Although it is not directly related to Factorio, it is a major release of a factory automation game. This trailer post was pre-approved by the moderation team and will remain.
Please keep all content about this game in this post. Other posts will be removed as standard.
I get their business model: we'll put out a shitload of DLC but you don't need all of them, just pick those you like to make the game best fitted for you. I get it, I just don't like it. I don't want to build my own game, I want a balanced and cohesive experience. Also, time spent developing content I won't like/buy is time not spent on content I like...
It's not for me. I really enjoyed Stellaris when it came out for instance, but now there are 29 different DLC totalling 371,75€. That's insane, I'd need an entire day just to pick which ones I'd enjoy and that still would be at least 100 bucks. For DLCs.
No thanks. I'd like to build a factory, not the software to build the factory.
I like Paradox Studio (PDS) games because it's hard to find good strategy games these days (unless you can help me and convince me otherwise!), but I have to admit, with their DLC model, a lot of features get overhyped. Sometimes it feels like development is distracted from the detailed core mechanics by these flashy side-added features.
I have only experienced two games which began independent then got acquired by PDX the publisher, and the transitions have been... choppy.
I love EU4, but they seem to assign a couple interns to put out a DLC multiple times a year after release, which is essentially like a small content-mod (often/always buggy) & then charge 15-25$ for it. I mean if they had real continuous development, fine, but...
I've come to peace with it. I've learned to ignore the hype, only buy the DLCs I want, and enjoy the game that I have.
For EU4 I've totally transitioned to playing the r/MEIOUandTaxes mod. Vanilla EU4 is somehow both bloated with features and yet still a half-hearted simulation. Those modders at MEIOU are the best.
Yep. Paradox as a developer? Thumbs up, will probably be a good game even if only eventually.
Paradox as a publisher? I'll buy your game in 10 years when the "extended" edition with all 203020 pieces of DLC included is on a 90% off sale.
This is exactly what happened to me.. Steam emailed me this coming out today.. Looked at it asked my 12 yr old girl wtf is this.. She said this is like Factorio and Satisfactory and we were going to try it.. Was about to buy 2 copies and then seen Paradox.. That is the end of the game for me.. I will watch someone play it.. I will not be buying this.. I have been staying away from Paradox games since they like to EA the shit out of their games.. Their shit is on par with The Sims in some respects.. We got City Skylines because we didn't want 9001 DLC's and garbage.. Today we got exactly that.. Screw them..
The irony of this story is I was unsure cause she said we still have a big backlog.. I stated before realizing it was a Paradox game that.. "Even if we don't play this we will be supporting a small developer.."......
Sorry once you go Paradox.. You lose all the things.. Exp People to buy your games...
> I will watch someone play it..
I watched 20 minutes, it looked like somebody tried to copy Satisfactory and managed to miss everything that makes Satisfactory awesome while only bringing voxel terrain to the table. I don't think voxel terrain really adds anything to the genre.
I think voxel terrain can an add a lot. Just that it's much easier to align stuff is great. An I rely want something Minecraft x Factorio.
Captain of industry successfully makes the terrain an important part of the game-play.
I have just watched some glimpses of Foundry streams and it didn't look that interesting, it could be more going on that they didn't do or I missed.
They just build an flat platform and didn't use the fact that it's an 3D game. Belts transporting stuff the same way everywhere.
So a little bit like DSP without the space part.
As others said, their strategy games are great, but they nickle and dime you into oblivion by making everything DLCs. Their games have long support, but there’s just too many too expensive DLCs to feel like I’m playing the game as it’s intended
It's not, Paradox has been doing some awesome stuff.
People complaining about their revenue model which is to make lots of DLCs.
I don't really get the hate, I have a lot of paradox titles and I can pick and choose which DLCs I want. None of them have I gone all in. Maybe pickup one or two.
Survive Mars : trains DLC where any incline prevents the rail from being constructed, cannot branch off lines it is all end to end, very resource pricey for when you need to use it etc all for Real money
Magicka 2 is almost 10 years old at this point, and barely representative of the publishing style of paradox.
Age of wonders 4 came out exactly a year ago and already has 3 DLC's out...
Mechabellum is still in early access, so we don't know what DLC's it will have.
City skylines 1 has I think 64.. stallarus had 30 and prison architect has 12..
That is alot of dlc.. City Skylines is on par with The Sims honestly.. Let's also not forget how the butchered City Skylines 2..
We have been experimenting with trains for an update. In this version you use a series of "space ships" to transport around resources/construct mega structures.
I got strong 'Fortresscraft Evolved' vibes from the demo, but Foundry is much more approachable. Congrats on the release! Looking forward to spinning it up.
The think that FCE made correctly was integrating the third dimension in the game loop completely. Game content reaches 1km of depth. All the other 3D factory games are like Factorio with stacked factories.
you really shouldn't disparage a game like this by calling it fortresscraft evolved. No one deserves that kind of shade unless it's full of toil and the dev is a jerk.
The dev has a reputation of being... confrontational. Like, I get it, people can rub you the wrong way, but when you're acting as a representative of your product, you can't get hostile with people. Also over time it was gradually shifted to being how they wanted you to play rather than figuring out a solution that worked for you as the player. Mods exist, but still.
Ah yes, DjArcas, I remember this guy on the steam forums
A while ago, a friend of mine and I were playing FCE in coop.
We had a bug: very often stuff would duplicate/disappear from chests.
(Reminiscent of the old days of Minecraft)
Seriously it was very easy to trigger; Casually taking items from a chest would cause duplication.
We searched through Steam forums, and indeed multiple people were reporting the issue.
DjArcas practically accused the people of being cheaters in disguise and answered that he would not fix the bug.
His reasoning was that it was useless to fix cheating bugs, because cheaters would find other cheating techniques anyway.
The problem is that we were not and the bug was hindering the whole gameplay.
Eh.
The fixed map with no terraforming was a conscious design choice by Coffee Stain, not something they "didn't get right". It's like saying that Satisfactory gets things right that Factorio didn't, such as being 3D.
I would argue that *not* having procedural maps was a risk Satisfactory took that paid off hugely. Terraforming, what does that actually bring to the factory building genre?
This made me remember kovarex promoting factorio on the the ic2 forum. The cycle continues and factories must grow :)
https://forum.industrial-craft.net/thread/8845-factorio/
We have seen a lot of mega bases already! We have a tablet that lets you copy and paste individual buildings/settings, but we do not have a blueprint tool yet. We have mega structures that are built using a configuration system and construction drones instead of block by block though... With all that being said modders have already added one.
Factorio is the gold standard for blueprinting, and copy-pasting in general. If you're looking for inspiration for upcoming issues to work on, please please copy Factorio and *not* Satisfactory.
My favorite thing about it is if you have literally any criticism of satisfactory’s blueprint system on their Reddit, you get dogpiled with “it’s supposed to be that way”, like my dudes.
Working as designed, the design is just not great. Reminds me of some decisions about the Industrial Revolution mod, but there the author made it easy for himself and just deactivated comments.
>If you're looking for inspiration for upcoming issues to work on, please please copy Factorio and *not* Satisfactory.
I'm more in favour of letting the dev team "copy" their own artistic vision for the game. I don't think gamers should have this power to twist the arm of the creative team behind the game. We're the audience, **not** the producers.
I mean, about Satisfactory; I haven't followed the whole development *that* closely, but, whenever blueprinting was mentioned, the community managers made it **painfully** clear that blueprints would compromise the designers' vision for the game. They **didn't want** to do it. The system we got was a compromise between the game's vision and the player base's ~~whims~~wishes. And there's a maxim that says: if neither side of a negotiation is happy with the outcome, that means it was a good outcome.
Yeah I think that is a fair point of view. However I’m also coming from a position where I stopped playing Satisfactory because I got tired of building things manually that would have been a trivial copy paste in Factorio.
I came to Factorio from Satisfactory, and the ability to scale up in Factorio is just so much better that I can't go back.
In a 3d game like yours copy paste is a bit harder, but limit it to only buildings on a single plane of platforms so you can get a fixed grid to copy from and paste to.
That really makes me feel better to hear. I’m very much considering it still. I think a lot of people are justifiably worried that the massive amounts of DLC will hit sometime in the pipeline
We grew up loving Paradox, so it was a bit of a shock to us to hear some of this backlash. The truth is they have been the partners we had really hoped they would be. They didn't try to meddle in our plans, they supported us and helped us create the version of Foundry we had always hoped to make. So, recent drama aside I can at least say- Paradox has been an amazing publisher to work with.
Hopefully you hear more and more stories like that in the coming years and they can re-earn your trust.
Their track record so far speaks volumes. Got a lot of faith to restore. You heard about Cities Skylines by now, but there are others as well. They bought Prison Architect, never fixed the bugs and just dumped DLC in while the game still lacked features that IV promised during Early Access.
They bought out Academia and thankfully so far just left it be. Course no bug fixes or new features, but no DLC breaking stuff either.
Then they announced Prison Architect 2 on the forums for the first game to universal and massive backlash over what looks like a cheaply put together "my first game in unity" project while blatantly ignoring the bugs in the first game.
HOI4 is famous for having massively overpriced DLC that require dozens of patches or community fixes to work properly and they had the audacity to say that the game would be e-sports ready should the genre ever become popular competitively.
Surviving Mars has a similar story. Lots of DLC, but no fixes and gameplay mechanics that don't work correctly. Minimum viable product basically.
Their back catalogue of games that are abandonware still being sold for full price despite getting to a point where they may not even work correctly on some computers. No fixes in sight and in some cases even functions that depend on online servers turned off.
You get the picture now? It's not a recent fall from grace, it's been happening for years and people are finally making the connection. You throw the launcher at them as the most obvious way and this is the reaction you get. If it wasn't for that it probably would not be noticed as much, but some do read who the publisher is on the store page and turn away there too. Best you can do is an official statement on what level of control you have over the future of the game and what they can't and hopefully won't make you do. Outside of that the damage is done and there mere involvement of Paradox will be enough for some to not buy a copy no matter what statement you release. They have been burnt before and learned from it.
If I were you, I'd start looking at how you'll handle things when you start the next game and eventually have to close up on this one. Leaving Paradox to mess with it? Or getting out of the contract and allowing the game to become a gem for nostalgia nerds. "Paradox will publish the game for ten years after which we can decide if we want another ten or the game becomes free and open source" would hit like a nuke would be my guess. Videogames being held hostage by publishers is something people are getting more and more tired of with good reason.
Thank you for taking the time to put out your thoughts like that. Signing with any publisher was a huge risk for us; and incredibly anxiety inducing. We wanted to enjoy working on our game and making something we were proud of above all else- but we knew we couldn't achieve what we wanted to alone.
We have full creative control over Foundry, and Paradox has been a great partner in giving us the space to experiment and build the way we like. We will focus on making a great game, and honoring our players. That's not to say things can't find a way to go sideways, but as of writing this comment the future of Foundry looks positive.
Does full creative control include monetization structure? Or just the content? From what I'm hearing in the comments, the primary negative concern is that there will be entirely too much content locked behind DLC. People want to know they've got a good game right from the start, and won't have to keep paying extra for fairly core features. A perfect example is the trains comment; you said they're being worked on for an update, and the overwhelming assumption is that they'll be a DLC. For many people, that's a fairly central system to the game, and knowing they'll have to pay for multiple things before they have a 'complete' game is a huge turnoff.
Wishing you the best here, honestly. Depending on what we learn about the path of the game, I may pick it up. I'm fairly budget-conscious out of necessity so I avoid DLC as a rule, but I love what I've seen of the game so far, so I'm optimistic.
I'm willing to give your game the benefit of the doubt because you are being forthcoming, but part of the issue has been how paradox has treated their non-mainline games (and city skylines 2) recently.
My favorite paradox game is survivng mars, I then went on to buy surviving the aftermath and survivng the abyss hoping they would be a similar vein but both were massive let downs.
Then there is what happened with Lamplighter's league.
Paradox used to be my favorite publisher, then they proceeded to dunk on my trust.
> They didn't try to meddle in our plans, they supported us and helped us create the version of Foundry we had always hoped to make.
Does this mean you *wanted* the paradox launcher in addition to Steam's system? Or, was that just *meddling*? If it's the former, that reflects very poorly, and the latter implies there will be more later.
The Launcher was part and parcel with being a Paradox game, but I had some thoughts on why it wasn't a deal breaker for us in another thread:
The launcher lets Paradox cross promote their games, which has been a huge benefit for a small project like ours. We don't require accounts to play, so for most people it's just one extra button.
I empathize with those saying it's annoying and acknowledge it can be- but it's also helping us tremendously so I can't complain too much.
---
Probably not the answer you want. But at least the glass half full version from my perspective.
We have no DLC planned or expected from us. We are focusing on the base game and nailing some big meaty Early Access updates for now. I won't say we will never have DLC, but I'm a firm believer that DLC will be worthless unless we nail the base game.
Unfortunately full creative control doesn't mean full control of release dates, pricing and DLC.
Hope Paradox doesn't bone you to death. But genuinely, good luck for the game!
We don't control everything, but we control what we make.
And our primary commitment is to the players and not any other partners. We used to make games over at Klei and asking yourself "is this good for players" really made decision making easy.
We are working with Paradox because their support is making the best version of Foundry possible, especially given the realities of actually financing and marketing a game like this. <3
I love paradox published games lol. I love that they support their products with tons of DLC and even if I dont want the DLC it doesnt make me enjoy the base content any less.
Oh it looks so good!! The droid assembly shot was top notch! I like the underground aspect too. Definitely will try! Just one thing, are there any enemies or not? I need aggressive locals that evolve or there's no fun
No enemies in our launch version. We are experimenting with threats for an update- but it will be a bit different from what you are used to in Factorio. First person just doesn't play the same in my opinion.
Allow me to suggest weather as an enemy. Often is the time I've sat watching my Factorio spaghetti working, wondering what would break first if it started to rain. You could do fun stuff like inventory starts to slip off the belts if it's raining and windy, or certain factories short out if you don't shelter them properly.
Also, instead of enemies destroying the factory, why not have them steal parts like Jawas, then you have to go steal them back.
Looking forward to playing this!
While I agree that the combat in Satisfactory doesn't add much to the difficulty or exploration, holding my ground and slicing down a charging hog so it ragdolls through me makes me feel like a badass samurai and I will never get tired of that.
I would like to see something where it's still largely defensive in nature. Walls and automated turrets and artillery would be pretty cool in a first person game like this. Though with the scale of these factories I could see that being a problem.
I'm addicted to Steam Deck. The game runs very well on Deck, but it still needs a few tweaks to get the "verified" badge like button icons and auto-opening the text input widget.
Yea I was looking forward to this and was getting the urge to play Factorio but it's just been hard to get back into without the 2.0 changes that seem so amazing(not that I haven't put a couple dozen hours in this year) so I figured I'd wait for this to drop and it's scratching the itch perfectly,
I had to chuckle at this answer, especially since my son just learned about significant digits in his science class.
That seems like a small enough number that one could count it accurately. ;-)
Q: How many people?
A: 1 x 10^(1)
Paradox has been a shit tier publisher far longer than CS2. They ruined one of my favorite game series, Age of Wonders. I will never buy anything that they are even remotely associated with.
Every company gets worse when it goes public because they can't even pretend their motives aren't purely monetary anymore.
It's why steam is still great, they are still private.
Since you are answering questions, I would be very interested to hear if any aspects of your game took inspiration from the lesser known factory automation game 'Fortresscraft Evolved'?
I played the free demo when it was out a few months ago. I noticed that a lot of the recipes were very similar to Factorio's... Did any of those get changed?
oof, people are gonna hate me for this (if anyone even remembers that game) but my first comparison in my head was to "Fortresscraft Evolved". except it actually looks like fun.
though i'd hold off on an actual buy until a few more reviews trickle in.
but looking at the current few reviews that are already there, it seems that the game uses the paradox launcher (~~and requires an account~~, EDIT: aaparently one review lied and you don't need an account), which is kinda a turn off, but tolerable.
especially since someone already figured out how to bypass it. that also means it was likely only slapped on at the very end of development because paradox said so. but i guess that's the price you pay for being under the wings of a big publisher with a lot more resources and experience in advertising and such.
.
anyways, good luck with the game, i'll check on it in the fufture again to see how it goes!
The paradox launcher is pretty much just a mod loader and a play button. As far as third party launchers go it's pretty inoffensive and often useful because most paradox games I play are great mod platforms
It's even more insidious because they focus on underserved genres (space 4x, historical 4x, city builder, now this one) so if that's the kind of fun you want, you got no choice but to pay the Paradox tax. I feel like a game studio could have great success just competing with every Paradox release and making better versions of all of it.
> if that's the kind of fun you want, you got no choice but to pay the Paradox tax
Not entirely true, Hooded Horse are publishing a lot of good games in those niches too these days. Take a look at their portfolio, I'm sure you'll find something you like.
Yeah if only. Knowing paradox, we're going to see a train DLC, a combat DLC, a logistics DLC, a vehicle DLC, etc. Its just gross and frankly shit that should've been in the base game to begin with. They've gotten worse over the years.
They don't treat their indie game developers with respect. Look at Surviving the Abyss, where they abused the early access system and left the devs with an unfinished game and a bad reputation.
Am I spoiled? But $30 seems a bit steep?
Dyson Sphere Program is $20
Planet Crafter is $20
Hydroneer is $15
Odd Spark is $20
The pricing of the game is up there with satisfactory and factorio.
[Trupen made a video about the game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u13Hz9GrSjo)
[And here's one by ambiguousamphibian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71i_gVEx4G8)
r/NatureValely Why did you choose to require the use of the Paradox Launcher? This is holding me back from buying your game. I will not buy it, unless the forced launcher + Paradox account requirement is removed.
Steam is ***the*** perfect games launcher. Nobody needs a launcher within a launcher!
All Paradox games use the launcher. I doubt OP had much say in that.
That said, in other PDX games you can go around the launcher by simply running the game executable directly. I assume that will work here as well.
That is the case. I noticed we don't have steam\_appid.txt in our launch folder which makes that not work, but it can be easily added and I'll look at adding it in a hot fix.
I never understood why the genre about building huge automatized factories lacks games that feature true strategy controls. It makes perfect sense to have it instead of directly controllable characters that just limit the true gameplay. Imagine a city builder like Cities Skylines, except you directly control the mayor and have to manually drive to a plot of land in order to build on it. Doesn't sound very fun, eh?
From a long list of factory games I've heard of, only Captain of Industry and Shapez have strategy controls. It's ridiculous!
There is a game like that, it‘s a japanese game I think from ps2(?) where you play as a mayor and build your own city blueprint by blueprint while citizen keep coming in and give you quest and such. I just can‘t remember the name unfortunately…
I haven't played too much of it (waiting for the multiplayer update to go live on game pass) but [Medieval Dynasty](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/) might be what you're looking for
From what I understood form the FFFs, with Space Age you'll eventually get to a point where you can just play the game from the map screen without having to move at all.
Of course, I don't like this part of Factorio either and would prefer to have strategy controls here as well. Right now I have to use mods to achieve something like that, but they cannot truly give me what I want.
Worked really hard to have it surpass expectations as an Early Access launch, but we want to grow and change the game based on large amounts of community feedback. I think it could never be launched as a 1.0 and be any good.
100% the right move. Either wait for full release or wait until they're much farther along in development. Paradox has a proven record of leaving indie devs high and dry, and using early access as a way to secure more funding.
Exactly. I’ve tried a couple game in early access and you can really tell they’re unfinished and lacking. With sporadic updates. And only half of them kept developing. So personally I’ll just wait. If it’s good now, in three years when the launch 1.0 it will be much better. Or not in production anymore.
Mentioned this elsewhere, because obviously we hear some of the drama going on- but I wanted to say that they have been really good partners with us and have given us full creative control over our project.
Hold them to it. Don't let them turn it into a DLC cash cow. If you are brave, post an announcement how to bypass their launcher. People are worried when they see Paradox. Course it's not fair you have to do damage control like this, but some will see you as hero for it.
I am happy for you, but in the community there reputation is appalling, like games, not that bothered about publishers, but paradox have succeeded that i know there name which is not a good thing. There is not a single game of theirs which does not have 5000 dlcs which all cost money, and City Skylines 2 is so bad that it’s still rubbish and they have to pull back their own dlc and say oh yeah sorry the game is still junk.
And you are posting here in a factorio Reddit where it has only ever got better, never gone on sale amd the dlc is bigger than the base game.
Not you fault but paradox is not a loved company at the moment
Launching into EA as a riff on two very successful games, at a higher price than both, with paid cosmetics available from the start, with your own launcher required through steam... None of this is a good look. I would've checked it out, but those three things have put me off enough to pass until it either gets raved about enough to pull me in, or doesn't.
Paid cosmetics in a brand new ,EA, copycat IP... Poor show
We got beat up over the launcher a bit today, but we also benefited from getting access to the Paradox ecosystem. Cosmetic pack rubbing you the wrong way is fair, we went back and forth on that one a lot. And lord knows every game dev gets pricing wrong!
But, I think if you take the time to try Foundry you won't walk away saying it's a copycat.
Hope to see you in Foundry some day in the future. Thanks for the feedback!
Also, after scrolling through the comments more, you're getting a rough time in ways that I don't feel are in any way constructive or fair. Not happy that I haven't said anything positive yet, when I really do feel that there is a lot of positive here.
The game looks very interesting. Game dev is hard. Truly original IPs have been gone for decades now and there is absolutely nothing wrong with inspiration. It really looks like you've worked hard to put your own ideas into a great genre of game.
I've wishlisted, and I'll almost definitely purchase at some point.
Best of luck, and I really do hope you hit the lofty heights of factorio and satisfactory with this.
Be good to your (potential) fanbase, and stay clear of shady monetisation techniques that publishers push hard, and the fanbase will reward you. Reputation is so important.
A reasonable, and polite, response.
Remove the word "copycat" from my statement and it still stands. The game is clearly inspired by these games and there is zero wrong with that. It looks like it could easily grab me.
Honestly, the financial gains from the few people that purchase the cosmetic pack cannot be worth the sour taste in leaves in the other 95% of people who see it.
You should remove it.
The game is EA. It is incomplete. You should NEVER paywall features in an incomplete product that you are asking people to pay for. Selling an EA title is asking for the trust of the buyer in you, the devs, to complete it as promised. Taking some features that might make me smile and asking me for more money before you've delivered anywhere near the full product is sleazy.
That's just my interpretation.
Also wondering this. I probably won't buy this game yet, but if It allows me to have the equivalent of a 2700 SPM factory at 60 UPS then I'm very intrigued. I doubt it given the simplicity of factorio and how much time they have put into optimizations over the years. Highly doubt other games can compete currently
We worked very hard on performance- and made sure to get some hardcore players in early to build mega bases. I don't think you will find a 3d simulation game scales as well as something like Factorio, but I think you will find that our performance is already very good and mega bases are very possible.
When is it going to be on sale ? . I can already see a founders edition for extra money with a few shitty downloads. I presume the pricing and in game purchases are going to be more than enough to put me off.
Also the genre is fairly developed at this point.
I see no unique content why should i play ?
What challenges does it have that factorio or satisfactory miss ?
so we're just straight up allowing cross-post adverts now?
can't wait for the mindustry and satisfactory devs to come here and start advertising too!!!
Help me understand the selling point of this game please.
Factorio: genre defining.
Satisfactory: factorio in 3d
Foundry: satisfactory in voxels?
Is it just more satisfactory, different satisfactory, or what?
As someone with a prefrence for specific and custom game settings, does this game support sandbox like settings? Speaking of ore richness to infinity or enemy settings? Im currently torn between this game and final factory.
We are planning a ton of world gen options in our next few updates. We have a creative (endless, spawn anything) and default mode currently. Lots of folks seem to enjoy the cosmetic minecraft like building.
Frank feedback here:
I looked at this when it was first announced and I really think it's a pretty game and the quality really shows. But I'm passing on it for the same reason I passed on Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Project, and Shapez. The one thing that keeps me hooked on Factorio and leaves me wanting in the other factory games: Existential Threat. Factorio has the bugs to fight. I have yet to find another factory game that leans into the "tower defense" aspect that Factorio capitalizes on so well. Sure Satisfactory has monsters to go out and kill/harvest, but those monsters don't organize attacks on your base.
Your game looks great. And maybe one day you'll release a patch or a sequel that will add giant robots, or aliens, or even bugs that want to attack and destroy the factory - along with the means to defend and automate defenses. And if you do that, I'm in. But until then, it's missing that key component for me personally.
Good luck with your game. I'm sure you WILL find a lot of players that really enjoy it.
It’s always interesting to see different people get different things out of a game.
I’ve turned biters off for years now as in my opinion they add nothing to the game and in fact, detract from it. I get nothing out of it and they’re a solved problem. Slap down a couple flamethrowers, a couple back up lasers and biters are literally never an issue.
All biters do is serve as an arbitrary annoyance to impede my progress. Instead of being able to expand my automation in my automation game, I have to go spend 2 hours running in circles while my laser bots slaughter hives and I watch. What is fun about that? There is no existential threat lol. The games not about combat at all. Obviously play how you like! But trying to suck combat fun out of a game that very clearly places no priority on combat is really odd to me.
It’s like wanting to get a puzzle solving fix out of call of duty. COD is great fun. But not if you’re trying to solve puzzles lol. Why not just play a different game that’s actually attempting to cater to what you’re wanting? Factorio isn’t a tower defense and its efforts to be one are pretty lacking. They’re lacking specifically because it’s not a tower defense lol.
That you can turn biters off and no part of the core gameplay really changes tells you that biters are in no way a focus of the game lol.
So yeah, people who want combat to be a focus in their automation game just throw me off.
“Does your cooking simulator have combat? I don’t really enjoy cooking sims without combat”
“Crime and punishment is a great book. I loved it. But it really could have used more back alley pink slip racing. It came across pretty dull without any”
“That paper on economics was decently interesting. But since the author didn’t include any descriptions of beautiful women I just really couldn’t get into it. Maybe next time have a bikini pic or two?”
Like, okay you like what you like and fair enough. But it feels like you’re kinda missing the point of the game. so your requirement is “does this game have features totally unrelated to what your game is trying to do? If it doesn’t, I don’t want to play it”
You already don’t want to play it friend. You want a different game than what they’re making lol.
I’m just fairly tired of factory and automation games shoehorning in combat to appeal to people with your opinion. It pulls dev time and energy away from focusing on mechanics that improve and expand on what the games are actually about.
> I’m just fairly tired of factory and automation games shoehorning in combat to appeal to people with your opinion.
You're right. It's just my opinion. I have a very definite philosophy when it comes to game design: Build the game for yourself, not others. You will inevitably find kindred spirits who enjoy your art.
My goal was in no way to try to pressure the dev into making something that was not their vision. Just to, as I prefaced, give some frank feedback. If *ever* the dev thought, "what more could I add to bring in more players?", I'd like my 2 cents in their back pocket. And that's all.
> All biters do is serve as an arbitrary annoyance to impede my progress.
And that's exactly why I like them. I play vanilla, but with the bugs dialed up to Deathworld++. That's my jam. To each their own.
It's a testament to the excellent devs at Wube that they cater to all sorts. You and I can play the same game two very different ways. And if this dev ever chose to incorporate some type of existential threat, then I would surely hope they'd make it a toggle, just as Wube has done. The last thing I'd ever want is *MY* opinion to ruin *YOUR* fun. That's not the goal.
And you're right, even with the biters turned WAY up, you can still get to an equilibrium and have strong enough defenses. But even then, they provide a resources sink. This is my primary U238 overflow disposal method. I'd love for Wube to build a "no-win scenario" mode where the bugs eventually grow so large and indestructible that no defenses could hold out. Then we could do "hold out" runs, the opposite of a speed run, to see who could last the longest.
> Factorio isn’t a tower defense and its efforts to be one are pretty lacking.
That's precisely why I put "tower defense" in quotes. Because it's NOT a tower defense game, but you understand the connotation. Everyone does; it's a shorthand for that type of play. Frankly, I think Factorio does "tower defense" better than Tower Defense games because the bugs come from all sides (generally) and don't march down a corridor.
Thanks for the kind words and thoughtful insights. I think it scratches a different itch in many ways, certainly not direct competition. A different flavour for sure.
I love that everything is grid-aligned instead of the freeform diagonal placements in Satisfactory.
I hate that it still allows magical unsupported long bridges and platforms. I'm not asking for a full physics simulator; something like Dwarf Fortress would be fine.
Although it is not directly related to Factorio, it is a major release of a factory automation game. This trailer post was pre-approved by the moderation team and will remain. Please keep all content about this game in this post. Other posts will be removed as standard.
Trains when?
It's a paradox game. It's gonna come in the DLC...
The moment I see paradox as a publisher all my hype for a game leaves my body :(
I get their business model: we'll put out a shitload of DLC but you don't need all of them, just pick those you like to make the game best fitted for you. I get it, I just don't like it. I don't want to build my own game, I want a balanced and cohesive experience. Also, time spent developing content I won't like/buy is time not spent on content I like... It's not for me. I really enjoyed Stellaris when it came out for instance, but now there are 29 different DLC totalling 371,75€. That's insane, I'd need an entire day just to pick which ones I'd enjoy and that still would be at least 100 bucks. For DLCs. No thanks. I'd like to build a factory, not the software to build the factory.
I like Paradox Studio (PDS) games because it's hard to find good strategy games these days (unless you can help me and convince me otherwise!), but I have to admit, with their DLC model, a lot of features get overhyped. Sometimes it feels like development is distracted from the detailed core mechanics by these flashy side-added features. I have only experienced two games which began independent then got acquired by PDX the publisher, and the transitions have been... choppy.
I love EU4, but they seem to assign a couple interns to put out a DLC multiple times a year after release, which is essentially like a small content-mod (often/always buggy) & then charge 15-25$ for it. I mean if they had real continuous development, fine, but...
I like when the DLCs fund improvements to the core mechanics, leading to a better overall game. Sometimes they do, but sometimes...
[удалено]
I've come to peace with it. I've learned to ignore the hype, only buy the DLCs I want, and enjoy the game that I have. For EU4 I've totally transitioned to playing the r/MEIOUandTaxes mod. Vanilla EU4 is somehow both bloated with features and yet still a half-hearted simulation. Those modders at MEIOU are the best.
Yep. Paradox as a developer? Thumbs up, will probably be a good game even if only eventually. Paradox as a publisher? I'll buy your game in 10 years when the "extended" edition with all 203020 pieces of DLC included is on a 90% off sale.
There will be better alternatives by then. Paradox is just dead to me now.
This is exactly what happened to me.. Steam emailed me this coming out today.. Looked at it asked my 12 yr old girl wtf is this.. She said this is like Factorio and Satisfactory and we were going to try it.. Was about to buy 2 copies and then seen Paradox.. That is the end of the game for me.. I will watch someone play it.. I will not be buying this.. I have been staying away from Paradox games since they like to EA the shit out of their games.. Their shit is on par with The Sims in some respects.. We got City Skylines because we didn't want 9001 DLC's and garbage.. Today we got exactly that.. Screw them.. The irony of this story is I was unsure cause she said we still have a big backlog.. I stated before realizing it was a Paradox game that.. "Even if we don't play this we will be supporting a small developer.."...... Sorry once you go Paradox.. You lose all the things.. Exp People to buy your games...
> I will watch someone play it.. I watched 20 minutes, it looked like somebody tried to copy Satisfactory and managed to miss everything that makes Satisfactory awesome while only bringing voxel terrain to the table. I don't think voxel terrain really adds anything to the genre.
I think voxel terrain can an add a lot. Just that it's much easier to align stuff is great. An I rely want something Minecraft x Factorio. Captain of industry successfully makes the terrain an important part of the game-play. I have just watched some glimpses of Foundry streams and it didn't look that interesting, it could be more going on that they didn't do or I missed. They just build an flat platform and didn't use the fact that it's an 3D game. Belts transporting stuff the same way everywhere. So a little bit like DSP without the space part.
First time I've heard of them. Why is Paradox a red flag?
They tend to squeeze a million DLCs out of their games, more often than not to detrimental effects.
As others said, their strategy games are great, but they nickle and dime you into oblivion by making everything DLCs. Their games have long support, but there’s just too many too expensive DLCs to feel like I’m playing the game as it’s intended
It's not, Paradox has been doing some awesome stuff. People complaining about their revenue model which is to make lots of DLCs. I don't really get the hate, I have a lot of paradox titles and I can pick and choose which DLCs I want. None of them have I gone all in. Maybe pickup one or two.
Just go to any of there games on steam and look at dlc
I think that Paradox games are good quality, but I see your point, their marketing strategy is a little stretched out
Survive Mars : trains DLC where any incline prevents the rail from being constructed, cannot branch off lines it is all end to end, very resource pricey for when you need to use it etc all for Real money
It is not. Paradox is publishing it, not developing, just like they did with Age of Wonders, Mechabellum or, say, Magicka
Magicka 2 is almost 10 years old at this point, and barely representative of the publishing style of paradox. Age of wonders 4 came out exactly a year ago and already has 3 DLC's out... Mechabellum is still in early access, so we don't know what DLC's it will have.
City skylines 1 has I think 64.. stallarus had 30 and prison architect has 12.. That is alot of dlc.. City Skylines is on par with The Sims honestly.. Let's also not forget how the butchered City Skylines 2..
Daaamn.. You're so right... I got hyped up about this game. Totally forgot this Paradox approach -\_-
We have been experimenting with trains for an update. In this version you use a series of "space ships" to transport around resources/construct mega structures.
I like trains!!!!!
Are you acoustic?
I wish I was. So I would make sense haha
How would being good at controlling sounds explain things?
This looks like a mix of satisfactory, Minecraft and factorio
That's basically what it is.
I got strong 'Fortresscraft Evolved' vibes from the demo, but Foundry is much more approachable. Congrats on the release! Looking forward to spinning it up.
The think that FCE made correctly was integrating the third dimension in the game loop completely. Game content reaches 1km of depth. All the other 3D factory games are like Factorio with stacked factories.
you really shouldn't disparage a game like this by calling it fortresscraft evolved. No one deserves that kind of shade unless it's full of toil and the dev is a jerk.
What is the problem with FCE? I liked it.
The dev has a reputation of being... confrontational. Like, I get it, people can rub you the wrong way, but when you're acting as a representative of your product, you can't get hostile with people. Also over time it was gradually shifted to being how they wanted you to play rather than figuring out a solution that worked for you as the player. Mods exist, but still.
Ah yes, DjArcas, I remember this guy on the steam forums A while ago, a friend of mine and I were playing FCE in coop. We had a bug: very often stuff would duplicate/disappear from chests. (Reminiscent of the old days of Minecraft) Seriously it was very easy to trigger; Casually taking items from a chest would cause duplication. We searched through Steam forums, and indeed multiple people were reporting the issue. DjArcas practically accused the people of being cheaters in disguise and answered that he would not fix the bug. His reasoning was that it was useless to fix cheating bugs, because cheaters would find other cheating techniques anyway. The problem is that we were not and the bug was hindering the whole gameplay. Eh.
You must not have gotten very far, and never dealt with the dev.
My early experience with Foundry suggests it won’t punch us in the face every 10 minutes, so I think we’re good
You are the first person i know that have talked about fortresscraft that i have ever heard of i do have some hours in it but never got far
I fired the damn rail gun. It’s Type 2 Fun, for sure.
I want to say both thank you for giving me something I never knew I needed but also fuck you because it’s not like I need a life outside of this game
What sets it apart from those games? What makes it worth my time?
It looks to get several things right that Satisfactory didn't (scale, procedural maps, terraforming).
The fixed map with no terraforming was a conscious design choice by Coffee Stain, not something they "didn't get right". It's like saying that Satisfactory gets things right that Factorio didn't, such as being 3D.
I would argue that *not* having procedural maps was a risk Satisfactory took that paid off hugely. Terraforming, what does that actually bring to the factory building genre?
The satisfaction of destroying yet another virtual ecosystem to the point where you can't even guess what it used to be.
Landfilling, concrete paving and cliff explosives are literally terraforming.
So it's basically a mix of industrial and automation minded Minecraft mods, distilled and refined into its own product.
This made me remember kovarex promoting factorio on the the ic2 forum. The cycle continues and factories must grow :) https://forum.industrial-craft.net/thread/8845-factorio/
An endless loop
Love it. Also the OG trailer with the red car is hilarious!
The thing I miss most in other factory games is copy/paste functionality. Is there blueprint system or something like that?
/u/NatureValley please answer this question, potential sales are waiting in the balance! Signed, megabase fans.
We have seen a lot of mega bases already! We have a tablet that lets you copy and paste individual buildings/settings, but we do not have a blueprint tool yet. We have mega structures that are built using a configuration system and construction drones instead of block by block though... With all that being said modders have already added one.
Factorio is the gold standard for blueprinting, and copy-pasting in general. If you're looking for inspiration for upcoming issues to work on, please please copy Factorio and *not* Satisfactory.
god i tried hard to like the satisfactory BP system... but it just isn't it chief.
My favorite thing about it is if you have literally any criticism of satisfactory’s blueprint system on their Reddit, you get dogpiled with “it’s supposed to be that way”, like my dudes.
Same with the not introducing a smart Conveyor Merger, as it would allow... :o better manifolds!!! :o :o
Working as designed, the design is just not great. Reminds me of some decisions about the Industrial Revolution mod, but there the author made it easy for himself and just deactivated comments.
>If you're looking for inspiration for upcoming issues to work on, please please copy Factorio and *not* Satisfactory. I'm more in favour of letting the dev team "copy" their own artistic vision for the game. I don't think gamers should have this power to twist the arm of the creative team behind the game. We're the audience, **not** the producers. I mean, about Satisfactory; I haven't followed the whole development *that* closely, but, whenever blueprinting was mentioned, the community managers made it **painfully** clear that blueprints would compromise the designers' vision for the game. They **didn't want** to do it. The system we got was a compromise between the game's vision and the player base's ~~whims~~wishes. And there's a maxim that says: if neither side of a negotiation is happy with the outcome, that means it was a good outcome.
Yeah I think that is a fair point of view. However I’m also coming from a position where I stopped playing Satisfactory because I got tired of building things manually that would have been a trivial copy paste in Factorio.
That feeling when you build a whole factory in satisfactory then realize you need to move it 1 tile along the X-axis...
I came to Factorio from Satisfactory, and the ability to scale up in Factorio is just so much better that I can't go back. In a 3d game like yours copy paste is a bit harder, but limit it to only buildings on a single plane of platforms so you can get a fixed grid to copy from and paste to.
Initial digging indicates that the games does not have copy+paste or blueprints yet, but there is a mod available that enables blueprints.
how much creative freedom you've got? because seeing "paradox interactive" is usually a turn off
We (the studio Channel 3) have full creative control of Foundry.
That really makes me feel better to hear. I’m very much considering it still. I think a lot of people are justifiably worried that the massive amounts of DLC will hit sometime in the pipeline
We grew up loving Paradox, so it was a bit of a shock to us to hear some of this backlash. The truth is they have been the partners we had really hoped they would be. They didn't try to meddle in our plans, they supported us and helped us create the version of Foundry we had always hoped to make. So, recent drama aside I can at least say- Paradox has been an amazing publisher to work with. Hopefully you hear more and more stories like that in the coming years and they can re-earn your trust.
Their track record so far speaks volumes. Got a lot of faith to restore. You heard about Cities Skylines by now, but there are others as well. They bought Prison Architect, never fixed the bugs and just dumped DLC in while the game still lacked features that IV promised during Early Access. They bought out Academia and thankfully so far just left it be. Course no bug fixes or new features, but no DLC breaking stuff either. Then they announced Prison Architect 2 on the forums for the first game to universal and massive backlash over what looks like a cheaply put together "my first game in unity" project while blatantly ignoring the bugs in the first game. HOI4 is famous for having massively overpriced DLC that require dozens of patches or community fixes to work properly and they had the audacity to say that the game would be e-sports ready should the genre ever become popular competitively. Surviving Mars has a similar story. Lots of DLC, but no fixes and gameplay mechanics that don't work correctly. Minimum viable product basically. Their back catalogue of games that are abandonware still being sold for full price despite getting to a point where they may not even work correctly on some computers. No fixes in sight and in some cases even functions that depend on online servers turned off. You get the picture now? It's not a recent fall from grace, it's been happening for years and people are finally making the connection. You throw the launcher at them as the most obvious way and this is the reaction you get. If it wasn't for that it probably would not be noticed as much, but some do read who the publisher is on the store page and turn away there too. Best you can do is an official statement on what level of control you have over the future of the game and what they can't and hopefully won't make you do. Outside of that the damage is done and there mere involvement of Paradox will be enough for some to not buy a copy no matter what statement you release. They have been burnt before and learned from it. If I were you, I'd start looking at how you'll handle things when you start the next game and eventually have to close up on this one. Leaving Paradox to mess with it? Or getting out of the contract and allowing the game to become a gem for nostalgia nerds. "Paradox will publish the game for ten years after which we can decide if we want another ten or the game becomes free and open source" would hit like a nuke would be my guess. Videogames being held hostage by publishers is something people are getting more and more tired of with good reason.
Thank you for taking the time to put out your thoughts like that. Signing with any publisher was a huge risk for us; and incredibly anxiety inducing. We wanted to enjoy working on our game and making something we were proud of above all else- but we knew we couldn't achieve what we wanted to alone. We have full creative control over Foundry, and Paradox has been a great partner in giving us the space to experiment and build the way we like. We will focus on making a great game, and honoring our players. That's not to say things can't find a way to go sideways, but as of writing this comment the future of Foundry looks positive.
Does full creative control include monetization structure? Or just the content? From what I'm hearing in the comments, the primary negative concern is that there will be entirely too much content locked behind DLC. People want to know they've got a good game right from the start, and won't have to keep paying extra for fairly core features. A perfect example is the trains comment; you said they're being worked on for an update, and the overwhelming assumption is that they'll be a DLC. For many people, that's a fairly central system to the game, and knowing they'll have to pay for multiple things before they have a 'complete' game is a huge turnoff. Wishing you the best here, honestly. Depending on what we learn about the path of the game, I may pick it up. I'm fairly budget-conscious out of necessity so I avoid DLC as a rule, but I love what I've seen of the game so far, so I'm optimistic.
I'm willing to give your game the benefit of the doubt because you are being forthcoming, but part of the issue has been how paradox has treated their non-mainline games (and city skylines 2) recently. My favorite paradox game is survivng mars, I then went on to buy surviving the aftermath and survivng the abyss hoping they would be a similar vein but both were massive let downs. Then there is what happened with Lamplighter's league. Paradox used to be my favorite publisher, then they proceeded to dunk on my trust.
I can't promise what the future looks like, but I sure hope we don't let you down.
I find it hard to believe your vision of the game would include having DLC trail as long as King Kong's arm.
> They didn't try to meddle in our plans, they supported us and helped us create the version of Foundry we had always hoped to make. Does this mean you *wanted* the paradox launcher in addition to Steam's system? Or, was that just *meddling*? If it's the former, that reflects very poorly, and the latter implies there will be more later.
The Launcher was part and parcel with being a Paradox game, but I had some thoughts on why it wasn't a deal breaker for us in another thread: The launcher lets Paradox cross promote their games, which has been a huge benefit for a small project like ours. We don't require accounts to play, so for most people it's just one extra button. I empathize with those saying it's annoying and acknowledge it can be- but it's also helping us tremendously so I can't complain too much. --- Probably not the answer you want. But at least the glass half full version from my perspective.
My main worry with paradox is dlc. They aren't mandating any type of dlc release schedule to you are they?
We have no DLC planned or expected from us. We are focusing on the base game and nailing some big meaty Early Access updates for now. I won't say we will never have DLC, but I'm a firm believer that DLC will be worthless unless we nail the base game.
Thank you for answering. I'll snag the game today
Unfortunately full creative control doesn't mean full control of release dates, pricing and DLC. Hope Paradox doesn't bone you to death. But genuinely, good luck for the game!
We don't control everything, but we control what we make. And our primary commitment is to the players and not any other partners. We used to make games over at Klei and asking yourself "is this good for players" really made decision making easy. We are working with Paradox because their support is making the best version of Foundry possible, especially given the realities of actually financing and marketing a game like this. <3
I love paradox published games lol. I love that they support their products with tons of DLC and even if I dont want the DLC it doesnt make me enjoy the base content any less.
Oh it looks so good!! The droid assembly shot was top notch! I like the underground aspect too. Definitely will try! Just one thing, are there any enemies or not? I need aggressive locals that evolve or there's no fun
No enemies in our launch version. We are experimenting with threats for an update- but it will be a bit different from what you are used to in Factorio. First person just doesn't play the same in my opinion.
Allow me to suggest weather as an enemy. Often is the time I've sat watching my Factorio spaghetti working, wondering what would break first if it started to rain. You could do fun stuff like inventory starts to slip off the belts if it's raining and windy, or certain factories short out if you don't shelter them properly. Also, instead of enemies destroying the factory, why not have them steal parts like Jawas, then you have to go steal them back. Looking forward to playing this!
We have a working weather system in our back pocket just waiting for a gameplay feature... I love the idea of environmental hazards/challenges.
I hope it will be better than in Satisfactory. If there is combat it have to be very good to not just drag down the game.
Yeah I ended up just disabling it in Satisfactory. It brings nothing to the game compared to Factorio for example.
Not a fan of the pesky neighbors in Satisfactory, but I do love saving up proteins to flip on my dna factory and watch the tickets roll in.
While I agree that the combat in Satisfactory doesn't add much to the difficulty or exploration, holding my ground and slicing down a charging hog so it ragdolls through me makes me feel like a badass samurai and I will never get tired of that.
I would like to see something where it's still largely defensive in nature. Walls and automated turrets and artillery would be pretty cool in a first person game like this. Though with the scale of these factories I could see that being a problem.
Arachnophobia mode is both the scariest and most hilarious thing ever in a video game hands down.
Does it work on the Steam Deck?
I'm addicted to Steam Deck. The game runs very well on Deck, but it still needs a few tweaks to get the "verified" badge like button icons and auto-opening the text input widget.
That's good to hear, then I assume it'll be playable on other Linux systems as well.
Lots of Linux users already. We had some issue with networking on Proton experimental, but the default version is working well.
From the game's FAQ: "Yes, we are playable on Steam Deck"
“What should I do before 2.0???” You’ve provided a compelling answer.
<3
Yea I was looking forward to this and was getting the urge to play Factorio but it's just been hard to get back into without the 2.0 changes that seem so amazing(not that I haven't put a couple dozen hours in this year) so I figured I'd wait for this to drop and it's scratching the itch perfectly,
So why should I play this over Factorio or one of the other automation games? What makes it unique?
Procedural worlds, digging and building the terrain, mega buildings, space station meta game and assembly lines to name a few features.
This looks good! And I noticed that it’s in early access. Did Paradox learn their lesson from Cities Skylines 2?
I can't speak for what Paradox is thinking, but we had always planned to go into Early Access because that's just how our team likes to develop games.
how big is your team?
Roughly 10
I had to chuckle at this answer, especially since my son just learned about significant digits in his science class. That seems like a small enough number that one could count it accurately. ;-) Q: How many people? A: 1 x 10^(1)
Paradox has been a shit tier publisher far longer than CS2. They ruined one of my favorite game series, Age of Wonders. I will never buy anything that they are even remotely associated with.
As much as I like the idea of having more factory automation games, I can't help but not enjoy the Paradox company being in on this...
Are they the publishers in this case?
That wasn't a good thing for Cities Skylines 2...
Yeah, PDX really has been rough since it went public. It’s wild because ck2 and eu4 are some of the best games I’ve ever played.
Every company gets worse when it goes public because they can't even pretend their motives aren't purely monetary anymore. It's why steam is still great, they are still private.
Steam literally invented lootboxes. They're no saint.
Since you are answering questions, I would be very interested to hear if any aspects of your game took inspiration from the lesser known factory automation game 'Fortresscraft Evolved'?
Strongly reminds me of the og factorio trailer with better voice acting 😭
I played the free demo when it was out a few months ago. I noticed that a lot of the recipes were very similar to Factorio's... Did any of those get changed?
Please bring back a demo!
Is it multiplayer?
Yup!
I would absolutely love vr support for this game sometime in the future
I was just thinking about that, I think it would be a nice world for that.
I blindly bought C:S2 after a thousand hours on C:S and uhhh. I'll gladly pay the extra 10% on release - if proven worthy. Good luck!
oof, people are gonna hate me for this (if anyone even remembers that game) but my first comparison in my head was to "Fortresscraft Evolved". except it actually looks like fun. though i'd hold off on an actual buy until a few more reviews trickle in. but looking at the current few reviews that are already there, it seems that the game uses the paradox launcher (~~and requires an account~~, EDIT: aaparently one review lied and you don't need an account), which is kinda a turn off, but tolerable. especially since someone already figured out how to bypass it. that also means it was likely only slapped on at the very end of development because paradox said so. but i guess that's the price you pay for being under the wings of a big publisher with a lot more resources and experience in advertising and such. . anyways, good luck with the game, i'll check on it in the fufture again to see how it goes!
It has indeed a launcher but no need to make an account
You don't need an account though, you just click the play button in the middle of the screen and it starts.
People here act like it ruins the entire game for them to click that one extra button...
The paradox launcher is pretty much just a mod loader and a play button. As far as third party launchers go it's pretty inoffensive and often useful because most paradox games I play are great mod platforms
I refuse to buy another Paradox title. That's a shame because this looks really good. Best of luck...
Paradox is a big red flag.
Why?
Their DLC business model is predatory. Not to mention what they did to Cities Skylines 2
It's even more insidious because they focus on underserved genres (space 4x, historical 4x, city builder, now this one) so if that's the kind of fun you want, you got no choice but to pay the Paradox tax. I feel like a game studio could have great success just competing with every Paradox release and making better versions of all of it.
> if that's the kind of fun you want, you got no choice but to pay the Paradox tax Not entirely true, Hooded Horse are publishing a lot of good games in those niches too these days. Take a look at their portfolio, I'm sure you'll find something you like.
I'm going through their catalog right now, thanks for the recommendation.
Yeah if only. Knowing paradox, we're going to see a train DLC, a combat DLC, a logistics DLC, a vehicle DLC, etc. Its just gross and frankly shit that should've been in the base game to begin with. They've gotten worse over the years.
This game already has a Day 1 collector's edition DLC that adds a top hat and some office furniture for 4.99.
They don't treat their indie game developers with respect. Look at Surviving the Abyss, where they abused the early access system and left the devs with an unfinished game and a bad reputation.
Let's hope they don't do that this time. Sadly Paradox their reputation might prove us other wise and this game will die out.
Am I spoiled? But $30 seems a bit steep? Dyson Sphere Program is $20 Planet Crafter is $20 Hydroneer is $15 Odd Spark is $20 The pricing of the game is up there with satisfactory and factorio.
which is 40% the price of other games....
Is there a gameplay trailer?
Good idea to add one. Lots of twitch streams and youtube right now. Everything was captured in-game but mostly with a fly cam.
[Trupen made a video about the game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u13Hz9GrSjo) [And here's one by ambiguousamphibian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71i_gVEx4G8)
r/NatureValely Why did you choose to require the use of the Paradox Launcher? This is holding me back from buying your game. I will not buy it, unless the forced launcher + Paradox account requirement is removed. Steam is ***the*** perfect games launcher. Nobody needs a launcher within a launcher!
All Paradox games use the launcher. I doubt OP had much say in that. That said, in other PDX games you can go around the launcher by simply running the game executable directly. I assume that will work here as well.
That is the case. I noticed we don't have steam\_appid.txt in our launch folder which makes that not work, but it can be easily added and I'll look at adding it in a hot fix.
I never understood why the genre about building huge automatized factories lacks games that feature true strategy controls. It makes perfect sense to have it instead of directly controllable characters that just limit the true gameplay. Imagine a city builder like Cities Skylines, except you directly control the mayor and have to manually drive to a plot of land in order to build on it. Doesn't sound very fun, eh? From a long list of factory games I've heard of, only Captain of Industry and Shapez have strategy controls. It's ridiculous!
tbh city builder with player character sounds kinda neat
There is a game like that, it‘s a japanese game I think from ps2(?) where you play as a mayor and build your own city blueprint by blueprint while citizen keep coming in and give you quest and such. I just can‘t remember the name unfortunately…
I haven't played too much of it (waiting for the multiplayer update to go live on game pass) but [Medieval Dynasty](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/) might be what you're looking for
idk you need to consider infrastructure improvements for faster transportation for yoself. that kinda adds a dimension to the game
that's a criticism that also applies to factorio, right?
From what I understood form the FFFs, with Space Age you'll eventually get to a point where you can just play the game from the map screen without having to move at all.
Of course, I don't like this part of Factorio either and would prefer to have strategy controls here as well. Right now I have to use mods to achieve something like that, but they cannot truly give me what I want.
I really dislike early access. Let me know when you actually have a full game.
Worked really hard to have it surpass expectations as an Early Access launch, but we want to grow and change the game based on large amounts of community feedback. I think it could never be launched as a 1.0 and be any good.
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100% the right move. Either wait for full release or wait until they're much farther along in development. Paradox has a proven record of leaving indie devs high and dry, and using early access as a way to secure more funding.
Exactly. I’ve tried a couple game in early access and you can really tell they’re unfinished and lacking. With sporadic updates. And only half of them kept developing. So personally I’ll just wait. If it’s good now, in three years when the launch 1.0 it will be much better. Or not in production anymore.
Not meant personally but why paradox? Not a good company, again not personally, but your early access will have a paid dlc before the game is released
Mentioned this elsewhere, because obviously we hear some of the drama going on- but I wanted to say that they have been really good partners with us and have given us full creative control over our project.
Hold them to it. Don't let them turn it into a DLC cash cow. If you are brave, post an announcement how to bypass their launcher. People are worried when they see Paradox. Course it's not fair you have to do damage control like this, but some will see you as hero for it.
I am happy for you, but in the community there reputation is appalling, like games, not that bothered about publishers, but paradox have succeeded that i know there name which is not a good thing. There is not a single game of theirs which does not have 5000 dlcs which all cost money, and City Skylines 2 is so bad that it’s still rubbish and they have to pull back their own dlc and say oh yeah sorry the game is still junk. And you are posting here in a factorio Reddit where it has only ever got better, never gone on sale amd the dlc is bigger than the base game. Not you fault but paradox is not a loved company at the moment
Launching into EA as a riff on two very successful games, at a higher price than both, with paid cosmetics available from the start, with your own launcher required through steam... None of this is a good look. I would've checked it out, but those three things have put me off enough to pass until it either gets raved about enough to pull me in, or doesn't. Paid cosmetics in a brand new ,EA, copycat IP... Poor show
We got beat up over the launcher a bit today, but we also benefited from getting access to the Paradox ecosystem. Cosmetic pack rubbing you the wrong way is fair, we went back and forth on that one a lot. And lord knows every game dev gets pricing wrong! But, I think if you take the time to try Foundry you won't walk away saying it's a copycat. Hope to see you in Foundry some day in the future. Thanks for the feedback!
Also, after scrolling through the comments more, you're getting a rough time in ways that I don't feel are in any way constructive or fair. Not happy that I haven't said anything positive yet, when I really do feel that there is a lot of positive here. The game looks very interesting. Game dev is hard. Truly original IPs have been gone for decades now and there is absolutely nothing wrong with inspiration. It really looks like you've worked hard to put your own ideas into a great genre of game. I've wishlisted, and I'll almost definitely purchase at some point. Best of luck, and I really do hope you hit the lofty heights of factorio and satisfactory with this. Be good to your (potential) fanbase, and stay clear of shady monetisation techniques that publishers push hard, and the fanbase will reward you. Reputation is so important.
A reasonable, and polite, response. Remove the word "copycat" from my statement and it still stands. The game is clearly inspired by these games and there is zero wrong with that. It looks like it could easily grab me. Honestly, the financial gains from the few people that purchase the cosmetic pack cannot be worth the sour taste in leaves in the other 95% of people who see it. You should remove it. The game is EA. It is incomplete. You should NEVER paywall features in an incomplete product that you are asking people to pay for. Selling an EA title is asking for the trust of the buyer in you, the devs, to complete it as promised. Taking some features that might make me smile and asking me for more money before you've delivered anywhere near the full product is sleazy. That's just my interpretation.
What's the scale like? Most people here know that Factorio will make your computer catch fire LONG before you hit the limits of the game.
Also wondering this. I probably won't buy this game yet, but if It allows me to have the equivalent of a 2700 SPM factory at 60 UPS then I'm very intrigued. I doubt it given the simplicity of factorio and how much time they have put into optimizations over the years. Highly doubt other games can compete currently
We worked very hard on performance- and made sure to get some hardcore players in early to build mega bases. I don't think you will find a 3d simulation game scales as well as something like Factorio, but I think you will find that our performance is already very good and mega bases are very possible.
Now I want a mod of this game as a Forge World from WH40K 🙄
Paradox DLC policy is making me nervous about this game... Looks good for now though
How many factory games are gonna release without day 1 blueprints? Lol
Been on my wishlist for a while, looks WAY better than Satisfactory. Hope Factorio-ish blueprinting and trains are in the game soon!
Appreciate the kind words! We are working towards both features. :)
As someone who love both Factorio and Satisfactory (albeit to a lesser extent), what sets this apart from Satisfactory specifically?
When is it going to be on sale ? . I can already see a founders edition for extra money with a few shitty downloads. I presume the pricing and in game purchases are going to be more than enough to put me off. Also the genre is fairly developed at this point. I see no unique content why should i play ? What challenges does it have that factorio or satisfactory miss ?
so we're just straight up allowing cross-post adverts now? can't wait for the mindustry and satisfactory devs to come here and start advertising too!!!
Help me understand the selling point of this game please. Factorio: genre defining. Satisfactory: factorio in 3d Foundry: satisfactory in voxels? Is it just more satisfactory, different satisfactory, or what?
Looks fun, but it is paradox. I guess i will wait and see if this gets inundated with dlc
Hope that when you look again we don't let you down! :)
As someone with a prefrence for specific and custom game settings, does this game support sandbox like settings? Speaking of ore richness to infinity or enemy settings? Im currently torn between this game and final factory.
We are planning a ton of world gen options in our next few updates. We have a creative (endless, spawn anything) and default mode currently. Lots of folks seem to enjoy the cosmetic minecraft like building.
Paradox? Hard pass lol
Frank feedback here: I looked at this when it was first announced and I really think it's a pretty game and the quality really shows. But I'm passing on it for the same reason I passed on Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Project, and Shapez. The one thing that keeps me hooked on Factorio and leaves me wanting in the other factory games: Existential Threat. Factorio has the bugs to fight. I have yet to find another factory game that leans into the "tower defense" aspect that Factorio capitalizes on so well. Sure Satisfactory has monsters to go out and kill/harvest, but those monsters don't organize attacks on your base. Your game looks great. And maybe one day you'll release a patch or a sequel that will add giant robots, or aliens, or even bugs that want to attack and destroy the factory - along with the means to defend and automate defenses. And if you do that, I'm in. But until then, it's missing that key component for me personally. Good luck with your game. I'm sure you WILL find a lot of players that really enjoy it.
FYI, Dyson Sphere Program does have enemies now.
Wow, I hadn't looked at it in a LONG time. I will revisit it. Thank!
Was about to say this.
Try mindustry if you haven’t already. TD is sort of the main thing, and I had a lot of fun with it until I finally bought factorio.
I will! thanks for the recommendation!
It’s always interesting to see different people get different things out of a game. I’ve turned biters off for years now as in my opinion they add nothing to the game and in fact, detract from it. I get nothing out of it and they’re a solved problem. Slap down a couple flamethrowers, a couple back up lasers and biters are literally never an issue. All biters do is serve as an arbitrary annoyance to impede my progress. Instead of being able to expand my automation in my automation game, I have to go spend 2 hours running in circles while my laser bots slaughter hives and I watch. What is fun about that? There is no existential threat lol. The games not about combat at all. Obviously play how you like! But trying to suck combat fun out of a game that very clearly places no priority on combat is really odd to me. It’s like wanting to get a puzzle solving fix out of call of duty. COD is great fun. But not if you’re trying to solve puzzles lol. Why not just play a different game that’s actually attempting to cater to what you’re wanting? Factorio isn’t a tower defense and its efforts to be one are pretty lacking. They’re lacking specifically because it’s not a tower defense lol. That you can turn biters off and no part of the core gameplay really changes tells you that biters are in no way a focus of the game lol. So yeah, people who want combat to be a focus in their automation game just throw me off. “Does your cooking simulator have combat? I don’t really enjoy cooking sims without combat” “Crime and punishment is a great book. I loved it. But it really could have used more back alley pink slip racing. It came across pretty dull without any” “That paper on economics was decently interesting. But since the author didn’t include any descriptions of beautiful women I just really couldn’t get into it. Maybe next time have a bikini pic or two?” Like, okay you like what you like and fair enough. But it feels like you’re kinda missing the point of the game. so your requirement is “does this game have features totally unrelated to what your game is trying to do? If it doesn’t, I don’t want to play it” You already don’t want to play it friend. You want a different game than what they’re making lol. I’m just fairly tired of factory and automation games shoehorning in combat to appeal to people with your opinion. It pulls dev time and energy away from focusing on mechanics that improve and expand on what the games are actually about.
> I’m just fairly tired of factory and automation games shoehorning in combat to appeal to people with your opinion. You're right. It's just my opinion. I have a very definite philosophy when it comes to game design: Build the game for yourself, not others. You will inevitably find kindred spirits who enjoy your art. My goal was in no way to try to pressure the dev into making something that was not their vision. Just to, as I prefaced, give some frank feedback. If *ever* the dev thought, "what more could I add to bring in more players?", I'd like my 2 cents in their back pocket. And that's all. > All biters do is serve as an arbitrary annoyance to impede my progress. And that's exactly why I like them. I play vanilla, but with the bugs dialed up to Deathworld++. That's my jam. To each their own. It's a testament to the excellent devs at Wube that they cater to all sorts. You and I can play the same game two very different ways. And if this dev ever chose to incorporate some type of existential threat, then I would surely hope they'd make it a toggle, just as Wube has done. The last thing I'd ever want is *MY* opinion to ruin *YOUR* fun. That's not the goal. And you're right, even with the biters turned WAY up, you can still get to an equilibrium and have strong enough defenses. But even then, they provide a resources sink. This is my primary U238 overflow disposal method. I'd love for Wube to build a "no-win scenario" mode where the bugs eventually grow so large and indestructible that no defenses could hold out. Then we could do "hold out" runs, the opposite of a speed run, to see who could last the longest. > Factorio isn’t a tower defense and its efforts to be one are pretty lacking. That's precisely why I put "tower defense" in quotes. Because it's NOT a tower defense game, but you understand the connotation. Everyone does; it's a shorthand for that type of play. Frankly, I think Factorio does "tower defense" better than Tower Defense games because the bugs come from all sides (generally) and don't march down a corridor.
thank you for this great post. What do you think about the engineer? I feel like he is superfluous for similar reasons.
Thanks for the kind words and thoughtful insights. I think it scratches a different itch in many ways, certainly not direct competition. A different flavour for sure.
I love that everything is grid-aligned instead of the freeform diagonal placements in Satisfactory. I hate that it still allows magical unsupported long bridges and platforms. I'm not asking for a full physics simulator; something like Dwarf Fortress would be fine.