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Devlog 002 - Cutters
Cutters have often caused confusing in shapez 1 already. Here's a quick reminder how they work:
Basically the right side of the cutter always outputs the right half of the shape, no matter the orientation. There is actually a good reason to not just cut the shape in half like a wedge on a belt: It would break blueprints. Imagine having a blueprint with cutters and rotating it - the blueprint would now work differently, being effectively useless. However, we felt that this is still a suboptimal solution, since there were frequent "bug" reports of the cutter not working, which was due to a misunderstanding how it works. For shapez 2, we wanted to revisit this mechanic, and here's what we ran into:
As mentioned in the previous devlog, one step to make the cutter more obvious was to make it fully animated:
However .. Besides of the animation & mesh being work in progress, I'm not sure this makes it any better at all to be honest. While the process is more visible - it's still very hard to determine how the cutter will cut.
Another issue is - while the camera rotation in shapez 1 was fixed, you can fully rotate the camera in shapez 2. In order to determine how a cutter will cut, you now also have to factor in the camera rotation. For example, if you revisit the gif from above - are you wondering why the cutter is putting the right side on the left belt? This is actually because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees - the cutter is actually facing downwards. To better show in which direction the camera is currently facing, we added a small compass:
As well as a small indicator (WIP!) on the shape:
At some point, there was the suggestion for belt relative rotations. What does this mean? Basically, right now, all shapes always point upwards. This means that the cutter also always has to cut from top to bottom. If the north of the shape would now be aligned instead towards the direction of the belt, the cutter could always cut in that direction, because even if you rotate the cutter, you'd get the same result.
While this would partially solve the cutter issue - it now introduces a whole bunch of other issues. For example, as you can see in the gif, it's now extremely hard to predict how the stacker will combine the shapes, because they rotate on every belt corner. Which is, after quite an extensive discussion on the shapez 2 discord, we decided against it.
Another issue we ran into: In which direction would you actually have to deliver the shape into the hub? In shapez 1, the shape had to be rotated in the correct direction in order to be accepted. However, can you spot the issue on this screenshot?
Because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees, it looks like you would be delivering the shape in the correct rotation, while in fact you are delivering a shape that is flipped. This lead to a lot of confusion - and even bug reports like "HUB is not accepting shapes". To avoid this, we simply now allow the shape to be delivered in any rotation into the hub (However - if you are looking for a more hardcore experience, we are considering to add an achievement to deliver all shapes in the correct orientation! And probably also an option in the game creation settings, although probably not on the initial release). PS: Did I already mention the artists are currently reworking the hub? Follow the shapez 2 store page to receive future updates!
Another improvement we made to make using cutters (and other buildings) a little easier: Whenever you are about to place a building, it shows you the predicted output:
We've been really trying a lot to make the cutter easier to understand, however even with all the improvements, the cutter can be hard to understand. Because the cutter is the very first processing building you unlock, we felt that it can quickly overwhelm new players. Thus, we came up with a solution - A "light" cutter which only outputs one half of the shape, and trashes the other side. This avoids the whole directional conflict, has a much simpler animation, and is easier to understand: (The mesh is a placeholder)
Later in the game, you can then unlock the full cutter as an additional unlock, effectively "flattening" the difficulty curve a bit, while you can still choose to rush it. And the great thing is, the light cutter still has its use case after unlocking the full cutter: If you only need one half of the shape, it's more efficient (space & throughput) to use the light cutter.
Be sure to follow Shapez 2 on Steam to receive notifications about future devlogs! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/
I hope you enjoyed the read, and stay tuned for the next devlog, where we will cover the new stacking mechanic in Shapez 2! ~Tobias
[ 2023-04-14 19:50:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone again! The response to the latest devlog was super positive, so I thought I'd try to give you more regular updates now! This devlog is covering the topic of cutters, rotationally dependent shapes and much more. Enjoy the read!
Why cutters are difficult
How it started
Cutters have often caused confusing in shapez 1 already. Here's a quick reminder how they work:
Basically the right side of the cutter always outputs the right half of the shape, no matter the orientation. There is actually a good reason to not just cut the shape in half like a wedge on a belt: It would break blueprints. Imagine having a blueprint with cutters and rotating it - the blueprint would now work differently, being effectively useless. However, we felt that this is still a suboptimal solution, since there were frequent "bug" reports of the cutter not working, which was due to a misunderstanding how it works. For shapez 2, we wanted to revisit this mechanic, and here's what we ran into:
Making the cutter 'open'
As mentioned in the previous devlog, one step to make the cutter more obvious was to make it fully animated:
However .. Besides of the animation & mesh being work in progress, I'm not sure this makes it any better at all to be honest. While the process is more visible - it's still very hard to determine how the cutter will cut.
Camera Rotation / North indicator
Another issue is - while the camera rotation in shapez 1 was fixed, you can fully rotate the camera in shapez 2. In order to determine how a cutter will cut, you now also have to factor in the camera rotation. For example, if you revisit the gif from above - are you wondering why the cutter is putting the right side on the left belt? This is actually because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees - the cutter is actually facing downwards. To better show in which direction the camera is currently facing, we added a small compass:
As well as a small indicator (WIP!) on the shape:
Belt Relative Rotation
At some point, there was the suggestion for belt relative rotations. What does this mean? Basically, right now, all shapes always point upwards. This means that the cutter also always has to cut from top to bottom. If the north of the shape would now be aligned instead towards the direction of the belt, the cutter could always cut in that direction, because even if you rotate the cutter, you'd get the same result.
While this would partially solve the cutter issue - it now introduces a whole bunch of other issues. For example, as you can see in the gif, it's now extremely hard to predict how the stacker will combine the shapes, because they rotate on every belt corner. Which is, after quite an extensive discussion on the shapez 2 discord, we decided against it.
Rotation for Research Goals
Another issue we ran into: In which direction would you actually have to deliver the shape into the hub? In shapez 1, the shape had to be rotated in the correct direction in order to be accepted. However, can you spot the issue on this screenshot?
Because the camera is rotated by 180 degrees, it looks like you would be delivering the shape in the correct rotation, while in fact you are delivering a shape that is flipped. This lead to a lot of confusion - and even bug reports like "HUB is not accepting shapes". To avoid this, we simply now allow the shape to be delivered in any rotation into the hub (However - if you are looking for a more hardcore experience, we are considering to add an achievement to deliver all shapes in the correct orientation! And probably also an option in the game creation settings, although probably not on the initial release). PS: Did I already mention the artists are currently reworking the hub? Follow the shapez 2 store page to receive future updates!
Operation Previews
Another improvement we made to make using cutters (and other buildings) a little easier: Whenever you are about to place a building, it shows you the predicted output:
Simplifying the onboarding / "Light" Cutter
We've been really trying a lot to make the cutter easier to understand, however even with all the improvements, the cutter can be hard to understand. Because the cutter is the very first processing building you unlock, we felt that it can quickly overwhelm new players. Thus, we came up with a solution - A "light" cutter which only outputs one half of the shape, and trashes the other side. This avoids the whole directional conflict, has a much simpler animation, and is easier to understand: (The mesh is a placeholder)
Later in the game, you can then unlock the full cutter as an additional unlock, effectively "flattening" the difficulty curve a bit, while you can still choose to rush it. And the great thing is, the light cutter still has its use case after unlocking the full cutter: If you only need one half of the shape, it's more efficient (space & throughput) to use the light cutter.
Follow & Wishlist!
Be sure to follow Shapez 2 on Steam to receive notifications about future devlogs! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/
I hope you enjoyed the read, and stay tuned for the next devlog, where we will cover the new stacking mechanic in Shapez 2! ~Tobias
[ 2023-04-14 19:50:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
shapez 2
tobspr Games
Developer
tobspr Games
Publisher
Coming soon
Release
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shapez 2 is supposed to be the long-awaited sequel to the original shapez - an automation, management & factory-building game currently available on Steam - built for audiences both new and old.
Our aim with shapez 2 would be to create a worthy successor to our original title - one which has a much higher production value, more content, better replayability and, crucially, looks more visually pleasing - this means that we’d like to include many more features for you… And we’ve outlined some of our ideas below!
Though we're still working on the prototype, we've got a solid vision of how the game could look - one that we'd love to share with you and get your feedback on. We would also like to point out that funding for shapez 2 isn’t yet fully secured - so whilst we’ll do our best to see this project through to completion, the outline below is our vision for our ideal game, rather than a set of specific promises.
Gameplay Overview
The goal of shapez 2 is to build, automate, and scale your factory in order to process increasing numbers, types, and colours of shapes! You’d be building machines, placing conveyor belts, and designing vast networks in order to transport your goods. Whilst to begin with you’d be focused on extracting pure shapes from the ground, you would soon discover a vast array of colours - unlocking an even vaster number of combinations... And, well, then the fun begins.All sounding a bit familiar? Don’t worry, we plan to shake things up a bit this time… As you’ll see below.
2D + 3D
shapez 2 will, by default, have a 3D view. However - we know how crucial being able to build efficiently is, so you will be able to seamlessly toggle between 2D and 3D!Layers
Complementing our new 3D view, shapez 2 will also feature multiple layers! Whilst in shapez there was only one additional layer (the wires layer), shapez 2 will provide players with up to 3 layers to switch between. You'll be able to place buildings, conveyor belts, and wires on each of them! (And, don't worry if you like to keep things simple - the additional layers are completely optional!)View into the machines
Whilst shapez only had ‘closed' buildings (which could sometimes make it difficult to see what was going on!), in shapez 2, all buildings are ‘open' - allowing you to see exactly how your shapes are being processed! This is a big one for us - and we're hoping it'll make it easier for new players to get into the game. It'll be a much more visual process!New engine, better performance, better accuracy
We're writing shapez 2 completely from scratch in an entirely new engine! This'll allow us to maximise performance (using all available cores & GPU power), leading to vastly improved performance, even with our new 3D visuals. (It's actually insane to us how many different buildings shapez could handle, considering it's basically a website!)Islands
shapez had a very uniform map (which severely limited exploration) - and that's something that we wanted to change this time. In shapez 2 space will no longer be unlimited - instead you need to craft islands to expand your base!This feature works well with our next one… Mass Transport!
Mass Transport
With the addition of new biomes, you'll be needing new infrastructure to transport your resources over long distances! In shapez 2, there will be a mass transport feature unlockable through the research tree. (More on that later!)Whilst these may not look exactly like trains, they'll behave in a very similar way!
Pipes & Fluids
Another new addition for shapez 2 - pipes! Not only will there be a number of new fluids, but colors will be fluids rather than being transported on a belt. (Not to worry, though - you'll still be able to package them on belts with a new building that we're introducing!)Research Tree
On the topic of replayability, we're introducing a new research tree - featuring a number of branches designed to make progress less linear! Whilst there will still be a main branch (i.e. cutters, rotators, pipes, stackers), there will be additional sub-branches, allowing you to focus on each of the available buildings and unlock upgrades for them (for example, the 180-degrees rotator is an available upgrade after unlocking the default rotator. You don't have to unlock it, but if it looks useful to you, go for it!)Blueprint Library
This was a feature that was actually planned for shapez, but sadly never made it into the original game. We'll fix this in shapez 2 by adding a complete blueprint library, as well as the ability to load/share blueprints easily!... and more:
- Modding support
- New shape mechanics
- Multiple game modes
- Customizable game creation
- All-new soundtrack
MINIMAL SETUP
- Processor: 3Ghz+ dual coreMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 10.1 capable GPU wit 1024 MB VRAM
- Storage: 2000 MB available space
- Processor: 3Ghz+ quad coreMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 11 capable GPU with 2048 MB VRAM
- Storage: 2000 MB available space
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