Friday Facts #365 - Future plans

[aaron311]

We want to make new things for Factorio because we like playing Factorio

This. I'm sure you already know this, but *this* is why you made such a great game. Certainly, it's not the *only* reason Factorio is so good, but you can tell that Factorio just screams "we have played this to death and tuned it each step of the way".

Please, never change Wube <3

[ptx0]

We want to make new things for Factorio because we like playing Factorio

This. I'm sure you already know this, but *this* is why you made such a great game. Certainly, it's not the *only* reason Factorio is so good, but you can tell that Factorio just screams "we have played this to death and tuned it each step of the way".

Please, never change Wube <3

from what we've seen on discord, posila loves playing Satisfactory too.

[OzHawkeye]

Well, after the base game, Drury's caution notwithstanding, I can honestly say, once the expansion is released, it'll be a case of "take my money now!".

I look forward to it.

[Hatlábú Farkas]

i love the linux support, and the peoples here

[BlackEagles]

I would love to see more factorio updates and like the way you are thinking and planning and the comparison between facts and results ^^ I will support new upcomming content in this way! We all will back you!

[adam_bise]

Curious.. Could the new 3D artist position hint to a first person mode?

[posila]

Curious.. Could the new 3D artist position hint to a first person mode?

No.

[Zaekyr]

Hello. Just wanted to get my voice heard though many always seem to disagree. The work the devs have put into this game shows the love. I believe your idea of expansion is perfect and suits the game. I am not sure which direction you will follow for an expansion but I trust it will be good. My personal thoughts are to expand an endgame similar to space exploration (or maybe just planet hopping?). What I would find ideal would be opening up the possibility of modding the entities that do not require power so that they do (belts, turrets, offshore pumps, can't recall what else). I realize that may be difficult but modding a hard mode from my perspective would require such "powers". Maybe if not that then opening modding up in a wider format for indigenous life so that when you started a new game you could randomly have one or several potential problem lifeforms on that world. That could go in hand with a planet hopping expansion to make for a great deal more replay-ability and would be fun for those players like myself who have a good number of hours playing the game and would like fresh challenges especially if they could be somewhat unknown. The real difficulty I suppose would be the need to allow some sort of AI programming with any new added creatures to give them "life". I know some have suggested more creatures just be added but I believe opening the door to modders to create them would result in so much more potential.

[Mythoss]

Expansion is the way to go. If it has enough content it will get myself and my friends to play again. For us, we'd like a more meaningful combat system and interaction with the aliens. Biomes to actually matter and some form of exploration to be meaningful instead of just more resources. Aquatic building (and resources), naval units, and just more to do with water in general. It's a bummer you dropped the campaign because that would be a blast to coop with a buddy. For a good example of a similar game adding lots of new features check out Mindustry. They've added a ton of content (for free).

[ptx0]

Curious.. Could the new 3D artist position hint to a first person mode?

No.

just like spidertron, right?

Expansion is the way to go. If it has enough content it will get myself and my friends to play again. For us, we'd like a more meaningful combat system and interaction with the aliens. Biomes to actually matter and some form of exploration to be meaningful instead of just more resources. Aquatic building (and resources), naval units, and just more to do with water in general. It's a bummer you dropped the campaign because that would be a blast to coop with a buddy. For a good example of a similar game adding lots of new features check out Mindustry. They've added a ton of content (for free).

you know, that's a really good point. they could have an underwater world instead of space.

[ptx0]

...

already done. try playing Krastorio2.

[Fuzzician]

An Expansion is definitely the way to go.

As for what it could be, the most sensible path is to expand gameplay to another biome. It could be space (ala Space Exploration), the underground (where you find richer resources, but also maybe a new creature type, and building space becomes a real problem), or even underwater (where you need specialized gear to survive, and new materials to build specialized buildings).

The only other lacking aspect (though, whether the game actually needs this or not is debatable) in Factorio is exploration. Other than looking for more resource nodes, there is really nothing to find on the planet.

[ThomasDiy]

I'm glad the development team has decided to stick with the expansion ideal. I think DLC should definitely be implemented and in multiplayer everybody benefits from the host DLC. I also believe that the Factorio expansion includes DLC support. I believe that DLC should be specialized to a certain type of development. That may not fit in with the actual expansion. Think of Factorio Expansion as the game core, Then DLC as the game content. The developpment team should create Free DLC as part of the Expansion to keep the game lightweight. Also to disable certain features that players might not like or want.

I love playing Empire Earth back in the day. But what absolutely ruined the game was Empire Earth 2 and 3 Which focused heavily on changing overall mechanics and better graphics in exchange for less units. I personally want to see an RTS version of Factorio. People say just install mods it's not that easy. Plus I think the Factorio world championships would be pretty awesome in Esports. Factorio RTS would be a game mode backed by Free DLC. As part of the expansion.

Another DLC could be Multiplayer DLC. That includes anti-grieving, anti-cheat, multiplayer game lobby, in game voice support.

One group of people discussed the possibility of Planetary Expansion. I think this would actually be an interesting ideal as part of a DLC. If you ever played RimWorld. You can actually go to different zones and different maps. I believe by clicking on a rocket you should be able to travel to a different planet on a star system map. Then you can build a factory there and then use rockets to send resources back to your main base.

I think the developers should reconsider DLC, create an expansion. But then make all of the DLC's free as part of that expansion. This is critical in keep the game lightweight and not breaking the game. I'm pretty sure there's alot of people who don't want to play planetary expansion. So why have planetary expansion content installed. This is where DLC allow developers to see which expansions are more popular than others. It also allows developers to control where to focus the development. It also allows players not to install content they're not interested in playing. I think speed runners would love a Speed Run DLC with daily map challenges and a high score leaderboard system, with daily unique challenges that might block certain items from being used making speed run far more challenging. I'm not a speed runner so why would I want to install a Speed Runner DLC.

DLCs will allow the development team to take the game in different directions. Then allow the community to actually vote on DLCs that should become part of the actual expansion.

I think one thing that's extremely important is a Server DLC along with a Factorio server package. Simple folder that can be unzipped on Windows or Linux. Then you can fully manage the server configurations through the DLC. I think as multiplayer becomes more popular server management becomes a huge problem. So many server hosting companies have terrible backend management. Be nice if these multiplayer servers could easily be managed through the game interface.

[salopesensible]

I created an account to let ya'll know I was a late purchaser but avid fan of your game and to share some sentiments.

On behalf of several groups, I have something you should read.

From people who have OCD: Stop. Make no more games. Consider biking across any war torn country.

From people who are paid to help those with OCD: AWESOME!!!!

I have NEVER been so entranced by a game as this. It's just a wonderful experience. Thank you and I'll help ya'll out with your expansion. Hell, I'll even buy it early to help you out.

Bravo.

[Impatient]

I could not disagree more. That is the perfect recipe to create a clutter everyone hates in the end, even the devs (it is explained in the FFF why they don't want to make a lot of small DLCs). With a single expansion, there will at least be one group of people, who like it.

[NotRexButCaesar]

Another DLC could be Multiplayer DLC. That includes anti-grieving, anti-cheat, multiplayer game lobby, in game voice support.

Anti-griefing: already a thing
Anti-cheat: what cheats are there exactly? Doing anything client side that the server doesn’t also do results in a destiny.
Multiplayer lobby: what do you mean here? Like the server list that already exists?
In game voice support: I’m not sure this is something I want, but maybe other people do. I don’t think the current system is lacking.

[Bikerchain]

Bosses would be amazing to add to keep players interested and invested into the game.

[bourne327]

You guys are beyond the best. Thank you for a game that I and my children have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy for decades to come!

[ThomasDiy]

I could not disagree more. That is the perfect recipe to create a clutter everyone hates in the end, even the devs (it is explained in the FFF why they don't want to make a lot of small DLCs). With a single expansion, there will at least be one group of people, who like it.

That's why I suggested players voting on DLC's. So for example when they first created nuclear power. Some people liked it, others did not. Nuclear power would have been introduced as a DLC. Then the developers would've asked the community to vote on whether nuclear should become part of Factorio. Essentially removing the DLC and implementing nuclear into the base game.

Right now Factorio is mostly a sandbox game. There's discussions of space expansions, speed running, real-time strategy, tower defense, king of the hill, capture the flag, do you really think all of these game modes should be included in a single expansion. Each DLC should be a different game mode. I personally don't want to see Factorio being a 100GB game like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. If I had the option not to install a 20GB DLC that would be nice. Just like multiplayer should also be a DLC. Some people just don't play multiplayer. So why have all of the multiplayer content installed on your system?

Another reason I would like to see DLC is because I miss Alien Artifacts. I would like to see Alien Artifacts return as a DLC. Essentially removing some of the science packs.

But yes I do understand your concerns of having a series of random DLC's. But it's just like my proposal for in game voice support. That should be a DLC without question. Some players may prefer using discord, team speak or ventrilo over factorio voice.

Another DLC could be Multiplayer DLC. That includes anti-grieving, anti-cheat, multiplayer game lobby, in game voice support.

Anti-griefing: already a thing
Anti-cheat: what cheats are there exactly? Doing anything client side that the server doesn’t also do results in a destiny.
Multiplayer lobby: what do you mean here? Like the server list that already exists?
In game voice support: I’m not sure this is something I want, but maybe other people do. I don’t think the current system is lacking.

So as of now there's two books, one blue to create blueprints and one red as a deconstruction planner. There should be a yellow book also known as a protection book. So after you build something that you can create a protection blueprint then assign other players to it. This would prevent people from destroying something you have already constructed. You can also have an option of what's known as group build. So for example if you place a power pole I cannot destroy it. However if were in a group together, when working on the project then we would both be able to remove that power pole. You can also have things like protected player chest. So I could store items into a chest and other players could not remove those items. Protected assembly lines and belts. So imagine if somebody else builds a section of factory you cannot pick up items off of a belt if it's protected. All of this is also backed by insttant replay a server admin can essentially undo anything you've done in the last 50 moves or since you joined the server. Alot of very complex details into a good anti-grieving system. Players should also be able to request access to protected blueprints. So you would get a chat request from somebody requesting permission to edit your blueprint and you could grant them permission to pick up items. Modify or edit buildings etc. There also needs to be a vote kicking option. For the developers it would probably take a good year to design a good anti-grieving system. The main reason I don't play multiplayer is every time I go on a multiplayer server, after a few hours it gets destroyed by trolls. Protection and anti-grieve would also bee on the players toolbelt. That's why I think protection blueprints is critical. In Minecraft alot of people play Factions for this very reason.

Anti-cheat is mostly for multiplayer, people being able to use third-party applications to see what the other player is doing in their base. Typically anti-cheats is a third-party program installed on the backside of a game. This is going to be important when you get into team multiplayer or individual multiplayer. Where you have 64 players with 64 individual base competing against each other in real-time strategy multiplayer.

Think of multiplayer lobbies that exist on games like first-person shooteers. People join the lobbies for the games and people are assigned to teams. You pick server settings and all of that stuff before actually starting a multiplayer match. As of now you basically join the game after it's already started. Which is not practical for real time strategy multiplayer.

[ElCapitan1701]

@all those people suggesting a 3d factorio: Go play the other game, try it, but it doesn`t work. It`s no fun. Its a good, nice game, but its just no fun. The perspective makes building much more abstract und really hard work. At the same time you can`t see how nice everything is running. So much more work, and less joy.