Friday Facts #69 - Sympathy for the creeper

[kovarex]

You can see the point of view of Albert this time: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-69

[SuperSandro2000]

First
First post from Albert. I realy like it and it's good to read.
Before Albert ... the graphic were horrible but Albert done a realy good work. I realy love the graphics and the look beatiful BIG THANKS Albert!!! hug for you, man!

[Xterminator]

Wow this was really interesting to me. Probably one of my favorite FF. Quote amazing to see the progression of graphics! Can't believe Factorio looked like it did in beginning.
Can't wait for more!

[Night_Ange1]

So that's where Tree Farms trees come from! The more you know

Doing great on the graphics Devs!

[Cordylus]

I must say:
Those beautiful graphics I saw on the trailer pushed me to buy this game. Awesome work!

But in my opinion environment of this planet is far from the paradise...

[funktapus]

Awesome post. Can't wait to see the direction you take end game. Are we going to see ourselves hightailing it back to our home... a brutal Dyson sphere?

[CarlooSR]

Hey Albert,
since you are "the art commander " i have a question for you:

Is it possible to get biggerpictures from the Artwork page ? I Love them so much and would like to use them as a Wallpaper but they are so small ...

Sincerly CarloO

[Jump]

I remember playing with that blue gui, and those simple inserter graphics. Times flies when you're having fun playing Factorio

[irbork]

This one was one long boring elaborate to read LOL

[Chronosfear]

Oh my ..
Haven't thought about the other side of the coin.
That was great. Probably the best FF since i've bought this game.

thanks
Chronosfear

[aRatNamedSammy]

great job!

[Puzzlemaker]

If I remember correctly, there are plans to make the pollution more visible to the player, right? I want to see ruined land, runoff from mining, smog from burning coal and biomes slowly turning into deserts.

[Marconos]

I don't feel bad for the worms. All those glorious minerals deposits just waiting to be harvested. Kill em all!! IT's MINE ALL MINE!!!!!!

[FlyHigh]

It's quite interesting to see the graphic change and to realise that the essence and 'feel' is pretty much there through the versions! Despite our personal preferences (to me version 0.10.x had the best graphics as of yet) the longevity of gameplay wouldn't be the same were it not for the aesthetics of FactorioPunk

[MF-]

<@Albert-only>
Thanks for formulating that "factorio is rather militant" opinion. Perhaps some might listen to you.
Did you get to observe the immense militant twist in the past versions?
</@Albert-only>
I'm glad it was promised the next version will expand automation again.

Hehe.. I like the 8-bit look of the early version.
Also the green-halo logo, which would go very well with it.

[imajor]

I really like the graphic of the game, grats! But if I may use the opportunity to suggest something: I would love to see a more vivid animation for the assembly units when they are working. Currently if there are a bunch of them close to each other, it is not obvious which one is working. Also in games like settlers I loved to see buildings working, when the smith was hammering the red tools with a lots of smoke. It was pretty spectacular.

[Adil]

I thought creeper was the name for old humanoid enemies exclusively.
Also, I'm not so sure about biters being native, their bases look as alien to landscape as player made factory, and right they behave as if their sole purpose of existence is destruction of any animal life around them with the player being the sole survivor of their onslaught.

If try to put some rationale behind what they currently are, I'd say they look more like if they are artificially created bioweapon that for one or the other reason happened on the same planet with human colonists.

The Humans Are the Real Monsters did come to my mind a couple of times indeed but that is not something that can be conveyed with visuals only. Unless you start drawing them like cute blue catgirls.

[Drury]

The planet is a biter paradise the same way it's the player's paradise - they both want it all minus the neighbor, and neither is actually objectively correct - a planet infested by giant bugs without natural predators is not a paradise; a planet engulfed in a layer of rust and smoke is not a paradise.

If the game has an ending, it would be interesting to have to choose between 3 options - shut down your factory, take off to space and leave the planet for the biters to destroy OR exterminate all biter presence (plus all other lifeforms) with a destructive bioweapon and turn the entire planet into a giant factory, OR exterminate the biters, take off and let the planet turn into a beautiful natural jungle paradise, growing over the abandoned ruins of your factory and the biter nests.

[ssilk]

If try to put some rationale behind what they currently are, I'd say they look more like if they are artificially created bioweapon that for one or the other reason happened on the same planet with human colonists.

Really? I would say, this is the perfect machine to chew trees.

[Drury]

I believe it's analogous to happenings of Sandworms of Dune - biter nests, as we all know, are the sole source of alien artifacts. At the same time, we know that the only fauna of the planet is biter packs and aquatic species.

This leads to the safe assumption that biters are a planted species with an either natural or genetically engineered ability to thrive and produce artifacts under any conditions, no matter how harsh, and keep the artifacts safe. They owe lots to their is ridiculous mutation rate - they will adapt to changing conditions in a matter of days. So yes - quite possible they're nothing more than perfect artifact breeders planted on the planet by a third party. The planet would eventually turn into a desert with biters burrowing underneath, feeding on the last remaining fauna, laying artifacts.

Now most of this is done for gameplay - makes sense not to have cosmetic features like birds and deers in beta. The way things currently are doesn't necessarily make for a bad story, that's all I'm saying.