Learning Factory News

Hey engineers! The grand game polishing has officially begun, but that doesn't mean we won't be adding new awesome content (quite the contrary, actually!). But first, we'd like to talk to you about an experiment we made...

[h2]Experimental Terraforming Re-Balance[/h2]
As you might now, default tiles of the game have random efficiency distribution. It can affect growth of plants and the efficiency of some buildings.

Previously, the best way to maximize a tile's potential was to replace it with a manually crafted tile. This update brings an option to do it with a special kind of Fertilizer (see below). It becomes available early in the game, but to compensate it, we have increased the cost of research for terraforming tiles (the production costs of tiles, once researched, remains the same)

Our idea is to motivate players to interact with two default maps' landscapes, making use of the land they get on the default map and finding creative solutions for numerous watery obstacles on the alternate map.

This idea makes sense to us, but you'll be the ones playing it, so we encourage you to check this part of the game out and let us know:

Is it a 'yay' or 'nay' for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or drop us a line on Discord, or use the built-in feedback form in the game

[h2]v0.24.155 Released![/h2]

[h3]New Buildings && Content[/h3]

• New building: Raft Crafter automatically makes Rafts for you (suggested by Trichouette) +an upgrade for making Lava Rafts
  
• New item: Surface Fertilizer is a consumable that maximizes the efficiency of any tile without changing its' type (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• Added an option to select origin of cats coming through regular Cat Gates - the higher the Hype, the more the chance to attract a cat from selected origin instead of regular passerby cat; if this happens, the cat arrived will have +1 Loyalty level
  
• The final Catopia milestone can now be unlocked on the progress bar of the Research Tree: it increses the Hype but does not unlock endgame gameplay yet
  
• The Second Prototype milestone now unlocks (spontaneous) 'Cats' Ascension', which provides a chance for cats to arrive at the Factory with increased Loyalty, depending on Hype level
  

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• Re-rendered Apple Trees
  
• Re-rendered Metal Drill
  
• Re-rendered Lumber Mill
  
• Re-rendered Box Maker
  
• Re-rendered Concrete flooring
  
• Re-rendered Apple Boxes
  
• Re-rendered Rafts
  

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• The progress in achieving the next milestone is now visible on the Monument
  
• Upgrade allowing to harvest Juicy Cacti with Lumber Mills now adds another recipe with increased efficiency
  
• New upgrade for Compost Machine, allowing it to craft Surface Fertilizers
  
• Upgrade unlock requirement to advertise items to cats can now be fulfilled via Advertising Cat Gates, too (previously it was only possible in service/tasting buildings)
  
• Nanoproduction infinite research project now increases manual work speed too
  
• Selected infinite researches slightly buffed
  
• Crafting a Growing Deep Algae now requires less resources in general, but requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Research cost of all tiles for terraforming was increased to balance the new tile-improving mechanics
  
• Increased amount of terraforming tiles given as reward for fulfilling Dr. Katz's requests; the frequency of such awards was increased as well
  
• Dormitory expansion costs slightly decreased
  
• Cats with upsale requests and mass purchasing cats now appear even further on in the game
  
• Eco Dynamite removed from the game (temporarily)
  
• Changed progress bar on the Research Tree, some milestones moved
  
• Added a new quest after Tutorial, that prompts further research and brings monetary reward
  
• Added new achievement: conduct 100 researches
  
• Added another secret achievement
  

[h3]QoL && Interface
[/h3]

• Added an option to customize the looks of cat researchers in Labs (suggested by Cat (the Black))
  
• Tooltip for Dynaminte now shows countdown before explosion
  
• 'Collect All' feature works faster
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Hotkeys on numeric keyboard keys now summon a Blueprint of a building, if it is not crafted
  
• Wiki articles now clearly display the category of items (suggested by ChromatiChicken)
  
• Added an event when an empty hotkey is activated, along with a hint on assigning it
  
• Added statistics: cat knowledge from satisfied cats
  
• The panel on top of the screen now displays the recent amount of cat knowledge points gained from satisfied cats
  
• Improved tooptips
  
• Added an option to search for research categories on the Research Tree, clicking on a category icon highlights relevant research projects
  
• More convenient sorting in Statistics tab
  
• Added a search field to Zeppelin Routes tab
  
• Story comic strips can now be leafed through
  
• Added chatGPT translation for the French language
  
• Lots of copywriting improvements
  

[h3]Techie Stuff[/h3]

• Updated engine version
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to squibbons, HelDoRe, squibs, bloom16night)
  
• Copying and pasting configs now with improved visual effect
  
• UI/UX improvements
  

[h3]Re: Factory[/h3]
In this section, we're reacting to your bug reports and feedback sent through the in-game report form:

Re: Wayne
We're investigating the rendering problem on Mac Pro M2 / Mac OS X 14.0.0 - the architecture of the processor is very new and the new OS version emerged emerged a couple of days back. With that said, we don't even have the machine to test the game with yet, but we're working on this
Re: squibbons
We have partially fixed bugs with incorrect scaling of tooltip windows and scrollboxes in the windowed mode on lower screen resolutions, but the issue might persist here and there, we're looking into it

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:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there



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

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

Another little fix to make your experience at Learning Factory even better!

• Bug fixes
  
• Added displaying of level for infinite research projects (via Евгений Ры́марев)

Every second Tuesday of October, Ada Lovelace is celebrated - dedicated to a famous mathematician from the XIX century, who created a proto-computer and is therefore known as the first programmer in the world!

To celebrate the occasion, we rounded up a bunch of games about coding, engineering, and managing complex systems. We've got over 100 titles, check them out, and get yourself some awesome games:

[h2]To Programmer's Sale 2023[/h2]

As for Learning Factory, it will get a nice 36% discount tomorrow, from October 4. However, today you can check out this brand new bundle with not one but two neat factory building games:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35074/Shapez__Catz/

To celebrate this event we've also added a bunch of new animated items to Learning Factory's shelves in the Steam Points Shop! There's a couple of stickers and animated backgrounds, a an avatar frame and one brand new avatar, too:



Last but not least, we've created a new Learning Factory trialer! Hope that you enjoy it:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Welcome to Programmer's Sale 2023! Hello, world!

This hotfix is nicer than usual!

• Added 1 more comics slide
  
• Updated texts
  
• Cats with mass purchases do not appear for certain time from the beginning of the game
  
• Cats with upsale purchases do not appear for certain time from the beginning of the game
  
• Added stats showing Loyalty of served cats
  
• Added stats showing Loyalty of served cats by type
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey engineers! And congratulations to you, as this update marks Early Access Stage 4 as complete! We've been really focused on updating the visuals in the past couple of monts, so this update is something new.

On one hand, we've pushed it hard to make some of the game's mechanics more comprehensive. On the other hand, we've made crafting more complex and challenging for more intense brain stimulation!

[h2]v0.24.151 Released! [/h2]

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• New story comics - the origin story of how our nameless protagonist met their cat (named Cat), under rather rainy circumstances. Hopefully, this story will motivate you to care about cats (in-game, or real-life) even more
  
• New theme for the main menu
  

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Global crafting rebalancing (see below)
  
• Added a whole new Wiki section explaining complicated in-game mechanics: Loyalty, Mass purchases, Upselling, Machine Learning, Data Quality, Research, Hype, Satisfaction Pyramid, and Legendary cats
  
• Legendary cats request Quality (+) or better items from now on
  
• Legendary cats are now classified as Cats with lvl 3 Loyalty
  
• Cats with Loytalty lvl 5+ now request High Quality (++) items
  
• Cats with Loyalty lvl 3-4 now request Quality (+) items
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Square Cardboard Space Signal Emitter research project now provides a higher chance of summoning a legendary cat
  
• During Shopaholic Invasion, cats with higher Loyalty levels may arrive, depending on Hype
  
• Shopaholic Invasion duration increases along with your Hype level
  
• New events, aimed to give the players better control over the Factory
  
• Increased cat knowledge points reward for fulfilling Dr Katz's requests
  
• Increased bonus cat knowledge points for serving legendary cats
  
• 3 new perks for cat researchers
  
• New perk for Dr Katz
  
• Random cats can get generated with the 'Genius' perk (fromerly available only to Dr Katz)
  
• Research efficiency calculating mechanics for cat researchers slightly changed (may result in altered research time for hired researchers in existing saved games)
  
• Selling items of quality gives a bigger boost to Loyalty
  
• Upgrading Loom increases its' speed by 5 ticks instead of 2
  

[h3]QoL & Interface[/h3]

• Added stats showing tips left by each cat type
  
• Added stats showing sales income from each cat type
  
• Added stats showing total income from each cat type
  
• Approximate research cost now shown under each research project
  
• Added an option to clear cache in the settings, in case your minimap seems to be displayed incorrectly
  
• Map name is now displayed for every saved game (starting from this version)
  
• Choosing to involve incompetent researches into research projects results in 4x experience boost for those researchers
  
• Upper panel now displays the amount of money spent on research and ads
  
• Added an option to disable tutorial and instantly get a starting pack of buildings, if campaign is not launched for the first time
  
• Machine learning models now display a warning if there's no Store/Boutique connected to a cluster
  
• If your system language is not officially supported by the game, you'll get a warning and a suggestion to switch into English, when launching the game for the first time
  
• Added partial translation into the German language by ChatGPT (community translation is still there, too)
  
• Improved tooltips
  
• Improved, more stable Twitch integration
  
• New achievement
  

[h3]Techie Stuff[/h3]

• Updated credits
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to CheeseAndChocolate, MarcusZ, squibbons, bloom16night)
  

[h3]Rebalancing Crafting Costs[/h3]
Previously, most buildings would require regular quality items for crafting. With this update, more complex items will be required for crafting, as you progress through the resarch tree:

• Crafting T-shaped Splitters requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Quad Splitter requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Awesome Golden Statue requires Quality (+) Gold
  
• Crafting Eco Dynamite requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Crafting Hard Rock Dynamite requires Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting all kinds of Long conditional Manipulators (except for Cat Manipulator) require Quality (+) Iron and Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Long Quality Manipulator requires Quality (+) Concrete instead of Copper
  
• Crafting Two-Item Dock requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Pawssenger Dock now requires Quality (+) Boxes
  
• Crafting Exit Cat Gate now requires Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Inventory Teleport now requires Quality (+) Copper and Concrete
  
• Crafting Teleport now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Logistics Assembler now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Cable Crafter now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Soil Silo now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Enriched Soil Silo now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Apple Collector now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Fishing Pier now requires Quality (+) Wood instead of Iron
  
• Crafting Fish Maker now requires Quality (+) Fish
  
• Crafting Algae Harvester now requires Quality (+) Iron and Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Catnip Juice Brewery now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Smoothie Mixer now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Brew Intensifier now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Awesome Statue now requires Quality (+) Wood, Quality (+) Iron, and Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Vitamin Maker now requires Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Geothermal Furnace now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and also 2 Drills instead of 2 Furnaces
  
• Crafting Omnimill now requires Quality (+) Concrete and Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting Wohlwill Purifier now requires Batteries and Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting Dredge now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Cat Food Maker now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Bubble Gum Mixer now requires Quality (+) Copper and Cotton
  
• Crafting Pillow Maker now requires Yarn Balls and Ropes
  
• Crafting Hammock Weaver now requires Quality (+) Rope
  
• Crafting Omniloom now requires Quality (+) Rope, Quality (+) Catnip Juice, Quality (+) Concrete, and High Quality (++) Iron
  
• Crafting Cat House Maker now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Bling Machine now requires Quality (+) Iron, and Gold
  
• Crafting Battery Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete and Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Tech Overcharger now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Microchip Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and Manipulators
  
• Crafting Quantum Tech Assembler now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and Quality (+) Lasers
  
• Crafting Schrodinger's Chamber now requires Quality (+) Boxes
  
• Crafting Neural Networks now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Dynamite now requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Crafting Laser Pointer Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete, Quality (+) Iron and 1 Battery Maker, instead of 2
  
• Crafting Laser Collider now requires Quality (+) Concrete, Quality (+) Laser Pointer, and High Quality (++) Gold
  
• Decreased Cloth amount reauired for crafting Small Cargo Zeppelins
  
• Crafting Cargo Zeppelin now requires Quality (+) Cloth and Quality (+) Ropes
  
• Crafting all promotional/tasting buildings now require Quality (+) items
  
• Crafting Deep Water now requires Quality (+) Fish
  
• Crafting Concrete Flooring now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Graphic Card Assembler now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Land Digger now requires Quality (+) Iron
  

So close to Catopia! Check out our EA roadmap:


[h2]Re: Factory[/h2]
Q: "Make mouse grid able to multiselect dimantle or destroy. Would make clearing the map from plants much easier instead of clicking on them individually." -CheeseAndChocolate A: This feature already exists in the game, make sure to research an upgrade for your Multitool!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there



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

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here