Hey there, Georgii from Luden.io here! Another month, another developer diary! And boy, was that month rich with new features, fruitful discussions, and exciting plans! Here's the juiciest stuff:
Chill Milk
Yeah, Milky Way is cool but have you ever tried Milky Glaciers? Frozen plant-based sources of milk were recently discovered on Mars. Don't even ask us, how we came up with this idea… Because we'll tell you anyway! According to truly accurate scientific facts, milk was secretly being delivered to Mars by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. throughout the XX and the early XXI century, disguising these operations as ‘scientific expeditions’ (ever heard of ‘unsuccessful Martian missions’? Well, they were not, it was all about delivering milk). It is to be clarified, how this milk turned into icebergs and glaciers (you're welcome to share your thoughts in the comments!).
On a more serious side of things, we had two reasons in mind for adding milk to the game. One, we decided we need more resources to play around with in the northern biome. And two: it seemed weird that we haven't added milk before! Cats love milk and it was only too natural to have it on Learning Factory, which was made for the sole reason to provide catisfaction.
Operation Teleportation
Another couple of new buildings are using the magic of teleportation to make players’ lives easier. Normally, teleportation is a tool only available to cats (who are well-known to be able to disappear and emerge in random places), but the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. were generous enough to share some of their wisdom with their human pet servants. Enter the Cable Crafter and the Inventory Teleport! The former automatically produces and delivers Optic Cable to a player's backpack, while the latter simply transfers any kind of items to the inventory. It is possible thanks to swarms of invisible nanobots, that disassemble items into molecules and then build them back right into your pockets. Creepily effective.
The Taste of Scratching
This building was born in a discussion when we were remembering the good old prototyping days for Learning Factory. Back then, the game looked less like a factory-building sim and more like a cat-entertaining tycoon. This concept was later omitted, but we didn't entirely part with the idea of cat entertainment (catertainment?). Hence the concept of Cat-Scratching Booth! It allows your catstomers to test-drive one of your items (Claw Sharpener, in this case), so they could add it to their wishlist and offer a higher price for it in a Store.
More buildings of this kind might appear in the game later - if you, the players, find them fun to play around with them, that is! Kindly let us know how you like them - on our Discord server, maybe?
Approaching Catopia, One Cat at a Time
There were other changes that might seem not as grand, but they're still pieces of the puzzle that, brought together, will make Learning Factory an awesome base-building game one day. We've added more quality items, which increase the loyalty of your catstomers. We've added new upgrades. More trading options for Trade Guilds. Mass pickup of items. We've added optional multithreading (currently in beta) for even greater performance. We've also added an ability to mine metals on the underground level (previously only logistics items could have been placed there)!
We will continue polishing quality items mechanics in an upcoming couple of weeks. At the same time, we'll be making the underground level even more interesting to spend time on. But most importantly: we've had a very fruitful discussion regarding the process of polishing - which means, we have officially started pre-preparations for the full release! The date will be announced as soon as we're sure about that - we will make sure you don't miss it.
Until then - come chat with us on Discord, leave a comment, wishlist it, send us a postcard, send us a raven, in any case - don't be a stranger! See you in the next edition of Learning Factory developer diaries!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory
P.S. If you want to keep an eye our progress closer, don't forget to follow Learning Factory on our Steam page and never miss an update again!
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How to Get More Involved
Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!
Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here