Craptorio - a Factorio de-make for the TIC80 console (Play now!)

[archaicvirus]

Hello fellow Factorio fans!

I am thrilled to announce a tribute project I've been laboring on for our beloved Factorio community: Craptorio. It's a unique de-make, crafted on the TIC80 fantasy console. Here's a twist: instead of a human engineer, you'll be stepping into the metal casing of a rogue logistics robot, affectionately known as F.A.R.T. - the Factory Autonomous Resource Transporter, cheekily dubbed F4RT-3R by factory engineers, due to intermittent sputtering from a damaged propulsion module.

The items in Craptorio are displayed as 'little chips' - 3x3-pixel sprites conveyed via everyone's favorite trasport-belt. There are also 8x8-pixel versions of items for display in inventory, crafting menu's, etc.

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Craptorio distills Factorio's intricate complexity into the TIC80's charming 8-bit environment, while preserving the core essence that we all love - the relentless pursuit of factory expansion. The project is a passion-driven work-in-progress and will be free-to-play, with the aim of adding another flavor to our shared appreciation of Factorio, and to attract more potential engineers to play the masterpiece Factorio! I can't wait to share more updates soon, but for now, remember, as always, The factory must grow!

https://github.com/archaicvirus/Craptorio - for weekly progress updates

Please feel free to give feedback, suggestions or questions!

You can also find me in the TIC80 discord, under the #wip-projects>Craptorio thread, where I post daily updates.

*This is not affiliated with Wube, just a personal hobby/passion project for funzies, from a big fan!

[Sanqui]

Ever since glex revealed to me he had a MSX microcomputer as a kid I've been ruminating about how a demake of Factorio for an 8-bit platform could look and work. While the TIC-80 is considerably more powerful (and practical), it's still very close to the kind of stuff I was imagining. Well done making everything fit, you're right that the transport belts are the most crucial, I honestly questioned if 8x8 belts can even work, but your solution is effective though it can probably get hard to tell what's on a belt (since you have a cursor, I wonder if a little pop-up on hover with the higher res icon would be a quick and easy solution for that). Eager to read about more updates!

[archaicvirus]

Thank you for your kind words! The belt-hover-widget is a great idea, I'll have to whip something up for that! Also, thank you for taking the time to read the info there! There's so much to talk about, all the optimization (and still to come) tricks and what have you, I will have to do a nice write up on the development process eventually. Although it is nowhere near as complex and awesome as Factorio, I learn a lot from paying close attention to FFF's and the generous details they share. I will be sure to update the thread at the next milestone! Thanks again

[Amarula]

This looks like it is going to be a lot of fun! Looking forward to seeing progress.

[archaicvirus]

CFF #1 - Craptorio Friday Facts

Hello Fellow Factorians!!!

Welcome to the first edition of Craptorio Friday Facts (CFF#1), where I share the latest updates and thought processes behind Craptorio's development. Let's dive into what's new in the world of our friendly robot F4RT-3R!

1. Updated UI
First on the list is the UI. Aiming for consistency and ease of use, the interface has been revamped. I wanted to make sure that players can navigate and interact seamlessly with the game, without breaking immersion. This update also lays the groundwork for future features, as well as unifies the look of the ui. (Still a wip)



2. Assembly Machine
The latest addition to the roster is the Assembly Machine. It's still being fine-tuned, but the mechanics are mostly complete. A few recipes have been implemented to test the functionality, however items are undergoing a major change.





3. Adjusted Color Palette
To enhance the 8-bit aesthetic and gameplay clarity, the color palette has been adjusted to a curated set of 16 colors. This not only helps Craptorio stand out on the TIC80 platform, but also maintains a visual coherence throughout the game. This will likely continue to be tuned over time.

4. Hover Widgets for Transport Belts
The hover widgets for transport belts are a work-in-progress. Once finished, they will provide useful information to help manage your transport belts more efficiently, and provide a larger view to better distinguish their conveyances. It's all about keeping the factory humming!



5. Incorporating Biology in the Next Update

I'm excited to propose an upcoming major change - the incorporation of biology into the gameplay. Instead of simply porting over standard Factorio items, research, and production methods, I've decided to chart a new path for Craptorio.

The goal is to give Craptorio its own identity while preserving the core elements that make Factorio so enjoyable. This means familiar factory building blocks like the inserter, assembly machine, transport belts, underground belts, and splitters will still be at the heart of gameplay.

However, I'm introducing a new set of items, recipes, ores, and production methods grounded in the theme of biology. A whole new path of research and tech will become available, allowing you to experiment with different strategies, add more diversity to your factories, and enjoy a fresh twist to the familiar mechanics.

This feature is not just about diversifying the game but also about adding depth, challenge, and a new layer of immersion. I can't wait to share more details in the upcoming weeks!

Your feedback, as always, is more than welcome. Stay tuned for more exciting news, and remember, the factory must grow!

~ArchaicVirus

[archaicvirus]

Greetings engineers!

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My sincere apologies for the extended radio silence. Big progress has been made since the last update, in fact, the de-make is about 95% 100% complete! A lot has been learned in that time, and a lot of changes and additions have been made, re-made, removed, and re-added.

One of the biggest challenges during the development of Craptorio, was scope. I had so many cool ideas throughout the process that ultimately ended up being shelved or abandoned, due to the goal of keeping the title within the boundaries of being a 'de-make', and not a 1-1 clone. Most of the planned additions for the previously mentioned biology update were scrapped, however I did add a few things, such as the bio-refinery, and alternative recipes to oil-based products. I wanted to keep the game within the spirit of Factorio as much as possible.

The TLDR for gameplay comparison:

• No bots, trains, or vehicles
• No biters, weapons, or damage
• No power, burner tech, or logistics
• No liquids, pipes, or circuit network
• No blueprints
• No saving

The world is procedurally infinite, however you should expect to only find what you would in Factorio (ores, trees, rocks, water etc.)
Ore density is constant regardless of world coords. You will find naturally many similarities to Factorio, and also many distilled or missing aspects. The playtest version has a hard-coded set seed, so that you spawn in a nice area that I found with copper, coal, and iron, to get you started. This will change back to random before I release it fully.

At this point, Craptorio is ready for playtesting. I'm dedicating the next week to fix any bugs we can find, then I will consider it 100% done, (*I will continue to fix any bugs reported) and upload to tic80.com, and itch.io (This is of-course free to play, and no donations will be accepted, or open from any platform) I'm just a huge fan of the game, and all that I wish for is that my fellow engineers will have at least an hour or two of fun!

Although the game is complete (less a few loose ends, and possible bugs), the project is now open-source. If you really miss a feature or mechanic from Factorio, and you know lua, you are welcome to contribute. I'm definitely not against fellow Factorian's shaping the future of the 8-bit de-make, however I have added all the features that I intended, and am honestly ready to move on to other projects

You should be able to beat the game within approximately an hour or two, based on test play-throughs (at a running start)
The controls I tried to keep the same as Factorio, so they should feel familiar. The main goal is to launch a rocket into space! There are only 4 science packs, and the progression is much quicker, although the early game is a slow take-off. Please expect there to be possible bugs, and (hopefully never) crashes. If you encounter any issues, I would greatly appreciate any crashlog and screenshot/description of leading events! I will work on patching them up asap. I don't check the forums here often, but I will make it a point to this week. The best way to reach me for bug reports or w/e, is in the tic80 discord, in #Craptorio thread, in the WIP section. https://discord.com/channels/9184928784 ... 4792228917 That should link to the discord thread.

For starters you will want to grab yourself a copy of TIC80 (an open-source fantasy console, there is a paid version, but just get the free one) from https://tic80.com/. You can also find a wiki on their github for operating instructions (it's easy)

You can download this cart image:

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***Native builds are now available for windows 10, windows XP, macOS, linux, rasberry pi, html, and of course tic80 formats .tic and .png, available here https://archaicvirus.itch.io/craptorio

Or play in the browser here https://tic80.com/play?cart=3551

Or download the latest version

Yep, that's right! I'ts a .png file, with all the code, sprites, and soundFX packed in there. Once you have tic80 booted up, you can type 'folder' to open the folder where tic80 looks for game files. Tic80 also supports drag & drop to load a cart (either on the .exe file directly or the running program window) Otherwise, you can type `load cartname.png', then hit CTRL + R to begin playing the game. Be careful, as CTRL + R also re-boots the game while playing (hardcoded in tic80).

Feel free to give feedback (even if negative) as well as bug reports. Enjoy!

https://github.com/archaicvirus/Craptorio

*Just made a bunch of bug fixes. I will continue update the .png game file here as I find more, as well as the git repo.

[TheKillerChicken]

I would love to see a "craptorio" for windows 98se, just for the utter humour of it.

[archaicvirus]

That would be interesting!

[archaicvirus]

You can now play Craptorio in your browser here: https://tic80.com/play?cart=3551

[mwls]

You can now play Craptorio in your browser here: https://tic80.com/play?cart=3551

Awesome! This definitely makes it a lot easier to check out. I was surprised that I couldn't find a way to use the downloaded cartridge on https://tic80.com/create without having to download and run the player application locally.

This is an impressive piece of work! How much time have you put into it so far? Do you have other game development experience?

[archaicvirus]

You can now play Craptorio in your browser here: https://tic80.com/play?cart=3551

Awesome! This definitely makes it a lot easier to check out. I was surprised that I couldn't find a way to use the downloaded cartridge on https://tic80.com/create without having to download and run the player application locally.

This is an impressive piece of work! How much time have you put into it so far? Do you have other game development experience?

Thanks for the compliment! I worked on the title for about 6 months, although while working a full time job so there were a lot of gaps. You can check the github for the full history, but the project ended up at about 12,000 lines of code (give or take) 100% lua 5.3.6. Most of the code was dedicated to entity interactions, as Factorio's entities are very complex (from a programming standpoint) and there are many possible configurations between the items.

This is my first big game project, and I haven't made any major games previously. After a tragic loss of my brother whom I played Factorio with religiously, I made a promise to complete the demake title, and dedicate myself to gamedev and eventually trying to carve a new path forward in it. But I have made some small games in the past in javascript, and a bunch of tech demo's for the tic80 in lua. I started with c++ making call of duty WaW zombies mods, and have been a self taught programmer since my brothers teachings. A lot of them are procedural generators for terrain, trees, planets, and even tilemaps. I learned a lot from this project, and learned a lot about what I don't know , and I think after a few more titles of this scale, it will give me a better idea what it takes realistically to make a successful game of my own possibly. Thanks again for your comment!

[archaicvirus]

Added native builds - see above post for links

[archaicvirus]

This didn't make it into the final game, didn't really make sense without biters or bots, but I thought some might find it humorous

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[Amarula]

This didn't make it into the final game, didn't really make sense without biters or bots, but I thought some might find it humorous

Love it

[archaicvirus]

This didn't make it into the final game, didn't really make sense without biters or bots, but I thought some might find it humorous

Love it

Thank you!

[archaicvirus]

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Fixed crash on shift-click empty furnace slots with empty cursor. Sorry about that!
Updated on all platforms.

[landmine752]

This is great. I like that despite how simple the graphics, UI, and everything is it still looks and feels like Factorio. Just, you know, developed for a 40 year old device.

[archaicvirus]

This is great. I like that despite how simple the graphics, UI, and everything is it still looks and feels like Factorio. Just, you know, developed for a 40 year old device.

That's a high compliment! I tried hard to make the controls familiar. As weird as it sounds, that is one of my favorite things about Factorio, the pipette tool and all the nice qol features. It always feels so nice when controls aren't clunky, and they make the gameplay easier and not harder. I don't know how well I captured that, but I'm glad it you found it similar!