Learning Factory News

Hey friends!

We found some bugs in the game. This hotfix is here to deal with them. Please update and enjoy a less-buggier version of Learning Factory!

Hey factory workers,

This update brings you an array of animated and re-rendered buildings, but also improved tutorials and interfaces!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]v0.31.182 Released![/h2]

• Re-rendered Compost Machine
  
• Re-rendered Fish Maker
  
• New art for the Arctic Ocean
  
• Updated art for Transporter crossroad tiles
  
• Animated Smoothie Maker
  
• Animated Milk Drill
  
• Animated Brew Intensifier
  
• Re-rendered Logistic Regression
  
• Metals on the map shoot sparks when a player crosses them over on a Hoverboard
  
• Updated particles from crossing objects over on a Hoverboard
  
• VSync option in the Settings
  
• Improved tooltips for ML models
  
• Improved visualization of Blueprints on the mouse pointer
  
• Improved interface
  
• Updated interface for Machine Learning model window
  
• New interface for Science Labs
  
• Improved tutorials for Data Storage, Dr. Katz's Office, Tunnels, and Blueprints
  
• Added more info about real-life data processing
  
• A new achievement (suggested by Ferri)
  
• A new parameter for Stats & Scores menu
  
• Improved controls on Steam Deck
  
• Improved tooltips
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Ferri, Cat (the Black), mylovewill, S'Kleer)
  

[h2]Re: Factory[/h2]

In this section of patch notes, we answer the questions from the community that were submitted via the in-game feedback form and/or seemed especially interesting to us, You can always contact us directly in the comments or join our Discord server

Q: "Consider SHIFT+LCLICK on a placed object, like a lumber mill, to go into "place mode" for the lumber mill. This will allow players to not have to find the building in their build menu if they want to quickly copy a pre-existing building." -rosco.greenmage A: You can activate the Pipette tool by pressing 'Q', hopefully, it solves the issue for you!

Q: "I think it would be good to have a type of store that can also sell multiple types of the same item. In this way, I think this would resonate with loyalty. Cats that are okay with basic Yarn will have that sold to them, while there is a different shelf for Yarn +, and yet another shelf for Yarn ++ reserved for only the pickiest of catty clientelle." -rosco.greenmage A: That would be really cool, but the way the game code is organized does not allow implementation of such feature. Besides. the release is just around the corner, it's a bit late to add that.

Q: "To continue with the theme of a learning type factory, would it be good to have Catopia Ark contruction worker type cats go through a store to get the required parts rather than player supplied?" -rosco.greenmage A: Sounds interesting, but again, does not match with the game's design.

Q: "WHEN I PAUSES WHY DO I STILL MOVE?" -Pubaroo A: That was implemented for your convenience, but you can always choose not to move if you don't want to!

A friendly reminder: you can always chat with us directly on our Discord server. We're using Discord for work, so you'll find many of us there most of the time, don't be a stranger!

An even friendlier reminder: don't forget about our collection of items in Steam Points Shop! Sergei the artist makes wonderful factory art to be observed from above, but his works' magic really shows at close-up perspective:




[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

At Luden.io, we develop games while constantly listening to the feedback from our awesome players. If you feel proactive, you're very welcome to do one or more of the following:

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey everyone!

We come with a game recommendation today. Our good friends at Ánimo Games Studio made this cute puzzle/automation adventure, in which you're reparing a star factory with some help from a bunch of robots! It's called Star Stuff, and it's out today:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1955110?utm_source=impress&utm_medium=presskit

Here, check out the trailer, while you're at it, too:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Buy yourself a copy or at least add it to wishlist!

Hey factory builders,

As you probably know, we normally release an update for Learning Factory every fortnight, but this week is different. Ivan the programmer had to take a break from fighting game bugs to fight a virus. We all wish him to get well soon, and the next Learning Factory update will be released next week.

Extra development time will, of course, make it even better! We're working on more updated visuals, along with better tutorials and more comprehensive menus. We'll let you know as soon as they're ready for you to check out. Here's a little teaser - animated Smoothie Mixer:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the meantime, we suggest those of you who are interested in programming check out our blog article, in which one of the devs of Craftomation 101 (our other game) talks about developing a game using Lua language:

Read 'What do I think about Lua after shipping a project with 60,000 lines of code?' (15 minute read)

Until we meet again!

Pretty much as your Factory evolves from a humble Yarn Ball-selling store to a continent-wide industrial/scientific/commercial cluster, Learning Factory, the game, has grown a lot in the past couple of years. And when it comes to bringing such a game to the full release, one thing certainly leads to another: there are so many buildings now, and we must make them all animated! And if the buildings are animated, why don’t we animate those Transporters, too? Etc., etc...

Which is why this edition of our developer diaries mostly consists of short videos and pretty pictures! Even if your playing Learning Factory zoomed out to the max, animated machinery creates an unforgettable image of the whole factory working like one single machine. But if you zoom in to the ground, you will notice that every building’s design is full of details. And it’s even better when they’re animated! With the latest update, we’ve reworked just 2 buildings, but check out the difference (and some moving Transporters, too):

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Animation of buildings looks inspiring even when you look under the cape. This is Catnip Juice Brewery’s animation in the editor:



In one of the previous updates we also made Catnip Algae Harvester’s animation smoother, but it’s not just that! Zooming your camera is now way smoother, too! Take a look at it (and some more moving Transporters):

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’re talking about Transporters so much, because it really took us a lot of time to come up with the right tile design, arrows’ shape and color, and animation details. And the process is far from being complete! For example, a couple of days back we had a very vivid discussion about the colors of crossroad arrow. Here’s what we were choosing from:





Which one do you like more? Let us know!

Our next target for visual reboot are the mysterious Cat Knowledge Archives, which are scattered around the map and serve as catalyst to your scientific breakthroughs. According to our scientists, they were left on Mars by the Interstellar Lazy-Laborer Union for Mars Integration and Never-ending Aspiration for Technologic Innovation (a.k.a. the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I.). Meaning that they simply must look scientific and mysterious. Like so:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

After all those videos, one might think that only Sergei the artist is working on the game at the moment, but this couldn’t be further from the truth! It’s just that most of the work is happening around the cape and cannot (yet) be turned into pretty visuals. Polishing is happening on every level, and one of our big tasks for the upcoming weeks is improving tutorials and interfaces - there are many fun mechanics that influence the gameplay in Learning Factory, but not all of them are properly presented to the players. And since we’re making a cozy game here, our mission is to make the first contact with it as comfortable for the players, as we can.

In other words, the evolution from janky-Early-Access-title to a shiny-awesome-v1.0-title is happening as you are reading these lines! Already we can’t wait to tell you more about that - but we’ll hold our breath for another month or so.

But if you have any questions - we suggest you ask us directly, we’re a very open bunch of developers! Leave a comment, or go straight to our Discord server, where some of us is almost always online.

Until we meet again!

P.S. This edition of developer diaries was supposed to be posted here last Saturday, but it got delayed due to the fact that the author accidentally adopeted a street cat:



We've got a total of 11 cats in our team, and counting!