Hello everyone! We have something a little bit different for you today! Our topic for this devlog is the future more specifically, where we are with the development of shapez 2, what still needs to be done and how were looking at the Early Access release. In general, it should give you a better insight of how we work. You could technically call it a roadmap, though all the information wed like to be included is a bit too wordy to be put into a single fancy image. Youll have to do with a 5-page devlog again. Sorry!

Demo reception

To get us started, lets talk about the demo again. Two weeks ago we shared a survey with everyone. Theres a lot of very useful information here that will help us determine the sentiment on the demo now that its over and gives us more to work with when it comes to the eventual release of the game. However, we would like to share the results of one of the questions.
These are the grades you all gave the shapez 2 demo. Of course, these results will be biased. We shared the demo within the Discord and the blog, so the people filling out the survey will be big fans of shapez. Its safe to assume that the grades will be higher than they would be if we were to ask a group of players that have no prior knowledge of shapez. However, even if we were to subtract a point of every grade for a possibly more accurate score, were very happy with the responses. It fills us with confidence that the demo gets such high scores, considering the flaws it had most of which have been fixed by now.

Shapez 2 today & the road ahead

Shapez 2 and the development thereof is looking very promising. With the demo, we were able to show what were capable of, now that were more than just a single person working on a game. We want to deliver the same quality for Early Access, but aspire to go beyond. The biggest challenge we face now is to finalize the newer mechanics. The demo mostly consisted of proven mechanics, things from shapez 1 that we know work well. Shapez 2 and its Early Access will of course have a lot of new mechanics as well, which require more iterations and testing to make sure theyre functional and fun. So, let's start to look ahead. There are three phases: developing the core mechanics, making them work in the game & polishing everything up for publishing. This system is used when it comes to developing mechanics, but it also applies to the game as a whole.

Phase 1: Game Mechanics

The beating heart of any game are the mechanics and core elements. Were still partly in this phase, developing new mechanics, reworking old mechanics and gathering feedback on everything to make sure it all feels right. Its a lengthy process, but you cant really continue when parts of the core game are still missing. Currently, were happy with the following major mechanics:

• Fluids
• Wires
• Crystals
• Research
• Building layers
• Blueprint library
• Pin mechanics
• Space belts & tunnels
• Shape types (including the reworked Windmill shape)
• The majority of buildings
• Colorblind mode (see below!)
• ...and many more smaller features and improvement to tie everything together

This is not to say that we will never change anything about these mechanics ever again, but were confident that they are fun and work as intended leading into Early Access.
Colorblind mode colors have patterns to help differentiate them if two or more colors look alike
Colorblind mode these patterns are also applied to icons in the UI There are also some mechanics that are still in the concept or prototype phase and were actively gathering feedback on how they should work. Once the concept is sound, we can finalize the concept and work on implementing it all into the game. These mechanics are as followed:

• Trains
• Chain miners & Fluid Extractors
• Infinite Research (not yet started)
• MAMs (Make Anything Machines): Everything you need to make a MAM is in the game, but there currently is no incentive to make it without the Infinite Research goals.

Were aiming to have all the major mechanics done by the end of April. When everything is functional, its time to move onto the next phase.

Phase 2: Production

This is the phase where you turn the mechanics from phase 1 into a completed package. It includes all the visuals, quality of life improvements, placement, optimization, sounds and music all in the name of making shapez 2 a nice experience. Lets go through a couple of these points.
Wires are functional, but everything is still missing its visuals
Fluid pipes were in already, but got some improved visuals We are always improving the simulation (dont make me link the blog again). Currently, our focus lies on the precision issues of shapes and factories that are not on your screen. This is important to make sure every shape is where it should be and the factory keeps behaving when you look away for a second. Additionally, we have lofty goals when it comes to maintaining performance for huge factories. Not all our planned improvements made it into the demo but did get implemented shortly after, so its already in a very good state compared to what you got to try. We didnt stop there though: its our goal to allow for 500k to 1 million buildings in a save on an average PC setup. For context, shapez 1 would start stuttering at 50k on the same system. Then theres our planned input rework. Shapez 2 works well with its default keybinds, but things start to break down a bit when you start customizing them. Its very easy to produce conflicts or unexpected behavior rebind Shift at your own discretion. When it comes to physical keys, there are some issues as well. For example, on the German QWERTZ layout you have to press Ctrl+Y instead of the expected Ctrl+Z to undo an action. Outliers like these are very difficult to fix, but not impossible. Other ongoing work includes readability improvements like the overview mode needing improved visualizations and a statistics panel. How long this phase will take is hard to predict, but were currently planning to spend about three to four months to get this phase right. That puts us around early August!

Phase 3: Polishing

Now, the gameplay is mostly done. Theres still a lot to do though! This is where we work on the tutorial and the knowledge panels with all the necessary content. The research goals need images or videos and the game should be localized for all the major languages.
Work on UI is also always ongoing, but you can now bind blueprint and folders to your toolbar!
New animation when you deliver your first shape This is also the moment where we do a lot of testing of all parts of the game with the help of the community and external partners. A feature may work in phase 2 but a bug could still suddenly rear its head when youre finalizing it with an image. At this point its also time to work on the trailer for the Early Access release. The visuals will be done by this point, so we can record the footage we need. This phase should take about one or two months, putting us around September or possibly October.

Early Access

So looking at this all, its unrealistic well be ready for Early Access before September. Our bottomline is to release the game this year still. The latter half of the year already seems quite busy when it comes to factory games, so well need to find a good window of opportunity to release shapez 2 and we would like the game to be ready for us to jump on said opportunity. As weve always said, our outlook on Early Access is that while the game is technically not finished yet, it should feel and play like a complete and polished game. We dont want you to think youre missing out on anything by playing it early! A lot of you tried the demo and gave us incredibly valuable feedback on the game, and the same goes for Early Access. Well be confident in the state of the game, but there are always other perspectives and ideas to explore that could make shapez 2 even better. [hr][/hr] If youd like to be part of this process and support us during development, do consider supporting the game on Patreon. It helps us fund the ongoing development costs, and gives you access to bi-weekly Alpha builds with the newest features before they go into Phase 3. Your feedback on these builds will in turn help us make a better game. Another way to support us is by simply wishlisting the game on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/ That's it from us today. We hope to see you again in two weeks! ~ Tobias & the shapez 2 team

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[ 2024-04-04 18:21:58 CET ] [ Original post ]