Friday Facts #104 - Deadlines ahead

[slpwnd]

don't miss your Factorio weekly news: http://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-104

[voyta]

Oh, deadlines, now we know your company is no longer a garage startup

[slpwnd]

Oh, deadlines, now we know your company is no longer a garage startup

Interesting point. Funny thing is that actually Albert asked for the deadlines

[Jonathan88]

Woohoo!!!
My card was in a Friday Factorio Facts!!!



Thanks guys!

[Lurid]

Posted by Tomas on 2015-18-04

Either we've gone back in time, or the year just got a lot longer...

[Gandalf]

I like the way you are doing things. Keeping Steam optional. Keeping things open. Maintaining your own infrastructure.

You mentioned other factory-style games. I recently started playing TerraTech which is another awesome little building game. It's probably more different than the other games you mentioned but the similarities are definitely there. However the way they are handling community work is quite different and personally I'm not too happy about it.
First of all, they started out with a Kickstarter and then went to Steam early access a lot earlier. As part of that process they had to make a lot of promises to backers, which have now turned into disadvantages for regular users. The core of the issue: You have to buy a DLC in order to get access to the forum's suggestions board. That's just wrong.
Also, they are heavily relying on Twitter even for in-game community features, which I think is a bad choice. It's not that hard to set up a little infrastructure for sharing constructions (they are called 'Techs' in the game) and forcing people to hook up a twitter account feels very presumptuous to me.

So yeah. I'm tempted to go over to their forums and tell them “Look at Factorio, there's somebody doing it right.”

edit: I'd like to add that the game itself is quite good! Far from done, but a great concept all together. My concerns are mostly with how they are handling their community and even there I'm complaining on a fairly high level.

[slpwnd]

Posted by Tomas on 2015-18-04

Either we've gone back in time, or the year just got a lot longer...

LoL - thats where copy pasting gets you

[Xterminator]

Yet again, the new technology icons have blown me away. Very very nice looking!
It's good to have a fairly definitive time for Steam Greenlight. Also glad to hear that Steam will be optional and that this platform will still be available, cause I'm definitely a person who would prefer to still play the game standalone as it is rather then through steam. Far less limitations in my opinion. So smart move not having Steam required or be the only option.

[MalContentFL]

Maybe its just me, but Farlight Explorers looks like a 3D clone of Factorio that is trying to be unique. It does look cool, but its way to much like Factorio, and I have Factorio, so I like Factorio better.

Also, I love the new technology artwork. On the Guns (Military I/II/III?) icon has a blue weapon that reminds me of the rail gun from Battlefield 4. There is also a weird AK-pistol with a giant suppressor. Are we getting new weapons in 0.13? A weapon overhaul would be nice as only the machine gun and combat shotgun are worth using. The current rocket launcher fires Nerf darts.
So the clock is shooting speed and the cross hair is damage, right? And the person silhouette is for modular armor?

Anyway, the new icons will look amazing and I look forward to 0.13 and Greenlight every day. Good job!

[Drury]

But November is always when the most anticipated games come out, it's quite literally the worst month for indie devs (no indies come out this year either). Looking at the list this year - Need for Speed, Anno 2205, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void, Fallout 4, Football Manager, Star Wars Battlefront, The Crew Wild Run, Assassin's Creed Syndicate. MGSV was set to release in November as well but Konami sux and egwbčššvčrlmbočbn

Fairly enough you may not expect Factorio crowd to be all over those games, but Fallout 4 is Fallout 4. Also, Anno.

It's not a bad idea if you want a more subtle launch in the background of an absolute madness, but you sound the exact opposite

[MrP123]

The technology pictures are really outstanding, if that's what you call a "first version" then Albert is a god-like artist.
I personally also don't think there will be any problems with "industry niche" filling up, Big Pharma and Infinifactory are both mostly puzzle games, only Farlight Explorers is similiar to Factorio when it comes to building and designing a factory.
I also wish you the best of luck for the Steam Greenlight campaign.

[DerivePi]

Lets give the icons a try -
Chemistry 2, Electronics 2, Electronics 3, Steel furnace, chemistry 1, power armor, blue print
RR automation, Logistics 1, Automobilism, Batery, personal roboport, Modular battery, bullet damage upgrade
Electronics 1, Robot follower damage upgrade, Construction bots, follower bot tech (military 4?), turret, accumulator, shotgun shooting speed upgrade
Logistic Bot speed upgrade, Modular shield, engine, modular armor, robot chests, advanced power armor, laser turret damage upgrade
Bullet shooting speed upgrade, shotgun damage upgrade, tank, turret damage upgrade, logistic bots, flux capacitor, military 3
oil processing 1, laser turret shooting speed upgrade, night vision, railroad, alien tech, RR logistics, advanced oil
discharge defense, wall, sulfur processing, power distribution 2, laser turret

[jorgenRe]

I'm trying again ^_^, but this time here is the proper coffeine molecule that i hereby grant anyone to use for whatever they want to use

Notice the extra bound between two carbon atoms. Remember a carbon atom needs 4 bounds(1 line) Whilst one of those blue atoms a nitrogen atoms needs only 3 bounds. Which may be the cause of confusion !
if its too bad il trye and do it again, but then il use photoshop !

Edit:
I really like all of the new tech icons, and especially the fact that they are no longer limited to 30x30 !

[slpwnd]

But November is always when the most anticipated games come out, it's quite literally the worst month for indie devs (no indies come out this year either). Looking at the list this year - Need for Speed, Anno 2205, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void, Fallout 4, Football Manager, Star Wars Battlefront, The Crew Wild Run, Assassin's Creed Syndicate. MGSV was set to release in November as well but Konami sux and egwbčššvčrlmbočbn

Fairly enough you may not expect Factorio crowd to be all over those games, but Fallout 4 is Fallout 4. Also, Anno.

It's not a bad idea if you want a more subtle launch in the background of an absolute madness, but you sound the exact opposite

Oh wow. Thanks for the information. We haven't really thought of that . That might actually force us to reconsider our plans (our backup plan was releasing after New Year's).

[DerivePi]

I'm trying again ^_^, but this time here is the proper coffeine molecule that i hereby grant anyone to use for whatever they want to use

Notice the extra bound between two carbon atoms. Remember a carbon atom needs 4 bounds(1 line) Whilst one of those blue atoms a nitrogen atoms needs only 3 bounds. Which may be the cause of confusion !
if its too bad il trye and do it again, but then il use photoshop !

Nice! And the other one is ethanol.

[rkfg]

Maybe its just me, but Farlight Explorers looks like a 3D clone of Factorio that is trying to be unique. It does look cool, but its way to much like Factorio, and I have Factorio, so I like Factorio better.

I just have to chime in the fact that Farlight Explorers is a Windows-only game. For some people it's a very valid reason not to buy it, for example me and a friend of mine bought Factorio because it supports Linux. There are no regional discounts and the price (in euro) is pretty steep for us, especially now with rouble and hryvna devaluation, but it was totally worth it. Smart games are sure popular among the Linux crowd so if not something else, it's a good selling point to support this platform. Many thanks for doing this!

Also, Factorio does not fill the niche. It creates the niche.

[Jonathan88]

I just have to chime in the fact that Farlight Explorers is a Windows-only game. For some people it's a very valid reason not to buy it, for example me and a friend of mine bought Factorio because it supports Linux. There are no regional discounts and the price (in euro) is pretty steep for us, especially now with rouble and hryvna devaluation, but it was totally worth it. Smart games are sure popular among the Linux crowd so if not something else, it's a good selling point to support this platform. Many thanks for doing this!

I totally agree! One of the reasons I love Factorio is for it's native Linux version. Having only Linux computers in the house (why wouldn't you?), It can get very frustrating to find that a game that you love does not have Linux support and doesn't run under PlayonLinux. One of the main ones is Train Simulator 20whatever - I really want it but it just won't run

It is also nice to find a large proportion of Factorio players using Linux

[Rwn]

Basically, if all goes well we will start the Steam Greenlight sometimes in October (yes, this year ) and then release on Steam ASAP. The "dream" release date would be early November to avoid winter steam sales period. Somehow the feeling is that it is not a good idea to come up with a new game in the period of madness when most games go tens of percent on sale. Especially when our game won't .

A quick advice on sales: state as clearly as possible what your sale policy is going to be - maybe even on the Steam page. With endless flows of bundles and discounts all year long, many potential buyers will hesitate or delay purchase fearing to pay full price for something they could've got cheaper by waiting a bit.
I'm not saying that you should promise no sale ever, but make clear when and how deep potential sales might be, for example "no sale in the first year, no more than -25% in the second year and no bundle at least in the next 2 years" (of course you can update it later for the following years if needed depending on ow sales are going and your financial needs). So a player who is interested by the game at launch can make an informed purchase decision without any hesitation instead of waiting for a big sale that may never come.

[transportman]

I'm not really thrilled about the new technology icons, on first look I found a lot of them not clear as what they are for. Maybe it becomes a bit clearer when all icons are done, but I don't know how they will look if they are made smaller (current game size). Those problems might fall away with the new technology tree that was mentioned in the previous FFF (depending on how that is done exactly).

I have doubts about the following icons currently displayed:
-Row 2, #1: I guess this is automated rail transportation, but if made smaller it might become unclear that this is mainly about the stops
-Row 2, #2: Automation 1, I think it would look clearer if the inserter is removed.
-Row 2, #4 (Cylinder with wires): I don't know which tech this is
-Row 3, #1: I don't know which tech this is
-Row 3, #4: This is the Combat Robotics technology, but how is Robotics going to be done?
-Row 3, #5 (the two turrets): Not sure which technology this is, I guess Turrets, but then I would remove the laser turret as that is a separate technology
-Row 5, #6 (the triangle with tubes): I don't know what this is going to be
-Row 5, #7 (all those guns): A military tech, but it is not clear which one, I guess 4, but how are the other military techs going to look like?
-Row 6, #6 (the logistic methods): I don't know which tech this is

Also, I find the armor icons in general unclear, it is clear that they are for armor, but beyond that I find them a bit unclear.

But as I already said, maybe it becomes clear with the new technology tree, depending on how the details are implemented (if it is going to look like the Civ tech trees, the distinction becomes clear as it also has the name next to it).

[Drury]

But November is always when the most anticipated games come out, it's quite literally the worst month for indie devs (no indies come out this year either). Looking at the list this year - Need for Speed, Anno 2205, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void, Fallout 4, Football Manager, Star Wars Battlefront, The Crew Wild Run, Assassin's Creed Syndicate. MGSV was set to release in November as well but Konami sux and egwbčššvčrlmbočbn

Fairly enough you may not expect Factorio crowd to be all over those games, but Fallout 4 is Fallout 4. Also, Anno.

It's not a bad idea if you want a more subtle launch in the background of an absolute madness, but you sound the exact opposite

Oh wow. Thanks for the information. We haven't really thought of that . That might actually force us to reconsider our plans (our backup plan was releasing after New Year's).

Yeah, January and February are perfect for this. AAA guys are hard at work making another rehash of their tired franchise, burning through fresh profits from black monday and christmas and such. It's the indie release territory.

Ideally you want to release in July because it's just past the summer sale and people are still in the buying mood, and school-bound peeps have all the time in the world to play videogames rather than do summer activities, but you heard nothing. I really don't want a mob of angry factorio nerds with torches and pitchforks tearing my door down because I'd given you ideas Worked wonders for Rocket League.