What happened to Factorio updates?

[lordaeron1]

Starting to feel that 0.17.0 will never be released.

The game is stuck on 0.16.51 for a long time now. (maybe longer than any updates this year).

I am waiting for some kind of update to play the game again. started to get bored to replay the game over and over again with no change. (the game is gathering dust now, and it's sad)

even the smallest change makes the game fun again.

I don't like using mods just in case someone will suggest using them.

all I see on steam these days are ideas from Dev's in the same place were updates used to be.

Any idea when next update is going to be?

[Deadlock989]

It's been about 3 months since the last public update. Hardly an eternity.

This is the way it's worked for ages - alternating periods of public experimental updates followed by a period of internal development. From what I've read, they're on a push towards the final-ish release with a lot of big changes and polish. I'm hoping for some experimental releases in the run up to Xmas but this hasn't been stated anywhere and why would it be?

Unfortunately, your apparently limited ability to deal with delayed gratification is no-one else's problem.

[Hannu]

Starting to feel that 0.17.0 will never be released.

The game is stuck on 0.16.51 for a long time now. (maybe longer than any updates this year).

The game content is practically ready. It is in final polishing phase now. They finalize UI, make optimizations, graphics, balance different things, make tutorials etc. things which have been delayed because content generation has been more important at alpha phase. It is slow and often boring work and will take its time. If you read Friday facts you see that they make many things every week.

Any idea when next update is going to be?

When it is ready. It is the attitude which I appreciate more that I can say. They do not give overoptimistic deadlines and then hurry to make some half baked hacks but they make things ready and publish them after that. The quality of Factorio is extremely high compared to average standards of gaming industry.

Probably the game will not change much from experienced player's point of view. If you do not accept mods maybe it is good idea to have few months break.

[Koub]

Starting to feel that 0.17.0 will never be released.

I guess you're not familiar with Factorio development cycle.

The development cycle of Factorio is : 0.x.0 is released as experimental. Then, all a series of 0.x.y are released, as long as the devs consider the 0.x branch as unstable. Then, after enough - usually relatively frequent - updates, the game in its state satisfies the devs for the current 0.x version, and it is declared 0.x stable (this is the 0.16.51 for you).

In the meanwhile, as the 0.x version is everyday more stable, an increasing part of the dev team works on the 0.x+1.0 version. This usually takes quite some time after the 0.x stable comes out (several months).

And every week on Friday, wether it's unstable debugging time, or stable while preparing next release time, we have updates on what the devs are doing, questions about what we think on a feature they're working on, ...

This is exactly how things have worked - and worked well - since almost the very beginning.

[Gergely]

You forgot to add a link.

(this is the 0.16.51 for you).

...
0.16.51 is the worst minor update ever.

[lordaeron1]

Thank you all for your replies.

Don't get me wrong here, i love the game and it's a dream come true.

i am very new here and i don't know anything about the development cycle etc.

I bought the game and from time to time it was updated. (and it's a joy to play with every little change)

guess the 0.17.0 will have many changes, so it takes a bit more time.

Will take a break until it's out.

[Oktokolo]

Don't get me wrong here, i love the game and it's a dream come true.
i am very new here and i don't know anything about the development cycle etc.
I bought the game and from time to time it was updated. (and it's a joy to play with every little change)

The most important thing regarding the update cycle might be, that it probably will get a lot slower after the game is completed. Wube will probably have to devote most resources to a new project then. So do not expect it to get official updates forever.

But there should be plenty of stuff to keep the game fresh on the mod portal.

[TurkleTrenox]

Is egoist think that game started to not being updated since i went to vacation? Or just a creepy coincidence

[Jap2.0]

Is egoist think that game started to not being updated since i went to vacation? Or just a creepy coincidence

Probably coincidence - major updates tend to be several months apart, with the distance between updates continually increasing slowly. (see this)

[Tekky]

Especially since they are replacing and rewriting major parts of the game engine (in order to get rid of Allegro), it is no surprise that the release time between 0.16 and 0.17 is a bit larger than usual.

Of course, I still understand your impatience. In fact, I am impatient myself. if you view my profile, you will see that the thread that I am most active in is the following thread:
viewtopic.php?t=42553 I am impatient

If you want to join us in expressing our impatience, feel free to post in that thread.

[t-lor]

"even the smallest change makes the game fun again."
vs
"don't like using mods just in case someone will suggest using them."

This does not make sense to me !
f u want a new twist thats definitly where mods ly

For a whole new aproach to sub bases try the TNL mod
Use science cost tweaker (worst named mod ever) and try to figure out the new recipes and their feedback loops.
Use Rampage if u want a real biter fighting experience.
SpaceX for that beyond late game experience
30 more science mods if you wanna go crazy sushi.
Bobs if u want a butload more things to build
And stuff like seablock. and god knows what else i forgot....


And remember lot of the qol things added in the last few patches started as mods.

[lordaeron1]

ok, guess i'll try the mods you listed. thanks

[neoc]

I agree that it is embarrassing that they don't get a release from early access done, after so much time and with a state of the game that is essentially finished. One could argue that certain parts are not mature yet, like everything about aliens - but what has changed there in the last years? Nothing. So this obviously is no priority. All the optimizations and small changes and improvements to quality of life that we all love are nice, but in no way have to delay release. That can all be done in patches and extensions after that. They either have way to little manpower or aren't allocating it with release in mind.

But not using mods if you love the game and want new experiences is just stupid, and there really is no good reason for it. Even only a few mods can change things dramatically and let you play in a totally different way. If you want to go full madness I recommend Sea Block.

[Oktokolo]

They either have way to little manpower or aren't allocating it with release in mind.

Or they are currently rewriting their graphics engine and don't want to give us a version wich crashes a lot.

[Loewchen]

I agree that it is embarrassing that they don't get a release from early access done, after so much time and with a state of the game that is essentially finished. One could argue that certain parts are not mature yet, like everything about aliens - but what has changed there in the last years? Nothing. So this obviously is no priority.

The point of having it in early access is, to show that major features will still be changed or added and to show an obligation to do so. Leaving early access could be done right now, but why do that, when the game is awaiting its biggest changes since the steam release?

[neoc]

They either have way to little manpower or aren't allocating it with release in mind.

Or they are currently rewriting their graphics engine and don't want to give us a version wich crashes a lot.

I NEVER had a game crash not related to a mod. NEVER. And from what I hear that's the experience of most players. Game always ran rock stable for me (started with a 0.11 or 0.12 version IIRC). Maybe issues with 'unusual' GPUs?

I agree that it is embarrassing that they don't get a release from early access done, after so much time and with a state of the game that is essentially finished. One could argue that certain parts are not mature yet, like everything about aliens - but what has changed there in the last years? Nothing. So this obviously is no priority.

The point of having it in early access is, to show that major features will still be changed or added and to show an obligation to do so. Leaving early access could be done right now, but why do that, when game is awaiting its biggest changes since the steam release?

That's not necessary for new players since the game is already too big for them to grasp anyway. The only point you could make is that it lacks a better campaign, and they're obviously working on that. But even with the old campaign you will have new players hooked at the point when they have to buy the game because the demo version ends. I'd say if Factorio is for you, you really don't need any campaign beyond a solid tutorial. It's just another way to enjoy the gameplay. When I started I played the campaign for a few stages (don't remember any details, some outpost needed to get fixed), then quickly started a freeplay. At that point I was fully convinced that the game is worth every penny of its 20 Euros.

[Oktokolo]

They either have way to little manpower or aren't allocating it with release in mind.

Or they are currently rewriting their graphics engine and don't want to give us a version wich crashes a lot.

I NEVER had a game crash not related to a mod. NEVER.

Of course not. They do not release unstable code. Instead they take their time and make it work before giving it to you.

[Koub]

Getting things done before release is an ethic decision. The question is "should I sell as finished product a product that is unfinished ?".
I prefer buying stuff with honest labels on it, as "unfinished, things may change", or "finished product".

[neoc]

They either have way to little manpower or aren't allocating it with release in mind.

Or they are currently rewriting their graphics engine and don't want to give us a version wich crashes a lot.

I NEVER had a game crash not related to a mod. NEVER.

Of course not. They do not release unstable code. Instead they take their time and make it work before giving it to you.

The graphics engine is separate from other code. If you make large changes like that you at least at first try not to change anything that's not needed to be changed (for example by using an abstraction layer). That means they can switch between the old and the new engine relatively easily. Since we already have a working engine which doesn't have major issues, that's no reason not to do the next step in other areas.

Getting things done before release is an ethic decision. The question is "should I sell as finished product a product that is unfinished ?".
I prefer buying stuff with honest labels on it, as "unfinished, things may change", or "finished product".

How can a decision be ethic if there is no definitive answer to it? You could as well declare Factorio finished now. I don't get your logic.

[Koub]

There is a definitive answer to it, and it's when the game meets their developpers standard of what should be a finished game.
When it's in that state :
1) either the players' standards are met too, in which case they will praise the devs for the good job at delivering a finished product.
2) or the devs' standards were lower than the players' expectations, in which case the devs would be flamed for delivering such a poor quality product.

If I were a dev, I'd prefer the 1 : having higher standards than most of my customers, so that when I say "my game is finished", most will say "Indeed, and it's a gem".