you sufficiently supply all prior Trade Stations.
Knowing factory players love building progressively larger facilities, we needed to approach the game mode more like a classic factory game experience. In most factory games you require 1000's of base resources in order to produce a handful of late game products. As such we wanted to implement a new system that converts inputted shapes into a new type of shape that you'll have to use in future production lines.
Probably the biggest change in the Manufacture mode is the use of trade stations. These are our manufacturers, each one requiring set inputs in return for the new shape. To make the system easier to view we've decided on colouring each of the tiers differently, with a total of 9 tiers.
Naturally, we know factory players love to optimize their lines, as such we've also added 7 additional trade stations for the initial tiers, which can be unlocked through research and act as an alternate recipe, requiring different inputs, but offering a variation of that tier's trade station's shape, which may be better suited for your facility. To make the system a little more interesting to play around with, we've also adjusted the shape of the manufacturer to give you a little more of a challenge when setting these up.
The Trade Broadcast Hub will be replacing the vortex, and will be the only source of production for the first shape. As you progress through the game there will be mechanics in place allowing you to scale up it’s throughput infinitely.
In order for you to generate the research needed to unlock the alternate manufacturers, you'll need to make use of another new buildable, the Donation Station. This building accepts shapes, allowing you to increase your operator level, and grants the research points you'll need. Though the new alternate manufacturers aren't the only addition to research.
Alongside the alternate manufacturers you'll also be able to invest research into unlocking the research station, which works similarly to the donation station except you'll receive shapes in addition to the research points.
You'll also be able to research upgrades to the Trade Broadcast hub, allowing you to increase the shapes generated for the late game facility, which draws us to the goal of the game mode.
In Manufacture mode, you'll be committing these new shapes to the production of a vortex in the grand vortex assembler. It'll require a lot of resources to run, but once setup, you'll be producing the vortex platforms which are used in the classic mode.
Finally, we wanted to address the Q & A video. We had a fair few questions asking when 1.0 will be released and having had a conversation internally, we want to let you know that we are aiming for a 1.0 release in April. However, we are not 100% certain on this, but as soon as we know for definite, we will announce the date!
We know a lot of you have questions regarding the game as well as some fantastic suggestions. So we've decided to open up the community section of our YouTube channel, so from now on, you should be able to post questions on there outside of the comments on devlogs like these.
I also wanted to mention that for those who have suggestions they're dying to see in the game, that we have a dedicated website for suggestions which can be upvoted by players.
Using this system is great at showing us what features you're most excited to see, so please use it! You can find the site here:
That's everything we wanted to cover in todays devlog! Do let us know what you think of the new mode. In the meantime we’ll be working on a new addition you’ve been asking for!