Hi all!
It's been a while, but Lothsahn and I have been hard at work continuing to build Final Factory. Today I'm happy to announce that the Foundations Update is nearly ready. Beta testing will begin on the development branch March 20. We love having community members playtest the game and we always take player feedback very seriously. If you're interested, just switch to the development branch in Steam, and next Thursday (March 20), the content update will be deployed there. The update will be deployed to the main branch at the beginning of April (alongside a nice discount).
Let's go over some of the big changes to the game.
Quality of Life
In Place Swapping
At long last, players can now directly swap items on the map by simply placing the new blueprint over an existing item on the map. So if you want to upgrade a tier 1 connector to tier 2, you can plop the tier 2 connector directly on top of the tier one, and it will issue a swap command to your construction bots, and they will take care of upgrading the old connector!
Upgrade Tool
Now that items can be easily swapped, an upgrade planner is a natural next step. You can open this tool from the quick controls near the minimap (which have also been revamped).
In the upgrade tool you can select multiple items you want to upgrade, and what to upgrade to, then you simply press the BEGIN button and multi-select structures on the map to upgrade! This will mass-issue the swap commands on select items to upgrade, making upgrading your factory much, MUCH easier.
Improved Filtering
Setting filters on things like Connectors or Inserters leaves a lot to be desired. There are now a bunch more options on filters to make them more robust. The screenshot below speaks for itself.
Rotation
You can now rotate items by holding the same item in your hand in a different orientation, similar to Factorio. Furthermore, I have fixed the reverse-rotate keybind, so you can (by default) hold CTRL while pressing R to rotate it counter clockwise.
Copy and Paste Mass Driver Target Data
This means that you can now copy and paste blueprints that have Mass Drivers (and the new Power Distributors, which act similarly but for distributing power), and their relative targets are preserved in the blueprint. This means you won't have to go through and re-setup Mass Driver targets when pasting them on the map!
Stellar Tier Structures
I've added a whole new tier of structures available in the Stellar Science part of the tech tree, which was sorely lacking. Mass drivers, all assembler types, inserters, rocket adapters, and connectors, all have a new tier.
T3 Assemblers and printers are the same size as T2, so can be directly dropped in on top to upgrade. Additionally I've added a production bonus to T2 and T3 assemblers and printers, to give more incentive to building higher tier structures.
Currently I'm imagining T1 assemblers/printers as part of a starter base, and then T2-T3 comprise the factory that takes you to the end game. A lot of tweaking and balancing will be happening to make this feel good, hopefully with your feedback!
Power Distribution Rework
Currently, you can only distribute power via power transmitters in cardinal directions. This makes for more design constraints and potentially interesting factory puzzles. However, I want to give more player freedom with how power networks are designed. I've added a new item, called the Power Distributor, that can transmit up to 200kW of power to another distributor within range (tier 2 goes up to 2mW) in any direction. This should allow for far more flexibility in how you distribute power as the player.
It opens up the possibility to have viable centralized power. However, they don't work quite like power poles in Factorio, you will still have to think carefully about how your power is being distributed; and this constraint should still make decentralized power an attractive alternative.
I've left in Dyson Power Transmitters as the end game, long range, high watt power distribution option.
I expect this change to radically shift the game's meta. I'm excited to see the new factory designs.
Power Centralization Options
Solar Panels now operate at much higher capacity when placed near stars (which makes sense...). This should promote players using Solar Panels further into the game, and making use of Power Distributors to send out power from more centralized locations.
Additionally, the new Antimatter Nexus have been added around the map, which I'll talk about now...
Bosses
I've added support for creating larger, boss type monsters. This required a rework of my asset pipeline, and how weapons are assigned to units. I can now support adding an arbitrary number of weapons and different behaviors to a single enemy, as well as allow them to support their own fleets.
Currently there is only 1 boss mob in the update, but I plan to add more now that I have the content framework complete. I will leave out a screenshot and let players discover this on their own!
The boss guards the Antimatter Nexus. When defeated, the Antimatter Nexus will power up, and any antimatter power stations built within it will be granted a huge bonus to power generation.
Other bosses and world structures will be added to the game as the content update is released. I have a couple primary goals with this part of Final Factory's game design:
1. Make exploration fundamentally interesting and exciting
2. Make combat exciting
3. Make exploration directly help the factory gameplay
4. Encourage players to think about using different areas of the map to benefit their factory
5. When multiplayer is introduced, have a whole aspect of the game that non-factory players can enjoy
Heat Distribution and Dissipation
I've added a couple new items that should radically change how heat is managed in the mid and end game. Power transmitters have been repurposed as heat transmitters, and can now transfer heat across distances in straight lines to other stations. This means you can start centralizing your heat management as well!
Additionally, I've added a higher tier structure that dissipates up to 100 degrees of heat per second and can convert heat into power. Behold, the Hydro Power Radiator:
This consumes ice to produce its cooling effect. Currently, for every 1 degree of heat dissipated, it generates 2kW of power. These values will be adjusted as time goes on. I'm interested to see if players can create interesting power plants using these structures.
Art Rework
I have been going through an updating the art for many aspects of the game and will continue to do this through the upgrade cycle. Currently enemies, enemy structures, particle effects, weapons, the player plasma bolt, have all gotten a nice face lift. I plan to update some of the older models as well, like the assembler, among others, as we go through the update.
Tech Rework
I have adjusted tech tree rewards somewhat to spread out exciting advancements more evenly through the tree. For example, mobile station programming is now part of Planetary Science. In the current iteration of the game, you get most of the juicy gameplay-affecting stuff in Asteroid Science, leaving little motivation to continue through the game.
With the rework and addition of T3 structures, and adding production bonuses to T2-3 assembler structures, as well as big changes to heat and power distribution, I hope to encourage more exploration through the tech tree.
I'm sure I've missed some stuff but these are the broad strokes:
Big changes to power and heat distribution and management
More stuff to explore and fight on the map
Art rework
Lots of QOL (upgrade planner, better filters, UI changes)
Stellar Tier structures
Tech tree rework
Overall, I think Final Factory will feel more complete and have a better foundation to build on as we move through early access! Please feel free to join us in the discord, where you can communicate with me directly. And don't forget to join the beta next Thursday, March 20!
See you in the factory!
/Slims
Just a reminder: if you're enjoying Final Factory, steam reviews help a bunch!