Hey everyone,
I've been working on a lot of random things for the next update. Some of these are large in scope and will take time but I believe they will make the game so much better! In no particular order here they are:
Belt and building alignment
As many of you have noticed the belts do not line up perfectly with machine inputs/outputs. When I had the buildings created I was more focused on aesthetics and did not properly plan for where exactly the belts line up. I also did not plan the exact size of the buildings so the horizontal position of belts is not guaranteed to line up with a snap point on foundations. I've been working on remedying this by creating block-outs for buildings with the connections aligned to a grid. This means I'll have to redo much of the art for the game but this time with purpose!
This will make it much easier to build on a grid and line up pipes & belts with the input/outputs of buildings.
Separate belt splitter and merger
I talked about this last dev log but the combined splitter/merger building was not working as a gameplay piece as well as I had hoped. So now there will be separate items for splitting and merging belts. They each function as a small machine with 3 inputs and 1 output, or 3 outputs and 1 input.
I also made a shorter conveyor belt support that is used when placing directly on the ground so the first belt lines up with the connectors on buildings.
Trains!
⚠️ Video is a work in progress ⚠️
What's a factory game without trains? This is proving to be a big undertaking and honestly one of the more complex things in the game. Even belt logic is simpler than this (though I did that ages ago so my memory might be skewed). So far I have the ability to place down tracks with controls to pick the curve and grade. You can build stations on the tracks and place down locomotives that path find between stations.
The short list of things I still need to do:
Add cargo wagons and the ability to load/unload them.
Add the concept of a "train" that manages all the rolling stock connected together (locomotives + cargo wagons).
Allow the player to schedule routes for trains to run automatically.
Add a way to fuel locomotives (probably coal or other burnable fuel sources).
Add train signals and collisions so trains don't ghost through one another.
Allow the player to manually drive a locomotive/train.
Destructible Terrain
This one is more of an idea at the moment but trains almost require it. If you look at real world examples of trains, they don't like to make small curves around things or up and over a little hill. They go through mountains, carve into cliff sides, etc. So I would love it if players could deform the terrain. This would probably be another huge challenge and take many weeks but might be worth it. Switching to a "voxel" terrain generator would also mean the world could generate more interesting landscapes like cliffs with overhangs or maybe even caves! The other hard part of this would be how the player actually gets to modify the terrain? What does that look like? Do they need a shovel that can add/remove small pieces of ground or does laying a train track automatically adapt the terrain to level out under the track? Either way I'll most likely release an update after the trains are done and before anything like this is started.
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As always, thanks for reading and head over to the discord to learn more https://discord.gg/xmmPeZHj4T