uFactory News

Hi everyone! In the last dev log, I talked briefly about building the game's editors into the game itself. As it turns out, this was a big mistake.

The goal was to take the old editors, built on the ancient WinForms framework, and modernize them and make them multiplatform. Unfortunately, game engines are not ideal for such intricate and data-driven work. uFactory's data structures are just too complex and deeply nested to build a proper editor in that system. So, I needed to find a new framework.

Enter Avalonia. It's a modern cross-platform framework for data-driven user interfaces. I was able to quickly learn how to use it and start prototyping a new editor for uFactory around the end of last November. Today, I can announce that work has finished.

Enter: The uFactory Assembler


uFactory Assembler is a full-featured editor for uFactory, allowing for development of new content on Windows, Mac, and Linux as fast as is possible for a game this complex. This new tool will allow future updates to be pushed out faster and content to arrive sooner. This was a major hurdle that has been holding back development for the past few months and now it is cleared.

uFactory Assembler will ship with the next released version of uFactory, to make it easier for anyone to create new mods!

Hi folks! Progress continues on uFactory. Translations are slowly worming their way throughout the code base and controller-compatibility is being checked everywhere.

However, one other big thing being worked on behind-the-scenes is improving the tooling. The current editors are clunky, to say the least, and having them separate from the actual game often makes it difficult to gauge how the changes you're making affect the gameplay.

So, the best way I could think of to fix this is to build the editors into the game itself. This has a couple added benefits:

• Easier for modders (and me!) to make new content
  
• Since the game is cross-platform, the editors will be too!
  

So, the first editor I decided to port was a scenario editor. However, I realized early on that the scenario editor is basically just a Sandbox Mode with a little bit of extra metadata and an export function. So, this is the long-winded way of saying that the next version of uFactory will finally have the long-awaited Sandbox Mode where you can build out your factory's structure as you place your machines and continue to expand that factory until your CPU melts down! (Did I mention that performance will be a major theme of the next update? But let's get this one out the door first.)


(ignore the flashes of rainbow floors, that's just a testing remnant of another feature)

Hi folks! Sorry for the lateness this month. Life intervened. It's been a busy few weeks, but progress continues, slowly but surely, on uFactory!

Unfortunately, the release date for this latest update was missed, but it's far from dead; just a bit more complicated than anticipated.

Here's some signs of life, though!

For one, the uFactory user translation website has been re-launched! From there, you can track the status of translation into other languages and contribute your own translations to the game!

As it stands, using uFactory with a gamepad is about 70-80% done and hooking up localization is about 40-50% done. Unfortunately, these tasks are just the kind of thing that requires tedious and thorough work, so it's dragging on a bit, but it will get done, and to the high standards of quality expected for uFactory!

(Also, just as a side note, I'm experimenting with having in-game editors for commodities, machines, and levels, allowing users to much more easily create and test mod content. More info to come...)

Hi everyone! Progress continues on the 2.2 update for uFactory!

The big feature for this next update is Platform Support:

• uFactory is now running smoothly as a native app on Linux!
  
• Work on the Mac version is still ongoing
  
• uFactory runs smoothly on Steam Deck too, but the controls were lacking...
  

...which bring me to my next point. A new surprise feature! uFactory 2.2 will include Full Gamepad Support! Want to sit back in your couch and play with an Xbox controller? Well, soon you can!
This controller support will make the game much more enjoyable on Steam Deck as well.

The goal is still to have this update released by August 1st, 2024!

After 2.2, we'll be very close to feature parity with the old Unity version of uFactory, so that after that, you can expect to start seeing some brand new features and content!

As always, if you want to keep up with the development progress, check the Live Development Roadmap or join our Discord Server.

Thanks again for supporting uFactory! Expect some new content in the next couple weeks!

Hi everyone! 2.1.5 has officially launched! The next version, 2.2 is now in-progress.

What will it contain? A lot of cool stuff!

• Platform Support! This is the big one. The goal is to begin fully supporting Linux, Mac, and Steam Deck for uFactory!
  
• Language/Translation support. Godot is famously good at this, so hopefully it will be an easy integration!
  
• Searchable Help. A universal search bar for materials, machines, and production processes.
  
• Interface improvements, like the pie chart showing machine status over time.
  

This update will also include a two new glassware levels and two other new unannounced levels!

The goal is to have this update released by August 1st, 2024! (If multiplatform proves easier, it could come sooner, though. There's a lot of padding in there for troubleshooting.)

After 2.2, we'll be very close to feature parity with the old Unity version of uFactory, so that after that, you can expect to start seeing some brand new features and content!

As always, if you want to keep up with the development progress, check the Live Development Roadmap or join our Discord Server.

Thanks again for supporting uFactory! Expect some new content in the next couple weeks!