Friday Facts #200 - Plans for 0.16

[Klonan]

https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-200

[Jonathan88]

"FFF is the only good thing we have"

...apart from the small matter of that game you've been working on in the background... easily forgettable!

[sporefreak]

I think "Spider" should become a top priority

[paulizleet]

Since the map generation may start building oceans and isolated islands, can we look forward to marine logistics?

[Mooncat]

"FFF is the only good thing we have"

False. FFF is one of the best things we have.

Why is the poor "Spider" moved so many times even though its logic was mostly completed?

About map generation, I really hope you can fix the unplayable spawn issue (spawn on a tiny island). (Or give the player a boat.)
Also, it will be much better if there are no trees surrounding the spawn point.
Edit: I meant big forest.
Edit2: It will be much better if you don't spawn in the middle of a dense forest where you need to move out of it before you can actually start building.

Related to this, we are also working to make the world seem a bit less flat

I have a feeling that we will have (another) eyegasm soon.

Edit: and about Artillery train.... do we really need a new system? How about just reuse the equipment grids?

[DDDGamer]

FFF are awesome, gives such a cool insight into the game and its development, i read every single one, please dont stop writing them. I love to get to look forward to every Friday b/c i get to read something new about the game i love.
Very interested to see what kind of map changes there will be, current state is all flat, definitely interested in how elevation and terrain generation will evolve.
Keep up the amazing work everyone!!!

[regex]

Very much looking forward to the map changes and adding "elevation", even just as a graphical effect, would be pretty darn cool.

[Jonathan88]

FFF are awesome, gives such a cool insight into the game and its development, i read every single one, please dont stop writing them. I love to get to look forward to every Friday b/c i get to read something new about the game i love.

Definitely. We don't mind if it's short, overly technical or doesn't contain anything mind blowing - the FFFs are what make Factorio feel like it's developed by real people, not murky businesses pretending they are on a different world to the players. Even just a short paragraph and some cool screenshot (from the community?) would still be appreciated!

Thanks for the 200 weeks so far, it has been a blast!

[quadrox]

FFF are awesome, gives such a cool insight into the game and its development, i read every single one, please dont stop writing them. I love to get to look forward to every Friday b/c i get to read something new about the game i love.
Very interested to see what kind of map changes there will be, current state is all flat, definitely interested in how elevation and terrain generation will evolve.
Keep up the amazing work everyone!!!

Yeah, if there is one thing you definitely should keep doing, its FFF. They are one of the things I look forward to every weekend, even if my available time to actually play factorio is less than it used to be...

[mrlinux2600]

you want to take your intestines and strangle yourself with them.

Finally-- someone understands me!

[Maldor96]

I want to put my two cents on the map generation:
One of the programs I use and sometimes help develop has a function that allows for random generation of maps. It does this by using what are called geomorphs to create a series of "random" dungeons and corridors. The downside is that the geomorphs have to be created for the program to use. But you have a rather large player base, I bet you can make this into a good thing.
Take the current mapgen technique: Random noise for everything. Not a bad idea for small maps, but we are talking about a (possibly infinite) world, it's going to produce something like what was shown. But if we include geomorphs of say... Lakes of varying sizes and shapes, entire forests or deserts with little resources, rocky areas with plenty of stone and not much else or whatever we can think of, we can turn this into a map that makes it interesting for people to explore. Who knows? Maybe we can see natural wonders or biter mega-bases, or be on an island in the middle of the ocean or find no water at all?

Just my thoughts, always have had fun reading these.

[Zool]

The Friday Facts is the thing that connects you to the loyal playerbase, that just loves your dedication to this game. It makes us understand why some things take longer then the average player would expect, and gives us a really interesting look into the daily work of a game developer.

To be honest: Every single developer that uses early access or equal methods should do the same. I'm not sure if I'd still play this awesome game with the same dedication without your regular comments every friday.

Keep up your awesome work guys, we all love you ;-D

[torham]

I always look forward to FFF. It feels like the start of the weekend after a busy week. Finally I can wind down, open a beer, read FFF and enjoy the weekend.

[ske]

Are we getting something to make the bots stay in the green zone?

[miturion]

Artillery train wootwoot

Also looking forward to the new terrain!

[TOGoS]

One of the programs I use and sometimes help develop has a function that allows for random generation of maps. It does this by using what are called geomorphs to create a series of "random" dungeons and corridors. The downside is that the geomorphs have to be created for the program to use. But you have a rather large player base, I bet you can make this into a good thing.
Take the current mapgen technique: Random noise for everything. Not a bad idea for small maps, but we are talking about a (possibly infinite) world, it's going to produce something like what was shown. But if we include geomorphs of say... Lakes of varying sizes and shapes, entire forests or deserts with little resources, rocky areas with plenty of stone and not much else or whatever we can think of, we can turn this into a map that makes it interesting for people to explore. Who knows? Maybe we can see natural wonders or biter mega-bases, or be on an island in the middle of the ocean or find no water at all?

Funny that you mention that. We were just talking other approaches over 'dinner' (if you can call McDonald's food that).

• Hiring someone to constantly build new map by hand to be streamed to players as needed
• Tiles like you just described
• Some hybrid, such as coherent noise-based terrain generation with stamps on it

Also interesting and maybe useful: https://github.com/mxgmn/WaveFunctionCollapse

Not to say that any of that will definitely happen, but it's fun to think about. It might be possible to do this stuff via Lua already (watch as someone points out a well-known mod that already does).

[viveks711]

Hope they server beer at those McDonald's....

One of the programs I use and sometimes help develop has a function that allows for random generation of maps. It does this by using what are called geomorphs to create a series of "random" dungeons and corridors. The downside is that the geomorphs have to be created for the program to use. But you have a rather large player base, I bet you can make this into a good thing.
Take the current mapgen technique: Random noise for everything. Not a bad idea for small maps, but we are talking about a (possibly infinite) world, it's going to produce something like what was shown. But if we include geomorphs of say... Lakes of varying sizes and shapes, entire forests or deserts with little resources, rocky areas with plenty of stone and not much else or whatever we can think of, we can turn this into a map that makes it interesting for people to explore. Who knows? Maybe we can see natural wonders or biter mega-bases, or be on an island in the middle of the ocean or find no water at all?

Funny that you mention that. We were just talking other approaches over 'dinner' (if you can call McDonald's food that).

• Hiring someone to constantly build new map by hand to be streamed to players as needed
• Tiles like you just described
• Some hybrid, such as coherent noise-based terrain generation with stamps on it

Also interesting and maybe useful: https://github.com/mxgmn/WaveFunctionCollapse

Not to say that any of that will definitely happen, but it's fun to think about. It might be possible to do this stuff via Lua already (watch as someone points out a well-known mod that already does).

[QGamer]

One I invent a time machine, I'll time travel forwards to every Friday so I can read all of the future FFF's without having to wait a week in between each one.

About the terrain generation, does that mean that someday in the future I'll spawn on a patch of land that's not green?

[TOGoS]

Hope they server beer at those McDonald's....

They serve beer just about everywhere around here. I forgot to check if that included McDonald's, though.

About the terrain generation, does that mean that someday in the future I'll spawn on a patch of land that's not green?

Does that not already happen? I remember back in 0.12 I would spawn in a desert sometimes. But for 0.16 yes definitely.

[TheSAguy]

Terrain updates would be great!
Hope you guys looked at what Earendel did with Alien Bioms for a little inspiration.

It would be great to have mountains and rivers. Have tech to start mining through mountains. Bridges to cross water.
Maybe not in 1.0, but Boat tech would follow. Can you imagine Ore Barges...

Some other terrain ideas here.