Craftomation 101 News

Hey mates! Unlike the previous update, this one's pretty big: we have reinvented Variables, and shaken the Upgrade Tree really well! Please share your thoughts in the comments, on the forums, or on our Discord server!

[h2]v0.79 Released![/h2]


[h3]Variables & Numbers[/h3]
Variables can now work with numbers, coordinates, and Object types (the latter two are unlocked by separate upgrades). That led to adding a bunch of new blocks for working with numbers and Variables:

• 'get type' - detects the type of Object on a selected tile and assigns it as an argument for a connected Variable
  
• 'get amount' - checks the number of items on a selected tile and assigns it as an argument to a Variable
  
• 'get length' - computes the distance between the coordinates provided by two connected Variables
  
• 'coordinate to var' - transforms two numbers into a coordinate that can be used as an argument in a Variable
  
• 'split var' - transforms a coordinate into two separate numbers
  
• 'check var' - checks the argument of a connected Variable with a selected value for equality
  
• 'compare numbers' - compares numbers from the arguments of two connected Variables
  

The last block, combined with an ability to add up and subtract numbers, allows creation of proper counters, thus rendering the previous counter blocks obsolete (they were removed from the list of blocks from now on),

In future updates, we will add more options for interacting with numbers and Variables!


[h3]Rebalanced Upgrade Tree[/h3]
We have moved a bunch of upgrades around to make it more balanced and interesting: now players won't have to choose between an upgrade that gives 1 new block and the other upgrade that unlocks 5 blocks. But that's not it, here's a bunch of highlights:

• 'eat' and 'compare energy' nodes are now unlocked with a single upgrade, so you could start making auto-feeding CraftoMates right away
  
• 'find and drop' node, previously known as 'drop to Storage' was confusing to some players in the early parts of the game, so it is now unlocked along with 'smart find and pick'. The latter, in turn, was brought closer to the beginning of the Tree
  

[h3]Optimization: Another Round[/h3]
A round of optimization we started a couple of updates back is now complete! The game runs faster on bigger factories, and dropdowns to 50 FPS at the beginning of the game are not supposed to be happening anymore. The quest for ultimate performance optimization will continue!

[h3]Other Stuff[/h3]

• Improved button looks on the main screen
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed CargoMates to put Storage units into Bonfires, which used to cause distress
  
• Fixed a bug that was hiding one of the connection lines of a Variable in cases when a player connected one Variable to two inputs of a single block/Function
  
• Fixed a bug that blocked game input when a player would try to delete a CraftoMate's code with the Upgrade Tree screen opened
  
• Other bug fixes
  

See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out!

And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

[h3]----------------------
How to get more involved?[/h3]


If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
  
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
  
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

Hey, mates!

The last couple of sales were especially rich with precious, precious feedback from our new, and not so new, players. That subsequently led to extra time for head scratching, and then the great bug purge began, with the occasional break for QoL renovations.

Anyway, here are the first (but not last!) results of our processing your generous feedback:

[h2]Hotfix v0.78.4[/h2]
[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• Fixed the bug that caused the Editor to freeze and stop refreshing if a player removed the 'Idle' block from the Editor work field
  
• Fixed the bug that caused a newly added programming block to freeze over the right panel of the Editor
  
• Fixed a bug that caused CraftoMates not to regard a programming block as executed, if the execution occurred at the moment when a CraftoMate got frozen, or if the player was saving the game at the time. Effectively, a CraftoMate would skip a step in executing a Program. This shouldn't be happening from now on
  
• Made some fixes in the copying/pasting tool, which should work in a more stable way now. Also, clicking on a space outside of selected blocks should deselect the entire group from now on. And the default selection button is now 'Ctrl' (formerly - 'Shift')
  
• Upgrade Tree can now be closed by hitting 'Esc' button, which turned out surprisingly hard to implement
  

[h3]Other improvements[/h3]

• The dropdown menu for selecting an argument or a number in certain blocks could previously disappear under the lower screen border. Now it will drop up if a block is too close to that border
  
• Added an option to reassign the button for dragging the game field (previously one could only do it with the left mouse button)
  
• When the Command Center extends its manipulator to grab a quest item, that item can no longer be stolen by a passerby CraftoMate, because stealing is bad
  
• Various fixes in the game's copywriting. The important part: 'nodes' and 'commands' will be known under the collective term 'blocks' from now on
  

If you're still thinking about buying Craftomation, consider adding it to your wishlist - this way you'll be alerted about big discounts:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

Until we meet again!

[h3]----------------------
How to get more involved?[/h3]


If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
  
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
  
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

Hey mates,

Although the hotfix we just released was the main reason for this post, there's a bunch of awesome Craftomation-related news today!

[h3]Hotfix v0.78[/h3]

• Fixed the bug that prevented CargoMates from swapping Storage units
  
• Fixed the bug that swapped the names for inputs and outputs in the 'Energy check' command for some languages
  
• Fixed the pathfinding bug that made robots to ignore closer, newly discovered object sources and choose those discovered earlier (even when they were further away)
  
• Fixed the bug that made it impossible to detect an object with 'Find' and 'Find and pick' commands, if that object was on the same tile as a robot
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the manual game saving window to work incorrectly
  

Another great news: The Automation Games Sale event starts today, and Craftomation 101 is participating! You have a week to grab the game with a 23% discount:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

But wait, there's a delicious piece of charcoal on top: we have released a bunch of Craftomation 101-themed items in Steam points shop, and you can now decorate your profile with new backgrounds and enrich your conversations with Craftomated emoticons:



Until we meet again!

[h3]----------------------
How to get more involved?[/h3]


If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
  
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
  
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

Hey mates!

The most exciting things in this update are happening deep in the game's code: hopefully, it will make your playthrough smoother and more comfortable!

[h2]v0.78 Released![/h2]
[h3]Performance optimiztion[/h3]

• Refactoring of the code responsible for 'Find' and related commands ('Find and Pick', 'Drop to Storage'): previous code was suboptimal, which resulted in performance drops for bigger bases. From now on, they're gonna run up to 2 times as fast, with stable 55-60 FPS on recommended PC configuration
  
• Refactoring of the code responsible for checking if a cell under an Object is frozen (subsequently freezing the Object on it), which is expected to boost the game's performance
  
• Other performance tweaks
  

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• Fixed the bug that made the tutorial for Functions run incorrectly
  
• Fixed the bug that displayed removed Objects on the map after restarting a Craftomate
  
• Other bug fixes
  

[h3]Other [/h3]

• New sounds in the Program editor, played upon interacting with buttons and connecting lines
  
• New option in the Settings: turning off the 'Undefined Behaviour' mode prevents your Craftomates from picking/eating Storage units if the latter are empty. More safety options will be added to this mode later on
  

See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out!

And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

[h3]----------------------
How to get more involved?[/h3]


If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
  
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
  
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

Hey mates!

We cannot stress enough how your feedback is important to us! Early Access is a strange dance: we roll out features that we think will be fun to play, listen to what the community has to say, and then we throw out everything that is not fun, plan out new features, and repeat the cycle.

Take this feature that allows a Craftomate to pick up and/or eat a Storage unit, if there are no items inside. At first, we thought it was hilarious and fell in line with coding logic. But then this year's Steam Summer Sale happened, and we received a bunch of negative feedback from the players frustrated with their Storage being eaten.







Which is why this little hotfix is out, preventing such situations from now on. We hope that it will make Craftomation 101 more fun and less frustrating but hey - it's your call! Leave us a comment, or talk to us directly on our Discord server. No piece of feedback is left behind!

Having heard of this news, our programmer Ivan took a break from his vacation, parked his car in a reasonable and a safe way, and made this hotfix for you. Here's what it looked like:



And if you're ready to give Craftomation 101 a shot, don't forget it's discounted by 22%, due to the aforementioned Sale:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

Until we meet again!

[h3]----------------------
How to get more involved?[/h3]


If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
  
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
  
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter