Engineers!
We’ve been holding onto something big, and today, we’re beyond thrilled to finally pull back the curtain on what we've been tirelessly working on over the last four months.
This journey was ignited by seeing how much fun people had with our minimalist factory-building game*. Even in its early, rough-around-the-edges stage, we saw the potential for something truly extraordinary.*
Your enthusiasm lit a fire, and we knew we had to go all in to build this game into something that could stand the test of time.
And so, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. The past 4 months have been a whirlwind of development and playtesting, pushing the game to its limits and beyond. There were times when I was so deep in the game, testing every nook and cranny, that I thought I’d never want to see another factory floor again. But last week, something incredible happened during the final round of playtesting—I got hooked. I found myself lost in the game, time slipping away as I built, refined, and expanded. Proper automation game addict behaviour.
This isn’t just an update. It’s the culmination of countless hours, sleepless nights, and a burning passion to create something truly special.
Stay tuned, because this is only the beginning!
⚠️ Some Spoilers Ahead ⚠️
If you want to jump straight in: go to the settings for Incremental Factory and change the Beta Branche to "test - test".
v0.7. - Release Overview:
New Map - Rebuilt the map from scratch
Way better visual representation of what is happening (on potential to improve that going forward):
- Color Coded Edges & Rate Indicators
- Simplified view when zooming out
- Different Shapes for different Parcel Types
Lots of QoL:
- Drag & Drop edges
- Quick Create Parcels
- Intent Recognition & Smart Sorting
- Better rate display & tooltips
Quick Parcel Creation in Action
Performance - 20x Bigger Factories
Subsection of 2k Parcel Factory Running at ~120 FPS on a MacBook Pro M2
- Previous versions had issues with 70-100 Parcels
- In our playlets we could get to over 2.000 parcels with decent performance (120 FPS with some frame drops on a MacBook Pro M2)
- 1k+ parcels should work on most machines smoothly. Curious to see where the limits are for you
- This is still far from optimised. The Factory Must Grow! :)
New Gameplay:
More Specialised Parcel Types
- Production, 32 Building Slots, 3-8 Connections, Inputs & Outputs
- Excavation, 16 Building Slots, 1-3 Connections, Output Only, Bonus to Extraction
- Warehouse, 0 Building Slots, Global Storage, Input Only
- Node, 0 Building Slots, 20 Connections, Input & Output, Unlimited Throughput when connected to Nodes or Extraction, Upgradable Output Throughput Limit
Extraction, Node, Production & Warehouse (Left to Right)
No more Parcel Limits!
- Removed the Hardcap and replaced it with an increasing costs
- This is great because the limit to how big your factory can get is how well your factory is producing certain resources :)
New Excavations System
- An entirely new system, built from scratch.
- Dig Deeper to Unlock New Base Resources (e.g. Copper on Level 1)
- Face Enemy Waves as you dig deeper
- Spend your resources to build up your defence
Pew Pew Pew
New Yield System
- Yield is a multiplier for your extraction resources (stone, coal, iron, copper, etc.)
- Yield increases as you dig deeper
- Yield decreases as you extract more resources
- Yield will never go below 50% (at least in the default difficulty)
- While still being unlimited, resources are now also semi-scarce & one has to work with fluctuating inputs
Reworked Energy System
- Previous system was flat, every building increase energy consumption regardless if it was active or not and coal power plants consumed & produced full energy regardless if it was needed or not
- As coal is now semi-scarce, it was clear we needed to rework energy:
- Demand: only active buildings consume energy
- Supply: Power Planst only use as much coal as needed.
- Solar now serves a distinct purpose: energy that does not draw down your coal
Streamlined Recipes
- We reworked & streamlined the recipes
No more Prestige Resets
- We wanted to focus on designing a game that can be enjoyable finished without having to rebuild your factory over and over again so we made the decision to remove the entire prestige system and skill tree (for now)
- This was not an easy decision but we think in the long run it will make the game so much better. And we might bring it back with the lessons learned from v0.4 - v0.6.
- That does not mean that meta-progression is gone entirely. More on that soon :)
And a whole bunch of other stuff, waiting to be discovered by you 🤗
How to get Access to the Beta?
The beta is available to everyone who has the Steam Version of Incremental Factory. All you have to do is, in your steam library, go to the settings for Incremental Factory and change the Beta Branche to:
"test - test"
Where to Give Feedback?
Ideally on our Discord: https://discord.gg/BGEeTKYyTh, we have a dedicated feedback channel (& awesome community!)
If you don't have Discord but still want to send feedback, you can post here on Steam.
This game has been built for you, and will always be guided by your input. Every feedback matters & is appreciated, no matter how small or big!
Thank you for reading & always remember, the Factory Must Grow :)