Infinifactory (and how I want it to have my babies)

[FlowerChild]

3D Spacechem from the creator of both that title and Infiniminer (the game that inspired Minecraft)? Fuck yeah with a cherry on top.

It's rare I spend this much on a game these days, and I don't think I've ever bought a game the day the early access is made available, but this was one I simply could not resist. This is pretty much how I've wanted voxel style automation to work ever since I first tried SpaceChem, and I think it's only fair that the guy that came up with that title is the one that's made it a reality.

I'm only about 10 levels in, so I can't speak to the long term play value at present, but just paused to write this quick post and say that I'm having a blast. For those of you that enjoy automation in BTW, I doubt you would be disappointed with this title.

[Taleric]

Looks sharp :)
Are you scored on the number of blocks used and speed? Is every mission free form or are some block limitations?

[FlowerChild]

Looks sharp :)
Are you scored on the number of blocks used and speed? Is every mission free form or are some block limitations?

You are scored on them (I assume you mean the speed of the machine, not of you completing the puzzle), similar to Spacechem, but the evaluation and comparison doesn't seem to be implemented yet, so you have no idea how you stand next to the performance of others. So, right now, you're only really competing vs. your own designs.

Because yeah, optimizing designs was probably one of the most addictive aspects of SpaceChem ;)

Telling you man, taking this into 3D makes it all the more head-exploding. I think I just discovered a whole new set of neurons that were previously going unused.

[gaga654]

Ah yeah, I've loved Zachtronics ever since I played the codex of alchemical engineering years ago... thanks for the heads up on this game, I'll definitely have to check it out.

[jorgebonafe]

Looks really cool... I found a podcast with the author talking about the game:

http://game-wisdom.com/podcast/infinifactory

[devak]

I saw a Let's Play, and the guy was kind of dumb and my superiority complex forced me to buy and play it.

So i'm installing it now.

[Gilberreke]

I've always said that I'd love the guy to do a Minecraft mod, but this is just as good :)

Not sure if I can afford the game right now, I'm looking into it right now though :)

[FlowerChild]

Stayed up way too late playing this last night so I can present some more impressions. I've completed 4 "worlds" now, and am a couple of levels into the 4th (where you first gain access to the destructo grinder blocks and blockers).

*Really* cool puzzle-based automation design. Beyond "Spacechem in 3D" I really like how gravity is being used as a design constraint, much like water flow in Minecraft. The conveyors don't allow you to move stuff upwards, which brings an element of having to minimize the vertical space your contraptions occupy. This is a pretty standard consideration for BTW players in automation, but I thought it cool to see it worked into this design.

One aspect that seems to have been lost from SpaceChem that I miss though, is carrying over individual components of factories from one level to another that you could then use as part of your overall factory designs in future levels. I thought that provided a really cool sense of continuity in that game, as it made it feel more worthwhile to design a really compact efficient system because you could then make use of it later.

Like I mentioned in the post above, being able to compare the speed and size of your designs to other players doesn't seem to be in the game yet either, so the whole optimization aspect of the game doesn't really shine at present. I find myself often times deciding to just brute force through levels, even though I know I could come up with a more efficient design, because there's currently a "why bother?" aspect to things.

So, short version: if you're a big fan of SpaceChem like I am, this is well worth playing as the move into 3D is a significant advance to that kind of automation gameplay. If you haven't played SpaceChem, then I'd recommend you start there as this game provides a similar (albeit expanded into a 3rd dimension) form of gameplay, but in a far more complete manner.

I've always said that I'd love the guy to do a Minecraft mod, but this is just as good :)

Well, what it is lacking that a Minecraft mod would have is context in which to build. The story is quite cute, and I like the way it's presented in an unobtrusive minimalist way, but each level is really a one-off puzzle that doesn't have much relation to the others in terms of gameplay, other than with regards to the difficulty progression.

[kjbrona]

So I bought it based on FC and Notch gushing over it. ;)

I broke it in like 2 minutes.
You know where you come to the 1st room with the guys sitting and standing ... if you jetpack over them your jetpack stops working and the "invisible" wall keeps you from getting back to the activation point of what I guess is a cut scene. Me and my damn need to take the road less traveled.
Looks fun otherwise.

[FlowerChild]

Looks fun otherwise.

Otherwise? You're playing an early access game. Intentionally trying to break it will have predictable results.

[FlowerChild]

Actually, scratch some of what I said above about not having any scores to compare your own performance to. Not sure if it was an update I didn't notice, or they just weren't appearing yesterday because there was nothing to compare to, but am now getting a graph of how my solutions rank compared to other players.

[Taleric]

Cool :)

I don't care for timed play that you can fail by but love to compair my runs so I can ooh-awe at speed runs of stuff ect.

Really have to go back and complete space chem :P
Late game your brain just lights on fire. You could draw up wall sized schematics of everything going on.

Too bad there are not modules you can carry over, I know in KSP it is a relief for known complex bit builds.

[FlowerChild]

Too bad there are not modules you can carry over, I know in KSP it is a relief for known complex bit builds.

Yeah, it's a relief, but I think it's also very important for a sense of continuity in something like this, and to motivate the player to refine their builds, knowing that they're going to make use of that effort in the future, and not just as a one shot.

KSP is a good example of that, as once they added assemblies to the game, I felt much more motivated to refine my lifter designs as I knew they'd be used for multiple launches. If you're just going to scrap it after using it once, brute forcing it tends to win out.

[Gilberreke]

God, this game is so addictive. Haven't got any complaints so far. I have a few designs that show out in no-man's land on the histogram, so I assume I found some very optimized builds.

Discussion of advanced techniques people may want to figure out for themselves...

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Is anyone using clocks? I haven't found a need for them yet, but seems like on the IRC a bunch of people use em. I think they mostly don't know how to split input without clocks, though it's not that hard once you figure it out.

[FlowerChild]

Discussion of advanced techniques people may want to figure out for themselves...

Spoiler

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Is anyone using clocks? I haven't found a need for them yet, but seems like on the IRC a bunch of people use em. I think they mostly don't know how to split input without clocks, though it's not that hard once you figure it out.

What do you mean by clocks? Is this some kind of block that I don't know about or are you talking about delaying input sources by sending them on a detour or what?

Usually for splitting input I use a sensor + pusher. I haven't been following any forums or what have you for the game as I want to do at least one play through solving the puzzles on my own.

[Gilberreke]

Discussion of advanced techniques people may want to figure out for themselves...

Spoiler

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Clocks as in a block that goes around a track with a sensor, so you can trigger something every X ticks. To me it seems really clunky, but apparently plenty of people use em :/

[FlowerChild]

Discussion of advanced techniques people may want to figure out for themselves...

Spoiler

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Clocks as in a block that goes around a track with a sensor, so you can trigger something every X ticks. To me it seems really clunky, but apparently plenty of people use em :/

Huh, interesting. I never thought of using your construction blocks in that way. Only ever thought of moving the "factory" blocks, but soon as you said above, realized I could just leave them suspended mid air, and they'd drop onto a conveyor or what have you to do the above.

But no, I've definitely never felt the need for that if I didn't even know about it :)

Given blocks input into your system at a constant rate, you've got a built in timing mechanism without need of making your own clock. You essentially already have one that's ticking at the rate of block input, which is exactly what you need most of the time.

[jorgebonafe]

I bought it. Just played through the first set of puzzles, until the first performance review. Its 4 am. I must take a break.

So many games, so little time. Life is too short.

[FlowerChild]

Damn you Gil!

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I ran into a bit of trouble with this last level I was playing, where I really should have ripped up a large chunk of my machine, but thanks to the above, it turned into "...or I could just drop a clock in there...".

I should lock myself in a lead room when I want to finish a game like this without spoilers :)

And further spoilers on where they come in super handy:

At a certain point in the game the shapes you have to weld together become very tricky, and as a result, space around the final item is at a premium. So much so, that I couldn't fit both a sensor and a pusher to get an object moving again once assembled at least not without basically entirely redesigning a complex level from scratch. However, I was able to cause the final piece falling into place from up high to set off a sensor, which started a clock, which then triggered the pusher a while later.

So, in terms of running a continual clock that triggers in cycles, I've yet to encounter a situation where I'd need one. However, to insert a delay into triggering something, they can indeed be really useful

Going to go back and spoiler a bunch of stuff in previous post so hopefully others don't wind up having this unintentionally spoiled for them. Not cool casually dropping spoiler bombs like that on a puzzle game Gil :\

[Gilberreke]

Apologies, didn't mean to spoil anything :/

[FlowerChild]

Apologies, didn't mean to spoil anything :/

It's ok man, just please keep in mind that for people like me a lot of the fun of these kinds of games is figuring out everything on your own.

In this case it was particularly poor timing as the topic you brought up just happened to be an immediate solution to the puzzle I was working on. I actually stopped playing entirely after that out of frustration as it felt like I was cheating from that point forward given I hadn't come up with the solution on my own, and it's not really obvious that you can even do what you were talking about if you're following along with the "lessons" the game is teaching you with each level (maybe it's revealed later in the game or you're supposed to figure it out yourself...don't know).

Was only a couple of hours later when I came up with an alternate approach that I was able to go back to the game and start having fun again. Even still, it's rather frustrating to have been robbed of discovering that bit on my own and now I'm fighting with myself as to whether to use it or make a conscious effort to block that technique out of my problem solving. I'm having to do a fair amount of metagaming trying to figure out when I "should" know how to do that now, which is really fucking with my ability to just get lost in the experience like I was previously.

So yeah, please be careful with that kind of stuff in the future. This really is a rare gem of a game, and I doubt I'm the only one here that would like to be able to experience it with fresh eyes.

[devak]

Ok i've gotten quite far already.

So far the levels are straightforward. Some comparisons baffle me (50 cycles in the early levels? what?) but overall i'm quite... average. I can build slightly more compact than average (yay!) and cycles are in the green, but some really have me stumped as to how some optimize it further.

It's also clever in that sometimes, it's better to build one huge assembly (did that on the level with the cross and 4 stamps) and sometimes it's better to build smaller subassembly's.

The one mission that left me stumped was the one with the rotation block. It's absolutely not obvious that it only works properly with welded blocks. I thought that it only workings once for single blocks was some bug until i looked it up.

[CryoPhönix]

I have to say this is really a lot of fun.
Getting from "How am I supposed to do that?!" to "I did it!" and afterwards optimising and testing out new ideas and approaches is just awesome.

Only thing that annoys me a bit is the way it compares cycles with others.
I wondered how some people could achieve the same in half the time.
Then I realised that you can change the input frequence.

[Gilberreke]

I always set input frequency to max at the start of every level. Makes the game that more satisfying. Certain levels I have to back down the frequency, but most of them, max frequency works just fine, especially early on.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I've just been leaving the input rate at default for now. I realized early on I could adjust it in order to speed up my final builds, but opted for the "playing on default settings" approach for my initial play through.