shapez 2 News

Hey everyone!

We're still working on the first major update for shapez 2, Update 0.1.0. While development is going ahead just fine, we're not quite ready to show what exactly we're working on. Though if you haven't already, be sure to check out the devlog about the new game mode planned for this update:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2162800/view/4520017657931497493

Today, Max will take you through the process of the Space Belt redesign of Update 0.0.9. Space Belts became quite a visual highlight in shapez 2, so let's have a look at how the new design came to be!

[h2]News[/h2]

[h3]QA Hiring status[/h3]

Last year we started looking for someone working in Quality Assurance / Game Testing to help us out with processing all your feedback and getting that feedback into the game. Some of you reading this may also have applied!

This process is still ongoing and faced a bit of a delay. We're aiming to have the new QA start sometime in February, so please bear with us and have a bit of patience when reporting a bug or giving us feedback in the Steam forums.

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[h2]Devlog 028[/h2]

As a concept artist, you always need to decide between creating something cool and creating something cool that also actually works. For shapez 2, it's almost always the latter.

Space Belts were one of the most common topics in the feedback we got. They did not clearly communicate their functionality and didn't show what was being carried on the belt. One of the biggest problems was that it was unclear Space Belts had different layers and shapes also needed to be retrieved on the layer they were supplied at. This created a lot of bug reports by people who couldn't unload their belts, while attempting to do so on the wrong layer.

Old Space Belts

New Space Belts

For an artist, it's usually easier to focus on creating something that looks visually appealing. When it comes to designing something that is both functional and aesthetically striking however, it becomes significantly more challenging. It needs to work, make sense, look good and fit the shapez 2 identity. Considering the feedback we got, visual clarity was top priority with the redesign.

[h2]Getting started[/h2]

A project like this is started with a lot of discussion and brainstorming. The game design team plays a crucial role here, making sure the functionality is clearly defined from the outset. This ensures I know exactly what I shouldn’t overload with visual noise and what elements need to immediately catch your eye.

One of the first tests clearly created too much visual noise

Once the functional elements are locked in, it's all about research. You need to explore a variety of genres, gather inspiration from diverse designs and let fresh ideas flow into your mind while trying to stay true to the unique style of the game. Only when all that groundwork is done you can finally pick up the digital brush and start painting; it's time for the fun part!

[h2]Creating a concept[/h2]

After narrowing down the numerous sketches to just a few and refining them, it was time for a sync with the development department. Together, we carefully reviewed the designs and brainstormed the key challenges the new system needed to address. For example, how the shapes would change lanes without intersecting or creating excessive visual clutter when crossing paths, and how to ensure smooth transitions while maintaining clarity.

Early Concept Art

Through collaboration, we were able to find a solution that not only met all of our functional requirements but was also something the development team could easily implement with code. The result was a design that balanced both aesthetic appeal and technical feasibility.



The art team created a mock up to give the community a glimpse of how the space belts might look in-game once completed. The goal was to gather player feedback before committing to further work on the design.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and after considering some of the suggestions from the community, we moved forward with refining the concepts and finalizing the design.

Detailed concept for a straight segment of the Space belts

One might think that was the end of the concept art part; and you'd be wrong. Space Belts are more than just straight lines: they can twist, turn, merge, split and even extend under platforms. You likely already know where this is going, but each of these variations require its own unique asset, attached with specific designs and challenges.

[h2]From Sketches to Updates[/h2]

With a new art workflow – essentially how we handle the process of turning a sketch into the final 3D mesh – we gradually developed every variant over time. This process is far from linear and involves constant collaboration and discussions between 2D/Art Director and 3D Modelling. Some parts often needed adjustments, and occasionally we overlooked certain edge cases (trust me, we definitely did). One example: The tunnel had no mesh solution when placed without being connected to anything. It looked broken and a new concept needed to be done.



Space Belts are an incredibly complex system. In fact, we went through countless iterations on even the smallest components, only to end up discarding many of them later.



As you can see, being a concept artist in a small company of just nine people isn’t all about painting pretty pictures. It’s also about using your brainpower to solve problems, and maybe preserving a bit of your sanity along the way. Just a bit, though.

In the end, the result turned out quite promising. Personally, I believe it enhanced both aspects: visual and functionality. It clearly shows what it's doing and how it would realistically work if we weren't building sci-fi space factories. You can now understand the Space Belt at a glance! This alone makes me happy, but seeing the positive response from the community takes it to another level – it’s incredibly rewarding as an artist.

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I hope this brief glimpse gave you some interesting insights into how we approach the art process in our company.

~ Max & the shapez 2 Team

[h3]Join the community:[/h3]

Discord Reddit Suggestions Portal X / Twitter YouTube

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

Hello everyone!

Update 0.0.9 is now available, which introduces a lot of the improvements and changes we mentioned in the past couple months! Most of you will see some major performance improvements, especially if the reason for poor performance was the game only using a single core of your many-core AMD processor.

Our focus now shifts to the first major update of shapez 2: Update 0.1.0, set for early 2025. While 0.0.9 already includes a fair amount of the feedback you gave us, we have big plans for 0.1.0. This will be an update you'll want to come back for!

If Update 0.0.9 doesn't download automatically, be sure to restart Steam. It should show '0.0.9-rc6' in the lower right of the main menu.

[h2]Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Highlights[/h3]

• Multithreading support: Support for multi-threaded simulation (enabled by default) for up to 40x improved simulation performance depending on hardware. For more information on this topic, check out our previous devlog:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2162800/view/4469355336712585838

• New Space Belt visuals: Reworked Space Belt visuals to more clearly show the layers of Space Belts and what shapes are transported on which layer. Space Pipes get the same visuals but with a cyan hue as a placeholder; their proper visuals are still being worked on.

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Wires signals are now stable, even when off-screen
  
• Added the Statistics Panel, which shows delivery statistics and structure counts

• Added Shape Multiplier Upgrades, allowing you to spend excess Research Points to multiply the delivery of a shape
  
  • For example, delivering a shape would count as delivering 2 of that specific shape towards your goal. This is a very late-game option mostly for Operator levels
• New Platforms: 1x3 and 2x3 platforms (replacing T- L- and Cross platforms)
  
  • Old platforms will continue to work and can be copy/pasted, but are no longer in the toolbar. (Edit: They will be back in the toolbar for Update 1)

• Automatic completion of random operator levels
  
• Fluid miner extensions are now unlocked by default
  
• Improved autosave speed by utilizing multiple cores.
  
• Labels now support special characters, numbers and multi-line text
  
  • Some characters may not be fully supported yet, so be sure to poke us with suggestions!

[h3]Game Design[/h3]

• Added space belts + pipes to the train toolbar

• Added hotkey (default 'N') to reset the camera to point North again

[h3]Visual[/h3]

• Improved game creation flow to highlight the alternative game modes (hexagonal / hard / insane)

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• Fixed various simulation precision issues (esp. off-screen)
  
• Fixed random operator level shape generation
  
• Fixed comparison gate not being mirrorable
  
• Fixed blueprint icon being overridden with save-as
  
• Fixed blueprint toolbar configuration not synced via steam cloud
  
• Fixed ability to create infinite paint by mixing tertiary/secondary with primary colors
  
  • Edit: This fix changed some color mixing recipes. Certain 0.0.8 color mixing setups may output a different color in 0.0.9
• Fixed various number formatting issues
  
• Fixed performance issues when using trashes as decorations
  
• Fixed Intel Arc(TM) GPUs being detected as low-end
  
• Fixed escape sequences breaking blueprint names
  
• Fixed empty markers showing broken tooltip
  
• Fixed rail twisters breaking train line preview
  
• Fixed train (un)loaders not showing progress on lower graphics quality
  
• Fixed debug.export-game-data not working
  
• Fixed wire simulation not behaving as expected
  
• Fixed belt filters dropping items when switching signals quickly
  
• Fixed automatic tunnel placement not working as expected with train stops
  
• Fixed various visual issues
  
• Fixed rail twisters breaking train line indicators
  
• Lots of other minor bug fixes and improvements!

[h3]Known issue[/h3]

• Enabling "Parallel Rendering" in the game settings can significantly boost the performance even further, but some players reported encountering some stuttering, so it's disabled by default.

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[h3]Join the community:[/h3]
Discord Reddit Suggestions Portal X / Twitter YouTube

Hey everyone!

We got a lot of feedback on the performance on of shapez 2 since the Early Access launch. There are a couple of areas where significant improvements could be made. A portion of these – including multithreading – will arrive with Update 0.0.9, which is set to go live after a short period on the experimental branch. If you're interesting in being part of this process, be sure to join our Discord to try it right now!

For today, Nicko will walk you through how the simulation in shapez 2 currently works and some of the improvements we're working on! It's quite a technical blog, but hopefully the images will help you visualize everything. But first, some news!

[h2]News[/h2]

[h3]Steam Awards[/h3]



The Autumn Sale brought along the annual Steam Awards! Be sure to vote for your favorite games from this year, though we'd like to recommend shapez 2 for no particular reason.

You can vote for shapez 2 as many times as you want, in any category besides Labor of Love. The Sit Back and Relax reward is a great fit, alongside Game of the Year of course!

[h3]→ Cast your votes here! ←[/h3]

[h3]Bundle Sale[/h3]



We've partnered up with Youthcat Studio and Gamirror Games to bring you the Automation Pipeline Master bundle, giving you a 10% discount on shapez 2 and Dyson Sphere Program! Whether you already own one of the games or still have both of them on your wishlist, you can expand your library and try two different takes on factory building in space.

Keep in mind, the 10% bundle discount stacks with any other discounts! During the Autumn Sale, shapez 2 is 25% off, Dyson Sphere Program is 20% off and you get an additional 10% off through the bundle, marking the lowest price yet for both games.

The bundle is available until December 4th, 2024!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46765/Automation_Pipeline_Master/

[h3]Disclaimer[/h3]

As per usual, everything in this devlog is subject to change and things may end up working out differently than expected!

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[h2]Devlog 027[/h2]

In shapez 2, the core gameplay is quite simple: The player places a building and then it starts working. However, quite some effort is necessary to make all the buildings that are placed work together as the player expects.

Besides the pure functionality of a factory, performance is a key element for shapez 2. The goal has always been to enable the player to build massive factories, in an enjoyable way. From a technical point of view, this means that shapez 2 must be capable of simulation millions of buildings while maintaining a stable framerate and must react fluently when the players make changes to their factories.

We will first have a look at the state of development when the shapez 2 Demo was released, then the state of development of the current shapez 2 Early Access version, and finally the improvements with the upcoming 0.0.9 and 0.1.0 release. Let’s go!

[h2]Past[/h2]

During the development of the shapez 2 Demo, we focused on precise functionality and a sustainable way to create new buildings quickly. This time was not about scale, but to implement a solid basis which we can easily improve later.

[h3]Basics[/h3]

All buildings are assembled from common components like belts, pipes, and fluid containers. In addition, most buildings also have some custom simulation logic.

For example, the Rotator consists of three successive belt lanes. The input lane on the left and the output lane on the right are visualized as conveyors and will just move shapes forward. The processing lane at the center is visualized as a circle. It has a length of zero and does not move the shape. Instead, it contains the custom simulation logic that performs the rotation of the shape.



[h3]Connections[/h3]

Each building also defines input and output connectors. For example, the entry to the Rotator’s first belt lane is defined as its input connector, and the exit of its last belt lane is defined as its output connector.



Whenever a building is placed, we check if adjacent buildings have compatible connectors at the same edge. If we find a compatible connector, we connect the two buildings.



In the example, the incoming Conveyor on the left will hand over shapes to the Rotator, as soon as they reach the end of the conveyor’s belt lane. The Rotator will hand over shapes to the outgoing Conveyor when they reach the end of the Rotator’s output belt lane.

[h3]Update Order[/h3]

When the simulation is updated, it will move forward all shapes on any belt lanes in the factory. To move a shape forward, there must be enough space in front. However, on a full belt, there is no logical space between the shapes, even though we render the shapes with a gap for visual clarity.



In the example, you see five shapes and their respective, logical size. None of the shapes could be moved forward because there no space in front of them.

To be able to move the shapes forward anyway, we must update the buildings and their components in the right order. Therefore we start updating at the end and finish updating at the start of a shape’s path. This usually means that we move the shapes at the entrance to the Vortex first and the shapes at the Extractors last.

For instance, the Conveyor at Rotator’s output is updated before the Rotator. The Rotator then updates its output, processing, and input lanes - in this order. Finally, the Conveyor at the Rotator’s input is updated after the Rotator.



With these requirements, we can compute an optimal update order for any setup of buildings.



If you're interested in learning more about our early optimization efforts, be sure to check out Devlog 011!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/2162800/announcements/detail/3710460746137286715

[h2]Present[/h2]

During the development of the shapes 2 Early Access version we focused on scale. We had to improve the performance of a running factory and improve the performance when players make changes to their factory. We also had to find solutions for some special requirements.

At the release of the shapez 2 Demo, controlling the Belt Launchers and Belt Catchers was one of the biggest issues. Unlike the other buildings, they had to behave differently depending on the 'constellation' – the relative positioning of the buildings. Binding the custom simulation logic directly to a building did not work out well in these cases.

[h3]Pattern Matching[/h3]

For the Early Access, we introduced pattern matching to decide which simulation logic is applied to each building. This means, that whenever a building is placed, we can first check the building’s surroundings and then decide on one of multiple available custom simulation logic.

We can also aggregate multiple buildings into a single simulation logic. This grants precise control of building behaviors in different constellations and opportunities for performance optimizations.

As an example, a Belt Launcher without a corresponding Belt Catcher results in a simulation logic that blocks incoming shapes. A Belt catcher without a corresponding Belt Launcher results in a simulation logic that doesn’t do anything. Only a Belt Launcher with a matching Belt Catcher results in a single simulation logic for both buildings together, capable of throwing shapes from one building to the other.



We can also make use of pattern matching to improve performance. For example, we now aggregate all directly connected Conveyors into a single simulation logic. This reduces the required computations dramatically.



[h3]Update Graph[/h3]

Whenever buildings are added or removed, the update order has to be recomputed. This is a very expensive process. So we searched for a way to reduce this effort.

For Early Access, we no longer compute the update order directly. Instead, we maintain a directed graph of simulation logic that determines the update order. This is much faster, as we usually only need to attach or detach a single node to the graph. More expensive computations are necessary only when the player makes big changes to the graph, like placing a big blueprint.



In the example, you can see how the connections between the simulation logic of of all placed buildings create a graph.

[h3]Clusters[/h3]

Another benefit of a graph is that we can identify isolated subgraphs. These are parts of the graph that are not connected to other parts of the graph.



In the example, you can see that the Update Graph consists of three isolated subgraphs (blue, red, and green). To visualize a subgraph while playing, select a building and press the “Select Connected” hotkey “O”.

For shapez 2, we move these subgraphs into structures we call clusters. We can benefit from these Clusters in multiple ways.

First, even if we need to recompute an Update Order completely, we only need to do it for one cluster ignoring all other clusters. This especially improves the flow of the game when you place bigger blueprints. We can now also define an individual update behavior for each single cluster.

Update Frequency

Before introducing the clusters, we updated each simulation logic in every frame.



With the introduction of clusters, we don’t do this anymore. Clusters that are far away receive an update only every few frames. And clusters that are out of view are updated only three times per second.



During the endgame of shapez 2, players currently easily place up to 500.000 buildings in their factories, resulting in several thousand clusters. Only the handful of buildings in view must be updated every frame, allowing the Early Access version to support about 20 times bigger factories than in the Demo version.

[h2]Future[/h2]

Heading towards shapez 2 Update 1, we will further improve the performance of the game to finally support truly massive factories. The 0.0.9 release – set to come very soon – will give you a taste of the future scale of shapez 2. Here are some of the things included in the update:

In the general settings menu, you will find two additional settings in the simulation section that enable new performance features.



[h3]Simulation Threads[/h3]

Clusters don’t interfere with other clusters during their update. This means we can make use of all available CPU cores and update multiple clusters at the same time.



In the example above, you can see how using a second core already improves the simulation performance by 100%. Depending on your hardware and the number of other processes running on your computer while playing shapez 2, this can speed up the simulation update by up to 2000%. AMD CPUs especially should see big improvements, as they tend to have a lot of cores. Again, join our Discord if you'd like to try this update earlier ;)

[h3]Parallel Rendering[/h3]

During the game’s update loop, we need to do several things. By far the most expensive are the simulation update and the rendering.



Already during the development of the shapez 2 Demo, we decoupled the actual rendering from the gathering of all the information for the rendering. Therefore, the rendering is already decoupled from the simulation update. This made it a relatively small step to do the simulation update in parallel to the rendering. Depending on your hardware setup, this may double your performance as well.



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We hope you enjoyed this devlog and maybe even learned something new! Soon, some of these changes will go live and hopefully give you a significant boost in performance. See you then!

~ Nicko & the shapez 2 Team

[h3]Join the community:[/h3]

Discord Reddit Suggestions Portal X / Twitter YouTube

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

Done building your space factory and looking to harness the power of the stars? Need a break from spoiling resources? Well, we may have a deal for you!

We've partnered up with Youthcat Studio and Gamirror Games to bring you the Automation Pipeline Master bundle, giving you a 10% discount on shapez 2 and Dyson Sphere Program! Whether you already own one of the games or still have both of them on your wishlist, you can expand your library and try two different takes on factory building in space.

Keep in mind, the 10% bundle discount stacks with any other discounts! During the Autumn Sale, shapez 2 is 25% off, Dyson Sphere Program is 20% off and you get an additional 10% off through the bundle, marking the lowest price yet for both games.

[h3]Find the bundle here:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46765/Automation_Pipeline_Master/


[h3]About Dyson Sphere Program[/h3]

Dyson Sphere Program is an open world automation game about expanding your factory across the universe! Start with a humble production plant on a single planet, expand to other planets with unique ecosystems and harness the power of your local star with a massive Dyson Sphere of your own design. Explore the universe in search of rare resources and power everything with even more potent stars!

However, you're not alone: the Dark Fog does not appreciate you expanding across "their" domain and will do everything possible to get rid of you.

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[h3]Join the community:[/h3]

Discord Reddit Suggestions Portal X / Twitter YouTube