shapez 2 News

Hey everyone!

Today I wanted to give you some insights about the fluids in Shapez 2!

As always, be sure to wishlist & follow Shapez 2 to get a notification on important updates:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/

Alright, so let's dive into the devlog!

[h2]Devlog 006 - Fluids & Painting[/h2]

[h3]Recap - Shapez 1[/h3]

Shapez 1 didn't have fluids, and colors were simply items that you could mine, just like shapes. The painter would then take those items as an input and modify the shape color:



This worked, but for Shapez 2 we wanted something more interesting and also more "visual" and easy to understand. This is why we are introducing fluids:

[h3]Fluid Extraction[/h3]

The first step to acquire fluids is to find a fluid resource on the infinite map. In the area close to the HUB you will be able to find the 3 primary colors: red, green and blue. Farther apart, we can imagine that there will also be secondary colors, but that's not settled on yet.



We still haven't figured how those fluid resources should look, so they are still placeholders in the game.
Daniel already made some concepts for them, but all of these are super early!



Once you found a resource to mine, you can place a fluid extractor island on it. Again, this is only a placeholder:



There is already a concept for it as well, but again, very early!



On the miner itself, there will be a fluid patch, similar to the shape miner, where you can place pumps to extract fluids. Pumps currently extract 1200 Liters per minute, but this is not final. Currently the unit used to measure fluid volume is liters, although we could imagine introducing additional units in case we ever want to add steam for example.



[h3]Fluid Transport & Simulation[/h3]

To transport fluids on the island, you can then place different types of pipes. There are straight, corner, junction and cross pipes. As everything in the game is open, we wanted the pipes to also be open so you can see the fluids actually flow through your factory!



Fluids are simulated at a fixed tickrate right now. Basically every pipe has a "storage" called "FluidContainer" internally. The size of that storage is 50 L for pipes currently.
Every container then stores the current flow to the adjacent containers.
When updating the simulation, it basically goes like this:

1. Iterate over all containers and "spread" fluids.
Every container can only store one fluid at a time, so once it is "tagged" with that fluid, it can only store that fluid until it is entirely empty again. More about that in the "Mixed Pipes" section.

2. Compute & propagate pressure differences
Pressure in a container is simply computed as value / maxValue. The simulation then tries to achieve a state of "balance" where all containers the system have the same pressure.
However, just trying to average the container levels won't work great, because then the throughput will be extremely low at some point.
Thus, instead of storing only the pressure, we also store a flow rate, which is determining how much fluid from one container flows to another container in one tick. The flow rate only changes very slowly, and increases / decreases based on the pressure difference.
There are still some issues that a lot of fluids simulations typically have, for example dealing with waves. But we already have a few ideas how to tackle them!

3. Clamping & clearing
In the last step, all containers that are empty are now un-tagged, so they can receive a different type of fluid again. Also in case any container did over- or underflow, it will be clamped.


While the fluid simulation can be a little technical, our goals is and was that if you just want to use fluids, it should be intuitive and "just work". With the current system in place and the visual indicators, we feel that already is the case, but we are very interested in your feedback!

[h3]Mixed Pipes[/h3]
Since mixed fluids in the same pipe wouldn't really make sense, we don't allow them. Instead, every fluid container can only store one fluid and is tagged with that. Transfer between containers then only works if they have the same fluid:



There are also buttons to flush pipes or the entire network, in case you mess up.

[h3]Secondary & Tertiary colors[/h3]

In order to produce secondary and/or tertiary colors, you can mix colors with the color mixer:



[h3]Cross-Layer Transport[/h3]

Fluids can be transported up and down, however, in order to transport them up you will have to place a pump:



The pump will limit the flow to one direction, so you can also use it as a gate to prevent backflow:



We are also considering to add a building just for that, in case it becomes a commonly used pattern.

Instead of going for an overly complex system, the rules for cross-layer transport are very simple: Fluids only go up in a pump, and they go down in regular pipes. This should be very intuitive and still allow for some interesting designs. However since it's not final - let us know what you think!

[h3]Buffering[/h3]

In case you want to store some fluids, there is also a fluid tank, and because of the cross-layer pipes, you can also stack them on top of each other:



Keep in mind that, because the simulation effectively averages the pressure, the tanks will only fill once you have a surplus of fluid in the system.

[h3]Painting[/h3]

There will be different types of painters in the game, for now we have planned a topmost painter and a full painter. The topmost painter only paints the highest layer of a shape where as the full painter paints the whole shape (and needs more paint in exchange).

Here's an early concept of the topmost painter in action (the animation is currently broken):



As you might have seen, there are multiple inputs - and again, due to the multi-dimensionality of the game, you can build some pretty cool & compact setups!



[h3]Fluid Packing & Cross-island transport[/h3]

If you read the past devlogs, you might wonder how you actually transport fluids between islands, since there is no building space for pipes in between.

Disclaimer: The following mechanics are work in progress and we don't know whether they will end up exactly like this in the game. However, let me explain what we have right now!

To transport fluids, first you have to produce barrels. Barrels are produced from shapes, and the size & color of the barrel depends on the used shape:



Once you produced the barrels, you can now fill them using the fluid packer:



Then transport them between islands and unpack them again.



Since barrel production is pretty slow, you can also recycle the production by returning the empty barrels again (as seen in the above gif)

We are not 100% certain this feature will be a great fit, so be sure to leave your feedback on it, so we know whether you like it or not!

[h3]Color Blind Support[/h3]

As soon as colors are a crucial part of the gameplay, we have to think about color-blind support as well.
We are still looking for good ways to make it easier in case you are affected, such as patterns, or different symbols for fluids. If you have any ideas please let us know!


[h3]Wishlist Shapez 2[/h3]

I hope you enjoyed the devlog, and I wish you a nice remaining weekend!

And as always, be sure to wishlist & follow Shapez 2 to get a notification on important updates:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/


~Tobias

Hey everyone!

First of all, I want to apologize for the late devlog. A lot of stuff is happening right now, and it's hard to find time in between!

[h2]News[/h2]

We are slowly growing the team - last week we welcomed Lorenzo who will help with the Development, so there are now 5 people working full time on shapez 2!

[h3]New Soundtrack[/h3]

Shapez 2 will ship with 40 minutes of soundtrack from Petter Sumelius, the composer who also made the amazing shapez 1 soundtrack!

Additionally, there will be a supporter edition that will add additional 40 minutes of soundtrack to the game, composed by Petter as well!

[h3]Wishlist shapez 2[/h3]

Be sure to wishlist & follow shapez 2, so you get a notification on any significant updates!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/

And if you want to try out the current alpha, be sure to join the shapez 2 discord!

[h2]Devlog - Research, Progression & Blueprints[/h2]

Please note: A lot of content shown here is subject to change. While we are already satisfied with the new research system, we can not guarantee it will end up exactly like this in the final game.

[h3]Recap - shapez 1[/h3]

In shapez 1 you had a linear level system, where you had to deliver one certain shape to complete the level and unlock the next technology.
Additionally there were 4 different upgrades where you could increase the speed of buildings.



While efficient, this system leads to some issues. First of all, having a purely linear structure means that even if the next level contains a building / technology you don't need or want, you still have to unlock it to progress.

Additionally, it means that the replayability is not really good, because every playthrough looks exactly the same, without a lot of meaningful choices.

Which is why for shapez 2, wanted to rework the system.

[h2]What we tried - and didn't work[/h2]

Our first approach making a big research tree. There was a "main" goal section in the middle, but otherwise it was just all research nodes in one single tree:


(The image is quite large, you can click to enlarge it)

However, during playtesting, it showed that this was way too confusing. It was almost impossible to figure out which upgrades to go for next, which ones were more important or even required, and which not.

Thus, we decided that we needed to go for a hybrid approach instead.

[h2]New approach - Categorizing upgrades[/h2]

To make the upgrades easier to understand, we started separating them into 3 different categories:

[h3]Milestones[/h3]
Milestones are upgrades that unlock new technologies which allow you to produce new types of shapes. These upgrades are required for the progression within the game and can not be skipped, for example painting shapes. Milestones are supposed to be large goals you work towards for a while, while also pursuing other goals in the meantime since they can take a while to complete.

Basically we went over all upgrades and asked the question "Will the game experience be bad if the player doesn't unlock this?". For the current alpha, we already ended with 14 milestones, although we plan to add a lot more content, even for the early access release.

[h3]QoL Upgrades[/h3]
Quality-of-life upgrades are upgrades like the storage, counter-clockwise rotator, decorations, labels and so on. These are upgrades that you can go for if desired, and they can make a lot of sense for your factory, but they are not required to progress in the game. Thus, you have a lot more choice if and when during your playthrough you want to unlock them.

[h3]"Flat" Upgrades[/h3]
Flat upgrades are upgrades like Belt Speed, Platform Limit, HUB Size which just have different tiers (i.e. Belt Speed 1, Belt Speed 2, ...). Those upgrades are supposed to be infinite, but we haven't figured this out exactly yet.

[h3]Organizing the upgrades[/h3]

To connect the upgrades together in the research UI, we started with a linear progression at the top.
We put the milestones in a linear order, which is very similar to the levels system in shapez 1.



Then we started categorizing the QoL and Flat upgrades into different categories like Transport, Processing, Fluids and so on. Each category got their own little tech-tree, in which you can unlock the QoL upgrades, as well as an area at the bottom for the flat upgrades to better separate them:



The QoL and Flat upgrades can depend on previous upgrades, as well as milestones. For example, if a QoL upgrade requires red circles, it will most likely depend on the "Painting" milestone. This is also shown so you have an idea which shapes you can already produce, and which ones need new technologies first.



You can also pin all upgrades to your screen to track them:



With this change, you now have a lot more control when to unlock optional upgrades, while still having a guideline through the game progression! While we really like the new system, we'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on it though!

[h3]Random Goals - Replayability[/h3]

While the new system makes the replayability a little better, it's still not great. Thus, we are planning to add a "seed" to the research tree.

All shapes you have to produce are then randomly generated, instead of predefined. There is a standard seed (0) which is the default research tree, but you can enter another seed to get an entirely different set of shapes.

This means that whenever you want to start a new playthrough of shapez 2, you don't end up having to produce the same shape again and again, but instead every time it's a new one!

Additionally, this also allows us to have a much better difficulty setting than just increasing the amount of required shapes for every goal:

Basically, we will develop an algorithm that allows to create a shape requirement, given a set of currently available technologies and desired difficulty. The more difficult, the more steps (like cut, rotate, ...) and resources need to be chained to produce the shape.

If you then play on "easy" difficulty, you will get shapes that require far less steps than on "insane".
Of course, in the beginning of the game both modes will still require simple shapes (since you can't produce more complex ones) but especially in the end of the game it will be a huge difference!

We hope that this makes the game a lot more replayable and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!


[h3]Blueprints[/h3]

A big, if not the biggest complaint in shapez 1 was that blueprints unlocked a little late.
Basically the issue with blueprints is, the earlier they are unlocked, the simpler the blueprint shape needs to be (because you can't produce more complex ones at that point).

For shapez 2, we wanted to change this, so we came up with the idea of blueprint points:

You unlock blueprints very early, and in order to gain the blueprint points (BP), you need to deliver a certain shape which is then converted into points:



Once you unlock new milestones, you also unlock new shapes you can deliver to more efficiently generate the blueprint points:



Basically if you deliver the left shape, you get 1 blueprint point, whereas you get 100 if you deliver the right shape.

Copying structures or islands then cost blueprint points, and exponentially more the larger the blueprint or island is:



This allows us to make blueprints available a lot earlier, but still having interesting blueprint shapes later in the game!

Let us know what you think about this as well!

PS: There will also be a blueprint library - you can already share and load blueprint strings in the current alpha, but we want to make it easy to also create collections of blueprints, store them, share them and so on! But more on that in another devlog!

[h3]Wishlist & Follow Shapez 2[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/


Have a nice remaining weekend, and I hope you enjoyed reading the devlog!

~Tobias

Hey guys!

In this devlog I wanted to share some insights how the map in shapez 2 works, which is mainly based around the concept of building space stations platforms.

Here's a quick screenshot of how the islands look like, although it is already outdated:



However, to understand why the concept ended up the way it is, we need to look at how shapez 2 evolved:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This devlog includes a lot of old screenshots, alpha footage and placeholders. The final game will look very different!


[h2]How it started[/h2]

Back in July 2022 when I started prototyping shapez 2, this is how it looked:



As you might notice immediately - I actually started with a hexagonal grid. This originated from a survey on the shapez 1 discord, and was basically my starting idea to distinguish shapez 2 from shapez 1:



It quickly evolved, and starting from the beginning I already wanted all machines to be open:



However, once I actually started to implement basic belt placement, I ran into the first issues already.



Placing straight belts on a hexagonal grid is possible, but only in 3 directions. This leads to weird looking sharp-turn belts. Disabling sharp turns didn't make it any better though, since then connecting machines got really annoying, and you still can't have straight belts in all directions:



Additionally, symmetry and tilable designs are possible, but work very differently in a hexagonal grid:



Which is, after long consideration, I decided to drop the hexagonal grid, in favour of allowing to build multidimensional factories (which we will cover in another devlog!).

[h2]Infinite map?[/h2]

I definitely wanted to have an infinite, procedurally generated map for shapez 2. However, to make it look more interesting than in shapez 1, initially I wanted to introduce a concept of "Biomes". Biomes could be areas that contain exclusively red color patches for example. This would also incentivize the new mass transport features.

Here is a first overview how it looked with those different biomes:



The result was not pleasing, but because I wanted to keep shapez 2 abstract, I couldn't just introduce styles like "Forest " or "Water" which would have made it more interesting.

Thus we came up with the "Islands" concept (they are still called like this internally), which evolved around the idea of, while still having infinite space, having to build the playable area yourself:



The idea was that you could craft islands by using shapes:



Basically better islands would cost more and/or better shapes, and they could also have shape and color resources.

After a few iterations, we simplified the crafting dialog:



However, while playtesting, we found that the crafting mechanic wasn't really interesting. The main issue was that the organic factor was entirely missing, thus every playthrough would be the same. And I didn't want to introduce randomness into the crafting, since that would not fit the concept of shapez.

To fix this, we decided the resources should instead spawn procedurally on the map again, and to mine them there will be special miner "islands":



Here is an early screenshot of the map, although the resource distribution is temporary and will change!



I hope you can already see at which scale you'll be able to build within shapez 2!

[h2]Modular Designs[/h2]

Another feature of the islands was allowing to build modular - the idea was that in the lategame, you no longer have to build individual islands but instead you have an island that contains only cutters or stackers and you can rearrange them - building on a much, much larger scale. The idea was basically that these modules are like a building from shapez 1, but instead it was built and designed by yourself!

(If you want to find out more about building modular, Giantwaffle showed it during his exclusive stream of the alpha)

This is a first draft how I wanted it to work:



[h2]Art Style Change[/h2]

During the transition, we also introduced an art style change, which is a topic for another devlog!
However, because we changed to an "Abstract Space" style, the islands now became space station platforms:



[h2]Island Layouts[/h2]

I wanted to have different layouts of islands which allow for interesting combinations, while not being too simple. Inspired by the idea of "Pentominos", every island consists out of chunks which are up to 16x16 tiles large.


(Image source)

The layouts for the islands are not determined yet, but we will try to make sure that every layout has a use and it doesn't get too much of a puzzle (i.e. there should be some puzzle aspect - but it could also get very frustrating if the layouts don't fit together nicely).

[h2]Inter-Island Transport[/h2]

Additionally to the mass transport (trains - covered in another devlog) we of course also need local transport between islands.

To make the islands actually meaningful, it was clear that we can not just allow transport on all sides of the island. Otherwise, there would be no actual difference to an infinite map.

Thus, we came up with the idea of "notches", only allowing to transport shapes at certain locations of an island:



The concept is very simple: There is a building (we call it "belt port" internally) that allows you to catapult shapes over a certain range. Because the distance between two islands is higher than the maximum range of the belt port, transport is not possible. But because the "notch" has 4 tiles that are closer to the other island, these are the places where you can exchange shapes between islands.

A notch allows for 4 of these buildings per layer - so once having unlocked 3 layers, that means effective 12 belts throughput (throughput of the belt ports is identical to the belts):



Notches are displaced, so that if both islands have a notch at this location, you actually get twice the throughput:



As you can see, they are also bi-directional (which is actually something we are considering to change - let us know what you think!)


[h2]Island costs[/h2]

We spent a long time thinking about the costs of the islands. Since we removed the crafting mechanic, at this point the islands were entirely free to place.

The first idea was to make them still cost a certain shape. However, then we figured it makes a lot more sense to instead keep them free, because it would fit the concept of shapez best - buildings are free as well, after all.

This incentivices playing around with the islands, rearranging them, deleting them without having any penalty attached to it.

To still reward building optimized factories, we then introduced a "limit" to the maximum chunks you can place, which can be increased via research. Every island consists of multiple chunks (as shown above), so larger islands are more "expensive". But because it is just a limit and not a cost, you can just play around find out what works best for you!



As you can see, the cost if the island (4 chunks) is shown when placing it, as well as the current usage and the limit.

Of course, the limit can be increased via research, and we actually want to make it an infinite research so your factory can grow forever!

[h2]Further topics[/h2]

Writing this devlog has actually been incredibly difficult, because there are so many more topics I could dive into, but even writing this together already took quite a while! (Which is why I had to delay it by one day).

However, I wanted to already give you an insight on what topics you can expect from further devlogs:

- Fluids & Fluid packaging
- Multidimensional factories
- Crystals
- Trains
- Research Tree
- New blueprint system & currency
- Art style change
- ... and so much more!

If this was an interesting read to you, please let me know in the comments so I know the devlogs are appreciated!

And if you want to stay informed about the upcoming devlogs, giveaways and more, please follow the Shapez 2 store page:

[h2]Follow to get updates[/h2]

PS: In order to get updates, be sure to wishlist AND follow Shapez 2, since just wishlisting doesn't give you any notifications on new events & updates!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/


Have a nice remaining weekend!

Tobias

Hey everyone!

As promised in the last devlog, I wanted to cover the changes and new mechanics regarding item stacking in Shapez 2!

However, I wanted to also quickly mention that we have a new logo for Shapez 2:

[h2]New Logo[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/

Let us know in the comments if you like it!

Please note: This devlog might contain spoilers regarding shapez 1, if you haven't completed level 20 yet.


[h2]Recap from shapez 1 - The old system[/h2]

In shapez 1, the stacking basically works like this:

If you combine two shapes, let's say, two halves, it will combine them on a single layer:



However, if you try to stack shapes that have overlapping parts, the right shape will stack "on top" of the other shape, effectively getting smaller:



The reason for the upper shape is getting smaller is making sure you can still read both layers.

It can get more complex quickly though - what if the shapes only partially overlap?
In this case, you will produce an overhang:



If you now try to cut this overhang, the right side "falls down" and gets bigger again:



Here for example is how you produce a shape that has a "floating" piece which is not connected to anything else (like in the logo):



Using this mechanic is required to produce the logo (level 20) shape - and it can be very unintuitive.
In fact, it is so unintuitive that we got hundreds of bug reports about "broken stacking mechanics" so far!

[h2]The reason to change[/h2]

When making a survey in the shapez 2 discord about the stacking mechanics, this is what we got out of 927 votes:

A) 31%: I have completed level 20 in shapez 1, and figured the solution on my own
B) 51% I have completed level 20 in shapez 1, but I looked up the solution fully or partially
C) 3% I stopped at level 20
D) 15% I stopped before level 20

Seeing that only 18% stopped at level 20 or before - it shows that this is really represents the core audience of shapez, having played the game at least for 10 hours +.

And yet, out of the 82% who completed level 20, effectively 62% had to look up the solution on the internet!

This showed us that the mechanic definitely needs a change, and this is what we did in Shapez 2.

[h2]Stacking in Shapez 2[/h2]

Our goal for Shapez 2 was, besides of making all buildings open, making the game more accessible. This also includes making all mechanics feel like a challenge, but not like a bug, and thus they have to be intuitive.

I'll simply show the exact same setup from above, but this time in shapez 2. (PS: There are alpha builds available in the discord, if you want to try it yourself!)

Again, if you combine 2 halves, it looks like this:



If you stack 2 shapes that have overlapping parts, it looks like this:



If you stack 2 shapes that only partially overlap, it looks like this:



So far so good - but what happens if you now try to cut the overhang?



As you can see, there is now a little animation showing how the overhang is falling down and resizing to its original size.

This also applies if you try to build a floating shape:



As you can see - the overhang now falls down as well!

This means that floating shapes, which are not connected to any adjacent shape, are not possible in Shapez 2 - are they?

Let me introduce you the new pin mechanic!

[h2]Pin Pushers[/h2]

To allow to produce floating shapes in shapez 2, we wanted a mechanic that makes more sense and also looks "reasonable" with the new 3D environment - having parts just float in the air would look weird and inconsistent.

Thus, we are introducing a new mechanic - the pin pusher.



It introduces a new "shape part" type (Short code: "P-"), that is a little different compared to the other shape parts. It effectively removes a whole quadrant and replaces it with a single pin.

Utilizing the pin, you can create floating shapes again:



This makes whole process a lot more intuitive. And you can produce some pretty .. interesting shapes! Notice how the right shape is actually the "a" from our new logo - a shape you can only produce in Shapez 2!



[h2]The algorithm[/h2]

The shape stacking logic has been created completely from scratch in Shapez 2. It now does an actual, physics based simulation of the shape (which is of course cached, so it's very efficient).

The first step is identifying "groups" within a shape. 2 parts of a shape count connected if:

- They are on the same layer
- They are adjacent quadrants (i.e. top right and bottom left wouldn't connect)
- Both are a "full" shape - that means, not a pin

A group is connected physically, so it means that when it falls down, all parts fall down by the same amount.

After identifying the groups, we run our "physics" simulation which basically applies gravity to all groups, until the shape is not changing anymore.

This might sound rather complex at first, but the behaviour is actually a lot more intuitive if you try out!

PS: Again, there are alpha builds available in the discord, if you want to try it yourself!

PPS: If you are interested in the exact details - you can find the C# Source here! We are always happy to get suggestions on the code, just like in shapez 1.

[h2]Further mechanics[/h2]

The floating shapes mechanic was a beloved mechanic from a lot of veteran shapez 1 players, and we are very well aware that the pin pusher mechanic simplifies the process quite a bit. Especially for those who love (hard) puzzles, there is now a gap.

However, don't worry - this is why we are introducing additional shape mechanics as well, such as crystals!

Be sure to follow the Store Page to get notified about new devlogs covering those mechanics!



PS: Did you notice all GIFs loop seamlessly? This was actually a lot of work! If you like the devlogs, let us know in the comments so we know it's appreciated :)

Have a nice weekend!
Tobias


[h2]Wishlist & Follow Shapez 2[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/

Hey everyone again!

The response to the latest devlog was super positive, so I thought I'd try to give you more regular updates now! This devlog is covering the topic of cutters, rotationally dependent shapes and much more. Enjoy the read!



[h3]How it started[/h3]

Cutters have often caused confusing in shapez 1 already. Here's a quick reminder how they work:



Basically the right side of the cutter always outputs the right half of the shape, no matter the orientation.
There is actually a good reason to not just cut the shape in half like a wedge on a belt: It would break blueprints.

Imagine having a blueprint with cutters and rotating it - the blueprint would now work differently, being effectively useless.

However, we felt that this is still a suboptimal solution, since there were frequent "bug" reports of the cutter not working, which was due to a misunderstanding how it works.

For shapez 2, we wanted to revisit this mechanic, and here's what we ran into:

[h3]Making the cutter 'open'[/h3]

As mentioned in the previous devlog, one step to make the cutter more obvious was to make it fully animated:



However .. Besides of the animation & mesh being work in progress, I'm not sure this makes it any better at all to be honest. While the process is more visible - it's still very hard to determine how the cutter will cut.

[h3]Camera Rotation / North indicator [/h3]

Another issue is - while the camera rotation in shapez 1 was fixed, you can fully rotate the camera in shapez 2. In order to determine how a cutter will cut, you now also have to factor in the camera rotation. For example, if you revisit the gif from above - are you wondering why the cutter is putting the right side on the left belt?

This is actually because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees - the cutter is actually facing downwards.
To better show in which direction the camera is currently facing, we added a small compass:



As well as a small indicator (WIP!) on the shape:



[h3]Belt Relative Rotation[/h3]

At some point, there was the suggestion for belt relative rotations. What does this mean?
Basically, right now, all shapes always point upwards. This means that the cutter also always has to cut from top to bottom.

If the north of the shape would now be aligned instead towards the direction of the belt, the cutter could always cut in that direction, because even if you rotate the cutter, you'd get the same result.



While this would partially solve the cutter issue - it now introduces a whole bunch of other issues.
For example, as you can see in the gif, it's now extremely hard to predict how the stacker will combine the shapes, because they rotate on every belt corner. Which is, after quite an extensive discussion on the shapez 2 discord, we decided against it.

[h3]Rotation for Research Goals[/h3]

Another issue we ran into: In which direction would you actually have to deliver the shape into the hub?
In shapez 1, the shape had to be rotated in the correct direction in order to be accepted.

However, can you spot the issue on this screenshot?



Because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees, it looks like you would be delivering the shape in the correct rotation, while in fact you are delivering a shape that is flipped.

This lead to a lot of confusion - and even bug reports like "HUB is not accepting shapes".

To avoid this, we simply now allow the shape to be delivered in any rotation into the hub (However - if you are looking for a more hardcore experience, we are considering to add an achievement to deliver all shapes in the correct orientation! And probably also an option in the game creation settings, although probably not on the initial release).

PS: Did I already mention the artists are currently reworking the hub? Follow the shapez 2 store page to receive future updates!



[h3]Operation Previews[/h3]

Another improvement we made to make using cutters (and other buildings) a little easier: Whenever you are about to place a building, it shows you the predicted output:



[h3]Simplifying the onboarding / "Light" Cutter[/h3]

We've been really trying a lot to make the cutter easier to understand, however even with all the improvements, the cutter can be hard to understand.

Because the cutter is the very first processing building you unlock, we felt that it can quickly overwhelm new players.

Thus, we came up with a solution - A "light" cutter which only outputs one half of the shape, and trashes the other side. This avoids the whole directional conflict, has a much simpler animation, and is easier to understand:

(The mesh is a placeholder)


Later in the game, you can then unlock the full cutter as an additional unlock, effectively "flattening" the difficulty curve a bit, while you can still choose to rush it.

And the great thing is, the light cutter still has its use case after unlocking the full cutter: If you only need one half of the shape, it's more efficient (space & throughput) to use the light cutter.

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I hope you enjoyed the read, and stay tuned for the next devlog, where we will cover the new stacking mechanic in Shapez 2!

~Tobias