v0.4 Release Devlog

Hi everyone! We know it's been a while since the last update, but we've been hard at work fixing bugs you've reported and fundamentally changing the way the game works to provide a more balanced, intuitive, and fun experience.

The core change has been the removal of time limits on all levels. With this comes a conversion from hard export limits to rate-based export limits. So now, you have to maintain a solid export rate, and holding production up to the level of some of the side objectives is mighty tricky. But there's plenty of incentive to try because...

We added a new online statistics feature. Now, (once enough players have beaten them to provide a baseline), you'll be able to see how well you stack up to other players in three categories: (1) overall score, (2) time taken, and (3) number of machines used. Can you do better than everyone else?

We've also rebalanced the entire economy of the game (if that sounds exhausting, you don't know the half of it. See the title of this update for more information). This will prevent the infamous aluminum get-rich-quick scheme that some players used to max out the license plate scenario.

Then, there's the new content! We released two new scenarios: (1) The Pigmentation Station. In this scenario, you'll need to make the paint used in so many other scenarios. You'll also have to manufacture the can to put it in, and seal it up for export. (2) Back to School II. If you thought making pencils was tricky, try making the cardboard box they come in, the erasers, the ferrules, the graphite leads, and even the glue to put them all together. In our biggest scenario yet, you're given only the rawest of materials to make a pencil empire.

On top of all that, we made some heavy revisions to the loan system. Without the time limits, we could make loans run longer and have lower payments. Also, when you can't afford your payment, it doesn't take it anyway and make you go negative anymore; instead, the interest will compound, and your monthly payments will increase moving forward. Make sure to pay off those loans!

Finally, we've fixed dozens of bugs reported by the community. We'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who posted in the Steam Discussions, in our Discord channel, and through the in-game feedback tool (F8). We've replied to most of you to let you know that the bugs you've reported have been fixed.

On a related note, for all players who haven't already, we'd really appreciate it if you would take the time to write a Steam Review for uFactory. Good or bad, we'd love to hear what you think, what you like, what you don't like, where you think we could improve; and more reviews mean more visibility for a fledgling indie studio with zero marketing budget. The more people see the game, the bigger our community grows, the faster we can pump out new content for everyone! So, another big thank you to everyone who has already written a review!

We'd like to thank everyone for supporting our little indie factory game. We've still got a lot of cool stuff coming up, and we're hoping to release smaller, more frequent updates moving forward, but it's your enjoyment and passion for the game that make it worth developing. So, thank you to everyone who bought and played uFactory, our first ever commercial game.

Also, just a heads-up: The next major content update will come with a price increase. So, get it now while it's still cheap!

And, one final note... we have a Twitter poll up about which area to focus on for the next big update... weigh in if you're interested:
https://twitter.com/uFactoryGame/status/1200607245240864769?s=20