Shapez.io is a strategy building game developed by Tobspr Games and released on Steam in June 2020. The overall style of the game is simple, players have to mine, process, transport different shape blocks to solve a series of problems, and the recently updated version of the official support mod also provides a richer set of components and features for the game.
Minimalist "industrial empire"
"Alien Factory" as a whole is 2D minimalist industrial style, in the system randomly generated map has different graphic resource points and red, green and blue three kinds of dye resource points, and will generate a 4 * 4 entrance storage center in a random location, the player's task is to mine a variety of resources, through different process combinations of resources to process, production and storage of sufficient amount of designated resources.
In "Alien Factory", in addition to the limited graphic resources of the style, the design of dye resources and coloring processes has also been added. Players can collect the red, green and blue primary colors of the dye in the game, and can mix the dye combination through the color mixer to mix more colors, and then dye the corresponding graphic parts to get the finished product. The design of the dye greatly enriches the graphic styles that can be produced, while also adding game tones and alleviating the aesthetic fatigue brought by the off-white color to the player.
Completing each level unlocks new facilities and processes for the player, some of which can be used to improve existing production lines, while more are invested in new production requirements. For example, a certain level requires the player to cut the circle and square in half, dye the purple and cyan colored and then stitched together, and finally stack a yellow windmill pattern, zero and zero always require more than a dozen processes and almost all kinds of facilities, which tests the player's patience and design ability.
The industrial production mode of "production + transportation + processing + storage" in "Alien Factory" is highly referenced to "Factorio", the starting point of both is in the exploitation of resources, the difference is that "Factorio" is limited by the limited distribution of resources, the gameplay is more inclined to maximize the use of resources to upgrade the industrial level; and "Alien Factory" Unlimited resources and zero facility cost setting, so that the game focus is on continuously arranging production lines according to requirements, and modularizing the production line as much as possible. Facilitates the adjustment of the production line when the level objective changes.
Everything is predetermined and not predetermined
In the face of complex production lines, serial is often more efficient than parallel, and this principle also applies in Alien Factory. Although the size of the map is unlimited, but the size of each resource point and the available gaps between the resource points are limited, to arrange complex production lines in a limited space and ensure high production capacity, reasonable layout planning is a compulsory course for players.
Blindly expanding the production scale of certain products will only make the overall layout more chaotic, and we have better options, such as modifying a complete assembly line that has completed production to put it into the production of a completely new product, trying to reuse the discarded parts that were originally shipped to the garbage heap, or improving the layout to make the layout more flexible and flexible. In short, reasonable adjustment and flexibility is an effective way to increase production capacity.
In addition to the planning and improvement of the layout, process upgrading is also a major way to solve the problem of production capacity. Compared to the graphics required for passing the level, the graphics used in the process upgrade are not complicated, and many components can even save a lot through some abandoned production lines that are still in work. Players can set up additional production lines, or use the scrap of the main line to upgrade the production of materials. Upgrading the process at the right time can greatly improve the efficiency of production and processing.
Similarly, the assembly line of upgrading materials also requires players to plan a little to avoid affecting the production of the main line. Reasonable arrangement of wiring and upgrading, complementary to each other, is a good production mode.
Limited levels, unlimited possibilities
In Alien Factory, in addition to the levels designed by the developers for players, the game launched the Alien Factory - Puzzle Challenger DLC in June 2021, through which players can freely create puzzles and publish them for others to play, and also can view and experience difficult or interesting puzzles designed by other expert players.
Adhering to the tenet of "Unlimited Creativity", Alien Factory launched the latest version of the official support mod on February 25 this year, and built an official website to collect and classify various mods. Players can view the introduction and evaluation of all mods by logging in to the website, and download the favorite mod package, which is convenient and fast.
Alien Factory also has a special mod setting option in the game, players can enter the official website with one click, or they can quickly open the folder where the mod is stored. At the same time, players can quickly and directly operate the mod, reducing the difficulty of mod management.
Mercury has also experimented with some interesting mods, such as additional storage centers that can be arranged everywhere, so that some production areas far from the initial center no longer have to transport the produced graphics through extremely long conveyor belts, and "sandbox cheat devices" that can directly generate corresponding products through electrical signals, most of which can be inserted and used on existing archives.
brief summary
Alien Factory is only a 2D strategy building game, but it has a high degree of gameplay. Completing levels is not the whole game, players can give full play to their imagination in this game, enjoy the thrill of building as much as they want, or carefully plan each route, plus rich and interesting mods, everyone can build their own "Alien Factory".