What's next for Wube?

[J-H]

The obvious (to me) next step would be a Solar System factory, where you work on colonizing space and exploiting asteroidal and cometary resources. However, that poses a TON of challenges with orbital periods, shutting resources around, fuel production, and even just having a good interface. I don't think anyone's ever done this (haven't looked into KSP), and there are good reasons why. A good dose of "Earth first, we'll strip-mine the other planets later" is fun... but can it be made fun? Not sure.

Wube so far has done 2d sprite-based graphics, and that's fine by me. Going 3D would be a lot more complex in many ways, or so I understand. So... what's something intellectually challenging, 2-d based, and single-player friendly the way Factorio is?

[blazespinnaker]

Toolchains!

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=89678

[Catari64]

However, that poses a TON of challenges with orbital periods,

There is an indie game called Outer Wilds that has managed to pull off the orbital 3d solar system stunt.
Also I personally think a birds eye third person 2d game is something factorio will always be and always should be, it's a great way to observe your creations and tinker them.
also there are mods for anything and everything in factorio, including a space exploration mod.
it's most likely that factorio won't get a sequel partly because there is no adjective better than perfect, which means they will offend their community if they release anything that is not 50 times better than half life 3, and partly because Wube is not the usual AAA game compony.

so they probably will be releasing some other games now factorio is refined and fully optimized but they will be guaranteed to be great and/or cocaine.

[Impatient]

IMO what's next for Wube really depends on what type of personality Kovarex is.

I'm following the development since 2016 and I identified Kovarex as the visionary and driving force behind the game design of factorio. IMO this was noticeable continuously but most noticeable during his absence from late 2019 to late spring 2020. During that time there were fixes and a graphics overhaul but IMO the development somewhat stagnated. Only after he got active again in 2020 the goals were set again, the pace was stepped up and a lot new features were added. IMO the rest of the team are supporters and implementers, who manage their respective areas of responsibilities (but who also give their opinion and own ideas on ideas and issues).

I think it would not be too far fetched to analyze the 8 year development process and what factorio has become, both on a immediate and on a meta level, and deduce from that what is important to Kovarex. I am pretty sure some plausible conclusions could be drawn. But of course, what is going to come would still be speculative to a high degree.

I bet, no matter if it is an extension or new features to factorio or something entirely new, it will have a near perfect user interface experience and depending on what the main game mechanics is (IMO in factorio it is designing and building the base), the game will feature near perfect tools to play with that game mechanic. But also Kovarex seems to be no action or storyline person.

[starlinvf]

I don't how far fetched this is....

But I've been half paying attention to Creeper World 4's development. And I've noticed a number of parallels in some the dev's more exploratory ideas that are really similar to Factorio's overall concept, but the majority of attention shifted to an evolutionary step in tower defense.

The series itself is about an amorphous goo consuming entire planets, and closing in on a "base" which builds defenses to keep the goo at bay. Aside from minor tweaks to objectives, its been really consistent across 3 games. You build up power production to support construction of various weapons and tools, while avoiding resources shortages, and eventually cut a small path to an objective to beat the level.

If you think about it..... if Death world gave you turrets from the start, and 3 minutes before endless biter waves attack.... thats Creeper world in a nutshell.

If there was any significant direction change that can be done with Factorio, it would be something like this.

[ske]

I identified Kovarex as the visionary and driving force behind the game design of factorio

I suspect you are on to something.

[blazespinnaker]

https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... confirmed/

Can't find this ""our next step is creating an expansion for it." comment. Didn't look too hard. May have been removed by wube. Anyone?

Could have been a mistake, could have been wube is planning on 3d expansion of Factorio but wants to keep cards close.

[Impatient]

I suspect you are on to something.

Stating the obvious is a good starter for a line of argumentation imo. What do you think about what I deduce from the obvious?

[5thHorseman]

https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... confirmed/

Can't find this ""our next step is creating an expansion for it." comment. Didn't look too hard. May have been removed by wube. Anyone?

Could have been a mistake, could have been wube is planning on 3d expansion of Factorio but wants to keep cards close.

I would far more suspect someone on Reddit wanted to make waves.

EDIT: Okay so the OP is legit it's jut the speculation thereafter that was Reddit being Reddit.

From the actual linked job offer:

"We are searching for 3D artists who would create sprites for the game from received concept art."

Sprites.

SPRITES.

Wube is creating an expansion for Factorio. Or is planning to. Or is vaguely considering one. It is not planned to be 3d. The sprites for it, just like the sprites for Factorio currently, are to be created based off of 3d Blender models.

[Xorimuth]

https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... confirmed/

Can't find this ""our next step is creating an expansion for it." comment. Didn't look too hard. May have been removed by wube. Anyone?

Could have been a mistake, could have been wube is planning on 3d expansion of Factorio but wants to keep cards close.

The linked job posting in the reddit post (https://www.artstation.com/jobs/l6Ra?fb ... tQA7BW7dco) explains everything. At the bottom under "About the Company" it says

With Factorio leaving early access, our next step is creating an expansion for it.

And then at the top it says

Get to work on Factorio, a game with 2D sprites rendered from 3D models! Enjoy working in a small team (about 15 people in total) on a game with a loving fanbase.

We are searching for 3D artists who would create sprites for the game from received concept art.

So not 3d factorio either, just more of what they already do.

[blazespinnaker]

+1

[Impatient]

... on a game with a loving fanbase. ...

That caught my eye.

Translation: Brace for impact, when we introduce the first sprites you created.

[Koub]

Seems like it's going to be an expansion :
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=95705