[MOD 0.13.x]MagneticFloor 0.1.6

[kiba]

Macbook is back from repair. Hairy and scary but it works...YEEAAAAAAAAH.

Anyway, bug confirmed for the mod.

[kiba]

Version 0.1.2 is out!

Two new changes:

Charges are decreased by one a minute instead of every tick. This should allow hoverboard to work indefinitely with the proper arrangement of tiles, which means you can walk around in a literal infinite loop.

I figured out why the mod won't work on new map: I made a bad assumption about how the Factorio mod api works which lead me to thinking that game.players is available upon Script.setup.

Now...I have to figure out how to make a gif.

[Nexela]

Now...I have to figure out how to make a gif.

I like using http://ezgif.com/

[kiba]

Now...I have to figure out how to make a gif.

I like using http://ezgif.com/

I was hoping for any sign of usage, but it turned out that I didn't do a great job of getting people to try out my mod?

Because a lack of communication?

Also, it didn't help that my mod was broke for the majority of time either.

People should love my mod, because it's helping them automate...WALKING.

[kiba]

New gif showing a loop

[Jupiter]

Now...I have to figure out how to make a gif.

I like using http://ezgif.com/

I was hoping for any sign of usage, but it turned out that I didn't do a great job of getting people to try out my mod?

Because a lack of communication?

Also, it didn't help that my mod was broke for the majority of time either.

People should love my mod, because it's helping them automate...WALKING.

Well, I will be using it for my megabase. In addition to the maglev floor I'm going to but blue belt on it for extra speed. (is that possible with this mod? Haven't had a chance to try)

[kiba]

Well, I will be using it for my megabase. In addition to the maglev floor I'm going to but blue belt on it for extra speed. (is that possible with this mod? Haven't had a chance to try)

Blue belt should work. It's an exploit, but it's the kind that I don't know how to yet work around. When it's possible in the future, it will be disabled.

Keep in mind that I consider 'limitation' a feature of the mod. It's why you need copper floors, arrows, and accelerators in the first place.


Let me know if you encounter a bug. I made sure to install the mod from the portal and it worked perfectly fine for me.

[kiba]

0.1.3 released with bugfix for a crash when loading a savefile where previously the mod is not loaded.

[kiba]

Progress Report for 0.1.4:

The accumulator for the accelerator are coming along nicely!

Still no cool gfx for the accelerators or the arrows, unfortunately. There's a severe shortage of artists.

Also, I have yet to see anybody using my mod in the wild.

[steinio]

You could use some of this blue arrow signs: https://www.google.de/search?q=stra%C3% ... 20&bih=947

I guess they are known in many countries across europe, except Greater Britain

[Nexela]

I would love try it out but I am OCD about my GUI and that text button looks huge and horrendous. If it was more like upgrade planner/autotrash's buttons then I would give it a go

[kiba]

I would love try it out but I am OCD about my GUI and that text button looks huge and horrendous. If it was more like upgrade planner/autotrash's buttons then I would give it a go

You want horrendous gfx for the button too? I am terrible at art.

[kiba]

You could use some of this blue arrow signs: https://www.google.de/search?q=stra%C3% ... 20&bih=947

I guess they are known in many countries across europe, except Greater Britain

I am uncertain about using those because I do not know if they are in the public domain or not.

Anyway...onto progress report!

Accelerators now required electricity to recharge your hoverboard. i also adjusted hoverboard charges to five seconds rather than over forty seconds.

The mod's still a long way to go from release. There's migration code to write, a tutorial to write, and code infrastructure to overhaul.

[kiba]

Version 0.1.4 is out! Finally! Check the mod portal.

Unfortunately, no migration code from 0.1.3 to 0.1.4. If you built an accelerator, you have to remove it and build it again. Anyway, accelerators now required POWER to work! In fact, that's the only game visible change(other than the charge nerf).

Why the heck it took me four weeks? Well, I had to do things like figuring out how to make an entity invisible and stuff, doing a whole lot of things that I am unfamiliar with. Then, I wrote code to make testing easier.

Oh yeah, there's also the README that I done from scratch. Taking a screenshot, making a gif out of it, rethinking the tutorial, all takes surprising amount of time.

Lastly, I wanted to use rake instead of make to make my life easier. I went on a whole detour fiddling with directories that ultimately didn't work out.

Verdict of the story? If you're trying to do things in one hour and twenty minutes per week, don't be surprised that it takes a long time. Trying to do anything also takes a surprisingly long time in the first place.

I increased my schedule from twenty minutes to forty to one hour per day. So, we should be progressing much faster now.

[Jupiter]

Version 0.1.4 is out! Finally! Check the mod portal.

Unfortunately, no migration code from 0.1.3 to 0.1.4. If you built an accelerator, you have to remove it and build it again. Anyway, accelerators now required POWER to work! In fact, that's the only game visible change(other than the charge nerf).

Why the heck it took me four weeks? Well, I had to do things like figuring out how to make an entity invisible and stuff, doing a whole lot of things that I am unfamiliar with. Then, I wrote code to make testing easier.

Oh yeah, there's also the README that I done from scratch. Taking a screenshot, making a gif out of it, rethinking the tutorial, all takes surprising amount of time.

Lastly, I wanted to use rake instead of make to make my life easier. I went on a whole detour fiddling with directories that ultimately didn't work out.

Verdict of the story? If you're trying to do things in one hour and twenty minutes per week, don't be surprised that it takes a long time. Trying to do anything also takes a surprisingly long time in the first place.

I increased my schedule from twenty minutes to forty to one hour per day. So, we should be progressing much faster now.

Great work! Keep it up.
I didn't even know your mod has a tutorial. It's the first mod that I know of that has one (but I never even looked at big mods like bobs and dims, they might have one)

[kiba]

Great work! Keep it up.
I didn't even know your mod has a tutorial. It's the first mod that I know of that has one (but I never even looked at big mods like bobs and dims, they might have one)

I don't know how good it is to be honest.

It's certainly more comprehensive and comes with more pictures than the last 'tutorial' I did.

I worked it, because I felt that people might not understand what my mod is trying to do. I hadn't yet see any in-the-wild use of my mod either. So I am trying to make it more understandable for people out there to learn how to use.

[Jupiter]

Great work! Keep it up.
I didn't even know your mod has a tutorial. It's the first mod that I know of that has one (but I never even looked at big mods like bobs and dims, they might have one)

I don't know how good it is to be honest.

It's certainly more comprehensive and comes with more pictures than the last 'tutorial' I did.

I worked it, because I felt that people might not understand what my mod is trying to do. I hadn't yet see any in-the-wild use of my mod either. So I am trying to make it more understandable for people out there to learn how to use.

Well, you need to keep in mind that the combination of multiple leg modules + concrete floor + blue belt to run on allows you to go pretty fast already. And there are mods that simply allow you to teleport. So that's what you're up against. And we have cars and trains to transport us around of course. I have for example a dedicated end-of-bus-PAX station. There is even a mod that makes handling PAX trains a bit easier.

[kiba]

Well, you need to keep in mind that the combination of multiple leg modules + concrete floor + blue belt to run on allows you to go pretty fast already. And there are mods that simply allow you to teleport. So that's what you're up against. And we have cars and trains to transport us around of course. I have for example a dedicated end-of-bus-PAX station. There is even a mod that makes handling PAX trains a bit easier.

While it's important to keep in mind alternates for game balance purpose, I don't see why I should make my mod 'competitive' with other options.

One can make an overpowered mod do anything. Make belt really fast. Teleport anywhere. Make trains go really fast.

It make things easier, yes, but does it make stuff interesting?

Let look at train. It's competitive enough that players will want to use train, yes, but the more important thing is that train systems are interesting. They are puzzles that you try to optimize.

In contrast, if I can simply teleport anywhere for basically no cost, it isn't in anyway a gameplay enhancement. It's just convenience, or what some might say: cheating.

0.1.4 comes with accelerator tiles requiring electricity. This isn't in any way a convenience feature for the player. It's explicitly a cost, forcing the players to build electric pole. It makes Magnetic Floor less competitive with other options. But I add it because I thought it would make the game interesting, not that it makes the game easier.

[Jupiter]

Well, you need to keep in mind that the combination of multiple leg modules + concrete floor + blue belt to run on allows you to go pretty fast already. And there are mods that simply allow you to teleport. So that's what you're up against. And we have cars and trains to transport us around of course. I have for example a dedicated end-of-bus-PAX station. There is even a mod that makes handling PAX trains a bit easier.

While it's important to keep in mind alternates for game balance purpose, I don't see why I should make my mod 'competitive' with other options.

One can make an overpowered mod do anything. Make belt really fast. Teleport anywhere. Make trains go really fast.

It make things easier, yes, but does it make stuff interesting?

Let look at train. It's competitive enough that players will want to use train, yes, but the more important thing is that train systems are interesting. They are puzzles that you try to optimize.

In contrast, if I can simply teleport anywhere for basically no cost, it isn't in anyway a gameplay enhancement. It's just convenience, or what some might say: cheating.

0.1.4 comes with accelerator tiles requiring electricity. This isn't in any way a convenience feature for the player. It's explicitly a cost, forcing the players to build electric pole. It makes Magnetic Floor less competitive with other options. But I add it because I thought it would make the game interesting, not that it makes the game easier.

I think I didn't make myself entirely clear. What I meant by 'So that's what you're up against' is the competition for players that are deciding which mod they are gonna download. On a normal end-game base, the existing vanilla transportation tools are adequate and you only really need something better on bigger bases (mega bases). But for any base between a regular end-game base and a truly mega base (like a mega base under construction) you would use PAX trains to get around. A PAX train system comes with almost no additional cost since most players will have a train system with PAX trains already to get to outposts. So for any base that is big enough that even PAX trains won't suffice, a mod that simply allows you to run faster (be it with a hoverboard or not) probably also won't cut it.

Looking at it this way I think that the hoverboard has the added benefit, compared to trains, that you can make it 'more precise'. It can drop you of right where you want to be and not simply somewhere in the neighborhood like a train would do.

[steinio]

I choosed this mod because of the amazing hoverboard.
Trains are boring against a HOVERBOARD.

Sadly i had no time so far to set it up :/
But HOVERBOARDS