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Devlog 009 - Crystals
While were still in the early development stages of crystals, we would like to walk you through how they work and our vision for the mechanic. Be sure to let us know what you think! Please keep in mind that the current visuals for the crystals are placeholders and will be changed before early access.
Crystals are a brand new shape type you will encounter in the final stages of the game. Theyre pieces of solidified colored paint that are quite brittle in nature and should be handled with care. This fragility means crystals come with their own set of rules and mechanics, which will shake up the production order youre used to and provide greater depth and diversity when it comes to producing shapes.
You'll come across the basics of crystals in the final milestones of the game. The more complex crystal milestones will be an optional challenge for those who dare.
Crystals are created using the Crystal Generator, a machine that will turn any paint you pipe into it into a hardened shape. The shape the crystal takes on depends on what you use as a mold: the Crystal Generator will fill up any empty spaces including supports of the shape you send through the machine up to the uppermost layer of the shape.
Doesnt matter if youre a bit square or a star as long as the space is occupied by any shape, even other crystals, the Crystal Generator will not pour paint into it. Additionally, crystal isnt any specific shape, like a circle or a square, and cannot be painted after hardening. Its 100% solid crystal with the color of the paint you used to create it.
The tricky thing with crystals is their aforementioned fragility; if youre not careful with them, theyll shatter into millions of incredibly tiny shapes, unfit for production. Thats to say, they break and disappear. So, when it comes to keeping these crystals intact, there are two rules to keep in mind: 1. Separating (cutting, swapping) two or more connected crystal parts will cause all adjacent crystals to shatter. Crystals can be safely separated from normal shapes (molds), however.
To help you determine when two crystals are connected, here is the code:
2. Dropping crystals on top of another shape using a Stacker will cause the dropped crystals to shatter. Shapes can be safely dropped on top of crystals, however.
The inclusion of crystals will seriously change up the way you need to think about creating shapes. It essentially inverts your production; instead of directly producing the shape you need, you need to produce the exact opposite and leave the spaces you want the paint to harden in unoccupied. The molds themselves could be considered an intermediate-level shape goal, with parts that can either be discarded or reused continuously. Considering the fragility of crystals, its wise to delay the inclusion of crystals in your production chain as long as possible. Prepare everything you can, produce the ideal mold for the crystal shape goal you need, and only pour the paint after everything else is done. If your shape goal only requires one color of crystals, you will only need one mold. However, if multiple colors of crystals are required, youll need one mold for every color and pour the paint in stages. Once all the different crystal components have been poured, combine the crystals using a half swapper, for example. Just remember: do not separate or drop crystals!
[hr][/hr] Thats all we have to share on crystals for now. This mechanic is still in early development, so be sure to let us know your thoughts on this addition! You can join the discussion on the shapez 2 Discord server. If you like what you see, be sure to wishlist shapez 2 to support the game and stay up to date with development! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/ ~Tobias & the shapez 2 team
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[ 2023-09-15 07:18:13 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone! Were working on a new shape type thats coming to shapez 2: Crystals. These crystals will massively shake up the endgame and come with a couple of handling instructions. Before we get into it, be sure to wishlist shapez 2 if you havent already! It really helps us out with the release of the game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/ [hr][/hr]
Devlog 009 - Crystals
While were still in the early development stages of crystals, we would like to walk you through how they work and our vision for the mechanic. Be sure to let us know what you think! Please keep in mind that the current visuals for the crystals are placeholders and will be changed before early access.
What are crystals?
Crystals are a brand new shape type you will encounter in the final stages of the game. Theyre pieces of solidified colored paint that are quite brittle in nature and should be handled with care. This fragility means crystals come with their own set of rules and mechanics, which will shake up the production order youre used to and provide greater depth and diversity when it comes to producing shapes.
You'll come across the basics of crystals in the final milestones of the game. The more complex crystal milestones will be an optional challenge for those who dare.
Creating crystals
Crystals are created using the Crystal Generator, a machine that will turn any paint you pipe into it into a hardened shape. The shape the crystal takes on depends on what you use as a mold: the Crystal Generator will fill up any empty spaces including supports of the shape you send through the machine up to the uppermost layer of the shape.
Doesnt matter if youre a bit square or a star as long as the space is occupied by any shape, even other crystals, the Crystal Generator will not pour paint into it. Additionally, crystal isnt any specific shape, like a circle or a square, and cannot be painted after hardening. Its 100% solid crystal with the color of the paint you used to create it.
Handle with care
The tricky thing with crystals is their aforementioned fragility; if youre not careful with them, theyll shatter into millions of incredibly tiny shapes, unfit for production. Thats to say, they break and disappear. So, when it comes to keeping these crystals intact, there are two rules to keep in mind: 1. Separating (cutting, swapping) two or more connected crystal parts will cause all adjacent crystals to shatter. Crystals can be safely separated from normal shapes (molds), however.
To help you determine when two crystals are connected, here is the code:
2. Dropping crystals on top of another shape using a Stacker will cause the dropped crystals to shatter. Shapes can be safely dropped on top of crystals, however.
A brand new challenge
The inclusion of crystals will seriously change up the way you need to think about creating shapes. It essentially inverts your production; instead of directly producing the shape you need, you need to produce the exact opposite and leave the spaces you want the paint to harden in unoccupied. The molds themselves could be considered an intermediate-level shape goal, with parts that can either be discarded or reused continuously. Considering the fragility of crystals, its wise to delay the inclusion of crystals in your production chain as long as possible. Prepare everything you can, produce the ideal mold for the crystal shape goal you need, and only pour the paint after everything else is done. If your shape goal only requires one color of crystals, you will only need one mold. However, if multiple colors of crystals are required, youll need one mold for every color and pour the paint in stages. Once all the different crystal components have been poured, combine the crystals using a half swapper, for example. Just remember: do not separate or drop crystals!
[hr][/hr] Thats all we have to share on crystals for now. This mechanic is still in early development, so be sure to let us know your thoughts on this addition! You can join the discussion on the shapez 2 Discord server. If you like what you see, be sure to wishlist shapez 2 to support the game and stay up to date with development! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/ ~Tobias & the shapez 2 team
Join the community:
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[ 2023-09-15 07:18:13 CET ] [ Original post ]
shapez 2
tobspr Games
Developer
tobspr Games
Publisher
Coming soon
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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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