Less rough game design

A previous post described three phases of game play. Phases 1 and 2 remain largely the same. Phase 3 is discussed in this post, along with general design refinement. 

NOTE!
This post describes changes in build A250601 that breaks old saved games! Previous build A250527 is here: Web, Windows, Linux.

Manageable number of items

It's time to refactor the items and recipes, which were fairly unbalanced and in some cases just thrown in just to see what happened. This is the reduced item set:

A couple interesting ones that change game play:

• Spice Melange is like a consumable productivity module. Feed it to any crafting machine to increase output for a while.
• Sonic Screwdriver is the corresponding consumable speed module.

Unique recipes for each play-through

All recipes have reliable input and output items allowing the core of the factory to be built on a set of predictable production pipelines, like any factory game.

However recipes unlocked after the Training I goal, particularly those related to classifying junk and reprocessing waste, also have additional %chance output items. Those are now generated based on the game seed and vary for each play-through.

The thinking is that this is a moon made of garbage; if you were really working on such a thing the inputs and outputs would never be nice and neat and balanced. But this is also a game that must not be too frustrating! Therefore only some of the outputs are auto-generated.

The effects are aimed at replayability:

• Many production lines need to handle re-routing both waste and %chance output items
• Advanced items are available early in the game in small numbers. Free diamonds in the rough
• Alternate production lines may open up earlier than expected
• Some late-game recipes get complex...

Unique seeded upgrades too

The low tier upgrades require AI Candles, which makes it easy to bootstrap quickly. But the later upgrade levels require seeded items too, so following the same old upgrade path each time is unlikely to work.

The Game Loop

The basic game loop described in phase 1 and 2 remains:

• Excavate old stuff (like mining)
• Wash and prepare it (like smelting)
• Strip it apart for basic resources (disassembly)
• Reprocess the unidentified waste for advanced components (classification)
• Handle many necessary sushi belts for recipe outputs (sorting)
• Craft AI Candles to run your machines (a fuel/science substitute)
• Meet the Hub goals (bootstrap a factory)

Phase 3 is now:

• Juggle the variation in recipe outputs and find the best path
• Reassemble enough ancient tech to produce a Monolith and "win"
• Optionally continue playing toward a very large Hub goal...

The Jupiter Project 

Right now this is like infinite research; something to keep the factory ticking over while the player redesigns stuff or scales-up or does whatever they enjoy. It may become more tangible.