Hey chefs!
A lot has happened this week, like the announcement of our Early Access Release Date for example (29th November!). There has also been a lot of activity in our Discord so we thought it’s best to sum up some of the stuff we talked about in case you missed it.
Beta #3
The puzzles currently in the beta are limited in complexity to simplify things so I can analyze things properly regarding the metrics that are interesting to use. These levels also don't feature any constraints so the solutions will feel samey. Also, the ingredient dependencies are pretty simple on these recipes (as well as the ingredient multiplicity being always "one" of each).
The checkerboard pattern is one of the common solution patterns when optimizing for cycles. Optimizing for program size will result in different looking solutions, and the third metric (I still haven't finalized which one we'll be using) is meant to push solutions in a different direction.
Cycles is the only metric that will definitely be in the game, so I took it out of this beta to allow you to focus on the more uncertain metrics.
Staleness increases for every food that's out in the open - so you're trying to minimize the time from picking up stuff to delivering the finished product instead of overall cycles. Like all the other metrics in the current beta, it's an experiment, I just want to see what solutions any of these metrics inspire - with the ultimate goal being solutions that are ideally quite different for the different metrics.
A few things are currently not covered in the tutorial, like conveyor belts or loops. The recipe stations (that make food) all currently behave in the same way, it's all driven by the recipes in the top right.
Conveyor belts are causing the most bugs at the moment. If you run into a bug, find the log (on Win):
...AppData\\LocalLow\\VividHelix 2018\\Neon Noodles\\
...and send it to us on Discord or submit it via this Google Form: click
On the list
(suggestions from the community that are already planned to be implemented)
- The UI positioning is temporary, currently going through a redesign
- "Shifting" programs - you will be able to share and shift the program left or right. I think that will remove the need for waits and minimize the usage of the loop start.
- Jump into the code where you were editing last, plus jump to last/first as well as a bot selector if there is more than one bot with code.
- There will be conditionals that will affect the programming process, but like a filter inserter from Factorio. Something like a filter push station that only works on certain ingredients/foods.
Keep the feedback coming, greatly appreciated!
-Radu
