Factorio Facts #31

Regular reports on Factorio development.
kovarex
Factorio Staff
Factorio Staff
Posts: 8078
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:00 am
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by kovarex »

badminton wrote: These two issues need to be balanced carefully I think. Factorio has the potential to become very complicated, rather than very complex. At the moment the balance is pretty good, but if it becomes too complicated (ie Dwarf Fortress) before you do a big release then you're going to force the game down a niche that will cost you sales. As awesome (and free) as Dwarf Fortress is, it's not easy to recommend to a lot of people, games like Gnomoria and Towns have a broader appeal.
We are aware of this very well. This is the reason why we feel, that the current complexity of things you need to do is enough when we added the oil industry. This is the reason we are planning to do things that don't add complexity. Things like multiplayer, having tech tree as real tree, replays, better control of map information layers, some tiers of energy generators or turrets, different terrains, fire. Things like this add to the game experience without adding much complexity.
Then there are things that might add complexity, better circuit network integration for example, but the player doesn't need to do it. Only those that play for long time, or those that want to play with it might explore some depth there.
badminton wrote: My housemate is a perfect example: He's seen me playing Dwarf Fortress quite a lot but he's never felt the need to try it out for himself because of all the screens and hotkeys and 3rd party programs you need to really get the most out of it. When I got Factorio (after watching SplatterCat's spotlight vid <3) I didn't bother to tell him about it because it's a similar kind of game. When he saw me playing it he asked about it and I talked him though my objectively crappy factory and he was hooked. Literally within 10 minutes he'd bought his copy and started playing it. And now, even a couple of months later, every second conversation we have is about Factorio :lol:
This is great news indeed! This is exactly what we were trying to achieve all the time. To make it interesting and complex enough to hook people, but not complicated too much so new players will not be discouraged.

slay_mithos
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 204
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:22 am
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by slay_mithos »

kovarex wrote: This is great news indeed! This is exactly what we were trying to achieve all the time. To make it interesting and complex enough to hook people, but not complicated too much so new players will not be discouraged.
You did quite a good job at the balance, I think.
I'm one of those dwarf fortress, eve online and kerbal space program players, I like games that challenge me with their mechanisms, and I got hooked.

I have to admit that it's nice not to have to always have a second monitor for third party programs, or stat windows all over the screen, while still retaining a gameplay with enough complexity to make player choices matter in a sandbox.

DexterNemrod
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 12:54 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by DexterNemrod »

slay_mithos wrote:
kovarex wrote: This is great news indeed! This is exactly what we were trying to achieve all the time. To make it interesting and complex enough to hook people, but not complicated too much so new players will not be discouraged.
You did quite a good job at the balance, I think.
I'm one of those dwarf fortress, eve online and kerbal space program players, I like games that challenge me with their mechanisms, and I got hooked.
...
Same here (with the exception of Eve Online) ...
I guess Factorio is a natural game of interest for players of (intellectually stimulating games like) KSP and Dwarf Fortress

exbeer
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by exbeer »

cant whait until multiplayer :D and i love the game, make it 2 d 3 d dosent matter for me, its the concept that works and what i love, and with the mods now it takes even longer to get all the science. more stuff GIMMI more MODS :D , btw,wil there be planes ? becose there is a plane tec. just no planes XD darn it . now i cant say enything a bout how it was before , but as it is now i do love it, and with all the diffecult settings you can make it harder for your self or easy, as with rimworld i love thees games and the opt to get modders in to it to make it even better. keep up the good work devs. thsi is my holy grail of a game :D

" btw " i do want to se some more type of electricity opt, not just steam and solar, maby coal generetors , maby nukes, wood burning elec. and so on. becose its a pain to have a shit tone of steam all over the place :)

User avatar
Nova
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 947
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:13 am
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by Nova »

exbeer wrote: more type of electricity opt, not just steam and solar, maby coal generetors
Nearly every power plant type works with steam. Different kinds of fuel (like coal, oil, nuclear fuel rods, gas...) heat up water and produce steam. Did you never put coal into your boilers? That's the way of a coal power plant.
Greetings, Nova.
Factorio is one of the greatest games I ever played, with one of the best developers I ever heard of.

exbeer
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by exbeer »

Nova wrote:
exbeer wrote: more type of electricity opt, not just steam and solar, maby coal generetors
Nearly every power plant type works with steam. Different kinds of fuel (like coal, oil, nuclear fuel rods, gas...) heat up water and produce steam. Did you never put coal into your boilers? That's the way of a coal power plant.
hmm yes , i used coal into boilers, to then heat up the steam, but how do i use oil for this ? now i havent gotten all the tec yet, but i cant remeber i have seen a " oil " plant to make power ? or gas for that matter, but the boilers only heat up the water for the steam eng, ? dosent it ? im confused :P just added solar plants right now.

Gauntletwizard
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:59 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by Gauntletwizard »

exbeer wrote:hmm yes , i used coal into boilers, to then heat up the steam, but how do i use oil for this ?
There's several recipes to make "Fuel Blocks" (one each for Light Oil, Heavy Oil, and Petroleum), which can be fed into boilers like coal, but provide more energy per item

exbeer
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by exbeer »

Gauntletwizard wrote:
exbeer wrote:hmm yes , i used coal into boilers, to then heat up the steam, but how do i use oil for this ?
There's several recipes to make "Fuel Blocks" (one each for Light Oil, Heavy Oil, and Petroleum), which can be fed into boilers like coal, but provide more energy per item
ooh thank you, i did not know that , good to know, becose i use a shit tone of power and a tone of coal to steam, :D

User avatar
Zourin
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:15 am
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by Zourin »

bean -> industrial inserter -> coffee assembler -> forklift inserter -> train car -> unloader -> coffee distributor -> hand inserter -> thumbs up generator!

LSky
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 1:22 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by LSky »

kovarex wrote:
Drury wrote:Just to be sure - this also means Greenlight campaign starting May 1st, right?
About that ... we decided to give it some more time :)
Should probably see about multiplayer before committing to Greenlight.

User avatar
Zourin
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:15 am
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by Zourin »

Finish the graphical upgrades.
FInish the new train tweaks
Scrub the tech trees.
Get off the pot and put it on Steam.

User avatar
Drury
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 782
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by Drury »

If they plan on finishing the game before Steam, it'd be wise to put RTS elements in place before that.

DexterNemrod
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 12:54 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by DexterNemrod »

LSky wrote:
kovarex wrote:
Drury wrote:Just to be sure - this also means Greenlight campaign starting May 1st, right?
About that ... we decided to give it some more time :)
Should probably see about multiplayer before committing to Greenlight.
Factorio works very well as single player ...
don´t think that Multiplayer for a game like Factorio is such a deciding factor,
that everyone on Steam will complain about it having no multiplayer (yet)

PROdotes
Manual Inserter
Manual Inserter
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 1:41 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by PROdotes »

While it does work well in singleplayer... multiplayer would increase the longevity a lot... here's my story about factorio...
A friend say quill18 play it on a livestream and suggested i give it a try... i finished the demo in 1-2 hours and said "well... nice game but I don't see it lasting more then maybe 2 days for me"... so come weekend, i say "what the heck, i'll give it a proper shot" and yes, i've downloaded the pirate... since then I've played 3 maps... and had around 30 hours behind me... seeing as I've played it fro so long, I went to the web page and bought the game... since I believe in supporting developers that put out good games...
But Since then i've made 2 new maps that i've played 1-2 hours and it's just not as fun anymore... yea... sure... i could do some planning and optimizing... get some better defenses up or something... but after you've automated everything up to the tier3 science packs once or twice... it's more of a chore...
I do have to compare it with minecraft... i have hundreds and hundreds of hours in that game... but that's the mods fault... mods keep changing and new ones keep poping up... you can play a magic themed modpack or a tech based one... or exploration... there's adaptations that make it more of a rpg... and some that focus on survival... there's skymaps... and the list goes on...
now yes... after 100s of hours of building contraptions in minecraft... factorio feels a bit less like a new thing and more like "yea... that's a fun concept for a while"...

then again... every game has to have an end... there's no game that lasts forever :)

DexterNemrod
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 12:54 pm
Contact:

Re: Factorio Facts #31

Post by DexterNemrod »

Actually what you write is IMHO even more of an argument to keep the moddability as large as possible.

It is like in Kerbal Space Program ...
the game itself already is great ...
but the fact that you have a large variety of Mods (that are easily installable and also can be searched/accessed from a central repository [Kerbal Spaceport]) bossts its replayability by a large degree (this all, while the program itself is purely single player [although meanwhile a mod for multiplayer has been developed])

Post Reply

Return to “News”