Hi everyone, 😄
Thank you very much for all the feedback, reports, and suggestions you have continued to share with us. We are still reviewing everything you send, while also evaluating existing systems internally to identify areas that can be made clearer, more flexible, and easier to manage.
This update focuses primarily on employee management and factory organization. It introduces more control over where Production Assistants work, expands employee task prioritization, and adds a new automatic behavior to help reduce the number of partially filled boxes around the facility.
We have also included several performance-related improvements and fixes to support these new systems and improve the overall experience.
With that in mind, here is what is included in this update.
Main Updates
1. Employee Working Area
Production Assistants can now be assigned to work in a specific factory building through the Working Area setting inside their Employee Card in the Employee Menu.
The available options are:
Any Factory
First Factory
Second Factory
When Any Factory is selected, the Production Assistant can continue handling available tasks across all factory buildings.
When assigned to a specific factory, the employee will only handle supported machines and racks located inside that selected Working Area. This makes it easier to divide employees between factory buildings and prevent them from traveling to areas they are not intended to manage.
The Second Factory option will only become available after the second factory building has been unlocked.
Employees from existing save files will automatically use Any Factory, allowing them to continue working as before until a specific Working Area is selected.
2. Upgradeable Employee Priority Slots
Employees previously started with three available Priority Task Slots. Each employee can now be upgraded individually to unlock a fourth slot through the Edit Prioritize menu.
The additional slot is available across all employee roles and allows players to assign another task type without replacing one of the employee's existing priorities.
Because the upgrade is applied separately to each employee, players can choose which workers need additional task flexibility based on their current factory setup and responsibilities.
This provides more control over employee behavior as the factory grows and individual employees are expected to handle a wider range of tasks.
3. Automatic Employee Box Merging
Employees assigned to handle Supply Racks or Cold Storage can now automatically merge compatible partially filled boxes.
To be merged, boxes must contain compatible items with matching information, including:
Commodity
Grade
Packaging
When a compatible pair is found, the employee will transfer the contents of one partial box into another to create a fuller box. If the target box still has remaining capacity, the employee may continue looking for another compatible partial box.
The types of boxes handled depend on the employee's assigned storage task:
Employees handling Cold Storage will merge boxes intended for Cold Storage.
Employees handling Supply Storage will merge boxes containing items supported by Supply Racks.
Box merging is performed automatically as part of the employee's regular storage work and does not require an additional toggle.
This should help reduce the number of partially filled boxes around the facility, free up storage space, and make larger storage areas easier to organize.
Performance Improvements
1. Optimized Commodity Box Animations
Commodity Box opening and closing animations have been updated to use a script-driven animation system instead of relying on a separate Animator for every box.
The visible pack and unpack animations remain available, but their movement is now controlled directly through scripts.
This reduces unnecessary animation overhead when many Commodity Boxes are active at the same time and also allows their animations to follow the game's pause behavior more consistently.
2. Optimized Factory Area Tracking
Machines and Supply Racks now retain information about which factory area they are located in after being placed.
This allows the Employee Working Area system to check whether a machine or rack is available to an employee without repeatedly checking its location during employee task searches.
This is primarily a behind-the-scenes optimization that supports the new Working Area system and reduces unnecessary repeated checks during employee activity.
Bug Fixes
1. Packaging Machine Commodity Filter Fix
Fixed an issue where a Commodity Category filter could incorrectly appear in the Employee Settings of machines used for restocking Packaging.
The unrelated filter will now remain hidden for Packaging restock settings, while the remaining dropdown layout has also been adjusted to display correctly.
2. Orange Pouch Label Icon Fix
Fixed an issue where the Orange Pouch Label used the same icon as the Apple Pouch Label.
The Orange Pouch Label now displays its correct icon, making the two Labels easier to distinguish when purchasing or managing supplies.
Thank you again for your continued support, reports, and feedback. These changes were developed through a combination of player feedback and our internal review of how employee management and storage workflows behave in larger factories.
We will continue reviewing the suggestions and reports you share and prioritizing further improvements based on their feasibility and impact. Some changes may require additional design, testing, or technical preparation before they can be implemented, but they are still being recorded and evaluated.
If you encounter any issues or unexpected behavior, please report them through the in-game Bug Report Menu and/or the Steam Discussions so we can investigate further.
See you in the next update! 🥗🚚