We know Learning Factory is mostly about machinery, logistics, and cats, of course! But it's also about chains of production, as you're mostly craft goods from your locally harvested resrouces.

And we have added so many farming tools throughout these years, that Learning Factory now qualifies as a legitimate farming game! You can sow, you can fertilize, you can harvest, you must mind the quality of soil... Sounds pretty farmey to us!

Which is why we were honored with an invitation to Valve's Farming Fest this year. And for you it means an awesome deal on Learning Factory and the DLCs, which are 34% and 13% off, respectively.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Shake that old wishlist or make a gift to someone special! Have a fruitful sale.

Hey factory builders!

Time goes by, v1.0 release is getting closer, and Learning Factory is becoming more polished, more complete, and more alive? We suppose one could say so: there's obviously more action around the KOTOVOD campus, so let's talk about that.

If you want to read the extended version of these Diaries with more images,

Sometimes one factory is just not enough. Good that we now have the New Game+ mode to fix that! After you send out your first Catopia Ark expedition, you will be able to move to a planet it lands on.

The planet surface may be rather quirky (because it's generated), but you can prepare in advance: upgrading your Ark modules and fueling them with appropriate items provides you with significant bonuses, including additional buildings, better relations with Trade Guilds, extra terraforming tools, and much more! A great way to start a new game with new, unpredictable challenges.



If you head over to your Tavern, Dormitory, or one of your Labs, you'll notice that residing cats have a lot to say to you now! The official version is that cat-to-human transmitter, that was supposed to be working this whole time, was set to mute instead. Seriously though, we saw it in one of the YouTube videos about Learning Factory, and decided that we need that in the game! Another excuse to add more cat-related puns and references, too.



And while that thing is just for fun, animated Transporters that we're working on now, serve a greater purpose of making your factory look alive. Here's an example of how they look now, in beta mode:

[previewyoutube=D8scPyWsuc4;full][/previewyoutube]

You can turn it on and see for yourself in the game right now, but they will emerge in full glory within the next couple of weeks. We can't say for sure how long will it take, but conservative scenario is to release them in late May.

There are many iterations, because Transporters are one of the main structures in the game, and we want them to look real smooth when they're done, so we're taking this part of the game very seriously!

Among the changes in the past few updates there were a couple that do not sound very impressive, but do make game experience so much better. For example, many steps were made to optimize various parts of the game. Now the Zeppelins, Transporter laying, the growth of plants, and many other things run smoother than ever before.

Our in-game wiki has gone through a bunch of transformations as well. In the beginning, it was just describing objects at the Factory and provided some basic information about data science in real life. But now it also serves as your compendium for knowing how items are produced and sold around your factory. Use it at any time:



Of course, there were more fixes and fine tuning, and this is how it will most likely be in the upcoming months: all big things are in place, and now it's all about small details - which is where the proverbial devil is! These next months are going to be full of exciting grind.

With that in mind - we'll be back in a month, with more Learning Factory news! Or we can chat earlier - on our Discord server, for example. Until we meet again!

Another handful of kilobytes that make Learning Factory better:

• Zeppelins' highlight transparency decreased while they are in mid-air
  
• Zeppelin shadows transparency decreases while Zeppelins are high from the ground
  
• Decreased size of all Zeppelins (suggested by Milarky)
  
• 1 new hidden achievement
  
• Lots of bug fixes (kudos to Milarky, S'Kleer)
  

Hey factory workers!

So, apparently cat-to-human transmitter was turned on mute this whole time, but it is now fixed, and you will be able to know everything your cat researchers have to say about you and your Factory!

But there's also a bunch of important new/improved features in this week's update. Check it out:



[h2]v0.31.178 Released![/h2]
[h3]Gameplpay[/h3]

• Changed conditions for unlocking selected customization items
  
• All kinds of Dynamite now have slightly different delay times before blowing up
  
• Plantastic Cloning infinite research project is now 50% more efficient
  
• The first Catopia Ark to be launched by you will be upgraded to the max (courtesy of Dr. Katz, suggested by Milarky)
  
• Due to technical reasons Telemanipulator can no longer transfer items into Tunnels, X-Switchers, Priority Mergers and Balanced Mergers
  

• Cats in the Tavern, Dormitory, and Labs will now occasionally talk and make cat sounds
  
• Certain plants now visually react when a player passes them over on a hoverboard
  
• Animated Transporters (beta feature, turned off by default)
  

• Improved UI
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Updated interface for Data Storage window
  
• Added a context warning when there's a chance of a Linear Regression overfitting
  
• New accessibility option: more intense building highlighting (the color is also adjustable)
  
• New accessibility option: bigger interface elements for visually impaired players
  
• Added an option to turn off automatic cloud saves synchronization, for users with many saved games and slower internet connection
  
• Improved Steam Deck interface
  

• Performance optimization
  
• Optimization of Transporter laying
  
• Optimization of Storage units display
  
• Optimization of Neural Network training
  
• Optimization of plants' growth and multiplication
  
• Optimization of Zeppelins
  
• Optimization of game saving
  
• Decreased saved game file size
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer, GabboGero, Milarky)
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey factory builders! This update finally brings the core part of New game+ mode, that allows you to travel to weird and mysterious places. And if you upgrade your Catopia Ark, it will pay off with awesome bonuses to help you build on the new site!

[h2]v0.31.176 Released![/h2]

Update highlight: New game+ mode now available! Upon launching your first Catopia Ark expedition, you will be offered to move to another (randomly generated) planet, and start another factory there. Researching upgraded modules for Catopia Ark will provide you with additional bonuses. Have fun exploring the Universe!

• Re-rendered Transporters
  
• Added more variety for generating maps in Freeplay mode
  
• Improved speed of generating maps in Freeplay mode
  
• In-game wiki interface redesigned for your convenience
  
• Improved Zeppelin interface, increased space for route names
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Saved game loading optimization
  
• Improved Steam Deck text input
  
• Updated ChatGPT-made localizations
  
• Mass removal of trees optimized
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Czekoloczek, Malindara, bloom16night)
  
• Improved Steam Deck interface
  
• Minor changes in Steam Deck button layout
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey factory workers!

Here's yet another nice little update, providing you more (optional) challenge, adding some new content, and improving QoL a great deal.

[h2]v0.30.174 Released![/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Added an option to move to a more logistically challenging region shortly after finishing Tutorial; all items an buildings will be packed and moved along with you, the same goes for your hired cat scientists. This option is available when playing on the default map in Campaign mode
  
• Hill Manipulator is an upgrade for regular Manipulator, and can be placed exclusively on hills
  
• In Trade Relays, deals are conducted each minute
  
• When selecting a place for a plant to grow, mouse pointer will turn yellow if hovered over a tile that will apply 50% growth rate penalty for that plant
  
• Trade Relays and Trade Ports now have different capacity of items per deal
  
• Hard Rock Dynamite no longer creates lava pools in the Arctic biome, and leaves Underocean upon blowing up instead
  
• Graphic Card crafting cost decreased
  
• High Quality (++) Graphic Cards now require High Quality (++) Copper for crafting
  

• Re-rendered Advertising Cat Gate
  
• Animated water
  
• Plants visually react when player passes by them
  
• Selected plants display a special visual effect when passed by a player on a hoverboard
  
• Improved visualization of auto-fertilizing plants
  

• Added a new wiki article about adverising
  
• Running is turned on by default
  
• Setting up trade deals is easier now
  
• Added context warnings for the Laboratories
  
• Advertising Cat Gate interface updated
  
• Blueprint Library interface updated
  
• Interface improvements
  
• Steam Deck interface improvements
  
• Smoother Zeppelin movement on the mini map
  
• New accessibility options in the menu
  
• April Fool's Day cat jokes added
  

• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Koshae, Nameless98, Janibot, EdoX)
  
• Optimized performance when collecting all buildings from the map
  
• Saved games loading optimization
  
• Added several performance options for less powerful computers
  
• Small UI/UX fixes
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

It's been a long time, how have you been? We, as the title suggests, have been rollin!

If you want to read the extended version of these Diaries with more images,

We've rolled out a whole new game to Early Access: Craftomation 101 had a very nice start, and you're very welcome to check it out, be it the free demo, or the full game.

We've rolled out a demo for Learning Factory too! Got a friend who doesn't own the game yet? Let them know, they can now try it and, hopefully, fall in love with it. Because we have cats, automation, and machine learning, who could resist the temptation?!

And we keep rolling out updates for the game every two weeks, of course. Since we were not in touch for the whole two months, lots of things happened.

[h3]Steam Workshop is (mostly) open for business![/h3]

We always develop our games with mods on our minds, and in-game ways to share your works - such as map keys and scenarios - have been there for years. But now you can conveniently upload the fruits of your creative genius to Steam Workshop - as well as access the works of other players.



It is still in beta, but already you can upload your factories, blueprints, map generation keys, researcher bios and ruins (decorations that appear on any map upon generation and selected randomly from the pool).

If you need just a little push to start, some very simple and graphic instructions on making and uploading mods can be found here. Happy modding!

[h3]Meowengers: Endgame[/h3]
Although we're still working on the New Game+ mechanics, the framework for setting Catopia Arks all over the Universe is already in the game. After you launch your first expedition to space, a whole new set of upgrades for the next Arks: you'll be able to equip them with Copycat Deck, Creative Assembling Machine, Battlestar Gun Deck, Interstellar Store, Dune Terraforming Deck, Warp Storage, and Negative Mass Effect Generator! Here's an old vs. new image, so you could appreciate how badass they are:





For the moment they don't do anything, except for being an eye candy. But come the next updates, unlocking these tech New Game+ mechanics will introduce you to the New Game+ mode, in which you won't have to start from scratch Follow the news, or even better, join our Discord, where you can get instantly notified when the new stuff is out, and discuss it with us in the same place.

In that very same update, we introduced a huge list of QoL changes, as part of our ultimate pre-release polishing program. There are improved bits of tutorial, new stats, new contextual warnings, and new little features all over the game. Even Steam Deck, though officially not yet supported, got some attention!

We won't list all the changes here, you might not even instantly notice them if you haven't played the game for a while, but they're certainly there to make your life better! Oh, but if you do want to see that list, it is to be found here.

[h3]Something old, something new[/h3]
Even at this time of meticulous polishing, we are not stopping to add new content to the game. Sometimes ideas are coming from us, trying to add more depth to Learning Factory - quite literally at this time! Behold Lava Pump, that is capable of extracting precious metals straight from the molten core of Mars!

In the video below you might also notice the newly added Underground Storage units, which might not seem like a big deal, but it doubles potential storage space by extending it under the surface of the red planet:

[previewyoutube=d5sJUgEjqps;full][/previewyoutube]

And sometimes, our players inspire us: we noticed that some players hardly ever use Trade Ports because they're located at remote parts of the map. It happens that players establish their own production of goods that Ports offer by the time they unlock one of them, thus rendering Trade Ports obsolete. So, we made a smaller version of them.

Enter Trade Relays! They get unlocked significantly earlier and closer to the center of the map but have limited deals to offer. Naturally, all 5 Trade Guilds have their own relay design:





The remaining three are for you to discover in the game. We can't spoil everything, can we (though we would love to)?

We're also experimenting with visual effects for the environment, to make a game look lively. It's just one of our early efforts, but what do you folks think?

[previewyoutube=g7jur_O9Kpg;full][/previewyoutube]

The older buildings are also getting updated looks. Remember Data Storage? Here it is now:



And this is its partner, Linear Regression:



[h3]Whats next?[/h3]
The main highlight of the upcoming patch (scheduled for the upcoming week) is the option to migrate to another map shortly after finishing the tutorial. You will keep your research progress, and your buildings will be packed into your Inventory for your convenience.

There will be more updates in the art department, and then New Game+ will be just around the corner!

Stay tuned! Until we meet again.

Is it this time of the year again, folks?

Apparently, it is!

There are discounts on games! Go get yourself some awesome stuff:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/619150/while_True_learn/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/588560/VRobot_VR_Giant_Robot_Destruction_Simulator/

Have a great sale :)

Hey factory workers!

This update's main feature is Trade Relays: these are Trade Ports' younger siblings.

They appear closer to the center of the map, and are available earlier on the research tree. Our goal was to provide more alternative options for getting more advanced goods at the earlier stages of the game, along with providing an opportunity for the players to get acquainted with trading mechanics earlier on.

Oh, and as opposed to Trade Ports, Trade Relays can be removed with Dynamite, if you don't need them and/or they interrupt your factory-building plans.

Important note #1: this is an experimental feature, the mechanics might change in the future
Important note #2: Relays will appear on new campaign/freeplay maps only

[h2]v0.30.172 Released![/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New building type: Trade Relays!
  
• Loom now requires Yarn Balls for crafting
  
• Rope Maker now requires Yarn Balls for crafting
  
• Research costs for Cargo Zeppelins decreased
  
• Changed the recipe for crafting Trade Ports
  
• New trade deals added
  
• Selected trade deals rebalanced
  
• Minor improvements in Trade Ports working logics
  

• Linear Regression building re-rendered
  
• Data Storage building re-rendered
  

• Interface improved
  
• Improved context warnings for Stores
  
• Improved context warnings for ML Model buildings
  
• Added hotkeys for switching between previous/next categories
  
• Added an alternate hotkey for accessing search field
  
• Added an option to add custom pins on the map (suggested by , LoadRunner, )
  
• Updated interface of the Trade Ports window
  
• Localizations updated (special thanks to (WHITE), Kohsae, Dragocuore, Marcapus)
  

• Those who were helping us with community translations can now find their names in the credits
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer)
  

• Improved interface, added contextual hints for hotkeys
  
• Full list of hotkeys for Steam Deck can be found below
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey factory builders! As you might know, we have mostly finished adding new content to the game (although there're still aces up our metaphorical sleeves!), so most of the work these days is about making the game more comfortable and appealing to you!

This is why this update has a very long list of QoL improvements! This will probably happen again. Update the game, enjoy the new stuff, and please share your impressions in any form that is convenient to you.

[h2]v0.30.171 Released![/h2]

[h3]Graphics & Audio[/h3]

• Re-rendered Cat House Maker
  
• Animated Hammock Weaver
  
• Cotton Gin animated
  
• Improved sounds
  

• New building: Lava Cooler extracts metals straight from the molten core of Mars
  
• 2 new upgrades for Underground Zeppelin (suggested by Lord Neodym)
  
• New mod type: create your own cat researcher
  
• 2 new hidden achievements
  
• Crafting Zeppelins now requires Ropes, but fewer Manipulators
  
• Increased rewards for selected Dr. Katz requests
  
• Catopia Ark modules can now be upgraded: invest precious resources to equip your space mission with a Copycat Deck, Creative Assembling Machine, Battlestar Gun Deck, Interstellar Store, Dune Terraforming Deck, Warp Storage, and Negative Mass Effect Generator. In the future, they will provide you with perks for 'New Game+' mode (to be introduced later)
  

• New stats: shows the share of loaded Transporters (with cats, or items, or both), the share of objects (items or cats) moving on Transporters (suggested by Hana), the share of occupied space in Zeppelins and Cat Zeppelins, and the share of working crafting and service buildings
  
• Stats on money now also displays the average amount of revenue per purchase (suggested by Prism1974)
  
• Stats on satisfied cats also shows stats on average loyalty of a cat served
  
• Optimized graph display in the stats
  
• Roadside Boutique now can display sales reports (as seen in Stores)
  
• The navigation of Zeppelins after moving/dismantling a Dock is slightly improved
  
• Added an option to automatically load buildings/item slots with respective items with a hotkey ('Y' by default) or a button (in buildings)
  
• Improved tutorials
  
• Improved interface
  
• 2 new mouse pointer types (cat paw-shaped!)
  
• Steam Deck support (partially) added: keyboard auto-calling, improved help & interface
  
• Added a pause button, located by the mini-map
  
• Configuration of buildings is copied when a Blueprint is created (suggested by Lord Neodym)
  
• When a cat increases their Loyalty in a service building, it is visibly displayed in a bubble
  
• The size and type of the mouse pointer on Steam Deck is independent from PC
  
• Contextual warnings for Docks
  
• Contextual warnings for crafting buildings
  
• Improved contextual warnings for Zeppelins
  
• Added an option to sync category of buildings in Construction window with the one currently selected on a player's building panel upon opening the former
  
• Added an optional visual panel for copying and saving Blueprints (turned off by default)
  
• Increased array of colors for marking ML clusters
  

• Mod loading time decreased
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Hana, Lord Neodym, S'Kleer)
  
• Localizations updated
  

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peek of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you in the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey everyone!

As you may know, 'Dinos vs. Robots' event kicks off today at Steam. Although Learning Factory is not officially a part of it (because it doesn't feature actual dinos or robots, only boring AI stuff), but our latest game - Craftomation 101 - is participating by definition!

The 10% launch discount for Craftomation 101 is prolonged for the time of the festival! Don't forget to check out the free demo, if you haven't already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft/

But that's not it! We decided to expand the party, so all our games have discount up to 75% this week on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/619150/while_True_learn/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/588560/VRobot_VR_Giant_Robot_Destruction_Simulator

That includes Learning Factory, of course, which is 35% off at this lovely time of the year.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Go get some awesome games! Buy a copy for your friend, and maybe create an account for your cat, too - who knows when they turn out to be sentinent, and start playing on their own!

Hey friends!

We've got exciting news to share with you today: our next game, Craftomation 101, is now in Early Access for you to check out!

In this game you get to use visual programming to instruct a gang of goofy robots to help you terraform a frozen planet:

[previewyoutube=NQv6b22HTeE;full][/previewyoutube]

Craftomation 101 is now available with a handsome release discount to help you make a decision:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft/

There's also a free demo that allows you to check out the base mechanics!

In any case, please share your impressions about the game in the comments, or come by our Discord server - we'd love to chat and hear how you like the game, and how we can make it better for you.

Have fun!

Hey factory builders!

So, this week's Leearning Factory update got postponed for a week, due to seasoned epidemiologic situation (some of us got sick with the flu, but we're all betteer now!)

Which might be good, because at least one, maybe even a couple, new juicy buildings now have beter chances to appear in the game! Check out this WIP lava-pumping machine:



What do you think it does? Let us know in the comments or come to our Discord server!

Speaking of which: we have changed the procedure of working with community localizations. Instead of using external services, we now rely on good old-fashined Google Spreadsheets.

If you want to help us translate the game into your native language, please go to our Discord server, we will provide you with the link and appropriate editing rights.

Just a reminder: if you aren't happy with community translations, you can always try ChatGPT translation as an alternative.

In other news: though Steam Deck is not yet officially supported by Learning Factory, it can be launched still, and we improved the controls for better access to in-game hotkeys. Let us know if it helps, portable geeks!

Another friendly reminder: don't forget about our collection of items in Steam Points Shop! Sergei the artist makes wonderful factory art to be observed from above, but his works' magic really shows at close-up perspective:



Last but not least: please don't forget that we have a new game going to Early Access in less than a week! Add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, to make sure you don't miss the release discount!


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

At Luden.io, we develop games while constantly listening to the feedback from our awesome players. If you feel proactive, you're very welcome to do one or more of the following:

• Subscribe to our newsletter, to get the latest info about the game's development, and a sneak peak of the upcoming features and events
  
• Record 10 minutes of you playing Learning Factory, and share it with us via this form. Your feedback is so helpful, that we'll include you into the game's credits for doing this
  
• Come say hi to our Discord server, or Twitter
  
• Check out some other games by us!
  

Hey factory builders!

It's been almost 3 years in Early Access, and we seem to have completed the list of things to have on Steam!

Let's see:

• Mod support and Steam workshop: check!
  
• An array of beautiful items in Steam points shop: check!
  
• And now, a demo: check, and check!
  

Here's a handful of kilobytes that make Learning Factory better:

• Bug fixes
  
• Lunar New Year in-game event is now effective
  

Hey factory workers,

This update is pretty standard stuff: polishing the game, improving the visuals, adding some features requested by you, the players! Business as usual, for a change.

However, we might have a Learning Factory-related surprise for you later this week! Stay tuned, stay alerted! Until then...

[h3]v0.26.169 Released![/h3]

• New upgrade: Priority Merger is an upgrade for the X-Switcher, and it only lets items from one of the two inputs to pass - unless it's empty, in which case items from another input are allowed (suggested by Lord Neodym)
  
• Re-rendered Rope Maker
  
• Re-rendered Dredge
  
• Animated Furnace
  
  
  
  
• Updated engine version (comes with slight performance improvement)
  
• Added contextual error messages for promotional buildings
  
• Added contextual error messages for Roadside Boutiques
  
• Upgrade for more spacey Storages now provides even more space
  
• Decreased Dormitory upgrade costs in the early stages of the game
  
• Grandma cats now appear a bit later in the game
  
• Hitting screenshot buttons no longer skips slides in the comics (suggested by S'Kleer)
  
• New cats are now registered at the Factory as soon as they arrive, and not when they reach the Stores (suggested by S'Kleer)
  
• Research projects slightly rebalanced
  
• Trading deals slightly rebalanced
  
• Added ChatGPT-made translation + community translation for the Estonian language
  
• Updated fonts for the Arabic, Hebrew and Thai languages
  
• Added alternate, ChatGPT-made translations for both Chinese languages
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer)
  

Hey factory builders!

[h2]Steam Workshop (Beta) Now Supported[/h2]
Learning Factory is a game developed in close contact with the community, so support for mods was in our plans from the very beginning. An option to create a custom scenario and/or share a generated map with your fellow factory builder was in the game for some time now.



Today we're finally bringing all those features under one comfortable umbrella of Steam Workshop, so all the players could have access to them. But what's also cool is that you can share your work with just a couple of clicks!

At the moment, the following kinds of mods are available:

• Sharing of Ruins: pre-made parts of map that might appear upon generation of a map can be shared from Map editor
  
• Sharing your Factory is available at any time in the game, just press 'Esc' and find the respective button
  
• Sharing a Blueprint: select a Blueprint in the Blueprint Library ('B' by default), click 'Details' and share your Blueprint to the Workshop from there
  
• Sharing a map seed: available from map generating screen in the Freeplay mode
  

• New upgrade for Storage units: underground Storage
  
• Regular Storage redesigned as well, now with visible stacking points
  
• Re-rendered Apple Collector
  
• Re-rendered Box Office
  
• Animated Dredge
  
• Animated Pillow Maker
  
• 2 new articles in the Wiki, explaining the mechanics of terraforming and tending to Martian plants
  
• Catopia Milestones bonuses re-balanced
  
• Reaching Milestones related to Catopia Ark now also slightly improves Factory stats
  
• If a Legendary cat has a 5+ Loyalty level, it will request High Quality (++) items (suggested by Zydox79)
  
• Sorting by item categories is now available in the Backpack
  
• Middle mouse button now serves as an alternative input for the 'Q' button (suggested by Brewski-Casegod)
  
• Improved Map/Scenario editor
  
• New interface for Docks menu, feedback form, Zeppelin menu, Territory purchase menu, the inventory, and the 'Esc' menu windows
  
• The variety of sounds increased greatly
  
• In Freeplay mode, you can now play Story content on a random map (and this is the default option now)
  
• Translations updated: German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish (LatAm), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• Added ChatGPT-made translations for all Steam languages, community localizations are still available
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to bloom16night, Lord Neodym)
  

We'd like to say we've been chilling and relaxing during the Holidays, and we were, really! But somehow, we have managed to add a whole new mode for Learning Factory in the meantime Yeah, apparently that's how we roll. But first, let's take a moment and review the most important transformations the game was going through in that turbulent year of 2023

Let's start with a quick recap from the past couple of years It almost seems like we're playing a different game every year, huh?







Originally, our plans were to release Learning Factory into 1.0 version last year. Well, it turned out that the game grew way bigger than we were contemplating back in 2021 But we just couldn't leave our players hanging, especially those brave factory builders with 100+ hours of Learning Factory on their accounts.

That's why we made a huge leap in mid-December, releasing a major update adding the end game part to Learning Factory. That's right, the secret to Catopia is officially out there for you to research your way to. But that's not the end of the game: after you discover a secret of making all cats (and, subsequently, other living beings) in the Universe happy, you'll be honored with a quest to plan and launch an interstellar mission, spreading the catisfaction all over the outer space!





Naturally, you would need to equip your meowthership (a.k.a. Catopia Ark) with the finest items from your Factory, because outer space cats deserve all the best! The end game mechanics are far from being final, we still have some ideas for that part, so stay tuned for more news!

We hope that from now on thigs you do on the Factory make sense, but do they though? Come to our Dicord server to let us know, it's important for us to make the Learning Factory experience wholesome for you!

The next hero of today's diary wears no cape. You may even not notice it for some time, until you find yourself in its modern and comforting embrace! We're talking about the game's interface, if course: it's going through a massive renovation right now, which is part of our epic pre-release quest of polishing the game:



More changes to this aspect of the game are happening at this very moment, and will be featured in the next updates! And any feedback from you is always welcome, too.

This last year was full of changes that do not sound very impressive in text, but do make a big difference, especially when they all come together! To save you some time, let's review the most prominent improvements around Learning Factory in 2023:

• All items (included, but not limited to Quality and High Quality items) were re-rendered and now feature their own unique looks
  
  
  
• Most buildings are/were going through the process of re-rendering, too, which implies higher quality animations, shadows for each and every building, and higher quality graphics in general
  
• The Underground level of the game finally become a full-fledged part of your Factory, where mmysterious Neon Cotton and Underground Algae grow, metals are mined and smelted, and whatnot! Since you'll probably get to spend way more time over there, the Undergound graphics was re-done, too:
  
  
  
• Blueprints are finally there, helping you plan your Factory campus in many exciting ways
  
• 20+ new buildings made its way into the game, including Chillout Space, Teleports and Schrodinger's Chamber for cloning cats
  
• Cat Zeppelins: yet another revolution in Factory logistics - they tranfer cats, and also shaped like cats - as seen in My Neigbor Totoro, but maybe a bit less weird
  
  
• Alternate campaign map, with more challenging watery landscape
  
• The great crafting rebalancing occured: in short, it is stimulating you to produce higher quality items in the later parts of the game
  

There really isn't much to say... This year was epic for Learning Factory, but the next will be even better!

We'll talk about this later, but now it's time to celebrate:

[h3]Learning Factory is 35% off, and all DLCs are 13% off until January 04![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545760/Learning_Factory_AI_Generated_Soundtrack/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545770/Learning_Factory_Art_Pack/

Get yourself a copy, buys some for your friends, and, by all means, have fun! Happy Holidays

Here's a handful of kilobytes that make Learning Factory better:

• Bug fixes (kudos to Zydox79 and that fella who didn't left their name in the bug report form)
  
• Minor balance fixes in certain recipes and Trade Port deals
  

Hey factory workers,

We honestly thought that the last update from a week ago would be the final one in 2023. But one thing sort of let to another, so... we released a hotfix and an update, and there's this update today, too!

It's gonna be the last one this year, honestly! (Or so we hope) Besides, it was worth the effort: this update brings some beatiful new animation and cheerful voice of Dr. Katz to the game*:

[previewyoutube=x5koSUdS0ow;full][/previewyoutube]

*this version is not final, and will be improved later on

[h3]v0.25.166 Released![/h3]

• Chewing Gum Mixer animated
  
• Voice cues for certain in-game events - in English with subtitles
  
• Zeppelin menu shows estimated time on route (suggested by reogal)
  
• Added search field in the Dormitory
  
• Roadside Boutique sends data to connected ML Models even when it's in Sales mode (suggested by reogal)
  
• Subtitles can be toggled on and off in the Settings
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Zydox, reogal)
  

Hey factory workers,

The Holidays are upon us, which means more festive work for you, of course: there're lot of cat wishes to be fulfilled! This update will help you do so even more effectively - and in style, too!

[h3]v0.25.165 Released![/h3]

• Chillout Space animated
  
• Cable Crafter animated
  
• Trade Ports are now surrounded by an area of shallow water tiles (available upon starting a new game) for placing Bridges
  
• 'Nanoproduction' infinite research project, increasing manual work speed, now works 5 times as slow for buildings, to prevent accidental removal (suggested by Zydox79)
  
• Additional Inventory hotkey ('I' by default) doesn't open crafting window anymore
  
• Middle mouse button now serves as an alternative button for Pipette tool (suggested by Brewski-Casegod)
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Zydox79)
  

Hey factory workers,

This update wasn't part of the initial plan, but it does make the game better, so here goes:

[h3]v0.25.164 Released![/h3]

• Added a new perk: 'Illuminated' cat researchers have a chance of adding half of the value of a science article to a random research, upon finishing an article. Dr Katz has it by default
  
• Certain existing perks re-balanced
  
• By default, time in the game is now displayed in seconds. You can switch it back to be displayed in ticks in Gameplay Options
  
• Interface fixes
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes, especially Zeppelins-related bugs (kudos to Zydox79)
  

Hey factory builders!

As we promised a couple of weeks back: this update is quite grand, especially for those of you who have played it into the later parts of the game! With no further ado...



[h2]v0.25.162 Released! [/h2]

• The GREAT INTERFACE UPDATE officially began! In the upcoming weeks, we'll keep bringing Learning Factory windows to a new, lighter, leaner style
  
• Catopia Ark space mission - Learning Factory final challenge - is added to the game. Research, build and equip an expeditionary ship and send it to the stars, to teach the cats of the Universe the secret of living in abundance! NB: this is but the first iteration of Catopia Ark, expect more gameplay in the future!
  
• Added an upgrade for Cable Crafter, increasing the crafting limit
  
• Mouse grid now becomes available along with unlocking 'Manual operations on area' Multitool upgrade
  
• Changed conditions of unlocking certain upgrades to make them more comprehensive
  
• Increased item capacity for Fixed Price Store and Smart Cat Store
  
• Starting from the fourth milestone on the Research Tree, each milestone is also accompanied by a quest, which provides reward upon completion
  
• Added an option to generate a random map in the list of presets when generating a map for a Freeplay Mode game
  
• Crafting window opens on the same tab that's active on the buildings placement panel
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Added an option to reenable watched tutorials, in case you forgot/missed something
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to sdgsdfsdf, Zydox79)
  

Hey factory workers!

Do you know what Learning Factory and black holes have in common? The game is sucking out our time and attention, just like a black hole is consuming the very fiber of the Universe around it. But most importantly: black holes are very heavy and condensed - the same way as Learning Factory is becoming a more complex and concentrated game with each update. Especially now, when the 1.0 release is just around the corner. Here, let us show you!

A question that we asked ourselves more than once in these diaries: what is Catopia? The answer is out there, but it is so deep and intricate, that human minds of the first half of the XXI century cannot contemplate it. Cats of the future know what Catopia is, but they wouldn't bother explaining it to inferior food bringers (that would be us, fellow human reader).

All we know is whenever cats needs are met, they reach a superior state of being in total satisfaction, and start feeling a sudden urge to make other cats happier (which is not what cats normally do). So don't bother yourself with what is Catopia, and focus on how can you spread it around the Universe!



Apparently, it implies building and equipping an expeditionary space ship (codenamed Catopia Ark), and send a mission to the stars and other feline worlds, where your enlightened cats will teach their bretheren the secret of living in abundance.



The ship will consist of several blocks. Each needs to be researched and built separately, and then packed with goods and crew members:



Building one of those ships will be the formal ending of the game, but it's not the story finale, it's just the base for it: we've got some ideas on how to expand it. And of course, the final story comics is still to be drawn - those who played games in the 90s know that no decent game ends without a cartoon or comics in the end!

But generally, it's safe to say, that after this update is released, Learning Factory will be a complete game, one that you can play from the tutorial to the credits! Hooray? Hooray indeed!

Let's make some noise to celebrate: another big leap for us towards the release is giving voice to Dr. Katz. It wasn't part of the initial development plan, to be honest, but we experimented internally with AI-generated voice, and decided that it suits the game very well, while also helping highlight key events.

So we have partnered with the very talented actor Ali Gohar, who has done a great job impersonating a mad feline scientist:

[previewyoutube=x5koSUdS0ow;full][/previewyoutube]

These takes above are work in progress, though at least some of them will likely make it into the game. Our main reference was one very famous classic sci-fi character. Could you guess who it was? Let us know your best guess in the comments!

Speaking of content: some minor changes and new mechanics will continue emerging in the game - it's time for some fine tuning! In the last update, for example, we've added a bunch of new recipes and finally introduced the map-wide grid for more convenient building placement:



We also introduced a short-ranged teleport for items (known as Telemanipulator):



along with an upgrade for Cat Gate that allows you to get rid of unused items, donating it to random cats of the Universe:



More perky little stuff like that will likely appear in the game, but it's not going to happen before we're done with re-renderig buildings and updating the game's interface. The latter will also make a partial appear in the upcoming update, here's a little teaser for you:



A (technical) story finale, new interface, and some voiceover - Learning Factory is making a huge leap towards its final form this December!

Stay tuned next week for the last major Learning Factory update of the year. Well return to you with the next edition of these diaries in 2024, to recap all the wonderful changes that happened at Learning Factory in the past year. Happy Holidays! Come celebrate this epic year in video games industry with us on our Discord server!

Bugs happen! But we'll keep working on making Learning Factory digital pest-free for you! Enjoy this small yet handy bug fix.

Hey factory workers!

At this stage of development, it's safe to say: if we release a modest update, that means something really big is in the works. We wish we could share more details with you, but this'll have to wait until next time, alas!

As for today, there's lots of new stuff and improvements here and there, check them out:

[h2]v0.24.160 Released![/h2]
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Added another default recipe for Land Digger
  
• Added another default recipe for Dredge
  
• Added another default recipe for Laser Collider
  
• Added another default High Quality (++) Cotton recipe for Cotton Gin
  
• Decreased Copper costs for producing Batteries and Laser Pointers
  
• Cat researchers in the Tavern can sometimes be hired for Milk instead of Catnip Juice
  
• ML Capacity mechanics slightly rebalanced
  
• Rafts were renamed into Bridges (because they don't look like rafts anymore)
  
• Multitool upgrade is divided into two independent parts: working speed upgrade and manual operations on area upgrade; both become available sooner, and cost less
  
• Fertilizer Sprinkler working baseline increased from 100 to 250 units of Fertilizers
  

• Rope Maker re-rendered
  
• Science Lab re-rendered
  
• Sounds updated
  

• Added a lense showing map grid
  
• Wiki articles for items now show the recipes which require that item
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl' + 'Z' cancels current crafting queue
  
• Added an option to search projects on the Research Tree by ML Capacity
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• The panel on top of the screen now displays the amount of recently satisfied cats
  
• Added an option to hide button hints in Gameplay options
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Lengthy numbers are now separated to facilitate perception. You can select the separation symbol in Gameplay Settings
  

• Improved transitions between the Wiki and the Research Tree
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to poseidontsunami11 & seakten)
  

Hey engineers,

This update brings you not one but two teleportation devices! Use them wisely, enjoy other improvements and tweaks, and let us know what you think of them:

[h2]v0.24.157 Released![/h2]

[h3]New buildings && Gameplay[/h3]

• New building: Telemanipulator - teleports items in short range. You can change the distance of teleportation by clicking on it. The further the distance, the more time teleportation takes
  
• New upgrade for Cat Gate: Item Donation Portal allows you to send surplus items to random cats in need all over the Universe. However, you won't make any money out of it. Or anything at all, really
  
• Increased efficiency of the crafting speed upgrade for Compost Machine
  
• Added an alternate base crafting recipe for Compost Machine
  
• Tunnels can be placed on Lava Rafts now
  
• Increased efficiency of High Quality (++) Fish recipe in the Fish Maker
  
• Increased efficiency for certain deals in Trade Ports
  
• Vertical Cable can now be placed on Rafts
  
• Added a new secret achievement
  
• Catopia points requirement for some MIlestones decreased
  
• More cumulative stats
  

• Added a sound effect for Hoverboard
  
• Added Holidays decorations
  
• Concrete Maker re-rendered
  
• Claw Sharpener Maker re-rendered
  

• Pressing 'Ctrl' + click while adding a research project to research queue places this research to the start of the queue
  
• When hovering on a Blueprint that lacks resources for crafting, a recipe is displayed
  
• New tabs added to Stats menu
  
• Added a lens for displaying tile fertility
  
• Added a lens for displaying Veins and Trade ports
  
• CVs from aspiring cat researchers can be leafed through
  
• CVs from researchers do not appear when there's more than 10 pending candidates
  
• If a CV from a researcher is ignored for 2 hours, it is revoked by the applicant
  
• Improved tooltips
  
• Polish translation via Chat-GPT
  

• Updated engine version
  
• Game saving speed optimized
  
• Bug fixes (special thanks to MurpigThe3rd)
  

Hey engineers!

We found ourselves in a situation a couple of days ago: apparently, all the games mechanics are in place. Of course, theres still a lot to do in UI/UX, QoL (and other fancy game dev abbreviations), and tons of tasks in the art department. Theres one big part of the game to be shaped and implemented (more on that below), but the big stuff is in place!

If you thought that means there won't be new content, you've probably joined us just recently: those following us these years know that we're adding new stuff to our games all the time.

It's just at this stage of the game all of our own ideas are pretty much there, so we're relying on stuff based on the feedback from our community. Take this bunch of brand new engineer's little helpers:



The names are self-explanatory (hopefully). According to our players, those become extremely handy in the late stages of the game, when factory-building gets real.

These beautiful creatures will help you in further de-spaghettifying your Factory:



If you have an idea for a building of your own (or just want to chat with us and like-minded devs), we're happy to lend you our eyes and ears on our Discord server!

The last couple updates brought lots of smaller alterations here and there, which change the game quite a lot. Perhaps, one of the most prominent experiments of the month was re-balancing our terraforming system. As you might know, tiles differ not only by visuals, but also by efficiency/fertility level. It influences the rate of growth for plants, as well as the work of certain buildings.

For example, if you'd place a Fishing Spot, you can hover upon a tile in its operating area to spot the difference:



Previously, the way to maximize the efficiency of tiles was to replace them with handcrafted tiles. A side effect of that was that some players would fill the whole map with those tiles. While we're totally ok with such style of play, we'd like the players to experiment some more, trying to overcome the natural obstacles of the landscape - at least, in the early stages of the game.

Hence the experiment: researching terraforming tiles now costs more than before (while the price of production of tiles themselves remains the same). At the same time, we've introduced another type of Fertilizer that helps maximize the efficiency of any tile, without changing its type. It becomes available early in the game, giving you the opportunity to maximize your tile-based production before you delve into intense terraforming. And, as always, your feedback on this risky enterprise of ours is very welcome!

While we're speaking about tiles: we have re-rendered some stuff (again; will do much more), including, but not limited to, the Rafts:



And look at those juicy red mutant Apple Trees from Mars (along with Fertilizer Sprinkler in action):



We've improved the tutorial. We've added chatGPT-made translations (in addition to commuity-made translations) for unofficial languages. We've added some sounds for cats and their surroundings. We've made a whole new section in the Statistics tab, where the data is displayed in the form of tables:



Heck, we made dozens of changes here and there, big and small! Our patch notes are becoming longer with each update we release. All these efforts serve but one purpose: achieving Catopia. And it is closer than it seems.

[h3]How to Catopia[/h3]

We have started contemplating Catopia almost a year ago. It was the goal of the game from the very beginning but we could not decide what it is, exactly. Until recently, that is.

Catopia milestone can already be reached on the Research Tree, and provide a nice bonus for those who make it. However, the endgame part of Learning Factory is still in development.

But today we're proud to announce, that we have recently agreed on the mechanics, along with the genral concept for establishing the perfect cat society! And it will emerge in the game sooner than you might think.

In the meantime, here's a little teaser image (that we have randomly found on the web to use as an internal reference):



If it hardly makes sense or does not look epic enough, our only advice: just you wait!

[h3]What's Next?[/h3]

Catopia, apparently! But wait, there's more! Our artist Sergei has freed up some time to make Learning Factory UI shine! Here are some sketches:







Just to make clear: those were already discarded, and won't make it into the final game. But it does instantly change the look of Learning Factory, don't you think?

And of course, next month there will be polishing, more polishing, and then some.

Hear the smell? It's the smell of the year 2024 coming our way. It's the smell of upcoming Learning Factory release! See you next month, and don't forget to pet your cat on a regular basis!

Another 2 weeks, another Learning Factory update! This one is especially rich with Splitters, but there's also a nice selection of ambient and cat sounds, among other cool things:

[h2]v0.24.156 Released![/h2]

[h3]New Buildings && Upgrades[/h3]

• New building: Priority Splitter is an upgrade for Reverse Splitter. It will send items to selected output, until it's clogged, in which case the items will be sent through other exit (suggested by squibs)
  
• New building: Fertilizer Sprinkler is spreading Fertilizers around the plants in its operational area (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• New building: Balanced Merger is an upgrade for X-Switcher, it unites two streams of Transporters into one
  
• New building: Selective Item Manipulator (and its' cousin, Long Selective Item Manipulator) is an upgrade for the Item Splitter, and it grabs any item of your choosing
  

• New map preset for the Freeplay mode
  
• Minor changes on the Campaign mode main map
  
• A little bonus is now waiting those who make it to the Catopia milestone
  
• Added a system of recommendations on the Research Tree, along with special quests rewarded building prototypes, for completing research projects
  
• When making price predictions, Machine Learning models now consider cats' Loyalty and Hype level at the moment of a cat's arrival
  

• Cats make meow when they say text phrases or shop in Stores
  
• There are now several types of ambient sounds (for fields, forests, production, ocean, underground, and lava) and a dedicated slider for controlling them
  
• Updated story comic page shown upon completing the Tutorial
  

• Improved interface for Zeppelins, Docks and Routes, made transfer between them easier, Docks now show Routes they're part of
  
• Statistics window now has a new tab with tables, including cumulative data
  
• Themed events (Halloween, the Holidays, Programmer's Day and Lunar New Year) can be manually turned on in the Settings
  
• Minor changes in the Wiki
  
• Improved Tutorial
  
• Added an option to sort researcher cats by the highest skill (suggested by MaxFire)
  
• Added chatGPT-made translations to the Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese languages
  
• Updated fonts for all languages
  
• Route searching improved
  
• Tooltips improved
  

• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Trichouette, Pumpkin, Bleachin, MaxFire, CaptainAjax, Hagnk, bloom16night)
  

Sure, Learning Factory is a relaxing base-building game, but there're actually a lot of stuff happening under the cape!

The cats that arrive at Learning Factory are complicated beasts, with their own shopping goals, spontaneous desires, loyalty to your brand, and even overall life satisfaction levels.

Understanding the interactions between these parameters is pivotal for maximizing your profits, and, subsequently, funding your research to ensure the creation of Catopia!

Now, there's a series of in-game wiki articles explaining all that, but our Discord community member Trichouette has done an even better job creating an impressive compendium of cats' shopping lists:

'Understanding cats' shopping list' - Read the Guide, and you will learn about:

• Purchase types
  
• Pyramid purchases and Personal Satisfaction Pyramid
  
• Specialized purchases and Specialized Categories
  
• Upsale purchases
  
• Testing booths
  
• Loyalty and Quality
  
• Hype
  
• Machine Learning
  

Hey engineers! The grand game polishing has officially begun, but that doesn't mean we won't be adding new awesome content (quite the contrary, actually!). But first, we'd like to talk to you about an experiment we made...

[h2]Experimental Terraforming Re-Balance[/h2]
As you might now, default tiles of the game have random efficiency distribution. It can affect growth of plants and the efficiency of some buildings.

Previously, the best way to maximize a tile's potential was to replace it with a manually crafted tile. This update brings an option to do it with a special kind of Fertilizer (see below). It becomes available early in the game, but to compensate it, we have increased the cost of research for terraforming tiles (the production costs of tiles, once researched, remains the same)

Our idea is to motivate players to interact with two default maps' landscapes, making use of the land they get on the default map and finding creative solutions for numerous watery obstacles on the alternate map.

This idea makes sense to us, but you'll be the ones playing it, so we encourage you to check this part of the game out and let us know:

Is it a 'yay' or 'nay' for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or drop us a line on Discord, or use the built-in feedback form in the game

[h2]v0.24.155 Released![/h2]

[h3]New Buildings && Content[/h3]

• New building: Raft Crafter automatically makes Rafts for you (suggested by Trichouette) +an upgrade for making Lava Rafts
  
• New item: Surface Fertilizer is a consumable that maximizes the efficiency of any tile without changing its' type (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• Added an option to select origin of cats coming through regular Cat Gates - the higher the Hype, the more the chance to attract a cat from selected origin instead of regular passerby cat; if this happens, the cat arrived will have +1 Loyalty level
  
• The final Catopia milestone can now be unlocked on the progress bar of the Research Tree: it increses the Hype but does not unlock endgame gameplay yet
  
• The Second Prototype milestone now unlocks (spontaneous) 'Cats' Ascension', which provides a chance for cats to arrive at the Factory with increased Loyalty, depending on Hype level
  

• Re-rendered Apple Trees
  
• Re-rendered Metal Drill
  
• Re-rendered Lumber Mill
  
• Re-rendered Box Maker
  
• Re-rendered Concrete flooring
  
• Re-rendered Apple Boxes
  
• Re-rendered Rafts
  

• The progress in achieving the next milestone is now visible on the Monument
  
• Upgrade allowing to harvest Juicy Cacti with Lumber Mills now adds another recipe with increased efficiency
  
• New upgrade for Compost Machine, allowing it to craft Surface Fertilizers
  
• Upgrade unlock requirement to advertise items to cats can now be fulfilled via Advertising Cat Gates, too (previously it was only possible in service/tasting buildings)
  
• Nanoproduction infinite research project now increases manual work speed too
  
• Selected infinite researches slightly buffed
  
• Crafting a Growing Deep Algae now requires less resources in general, but requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Research cost of all tiles for terraforming was increased to balance the new tile-improving mechanics
  
• Increased amount of terraforming tiles given as reward for fulfilling Dr. Katz's requests; the frequency of such awards was increased as well
  
• Dormitory expansion costs slightly decreased
  
• Cats with upsale requests and mass purchasing cats now appear even further on in the game
  
• Eco Dynamite removed from the game (temporarily)
  
• Changed progress bar on the Research Tree, some milestones moved
  
• Added a new quest after Tutorial, that prompts further research and brings monetary reward
  
• Added new achievement: conduct 100 researches
  
• Added another secret achievement
  

• Added an option to customize the looks of cat researchers in Labs (suggested by Cat (the Black))
  
• Tooltip for Dynaminte now shows countdown before explosion
  
• 'Collect All' feature works faster
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Hotkeys on numeric keyboard keys now summon a Blueprint of a building, if it is not crafted
  
• Wiki articles now clearly display the category of items (suggested by ChromatiChicken)
  
• Added an event when an empty hotkey is activated, along with a hint on assigning it
  
• Added statistics: cat knowledge from satisfied cats
  
• The panel on top of the screen now displays the recent amount of cat knowledge points gained from satisfied cats
  
• Improved tooptips
  
• Added an option to search for research categories on the Research Tree, clicking on a category icon highlights relevant research projects
  
• More convenient sorting in Statistics tab
  
• Added a search field to Zeppelin Routes tab
  
• Story comic strips can now be leafed through
  
• Added chatGPT translation for the French language
  
• Lots of copywriting improvements
  

• Updated engine version
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to squibbons, HelDoRe, squibs, bloom16night)
  
• Copying and pasting configs now with improved visual effect
  
• UI/UX improvements
  

Another little fix to make your experience at Learning Factory even better!

• Bug fixes
  
• Added displaying of level for infinite research projects (via )
  

Every second Tuesday of October, Ada Lovelace is celebrated - dedicated to a famous mathematician from the XIX century, who created a proto-computer and is therefore known as the first programmer in the world!

To celebrate the occasion, we rounded up a bunch of games about coding, engineering, and managing complex systems. We've got over 100 titles, check them out, and get yourself some awesome games:

[h2]To Programmer's Sale 2023[/h2]

As for Learning Factory, it will get a nice 36% discount tomorrow, from October 4. However, today you can check out this brand new bundle with not one but two neat factory building games:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35074/Shapez__Catz/

To celebrate this event we've also added a bunch of new animated items to Learning Factory's shelves in the Steam Points Shop! There's a couple of stickers and animated backgrounds, a an avatar frame and one brand new avatar, too:



Last but not least, we've created a new Learning Factory trialer! Hope that you enjoy it:

[previewyoutube=7dkCip_eTlM;full][/previewyoutube]

Welcome to Programmer's Sale 2023! Hello, world!

This hotfix is nicer than usual!

• Added 1 more comics slide
  
• Updated texts
  
• Cats with mass purchases do not appear for certain time from the beginning of the game
  
• Cats with upsale purchases do not appear for certain time from the beginning of the game
  
• Added stats showing Loyalty of served cats
  
• Added stats showing Loyalty of served cats by type
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey engineers! And congratulations to you, as this update marks Early Access Stage 4 as complete! We've been really focused on updating the visuals in the past couple of monts, so this update is something new.

On one hand, we've pushed it hard to make some of the game's mechanics more comprehensive. On the other hand, we've made crafting more complex and challenging for more intense brain stimulation!

[h2]v0.24.151 Released! [/h2]

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• New story comics - the origin story of how our nameless protagonist met their cat (named Cat), under rather rainy circumstances. Hopefully, this story will motivate you to care about cats (in-game, or real-life) even more
  
• New theme for the main menu
  

• Global crafting rebalancing (see below)
  
• Added a whole new Wiki section explaining complicated in-game mechanics: Loyalty, Mass purchases, Upselling, Machine Learning, Data Quality, Research, Hype, Satisfaction Pyramid, and Legendary cats
  
• Legendary cats request Quality (+) or better items from now on
  
• Legendary cats are now classified as Cats with lvl 3 Loyalty
  
• Cats with Loytalty lvl 5+ now request High Quality (++) items
  
• Cats with Loyalty lvl 3-4 now request Quality (+) items
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Square Cardboard Space Signal Emitter research project now provides a higher chance of summoning a legendary cat
  
• During Shopaholic Invasion, cats with higher Loyalty levels may arrive, depending on Hype
  
• Shopaholic Invasion duration increases along with your Hype level
  
• New events, aimed to give the players better control over the Factory
  
• Increased cat knowledge points reward for fulfilling Dr Katz's requests
  
• Increased bonus cat knowledge points for serving legendary cats
  
• 3 new perks for cat researchers
  
• New perk for Dr Katz
  
• Random cats can get generated with the 'Genius' perk (fromerly available only to Dr Katz)
  
• Research efficiency calculating mechanics for cat researchers slightly changed (may result in altered research time for hired researchers in existing saved games)
  
• Selling items of quality gives a bigger boost to Loyalty
  
• Upgrading Loom increases its' speed by 5 ticks instead of 2
  

• Added stats showing tips left by each cat type
  
• Added stats showing sales income from each cat type
  
• Added stats showing total income from each cat type
  
• Approximate research cost now shown under each research project
  
• Added an option to clear cache in the settings, in case your minimap seems to be displayed incorrectly
  
• Map name is now displayed for every saved game (starting from this version)
  
• Choosing to involve incompetent researches into research projects results in 4x experience boost for those researchers
  
• Upper panel now displays the amount of money spent on research and ads
  
• Added an option to disable tutorial and instantly get a starting pack of buildings, if campaign is not launched for the first time
  
• Machine learning models now display a warning if there's no Store/Boutique connected to a cluster
  
• If your system language is not officially supported by the game, you'll get a warning and a suggestion to switch into English, when launching the game for the first time
  
• Added partial translation into the German language by ChatGPT (community translation is still there, too)
  
• Improved tooltips
  
• Improved, more stable Twitch integration
  
• New achievement
  

• Updated credits
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to CheeseAndChocolate, MarcusZ, squibbons, bloom16night)
  

• Crafting T-shaped Splitters requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Quad Splitter requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Awesome Golden Statue requires Quality (+) Gold
  
• Crafting Eco Dynamite requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Crafting Hard Rock Dynamite requires Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting all kinds of Long conditional Manipulators (except for Cat Manipulator) require Quality (+) Iron and Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Long Quality Manipulator requires Quality (+) Concrete instead of Copper
  
• Crafting Two-Item Dock requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Pawssenger Dock now requires Quality (+) Boxes
  
• Crafting Exit Cat Gate now requires Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Inventory Teleport now requires Quality (+) Copper and Concrete
  
• Crafting Teleport now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Logistics Assembler now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Cable Crafter now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Soil Silo now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Enriched Soil Silo now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Apple Collector now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Fishing Pier now requires Quality (+) Wood instead of Iron
  
• Crafting Fish Maker now requires Quality (+) Fish
  
• Crafting Algae Harvester now requires Quality (+) Iron and Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Catnip Juice Brewery now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Smoothie Mixer now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Brew Intensifier now requires Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Awesome Statue now requires Quality (+) Wood, Quality (+) Iron, and Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Vitamin Maker now requires Quality (+) Copper
  
• Crafting Geothermal Furnace now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and also 2 Drills instead of 2 Furnaces
  
• Crafting Omnimill now requires Quality (+) Concrete and Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting Wohlwill Purifier now requires Batteries and Quality (+) Catnip Juice
  
• Crafting Dredge now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Cat Food Maker now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Bubble Gum Mixer now requires Quality (+) Copper and Cotton
  
• Crafting Pillow Maker now requires Yarn Balls and Ropes
  
• Crafting Hammock Weaver now requires Quality (+) Rope
  
• Crafting Omniloom now requires Quality (+) Rope, Quality (+) Catnip Juice, Quality (+) Concrete, and High Quality (++) Iron
  
• Crafting Cat House Maker now requires Quality (+) Wood
  
• Crafting Bling Machine now requires Quality (+) Iron, and Gold
  
• Crafting Battery Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete and Quality (+) Iron
  
• Crafting Tech Overcharger now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Microchip Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and Manipulators
  
• Crafting Quantum Tech Assembler now requires Quality (+) Concrete, and Quality (+) Lasers
  
• Crafting Schrodinger's Chamber now requires Quality (+) Boxes
  
• Crafting Neural Networks now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Dynamite now requires Quality (+) Catnip Algae
  
• Crafting Laser Pointer Maker now requires Quality (+) Concrete, Quality (+) Iron and 1 Battery Maker, instead of 2
  
• Crafting Laser Collider now requires Quality (+) Concrete, Quality (+) Laser Pointer, and High Quality (++) Gold
  
• Decreased Cloth amount reauired for crafting Small Cargo Zeppelins
  
• Crafting Cargo Zeppelin now requires Quality (+) Cloth and Quality (+) Ropes
  
• Crafting all promotional/tasting buildings now require Quality (+) items
  
• Crafting Deep Water now requires Quality (+) Fish
  
• Crafting Concrete Flooring now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Graphic Card Assembler now requires Quality (+) Concrete
  
• Crafting Land Digger now requires Quality (+) Iron
  

Hey engineers,

This new update extends the game campaign, facilitates customization items' unlocks, and brings tons of usability improvements! Update and rejoice!

[h2]v0.23.150 Released![/h2]

[h3]Visuals, Sounds, New Content[/h3]

• HALLOWEEN IS HERE + 3 new themed items for cats
  
• An alternative map for campaign: more intricate landscape, less reources, available to those who started playing the main campaign at least once
  
• Decreased prices for most customization items, some items can be unlocked for triggering certain in-game events
  
• New customization item: Shiny Down jacket, unlocked for mining Gold
  
• New customization item: Dr. Katz's friends fan club hat, unlcoked for satisfying 'Friendly cats' legendary cat
  
• Made it easier to notice that a new customization item was unlocked
  
• New music track for Jungle biome
  
• New music track for Tundra biome
  
• New Legendary cat
  
• Re-rendered Yarn Ball Maker
  
• Minor terraforming visuals upgrade
  
• Parts of holiday decorations can be toggled on and off in the settings (suggested by Trichouette)
  

• 2 upgrades for the Enriched Soil Silo, increasing the crafting limit (suggested by )
  
• New upgrade for Soil Silo, allowing automatic crafting of Concrete Flooring
  
• New upgrade for the Roadside Boutique, adding an extra slot for goods
  
• Roadside Boutique logics redesigned: a connected machine learning model will always be working, and it is always possible to switch to your own price or sales mode
  
• A new recipe for the Milk Drill, one of the older recipes modified (suggested by Ksetrat)
  
• Crafting limit for Compost Machone increased from 500 to 5000
  
• Faster Concrete production in the desert requires 1 unit of Catnip Juice instead of 2
  

• Added a hotkey for crafting a copy of a building when mouse cursor is over it ('U' by default); pressing 'Ctrl' + 'U' results in crafting up to 100 copies;
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl' + 'U' or 'Ctrl' + click when hovering over a building on the building panel in the bottom part of the screen (suggested by MarcusZ)
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl' + 'open Backpack' while hovering over a building on the building panel opens the tab containing this building and select it, if possible (suggested by MarcusZ)
  
• Opening the Wiki while hovering over a building on the building panel opens the tab containing this building and select it, if possible
  
• Pipette tool can now work with the building panel
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl' + pipette hotkey on the building panel creates a Blueprint
  

• Picking up all the Blueprints doesn't result in picking up all objects from the map anymore
  
• Added a timer indicating the time left before the next event starts
  
• Wiki articles show optimal biomes for growing plants (suggested by )
  
• Added an option to sort recipes in the Wiki (suggested by MarcusZ)
  
• It is no longer ppossible to change water tiles to ground tiles under Trade Routes
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• UI/UX fixes
  

• Performance optimization
  
• Performance optimization in zoomed out view
  
• Bug fixes (via , LoadRunner, Ksetrat, MarcusZ)
  

• Research an upgrade increasing the number of slots for items in Cat Stores
  
• Sort cats by requests using respective Splitter/Manipulator: some cats are looking for multiple items from specific categories (they're called 'Specialized purchases' and can bee seen in the wiki), so it makes sense to separate them from the rest and send to dedicated Stores
  
• Sort cats by types using respective Splitter/Manipulator
  
• Use Specialized Smart Stores
  
• Use Advertising Cat Gates to attract cats of specific types/requests
  

Hey engineers,

Here's a bit unexpected, but truly festive update: the 256th day of the year is also known as World Programmer's Day, so make sure to play Learning Factory and see cats celebrating the occasion with special outfits and phrases!

[h3]v0.23.149 Released![/h3]

• New phrases for cats, celebrating World Programmer's Day (available on September 12-17)
  
• Updated Halloween art (will be available from September 19)
  
• Bug fixes
  

• Research an upgrade increasing the number of slots for items in Cat Stores
  
• Sort cats by requests using respective Splitter/Manipulator: some cats are looking for multiple items from specific categories (they're called 'Specialized purchases' and can bee seen in the wiki), so it makes sense to separate them from the rest and send to dedicated Stores
  
• Sort cats by types using respective Splitter/Manipulator
  
• Use Specialized Smart Stores
  
• Use Advertising Cat Gates to attract cats of specific types/requests
  

Hey engineers,

We're all finally back from all kinds of vacations, hooray! It's business as usual from now on: a shiny new update every 2 weeks. This one brings some new buildings, updated visuals, new music & much more:



[h3]v0.23.148 Released![/h3]

• New building: Tech Overcharger uses geothermal energy of Mars to produce High Quality Batteries and Laser Pointers
  
• New building: Laser Collider uses the power of laser to make Quality and High Quality Gems, and transmutate Iron to Copper, and vise versa
  
• Re-rendered Cotton Trees
  
• Re-rendered Trees & Fir Trees
  
• New music them for the notherrn biome
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl' + click on a building force places a Blueprint
  
• Saved game file size slightly decreased
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• UI fixes
  
• Placing a Raft & removing it no longer maximizes the tile quality (via Mzato)
  
• You can no longer get achievements while playing in Guides mode
  
• Bug fixes (kudos to Eugene Rymarev, Mzato)
  

We hope you had a chance to have some outside time this summer, because fall season is upon us, and you know what that means: sales, events, and more sales & events!

Strategy Fest is particularly awesome for us, because we're all fans of the genre in the studio (duh!)

So don't waste any more time, get Learning Factory 35% off the price before September 4th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Hey engineers!

As you probably remember, last month we said our (temporary) goodbyes for the next couple of weeks, since the vacation period was upon us. Was it this time of the year for you, too? Did you manage to catch some rest? Share your stories in the comments!

Our programmer/game designer Ivan rushed into the office straight from a distant forest, where he had been enjoying his hobby of LARPing (this time, he performed as a dunmer from the TES universe).

We were about to release just one update this month, but it grew to epic proportions. So even with almost everything ready - the code, the graphics, the copywriting, etc. - it took us some extra time to test and prepare everything. Of course, it was totally worth the while! Let's review the hottest new content first:



Sergei the artist did a great job, providing us with a whole 3 new buildings, capable of producing top-quality Wood, Gold, and tech stuff. These late-game machines will provide a real challenge for the logistics genius inside you, for you will need to transfer exotic resources back and forth around the map.

Fun fact: Wolhwill Purifier is based on the actual process of refining gold to an amazing level of 99.999% purity. It is usually required for producing very expensive electronics, but if you feel like it, you can even recreate this process at home - if you have some pure gold, appropriate chemical equipment, along a handful of dangerous reagents. Science is fun!



As for the Quantum Tech Assembler, it's just beautiful. And quantum. Quantum makes everything sound more scientific, as is widely known:



And these two interesting subjects below are a product of some of our very productive discussions with the community. Some of you wanted underground floating cotton (is that still cotton at this point?). Sure, why not? And corner-shaped Splitters make total sense if you think about it:



By the way, if you aren't on our Discord server already, you're very welcome to join! Your feedback means an awful lot because that's how we learn how to make our games better!

[h3]The Great Rerender[/h3]

If you played Learning Factory, say, a year ago and decide to come visit it now, you might notice that some buildings have shadows. Some, but not all of them! This is because the process of polishing and rethinking the game's visuals is going on slowly. Steadily. The arrival of the coolest graphics in the world of cat factory-building games is imminent.



Fun fact: with the last update we have finished a rather prolonged process of redesigning items. There were two main reasons for that: one - some items looked visually noisy when the camera was too far away from the ground, and the other one - since we introduced the quality of items, it only made sense to make all the items look unique.

Some other items are getting a facelift as well. Right now we're considering a new art for trees. Here's a work-in-progress screenshot of them:



Several new buildings are in the works, too. We can't talk much about them now but their codenames are Tech Overcharger and Laser Infuser. It is very probable (but not guaranteed) that you will see them in the next update, planned for September 5th:





You can follow our progress by checking out our Early Access Roadmap, which is updated regularly on Learning Factory's Steam page - just scroll down a little bit:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

(And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to add Learning Factory to your wishlist!)

Another month is ahead of us, another bunch of exciting news about Learning Factory will emerge in the next edition of these developer dairies. Stay awesome, and play some awesome games! Until we meet again.

P.S. A little bonus for those whore read it this far: here's a couple of photos of our devs cats:

Hey engineers! We're back from our summer vacation marathon, and how! This update doesn't need long introductions, it's big enough as it is!

v0.23.146 Released!



[h2]Buildings & Plants[/h2]

• New building: Omnimill is capable of harvesting High Quality (++) Wood and Boxes
  
• New building: Wohlwill Purifier refines Gold into High Quality (++) Gold, also produces High Quality (++) Jewelry
  
• New building: Quantum Tech Assembler makes High Quality (++) Graphic Cards, Microchips, and Cat Vitamins
  
• New building: Transporter Crafter was renamed to Logistics Assembler: it can now also craft Splitters and Tunnels, and can be placed under the ground
  
• New item: Underwater Neon Cotton is an upgrade to regular Neon Cotton
  
• New building: Corner-shaped Splitter is an upgraded version of a regular Splitter (suggested by Cat (the Black), Rex, Trichouette & others)
  

• New Cat Houses visuals
  
• New music & sounds - Tundra biome has its own tunes now!
  

• Upgrade for Logistics Assembler provides more new recipes
  
• New default recipe for crafting Vertical Cables in Cable Crafter
  
• New upgrade: a recipe for producing High Quality (++) Milk
  
• New alternate recipe for Milk added to Milk Drill by default
  
• New upgrade: increasing the limit of teleported items for Inventory Teleport (suggested by busybeas)
  
• New upgrade: allows underground placement for Concrete Mixers
  
• New recipe for crafting High Quality (++) Concrete from lava
  
• New default recipes for producing High Quality (++) Cotton
  
• Upgrading the Dormitory no longer requires Quality (+) Boxes until 6th slot is unlocked
  

• Cats can now leave tips in Stores (except for the Roadside Boutique) that depends on their Loyalty levels
  
• 2 new Blueprints added to the Blueprint Library
  
• Improved efficiency of certain trade deals
  
• Added trade deals for buying and selling Milk, along with summoning cats for Milk
  
• Cost requirements in Advertising Cat Gate increased for most cases (and decreased for some other cases), now more depending on the Hype level
  
• More variable cat expectations for the ad budgets in Advertising Cat Gates
  
• Cotton Collector can harvest Underwater Neon Cotton underground
  

• Quick saving is now available ('F10')
  
• Improved localization for in-game comics for unofficial languages
  
• Optimization of saving game speed and saved game file size
  
• Improved Tutorial
  
• Performance optimization
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Improved recipes display in the Wiki, including recipes unlocked with upgrades
  
• Pressing Ctrl + F now focuses on the available search field
  
• Added an option to search for buildings on the bottom panel, activated by pressing Ctrl + F
  
• Tooltips for most upgrades show their meaning even before they were researched
  
• Improved transitions between the Wiki, research, and events
  
• It is now possible to place Cat Stores on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to place Neural Networks on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to place (certain) Splitters on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to place Linear and Polynomial Regressions on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to place Manipulators and Long Manipulators on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to place certain buildings from related categories on top of each other
  
• It is now possible to unload Docks with Manipulators (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• It is now possible to manually place items on Transporters
  
• By pressing Shift one can now plan a whole line of Transporters/Cable from one point to another
  
• By pressing Shift + Ctrl one can now plan a whole line of Transporters/Cable from one point to another, minding underground routes
  
• It is now possible to instantly teleport to the Monument
  
• Added research queue visualization
  

• Discord integration
  
• Rich presence on Steam enabled
  
• Bug fixes (reported by Angl, perhonen, Mambo, Cat (the Black), Sylman)
  
• Added community translation to the Estonian language (by Sylman)
  

Hey everyone!

The biggest news about this edition of Dev Diaries: there're no dev diaries this month. Well, kind of. You see, the summer vacation period is upon us, and while KOTOVOD Learning Factory never stops, its devs sometimes need to.

That doesn't mean we'd leave you without content though! In fact, we've been keeping updating the visuals of cat items you'll be producing. Here's a summary of the job Sergei the artist did:





The new building of the month is our brand new Cargo Dock: an intermediate form of evolution between a Small Cargo Dock and the mighty Two-Item Cargo Dock - this one holds but one item but in a greater amount than a Small Dock does. At the same time, Two-Item Cargo Dock now holds slightly less amounts of the two items, and researching it is no longer mandatory:



And finally, heres a couple of 2022 vs. 2023 screenshots - just so we could anticipate how the game has changed since last years summer:







A little heads-up: the next update is scheduled for August 15, so make sure you have a good summer rest, because there will be even more awesome cat-related awesome stuff once we return! In the meantime, here's some more Learning Factory content:

• You can watch one of the latest YouTube videos by Z1 Gaming (English) and Canal do Void (Portuguese). By the way, do you have a favorite content maker who you'd like to see playing Learning Factory? Let us know in the comments, we'll try & reach them!
  
• If you haven't seen it already check out this recording of us playing Learning Factory back in May
  
• Join our Discord to discuss Learning Factory with fellow players and with us personally. We share WIP stuff straight from the devs table over there, too
  

Some bugs were neutralized since we've released the last update to Learning Factory. Please update again to enjoy an even less buggy game!

[h3]Hotfix v0.22.144 Released![/h3]

• Bug fixes
  
• 'Collect all items' option now picks up items around the map, too
  

This update comes earlier than ususal. It comes with a heads-up, too: present day labor law systems of the present are imperfect, which is why we still have to take annual break from our working activities.

Which is why the updates will be released slightly less frequent than usual. As always, we're planning to return back to rocking and maybe even rolling in the second half of August.

Have an awesome summer, everyone! If you don't go out of your house much (because there're too many video games to play), don't forget to open the window once in a while, and stay hydrated!

As for today...

[h2]v0.22.143 Released![/h2]

• New Smoothie visuals
  
• New Batteries visuals
  
• High Quality (++) Milk recipet altered
  
• Upgrade for High Quality Milk recipe provides 2 recipes instead of 1
  
• Updated tutorial
  
• Updated terraforming Guide
  
• More phrases for selected Legendary Cats
  
• Added a counter for satisfied Legendary Cat requests (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

Say what you want, but we think that when you put the word "Factory" in your game's name, that's basically a commitment. That means, another fortnight - another update! Yes, with more content. Yes, with another new building. Yes, with more gameplay tweaks. No, it's not gonna last forewer: we're going to release the game soon. But there's so much fun to have still!

[h2]v0.22.142 Released![/h2]


[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New building: Cargo Dock is more spacious than a regular Dock, but still only fits 1 type of goods
  
• Two-Item Cargo Dock is now a bit further on the Research Tree and is optional
  
• High Quality (++) Cat Food recipe altered
  
• New perk for cat researchers, allowing them to use all types of data from Data Storages
  
• Perks slightly rebalanced
  
• Doubled the efficiency of the Lumber-mill upgrade increasing the chopping speed
  
• Added a new default recipe for Lumber-mill for chopping Fir Trees in the northern biome
  
• After unlocking Tavern Tier 3 players can choose to search for researchers with the focus on selected knowledge field (suggested by Cat (the Black))
  

• New art for Microchips
  
• New art for Graphic Cards
  
• New art for Cat Food
  
• New art for Hammocks
  
• 2 new tracks for Underground level
  

• Pressing Wiki hotkey when hovering mouse on an item in the Backpack or on the recipe list in a building opens this item's page in the WIki
  
• Item categories on the building panel are now available underground, too
  
• Improved object pickup (options)
  
• Improved Zeppelin route removal (options)
  
• Sorting by skill feature added to the Dormitory
  
• Sorting by skill feature added when selecting a researcher in a Lab
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey everyone! You know the drill: the full release is approaching, much stuff is being added to the game these months, and lots of polishing tasks lie ahead of us!

That said, this issue of Dev Diaries will have little text and lots of pretty pictures: last month was marked with not one, but two major updates, a new story chapter, a handful of new buildings, and a bunch of redesigned items!



Let's start with those buildings though: all of them will provide a lot of challenges and opportunities in the late parts of the game!

Gummy Press & Omniloom produce multiple types of High Quality items but require respectively exquisite ingredients. While Teleports allow you to travel between any parts of the map - given that you have enough Machine Learning capacity to afford them.



Lots of fun stuff is happening under the surface of Mars, too: there're now glowy plants for you to harvest & make into the finest cat goods in the Solar System:



Speaking of goods, the great redesign of in-game art continues! By now, most of the items you produce in the game, including Quality and High Quality items, have their own distinctive look! Within the next couple of updates, we'll complete our collection of uniqe-looking items (that is if we don't introduce more items - no immediate plans for that but who knows!):





Sorry, we won't be showing much of the new comics (except for the art we used for cover image above) - we wouldn't dare to spoil the fun of discovering them by yourselves! But we assure you, they're in the game: adding them allowed us to mark Stage 3 of Early Access as complete! It's been a bit more than a year since we've closed Stage 2 - we considered it a legitimate excuse to show you some images, all taken sometime in May of 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively:







here, have some more, wouldn't you:







And here's our roadmap, so you could appreciate the path we've come along with you, our awesome players:



See you with more Learning Factory news in July! In the meantime, you're always welcom to chat with us on our Discord server. Until we meet again!

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Hey engineers! This week's update is rather festive: we've got new visuals for a whole array of items, along with some sweet improvements here and there! If you already have a well-built Factory, check out on it: you might find it looks a whole lot different!

[h2]v0.22.140 Released![/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New building: Omniloom makes only the High Quality Cloth, Pillows, and Hammock, from the finest resources found on Mars
  
• New upgrade: increased speed for Cat Blimps
  
• Using Biodynamite also maximizes the efficiency of surrounding tiles (without changing the type of tiles)
  
• The recipes for Quality (+) and High Quality (++) Claw Sharpeners were changed
  
• 3 new achievements
  

• Loom re-rendered
  
• Batteries re-rendered
  
• Pillows re-rendered
  
• Claw Sharpeners re-rendered
  
• Cat Vitamins re-rendered
  
• Concrete re-rendered
  

• Pressing 'Ctrl' + 'J' now auto builds upon Blueprints on both surface and underground levels
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• UI/UX fixes
  

• Improved Twitch integration: added links to selected (by us) streamers, along with the list of active Learning Factory live streams
  
• Bug fixes
  

All the machinery on Learning Factory is gently humming, operating at their highest productivity rate. Manipulators are moving back and forth, performing their beatiful dance, silent and nifty. Zeppelins are soaring in the sky, carrying tons of top-notch cat goods in their holds with grace and dignity.

Everything is going according to the plan as Dr. Katz is checking the box next to "Stage 3" line of his "Things to do to reach Catopia" list.

Stage 2 was closed a bit later than a year ago: May '22 it was. Do you remember Learning Factory of the time? No Territories to unlock in Campaign, no Guilds to trade with, no Zeppelins to transfer goods in the sky... The game looked and felt quite differently - just look of these screenshots and spot the difference:









The development is moving forward. Glory to Science!

[h3]v0.22.139 Released![/h3]

[h3]Graphics & Art[/h3]

• New story comics
  
• New menu theme
  
• New graphics settings: dynamic resolution & anti-aliasing
  

• New music track for the Underground level
  

• Advertising Cat Gate & Target Ad Cat now attract Cats with higher Loyalty level
  
• Advertising Cat Gate Gate do not try to summon a Cat without target item in their shopping list, if this Cat type generally has target item in their requests list
  
• More Cats are requesting Ice-Cold Smoothies as upsale items
  
• Upon reaching the Digital Cat Consciousness milestone on the Research Tree, Dr. Katz requests are rewarded with science points more often and lead to better rewards in general
  
• Clicking RMB on a recipe pause button in a building switches on that recipe (suggested by DrDoctor)
  
• Added an option to quickly switch from the Dormitory to a Science Lab (suggested by Cat (the Black))
  

• Improved Tutorial
  
• Improved tooltips
  
• New engine version
  
• Key input is no longer registered in the game when the game window is out of focus
  
• Added 1 more mouse cursor option to the Accessibility options
  
• Performance optimization
  
• UI improvement
  
• Bug fixes
  

That's right, you heard it! The game is on sale as part of this awesome, cozy & family friendly event.

The 20% discount for Learning Factory will be there until June 5!

Got get a bunch of great games, and then some! Buy Learning Factory for your family members, too:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Bugs come and go... well, mostly they go, go away never to be seen. Some sooner, some later. Anyway, we've fixed some bugs, please update your game!

[h3]Hotfix v0.21.138[/h3]

• Players get some growing plants in their inventory upon starting a new Freeplay Mode game (suggested by U_B_i)
  
• Bug fixes (most of them spotted by Trichouette from our Discord community)
  

Bugs are pesky, but we're on it! Another bunch of irritating digital insects is mercilessly fixed in v0.21.136! Please update and enjoy.

Some bug were successfully eradicated today! You're very welcome to update and carry on with your daily factory-building duty. Glory to science!

Here's anothe Major update, which changes the game quite a bit! As usual, it started with a small idea, but ended up in revision of many crafting recipes, along with adding a couple of new buildings, and updating a bunch of art on the way.

Enjoy it and please share your impressions in the comments and on our official Discord server:

[h3]Major v0.21.134 Released[/h3]


[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New building: a network of Teleports that can take you around the map in mere seconds, but each Teleport occupies 1 unit of your ML Capacity
  
• New building: Gummy Press allows you to make Quality (+) Gum and/or High Quality (++) Catnip Algae
  
• New(ish) item: Neon Cotton Plant grows Underground; research a Growing Neon Cotton Plant on the Research Tree to unlock a possibility to build Cotton Collectors, Hedges and use Fertilizers Underground
  
• New(ish) item: Deep Algae works pretty much the same way, allowing to place Algae Harvesters and Booms Underground, once Growing Deep Algae is researched
  
• Dormitory upgrades cost less money but will require certain items: the higher the level - the more complex items will be required
  
• Catificial Intelligence Endless Research Project now increases ML Capacity with every level reached
  
• Fungi From Pluto Endless Research Project now also provides a chance to automatically fertilized a newly emerged plant
  
• Soil auto-crafting limit increased from 300 to 1000 (via Trichouette)
  
• Fertilizer auto-crafting limit increased from 100 to 500 units
  
• Added another Blueprint suggestion to the Wiki
  
• New music
  

• New upgrade: Gummy Press can be upgraded to make High Quality (++) Gum (2 different recipes available)
  
• New upgrade for Metal Furnace that increases smelting speed
  
• The upgrade for increased production quality of Fish Makers now provides High Quality Fish instead of Quality Fish. The recipe's item requirements & unlock requirements have been altered as well
  
• New upgrade: Cat House Maker can be upgraded for increased production speed
  
• New recipe: all Underground Drills now include a recipe for crafting twice as fast compared to default recipe
  
• New recipe: Metal Furnace now includes 2 alternate recipes that make smelting twice as fast compared to default recipe
  
• New recipe: Concrete Mixer now includes a default recipe for producing Quality Concrete twise as fast compared to original recipe
  
• New recipe: added an alternative recipe for making Chewing Gum
  
• New recipe: Claw Sharpener Maker now includes a default recipe for producing Quality Claw Sharpeners
  
• New recipe: Bling Machine now includes 2 alternate recipes for producing Blings and Quality Blings
  
• New recipe: Cat House Maker now includes 2 alternate recipes for producing Quality and High Quality Cat Houses (both recipes require Concrete)
  
• Default Smoothie recipe no longer requires Apple Boxes
  
• Producing Cat Food now requires 2 Fish instead of 1
  
• Default Graphic Card recipe now requires 2 Microchips instead of 3
  
• Bubble Gum Mixer now produces Gum in batches of 3
  
• Time for selected recipes was altered within 1-2 ticks to better balance proportions between interdependent buildings
  

• Upgraded to Unity v2022.2.20f1
  

• Updated Chewing Gum visuals
  
• Updated Jewelry visuals
  
• Updated Cloth visuals
  

• Added an option to toggle cat researcher's skills increase notifications
  
• Added an option to clear search results upon interacting with the target object
  
• UI/UX fixes
  

• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

During these late stages of development, writing an introduction to every other edition of these Dev Diaries becomes a more challenging task every time. E.g., there isn't much to report: the majority of game mechanics are already in place, and now our work mostly revolves around tons of polishing, visual updates, and concluding the game's story (sounds like a piece of cake, right?).

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1150090

On the brighter side, we've got lots of new images to share!

[h2]Views of the Future
[/h2]
Learning Factory has changed so much, that when our friends who played the 2021 edition of the game see the latest screenshots, they're asking whether it's a sequel to Learning Factory. What do you think though?

[h3]2021[/h3]

[h3]2023[/h3]


The work on the visuals continues as more and more items of different quality levels get their own unique design. The old ones are subject to revision, too! Just a couple of weeks back we introduced new metals, along with gems, seaweed, and cotton:





[h2]Clone Paws & Other Wonders[/h2]

Although all basic mechanics are still in place, some occasional new buildings keep emerging in the game. Sometimes they're based on community ideas, like this cozy cloning chamber:



This spectacular device makes an exact copy of any visiting Cat, which is considered to be an android with a digital copy of a cat donor's mind. Known side effects: clones are traveling on Transporters, facing backward.

Both cats are alive at the same time.

Another new building and an instrument at your disposal is called Chillout Space:



It ensures zero productivity and 100% laziness efficiency. These conditions do motivate cats to recommend your Factory to their friends, but they wouldnt bother doing even that: an AI-powered algorithm is there to compose a tempting text that will bring more like-minded cats to your campus, while their buddies are taking (yet another) break from doing nothing before they decide to return to relaxed shopping.

Surprisingly as it is, thats not just it! A couple of other new buildings are also scheduled for the upcoming update next week. One of them makes an advanced edition of Gum:



(A fun fact: by this day, some of our players don't suspect that our game actually has 3D graphics, with detailed models and such!)

While the other is codenamed Teleport. Any ideas about what it does though?




What else are we working on? Thousands of little and big things are happening under the hood: optimization, polishing, bug fixing, new sounds, more new visuals, more optimization and polishing, and then some.

New gameplay features emerge from this seemingly chaotic, yet meticulously planned and controlled creative abyss. For one, there are new and more profitable deals in the Trade Ports. And Tunnels and Splitters can now be placed on Rafts as well - a small change in the rules, a potentially huge expansion of logistic maneuvers, especially for those playing on island-filled maps!

Another little change that may make a big splash is that bunch of new recipes for items that we've added to certain buildings. Some of them will allow you to craft higher quality goods, others give a productivity boost. This feature will be but one of many exciting ideas that we can't way to see you try, come next update.

And if you'll think some of them don't feel right for any reason - we'll be more than happy to hear from you! Part of the idea behind us releasing a new update every fortnight is that we're building the game based on your feedback! So let us know your thoughts on the Discord server or right here in the comments!

[h2]* * *[/h2]

Mark these words: we're going to paint some plates green on our Early Access roadmap very soon! Wanna make a bet on which ones it will be? You'll know the results before the next edition of these Dev Diaries comes out! Until we meet again!

Good news: we're considering the game almost finished in terms of mechanics. There's a lot of polishing ahead, but it's safe to say that the main pieces of the puzzle are in place.

Even better news: there's still lots of new content to be expected. You're probably already noticing the new visuals and the new sounds, but this update adds two new buildings on top of it!

And more:

[h2]v0.20.133 Released[/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New building: Chillout Space allows the cats to take a break from standing in line, increasing their loyalty and providing them a chance to invite a friend of the same cat type to your Factory
  
• New building: Schrodinger's Chamber clones any cat that decides to enter it. A cloned cat will have the same type, parameters and shopping preferences (suggested by mraukotek)
  
• Added a recipe for crafting High Quality (++) Milk in the Brew Intensifier
  
• Added a recipe for crafting Quality (+) Graphic Cards in the Graphic Card Assembler
  
• Added a recipe for crafting Quality (+) Laser Pointers in the Laser Pointer Maker
  
• Added a recipe for crafting Quality (+) Microchips in the Microchip Maker
  
• Increased (up to 2x in certain cases) profitability of deals in the Trade Ports
  
• New deals in the Trade Ports
  
• 2 new achievements
  

• New art for Catnip Juice and Milk
  
• Updated visuals for Catnip Algae
  
• Updated grass visuals (partial)
  
• More sounds!
  

• Added a search field in crafting and inventory windows
  
• Added a search field for the Blueprint Library
  
• Added search for upgrades on the Research Tree
  
• Added a search field in the Trade Guilds window in the Monument
  
• Added a search field in the Statistics tab in the Monument
  
• On first launch, the game will prioritize language settings from Steam over system language settings
  
• Optimization of saving/loading and starting a new game
  
• A big iteration of UI/UX optimization
  
• Improved parsing of characters in Japanese
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Improved hints system
  
• Bug fixes
  

[h3]First things first: Learning Factory is on sale until May 1! Get your copy of the game, 34% off![/h3]

As promised in the latest edition of our developer diaries, this update brings a lot of changes in the visuals for many items on your Factories. Because most of the items now vary in quality and marking them with mere silver or gold stars would be plain boring, wouldn't it?

So now you can clearly distinguish those top-notch cat goods from boring regular ones. We hope that it will add some motivation for you to optimize your production and ensure your catstomers get only the best-looking items!

Naturally, that's not the only change. Check out the other awesome stuff in this awesome new version of the game:

[h2]v0.20.131 Released[/h2]

[h3]Visuals & Sound[/h3]

• New art for Iron, Copper, Gold, Gems, Catnip Algae & Cotton
  
• New art for underground water and, partly, surface water
  
• More phrases for legendary cats
  
• Added many new sounds for items
  

• Shelves capacity upgrade removed for Smart Cat Stores; instead, added another upgrade increasing the number of slots for items in Smart Cat Stores (up to 14). Default shelves capacity increased to 50 items per slot
  
• Shelves capacity for Specialized Cat Stores increased from 50 to 100 items; researching Specialized Cat Stores is not anymore mandatory
  
• Terraforming now allows replacing tiles of appropriate type under plants without removing them
  
• CPU Trade Guild now allows exchanging goods for Cat Knowledge Archives in Tier 5
  
• All Splitters and Tunnels can now be placed on Rafts
  
• Increased profitability of deals in Trade Ports when exchanging goods for Cat Knowledge
  
• New upgrade: increased cargo hold for Zeppelins
  
• Slightly improved hills generation
  

• Pressing Ctrl+Click on a research adds the project to research queue
  
• Pressing Ctrl+Click on a building on the pannel in the bottom of the screen results in crafting another building of the same type
  
• Symbols limit for naming Docks and Zeppelin Routes increased
  
• Added a search field for the Research Tree
  

• Bug fixes, especially for airships
  
• UI/UX optimization, especially for Zeppelin routes handling
  

If you didn't know that already, Learning Factory is being developed by a team of just four people. Back in 2020, when we started drafting the game, none of us would expect it to become as big! All we wanted was to make a tycoon game about a cat store And here we are, with a giant map of 3 biomes and an underground level, Trade Ports, Cat Guilds, the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I., and now - cat blimps! Among other things.

And we're far from done. Let's try and sort out all the good stuff that appeared in the game in the past month.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

[h3]When Cats Fly[/h3]

Cat Zeppelins have been in the game for some time now, helping you transfer your goods to the harder-to-reach parts of your Factory campus. One thing they could not carry was well, cats. However, our very curious players have tried to fit their furry catstomers into Zeppelins. Some of them even succeeded, naturally resulting in the game crashing. That's when we decided that passenger airships are a good idea. Enter Cat Blimps!





One of our Discord community members, Jiiniasu, has contributed as well with a sketch of their own:



It took some time and effort from Sergei the artist to come up with something mad enough while prototyping the design of these mighty airships. The earliest versions looked somewhat like a flying beaver:



It became more cat-like after a couple of iterations:



then we've just added some cats, and:



The Blimps are designed with all your cat's desires in mind: the insight of the gondola is shaped as a cardboard box, with scratch-resistant walls and catnip-flavored shakes served on board! We'd remind the pawssengers to fasten their seat belts, but, knowing the nature of cats, we don't expect them to comply.

Blimp stations (or, as we call them, Pawssenger Docks) also took some time to contemplate:



Sergei found inspiration in a special book dedicated to the bus stop design of the Soviet Union - apparently, they were very diverse, often astonishingly beautiful! Anyway, here's the final version, with cats and whatnot:



Take your cats for a ride in the sky!

[h3]Endless Research for Filthy-Rich Engineers[/h3]

This next feature might not look as spectacular, but boy, is it useful! Since Learning Factory is a stress-free game, the players who made it to the late stages of the game often find themselves with ridiculous amounts of in-game currency on their deposits.

However, even with all the technologies unlocked, the potential for optimization of one's Factory is endless. That said, you are now allowed to invest your profits and acquire very useful perks for your Factory and your character, so you could optimize more, earn even more money, get better perks, and optimize again, times infinity:



The aforementioned perks include a speed increase for the character and/or Zeppelins, a research speed boost, an overall profits increase, boosted growth of plants, a chance to create two buildings instead of one while crafting and much more! They're as powerful as they are expensive, so if you happen to be a minmaxer kind of a player, those research projects will keep you busy for dozens of hours. No need to thank us!

[h3]Another Round Underground[/h3]

When we introduced the underground level of Mars in Learning Factory, it was a rather boring, lifeless place that was only good for facilitating de-spaghettifying the logistics. Here's a brief list of features that we have added since: underground oceans, lava & lava Rafts, underground Zeppelins, underground Metal sources, Lava Furnaces, and now - fishing.



Yes, really. But it's not just that: upon upgrading your Multitool you will not only be able to catch fish in the dark subsurface waters, but you'll also be able to fish for metals in lava! And if you need more space or more confidence - you can now pour concrete on lava, thus making it traversable!

With all that, it makes the Underground of Mars a pretty fun place to hang out! But we still have a couple of things to be added up our sleeves. Just you wait! In the meantime

[h3]The Big Redesign [/h3]

If you are following these diaries regularly, you might already know that one of the most important tasks on our table is to make Learning Factory prettier than ever for when it goes to full release this year. We've done that before, too: the game has changed more than once, including the big rehaul of the visual style last August.

The work on this aspect of the game continues! In the next update, we're planning to change the looks of certain items. As it already happened with Yarn Balls and many more items, Copper will look different depending on the quality of items you produce. Here's a work-in-progress teaser:



A new Gold design is on the way, too:



New Iron, Cotton, and Gems are also to be expected! This upcoming update (scheduled for release on April 25) is going to be pretty! Oh, and we've also re-rendered the good ol Cotton Collector, it's already in the game:



Bear with us! With each passing month, Learning Factory is becoming a more beautiful, deep, and wholesome game. See you in the next edition of our Dev Diaries!

What fish lives in the underground waters of Mars? You'll gonna find out in this week's update! Spoiler alert: it's regular (though quality) fish, but also - metals!

Seriously, have we gone too far with making this game too absurd? Maybe. But we're not going to stop until the very release... and more after that.

Anyway, enjoy the update!

[h2]v0.20.130 Released[/h2]

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Added a possibility to catch Fish from the waters underground (the real deal, see the picture below!)
  
• Added a possibility to catch Metals from the lava
  
• Multitool upgrade allows catching Quality Fish in the Underground waters, along with the waters of Acrtic and Tropical biomes, also works for lava fishing
  
• New terraforming research: Concrete Flooring allows you to be poured over Lava and the Underground waters, making them traversable. It also allows to place watery tiles on the Underground level!
  
• Harvesting or destroying plants now has a small chance to give sprout
  
• Growth Hormones infinite research now also increases sprout harvesting chance
  
• Transporter Assembler upgrade buff: additional limit increased from 50 to 250
  

• Cotton Collector re-rendered
  
• Aroma Machine animated
  
• Teleportation effect when switching map layers
  

• Twitch integration update
  
• Tutorial update
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey friends!

Here's another hotfix that will make the game less buggy and more nice for you.

Enjoy it, and please don't hesitate to share feedback with us!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

And don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

Greetings, engineers! We have a hotfix for you to enjoy! Here's what it brings your way:

[h3]Hotfix v0.20.128 Released[/h3]

• Pressing RMB on a research deletes it from the queue
  
• Efficiency level is displayed while catching fish
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Improved copywriting
  
• Performance optimization
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Bug fixes
  

It's been more than 2 years since Learning Factory was released in Early Access, and we're eternally grateful to the players, who joined us way back in 2021 and 2022! This week's update comes with a couple of features, that will definitely help experienced engineers rethink their logistics and boost their factories - all for the sake of making cats happy, of course.

[h3]Major v0.20.126 Released[/h3]

• Endless researches: 15 special end-game scientific projects that allow you to spend ridiculous amounts of money for serious gameplay bonuses (see below)
  
• New building: Pawssenger Dock - for your cats to wait for boarding and being carried around the Factory
  
• Naturally, it comes with a new airship: Cat Blimps!
  
• New upgrade: High Quality (++) Cat Houses
  
• Cat House Maker has Quality (+) recipe by default
  
• After cats leave tasting buildings, items they've added to their shopping list are displayed above them
  
• When you get a reward for a Dr. Katz's request, it's visually displayed above the character's head
  
• Pipette tool now works on grown up plants (a growing plant will stick to the cursor)
  
• Cats slightly rebalanced
  
• Research cost slightly rebalanced
  
• Order of research projects in Terraforming category slightly changed
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Campaign loading speed decreased (up to 10 seconds)
  
• Freeplay premade maps loading speed decreased
  
• Saving game time optimization
  
• Save game file size decreased
  
• Minor SFX improvements
  
• Performance optimization
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey everyone! It is well known that the older you get, the faster flies the time. Apparently, a similar principle applies to video games: the closer to release, the shorter the next month seems. Is it the middle of March already? It is. And apparently, we've made a lot of progress.

[h3]Blueprints Complete![/h3]

If you were not using this mighty powerful instrument before, you should give it a try now! You can now make changes in the Blueprints straight from the Blueprint Library, but whats even more exciting - you can instantly craft buildings over the Blueprints by pressing Ctrl + click (by default) on them. Or even better - you can automatically build stuff around you by pressing just one button ('Jby default)! Just make sure you have enough resources for it.

[previewyoutube=K9Bs9YEixhM;full][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Visual Update: It Has Begun!
[/h3]
Mark these words: come summer, you will see a whole different Learning Factory! Needless to say, the graphics in the game is far from final: we only have one Sergei, the artist. But his talent is truly unstoppable: he already started polishing key buildings in the game, adding shadows and other very important details. The first subject to transform is, of course, the Yarn Ball Maker - one of the first and most important structures at any stage of your Factory development:



Needless to say, redesigning the Yarn Ball Maker means redesigning Yarn Balls as well:



It took us some time to implement because Sergei has a habit of sometimes going WAY too deep into details. This time he spent hours studying the techniques of weaving in the textile industry, so he could make Yarn Balls look truly realistic (for a game about cats on Mars in the future, yes, why?).

Eventually, the resulting Yarn Balls ended up becoming so realistic, theyd look visually noisy when the camera zoomed out too far Therefore, we had to postpone implementing them until the next update. But they arrived at last:



Oh, but what about that delicious Yarn Ball with a gold star, on the right? Oh, its just a new type of item, combining the softness and playful potential of Yarn Balls with the irresistible vibes of Catnip Algae. We even had to design a special machine for you to be able to craft it:



[h3]Gameplay Changes: Sales, Subsidizing & Dr. Katz Requests[/h3]
We have a confession to make: lots of features we implement on a bi-monthly basis are not listed in these humble Dev Diaries. Mostly because we dont want to overburden you with too many details - we do make a lot of changes to the game. But the most recent update introduced a bunch of cool new things that are worth mentioning:

Theres now an option to subsidize cat researchers working in Experimental Labs. For a reasonable price, you can make it so the next 100 articles written by a researcher will bring them twice as much experience. They dont go out of their laboratories much, but they still like money, who knows why! Cats are mysterious.

You can also spend money on upgrading Dr. Katzs requests (those mini-quests that you see in the upper left corner of the screen from time to time) - the challenge will become harder but the reward will be better, too!

And to earn money to afford these tools, you can turn on Sales pricing mode in a Smart Store! Its an addition to already existing manual pricing and machine learning pricing. With this thing on, all items in a Store will be sold at minimum prices, but the satisfied cats will become more loyal, which will bring you more profit in the future.

[h3]Now What?[/h3]
Once you get locked into serious feature adding, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. Even with the games full release approaching, we still got a couple of awesome things up our sleeves!



One of them is Cat Zeppelins. Like, for transporting cats this time. Once we introduced Cargo Zeppelins to the game, some players started trying to put cats inside of them, though they were never designed for this. Some of the players even succeeded in doing that (which, naturally, resulted in the game crashing). So we thought it was a fine idea. We havent heard of any historical cases of cats traveling in giant blimps, so we see it as our chance to finally make things right, even if just in a video game. Cats deserve to be able to fly in airships, dammit!

The other big feature were working on is dedicated to those who made the best of the features from the paragraphs above and is now carrying the burden of being filthy rich. The codename of this feature is endless researches, and it will allow you to invest ridiculous amounts of money to squeeze the game for various benefits for your Factory: increased Hype, increased XP levels for scientists, a chance to craft an additional building while crafting, a speed boost for Zeppelins - you name it! As long as you keep the sweet dough coming.

See you in a month! Things are about to get exciting as ever as the full release approaches. Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD!

Hey everyone!

You know the drill. What else there is to explain? It's Steam Spring Sale, and Learning Factory is 31% off for the rest of the week!

Time to wipe it out of your wishlist into your Steam library! And don't forget to grab some other awesome games on the way.

Happy hunting!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

And don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

It's not the length of list of changes that defines an update. This one is marked as 'Regular' but the list of changes is actually pretty long. There are lots of things that we added and improved here in there - they might not sound as cool as finalizing Blueprint mode. Nor they are as epic as something that we're planning for the next update (wink-wink, nudge-nudge).

Still, they change the experience from the game a great deal. Here's how.

[h2]v0.19.125 Released[/h2]
[h3]New buildings & Sales[/h3]

• New buildings: Quality Manipulator and Long Quality Manipulators. For manipulating items, you know. With quality
  
• Added an option to craft Quality Batteries, default recipe is added to Battery Maker
  
• Sales mode for Smart Cat Store (to be unlocked on the progress bar of the Research Tree): allows selling items at minimum prices that leads to increased loyalty of cats who shop there
  
• 4 upgrades that increase the amount of items that can be added to a cat's shopping list upon visiting tasting buildings
  
• Added statistics for added Loyalty (from tasting buildings and Roadside Boutiques shopping)
  
• Added statistics for recommended items in tasting buildings
  

• Subsidizing option in Research Hub: invest money to boost EXP gain for the next 100 articles for a researcher in the Hub
  
• Experience gain ratio slightly increased
  
• Research difficulty rebalanced and now depends only on how far from the start a research project is
  
• Research Tree screen now displays the overall amount of Cat Knowledge Archives (via Oniguro)
  

• New visuals for Yarn Balls
  
• New visuals for Yarn Ball Maker
  
• Lava terrain visuals slightly improved
  

• Added an option to decline or upgrade Dr. Katz's requests (to be unlocked on the progress bar of the Research Tree): invest money to add challenge and receive a better reward
  
• Dr. Katz's requests are now sometimes rewarded with Manipulators, Soil and Fertile Soil
  
• Dr. Katz's requests now include Quality and High Quality items
  
• Dr. Katz's requests now include a demand to satisfy a certain amount of cats with high Loyalty level
  
• Upgrading a request may result in demanding higher quality items or higher levels of cats' Loyalty
  
• Added an option to auto collect rewards from Dr. Katz's requests (via xz215279)
  

• Added an option to auto build Blueprints in the are around the character ('J' by default)
  
• Added an option to automatically hang a Blueprint on the mouse cursor while building for Logistics buildings only
  
• Added an option to remove a building from crafting queue if that building's Blueprint was removed
  
• New Blueprint in the Blueprint Library (via Oni)
  

• Saved games can be sorted in the menu
  
• Decreased saving time (especially for Factories with lots of Zeppelins)
  
• Decreased saved game file size
  
• Added an option to past a config to multiple buildings at once (if they are selected)
  
• Added an option to assign controls to mouse buttons 3-6
  
• Improved tooltips display
  
• UI/UX fixes
  
• Bug fixes
  

• Press and hold Ctrl and drag your mouse over a group of buildings/object
  
• Press Ctrl+S to save the group as a Blueprint in the Library ('B' by default)
  
• Dont forget to enter a name and a description of what your blueprint does (this is also where your name will appear, if we select your Blueprint for the official list)
  
• You can also make simple editions to a custom Blueprint in the Library: delete items with the right mouse button, rotate the whole Blueprint or invert the surface and underground levels
  

• Go to Blueprint Library ('B' by default)
  
• Find your work there
  
• Press the arrow icon (Export Blueprint) next to a Blueprints name. Or press Details and find the Export button there
  
• The Blueprint will be copied to your clipboard as text, you can then paste it anywhere and send it to anyone you want (it will be attached as a text file if you paste it to Discord)
  

• In the Blueprint Library, find the Import field in the lower part of the screen
  
• Paste the text code of a Blueprint you got somewhere
  
• Hit the green arrow button
  

Hey everyone! As you know, our game is about building a Factory (duh!). And while we're maintaning an incredibly relaxed and fluffy atmosphere, factory vibe implies constant pushing forward, to new frontiers, better production, and, eventually, the Catopia!

That said, here we are with yet another major update for the game. We've got plans to keep them coming, too.

We hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to share your impressions in the comments or on our Discord server!


[h2]Major Update: v0.19.124[/h2]

[h3]Blueprints[/h3]

• Added an option to edit custom Blueprints straight from the Blueprint Library: you can delete elements, rotate or invert the scheme
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl+click' on a Blueprints results in production & placement of a respective building
  
• Pressing 'Ctrl+click' with a building on the cursor force prints a Blueprint
  
• Added tips & tricks for selected buildings in the Wiki
  
• Added hotkeys for Blueprints
  
• Switched logics of opening Blueprint Library and Blueprint Mode
  

• New building: Aroma Machine produces High Quality (++) Yarn Balls, combining, perhaps, the most tempting combination in the world of feline desires: catnip and yarn balls!
  
• New 'Deep Dive' option when starting a new game: added an ability to begin with unlocked machine learning, access to Zeppelins and Underground level, and hiring scientists immediately after tutorial
  
• Subsequently, the 'classic' tutorial has been revised and improved, and is now called 'Relaxed Start': it provides more smooth and gradual introduction to the game core mechanics
  

• Rerendered Manipulators with different color schemes for different Manipulator types
  
• Items move out of Tunnels in a smoother manner
  
• Improved color schemes on the mini map (Transporters, X-Switchers and tasting buildings are more visually distinctive)
  

• Added an option to place items direcly into buildings (or pick items from buildings by hovering cursor over them) by dragging the mouse while 'Ctrl+LMB' is pressed (via )
  
• Added an option to only pick items crafted by the player by pressing 'Ctrl+LMB' (via )
  
• Added an option to conceal researched upgrades from the Research Tree
  
• Added a hotkey for bug reporting
  
• Added an option to save&&exit game (via SrBicho)
  
• New menu theme
  
• Improved sorting in the Wiki
  
• Bug fixes
  
• UI fixes
  

Hey everyone! Time for another edition of Learning Factory's dev diaries. Has it really been just a month? It was really rich with events for us: we participated in the Base Builder Fest on Steam and released Learning Factory on Epic Games Store but most importantly, we've introduced 3 updates oozing new content and features. Here's a short list of the most game-changing things!

[h2]Blueprints To The Max[/h2]


It's funny that we sometimes hear rebukes (and, ironically, compliments) that Learning Factory is like Factorio but it's not Factorio. Well, yeah, it is definitely not Factorio, nor it was ever meant to be. Naturally, this great game was one of our principal sources of inspiration but we like to think that Learning Factory is more about economics, data, and optimization of stuff. And cats.

But there's one feature in Factorio that we and our players are particularly fond of - the Blueprints. Those handy ghosts of buildings can be a great help when planning a really big factory. We started introducing them to Learning Factory last year but in the most recent updates, we've really upgraded them.



For starters, there's a Blueprint Library that you can see in the screenshot above. It contains some pre-made schemes from us (that also serve as tips & tricks for building) but you can also enrich the list with your own creations: press Ctrl and drag the mouse over a group of objects and then press Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+S to save the blueprint.

And then you'll be able to press the Export button in the library to copy and paste your scheme code and make it shareable. This short video on our YouTube channel explains the basics of it.

Please send us your Blueprints, we'd love to check them and try them out in our own Factories!

[h2]New Buildings Again (And We're Far From Done Yet)[/h2]

Blueprints can be an infinite source of fun and experimenting but those are primarily for advanced (and/or really curious) players. Here's something that may be enjoyed by absolutely everyone: new buildings! We have introduced quite a few:



These bad boys will take your Metal (and, occasionally, some Wood) and smelt it into higher-quality Metal! If that doesn't sound cool enough, Lava Furnace actually needs to be placed on lava under the ground. The Underground level is actually becoming quite a world of its own: with underground Zeppelins and metal sources to mine, there's now also an option for sub-surface fishing - make sure to research the respective upgrade for the Fishing Spot!



Speaking of quality, Cotton Gin is your best friend for producing top-quality Cotton! According to our research, the original Cotton Gin was invented in 1793 by an I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. member, hiding under the alias of Eli Whitney. This hi-tech version of that magnificent machine is perfect for refining cotton to make sure no Martian dust and sheep nano-particles end up in the product.



Did you know: all tiles on Mars have different quality rates, and some buildings work most efficiently when set up on the proper type of soil or water? For example, Fir Trees grow best in the northern biome, and Fishing Piers achieve maximum productivity when placed near hot or cold water. But even the fitting tiles can be below perfect by default. To ensure top quality, you should consider replacing natural tiles with those produced by you Or by one of these Soil Silos, which are your new helpers for automated ground production. Ground control too major!



This cute little thing is yet another tasting building that we started introducing at the end of last year. Works pretty much the same as others: passerby cats might get inside and will likely add Boxes to their shopping list afterward. And if you're suspecting a Schrodinger Box reference in the design - you're absolutely right!



Last but not least, behold our mighty Experimental Lab! If you look closely, you might notice an empty Cat Knowledge Archive at the base of this awesome new building. Empty Archives are required for the production of these think tanks (or rather think boxes?), and your effort of finding them will be rewarded by the doubled speed of research inside.

[h2]Now What?[/h2]


Speaking of what we're working on now, we must get back to the players comparing our game with Factorio. (Are there really many factory building/optimization games that don't look like Factorio?) We'd really like to highlight what's making Learning Factory unique, that's why we're working on an additional version of the game's tutorial, specifically made for factory-building connoisseurs. This way you'll be able to get past the basic stuff like laying down Transporters and mining basic resources, right into serious cat-catering and data processing stuff!

We're also hoping to finalize the Blueprints with a couple of useful new features. And, of course, some new art is looming: right now Sergei the artist is busy improving the looks of the most important item in the Factory - the Yarn Balls. They deserve their own little story but that's for the next edition of these Dev Diaries:



The journey to Catopia continues! Join us if you're still not with us, and let us know what you think of the game so far. We're always glad to chat with our players.

See you in the next chapter of Learning Factory's History!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

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Releasing an update every 2 weeks is, to be frank, quite a challenge. But we couldn't be happier that we accepted it. During this pre-final stage of development, each update pumps the game with new content, new mechanics, and less bugs (or so we aim for but Early Access is Early Access). We like to work hard, knowing that we're making something that allows you to kick back and have a tranquil night (or a day? or a weekend?) of cat factory building!

This time we bring you more automation, more planning, and more in-depth research:

[h3]v0.18.123 Released[/h3]

• New building: Experimental Lab requires a base from Cat Knowledge Archive to be crafted. It occupies more space but any scientist inside works twice as fast
  
  
  
  
• New buildings: Soil Silo and Enriched Soil Silo automatically craft ground tiles for you +alternative recipe for crafting Fertile Soil
  
• Updated visuals for Cat Gate
  
• Added the Blueprint Library with pre-made Blueprints and an option to share Blueprints with other players
  
• Added an option to copy Blueprints from both map layers
  
  
  
  
• Area place/removal of terraforming tiles doesn't require an upgrade anymore
  
• New Upgrade: Fishing Spot can now be improved to be placed underground and produce High Quality Fish
  
• Cargo Zeppelins' speed is the same as regular Zeppelins by default; added another upgrade to increase the speed of regular Zeppelins
  
• Granny Cats can now appear out of Shopaholic invasion event but not too often though
  
• Inventory Teleport item transfer limit increased from 100 to 500 items
  
• Added an option to change mouse cursor size
  
• Cursor settings now available in Gameplay Options, too
  
• 2 new achievements
  
• Improved tutorial
  
• Optimization, Transporters optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

Hey everyone!

This update came bit later than usual but totally worth the sweat and some occasional tears! The second part of Blueprint functions is now available for you to check out, with some more awesome Blueprint-related goodness to be introduced in the next updates. As for today...

[h2]Major Update: v0.18.121[/h2]
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• New Building: Cotton Gin improves the quality of Cotton
  
• Boxing Office now animated
  
• New milestone with a new unlock type: sell items to cats with high loyalty levels
  
• New parameter: ML capacity limits the number of ML models that you can place at your Factory. ML Capacity can be increased by conducting researches, buying territories and unlocking milestones
  
• Cacti growth rate decreased
  
• High Quality (++) Iron can be traded in Trade Ports for lesser amount of Concrete
  
• New Guide explaining the basics of Turing Trees
  
• Depending on Hype level, cats might visit service buildings of the same type several times
  
• Depending on Hype level, cats might add up to 3 item types to their wishlist upon visiting tasting buildings
  
• Five more upgrades of items for Quality: Yarn Balls ++, Claw Sharpeners +, Claw Sharpeners ++, Ropes ++, Pillows +
  

• Added an option to mass select, copy, and rotate Blueprints (currently without Tunnels and without copying on both layers at once)
  
• New event type: indicates the first case of mass purchasing for a cat type
  
• New event type: indicates when a certain cat type requested more items then there are slots in a Store
  
• Improved tutorial and new research hints (suggested by )
  
• Added an option to change mouse grid size
  
• Turning on mouse grid enables mass picking items from Storages
  
• Turning on mouse grid enables area deleting Blueprints
  
• Turning on mouse grid enables mass removal of Transporters
  
• Turning on mouse grid enables mass planting (suggested by )
  
• Added an option to instantly place a Drill or an Extractor (if crafted) by pressing 'Ctrl+click' on a Metal/mineral source
  
• Added an option to request crafting of 500 items at once by pressing 'ctrl+RMB' (suggested by & xz215279)
  
• Text updates
  

• Added an option to tune the density of clouds (suggested by & LoadRunner)
  
• Added an option to prevent requests tab from collapsing (suggested by xz215279)
  
• Added an option to change keyboard hotkeys for zooming
  
• Added an option to toggle sticking of different object types while dragging the mouse
  
• Improved sorting of items on building panel and in recipes
  
• Sorting of objects in the Wiki synched up to the order on the crafting panel
  
• UI/UX optimization
  

• Added an option to change mouse pointer visuals
  

• Decreased save game file size
  
• Decreased game saving time
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Performance optimization
  

MEOW YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

Hey engineers, base builders, and city planners of all ages! As you might know by now, there's an event going on, dedicated the games we like most: those about planning, building and optimizing complex structures.

Naturally, Learning Factory wouldn't miss it for the world! Your beloved cat-catering factory building game will be on discount from January 23 to January 30, and how:

[h3]34% off the main game, and 14% off the DLCs![/h3]

Pack your things, draft your plans, pet your cat - and see you on Mars!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

And don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

Greetings, engineers!

Nothing special here, just a regular round of service of our bug-eradicating department. Please update the game, we hope those pesky creatures won't bother you today.

Hey everyone!

You remember how we told you that this year is going to be super intensive for Learning Factory? Well, here we are today, with new buildings, and some very important QoL improvements. Speaking of which:



[h3]v0.17.118 Released![/h3]

• New building: Furnace is here to help you smelt Metals into higher quality Metals!
  
• New building: Geothermal Furnace: Upgrades Metals in an even better way, but under the ground
  
• New building: Box Office - allows your catstomers test drive Boxes before buying
  
• Smoother items rolling out from Tunnels
  
• Buildings stick to the cursor line while dragging upon placement; for Transporters - only works while alternative layout mode is on. Sticking threshhold can be tuned in Settings
  
• Automatical ML model switching altered: switching happens upon comparing the average of latest prediction results. E.g. if one model is trained worse than the other one, but accidentally gets a lower error rate in a batch, switching won't happen
  
• Added an option to downgrade items in Docks
  
• Added an option to delete all Zeppelin routes altogether
  
• Zeppelins return to the Backpack when their route is deleted in the Zeppelin Routes section (via )
  
• Added an ability to reset keyboard layout to AZERTY (for players with the French keyboard layout)
  
• Interface fixes
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Optimization
  

Hey everyone! Good to see you again!

In this first update in 2023, we're continuing to enrich Learning Factory's visuals! This time, you'll find new Fish and Apples on your Factory. But it's not just that! Some important improvements were made for better handling the Zeppelins, along with other QoL improvements:

[h3]v0.17.117 Released![/h3]

• Updated art for Fish
  
• Updated art for Apple Boxes
  
• Base speed of Zeppelins slightly increased
  
• Speed upgrades for Zeppelins provide 30% of boost (instead of 10%)
  
• Improved Tutorial
  
• Added an option to copy & paste Zeppelin settings
  
• Added an option to copy & paste Dock settings
  
• Added an option to duplicate routes and profiles on Zeppelin route settings screen (via RyanD)
  
• Routes and profiles are now highlighted with colors when selecting a Dock in a Zeppelin's settings
  
• Added an option to copy & paste Advertising Cat Gate settings
  
• Added an option to copy & paste Trade Port settings
  
• Crafting buildings do not switch to lower quality recipes if there's an option to craft a higher quality recipe but the output is blocked (via )
  
• Added an option to disable interface windows closing when interacting with a building that does not open additional windows (via )
  
• Wiki now displays throughput parameters for logistic buildings
  
• Decreased save game file size
  
• Increased game saving speed
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Bug fixes
  

That magical time of the year is here again! Time for hot cocoa, marshmallows and sweet, sweet games!

And don't forget to land on Learning Factory to make sure your cats have some milk to celebrate. Just a reminder: it's harvested from Milky Glaciers in the north of the map:



Don't forget to get a copy of Learning Factory with 33% off the price for you and/or your significant ones! Next year is the release year of our game! That means, it will be turning more awesome each month, but the best deals of the year are NOW:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Catty Holidays! Have fun and see you soon :)

Welcome to this year's last content update! It might not look too gorgeous in terms of new stuff and such, but we have made a lot of little tweaks to make your never-ending work at Learning Factory significantly more comfortable!

But first, may we fancy you with this brand new trailer of ours:

[previewyoutube=Xj-E77CgaNk;full][/previewyoutube]

[h3]v0.17.114 Released[/h3]

• New visuals for Manipulators
  
• New Upgrade: increases the operating speed for regular Manipulators
  
• Cacti now grow faster and provide High Quality Catnip Juice
  
• Gameplay Options section added in the Settings
  
• In-game wiki shows the speed of plants' regrowing under perfect conditions (suggested by )
  
• Added an option to prevent items to fall off Transporters when they reach the end of a line (suggested by )
  
• Added an option to remove items from the Backpack (suggested by ) - hover mouse pointer over the item and press 'Backspace' or 'Delete' (by default)
  
• Added an option for quick Blueprint creation (press 'Ctrl+Q' with your mouse pointed over target building)
  
• Added an option for mass selecting and deleting Blueprints (press and hold 'Ctrl', and drag your mouse over target Blueprints)
  
• Added an option to setup outputs for outputs of Splitters and Manipulators
  
• Buildings placed over the Blueprints include the settings selected for those Blueprints
  
• Added an option to toggle notifications from Data Storages on and off (suggested by aCDRph3rr3t_Is_RunningAmok)
  
• Added an option to set the zooming distance limit
  
• Added an option to mute the game when its window is inactive
  
• Improved Pause indicator
  
• Added an option to hide big warning when Blueprint mode or Pause are turned on
  
• 2 new achivements
  
• Interface fixes
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Optimization
  

Can we release a major update every two weeks? We sure can. Though this probably won't last - we'll take a break for Holidays - new (and/or revised, or improved) content for Learning Factory will be coming your way more and more often as we approach the game's full release next year!

Anyway, this time we have a whole new Factory planning mode, a rather important gameplay mechanics, 4 new Manipulator thingies and some visual tweaks - along with more stuff:

[h3]v0.17.113 Released[/h3]

• Cat Knowledge Archives now required to unlock certain parts on the Research Tree. They still provide bonus for research projects in respective research field, too! Some of the Archives might be found on locked territories, but there's definitely more than enough of them for unlocking all the research projects
  
• Blueprints (beta): Blueprints mode can be turned on the map, allowing you to place virtual buildings for advanced planning. More features will be added to this mode later on
  
• Updated art for selected items: Wood & Boxes, in particular
  
• 4 new Manipulators: Loyalty Manipulator (Regular/Long) and Request Category Manipulator (Regular/Long)
  
• Copying and pasting settings now available for Splitters and Manipulators
  
• When a building was copied with a Pipette tool, use 'Ctrl+Click' to place it along with settings from the source building
  
• Transporter layout mode switching button now available on the panel under the mini map
  
• Trade Port menu has an option to toggle displaying territories with Ports on the map
  
• Added an option to remove all the marks from the map
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Bug fixes
  
• New slide in comics
  
• New menu theme
  
• New achievement
  

This hotfix is a peculiar one! Not only it eliminates some bugs and improves some interface elements, but it also adds floating elements on Transporters to the picture!

Our hopes is that this will make look more lively. Did it work? You tell us! Drop a comment or swing by our Discord server, we're there for you!

Another day, another swarm of bugs eradicated by our brave bug-fighting squads. Update and build a Factory already!

Please return to work at Learning Factory. Those pesky bugs you might've heard about are no more!

• Regular bug fixes
  
• Text bug fixes
  
• Chinese localization bug fixes
  

Another major update in just a couple of months? Yes, that is correct! And it brings you new buildings, more underground gameplay, epic optimization round and so much more:

[h3]v0.16.105 Released[/h3]

• New Building: a Fishing Spot is a smaller version of Fishing Pier, working on shallow water and perfect for placing in the narrow watery spaces, such as rivers
  
• New Building: Hammock Testing Booth works the same way as Scratch-Testing Booth, allowing to try Hammocks before buying
  
• New Building: Napping Booth, same mechanics, but with Pillows. Awesome sauce!
  
• We've switched to a new version of the engine, much optimization happened to celebrate the occasion
  
• Additional art for regular Icebergs
  
• Terrain visuals slightly improved
  
• Underground Gold Veins with quality Gold
  
• Undergroung Gem Deposits with quality Gems, too!
  
• Dynamite can be placed under the ground. To blow up stuff. Finally
  
• Hillraiser Dynamite can destroy the lower level ground itself, creating more lava. You like lava, don't you?
  
• Quality Hammocks
  
• Mass picking upgrade for Multitool: allows mass placement of terraforming tiles and Rafts, also allows mass picking of Rafts (suggested by aCDRph3rr3t_Is_RunningAmok)
  
• If a high loyalty cat appears from a Cat Gate, they might request more items at a Store
  
• Machine Learning models will no longer try to predict optimal prices while gathering initial data
  
• More phrases for legendary cats
  
• Better view of legendary cats in the Wiki
  
• Multithreading is no longer in beta
  
• Optimization while moving to not yet loaded zones, especially if they contain big Storages
  
• Storages optimization
  
• Game loading time reduced
  
• Game saving time reduced
  
• The game no longer creates an exit save if a player saved the game manually before exiting
  
• Right 'Shift', 'Ctrl' and 'Alt' buttons now work the same way as the left ones do
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• A new bunch of Cat Knowledge Archives will be generated (for future purposes) and everyone gets free science points for this inconvenience
  

Hey there, Georgii from Luden.io here! Another month, another developer diary! And boy, was that month rich with new features, fruitful discussions, and exciting plans! Here's the juiciest stuff:

[h2]Chill Milk[/h2]

Yeah, Milky Way is cool but have you ever tried Milky Glaciers? Frozen plant-based sources of milk were recently discovered on Mars. Don't even ask us, how we came up with this idea Because we'll tell you anyway! According to truly accurate scientific facts, milk was secretly being delivered to Mars by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. throughout the XX and the early XXI century, disguising these operations as scientific expeditions (ever heard of unsuccessful Martian missions? Well, they were not, it was all about delivering milk). It is to be clarified, how this milk turned into icebergs and glaciers (you're welcome to share your thoughts in the comments!).

On a more serious side of things, we had two reasons in mind for adding milk to the game. One, we decided we need more resources to play around with in the northern biome. And two: it seemed weird that we haven't added milk before! Cats love milk and it was only too natural to have it on Learning Factory, which was made for the sole reason to provide catisfaction.

[h2]Operation Teleportation[/h2]

Another couple of new buildings are using the magic of teleportation to make players lives easier. Normally, teleportation is a tool only available to cats (who are well-known to be able to disappear and emerge in random places), but the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. were generous enough to share some of their wisdom with their human pet servants. Enter the Cable Crafter and the Inventory Teleport! The former automatically produces and delivers Optic Cable to a player's backpack, while the latter simply transfers any kind of items to the inventory. It is possible thanks to swarms of invisible nanobots, that disassemble items into molecules and then build them back right into your pockets. Creepily effective.

[h2]The Taste of Scratching[/h2]

This building was born in a discussion when we were remembering the good old prototyping days for Learning Factory. Back then, the game looked less like a factory-building sim and more like a cat-entertaining tycoon. This concept was later omitted, but we didn't entirely part with the idea of cat entertainment (catertainment?). Hence the concept of Cat-Scratching Booth! It allows your catstomers to test-drive one of your items (Claw Sharpener, in this case), so they could add it to their wishlist and offer a higher price for it in a Store.

More buildings of this kind might appear in the game later - if you, the players, find them fun to play around with them, that is! Kindly let us know how you like them - on our Discord server, maybe?

[h2]Approaching Catopia, One Cat at a Time[/h2]

There were other changes that might seem not as grand, but they're still pieces of the puzzle that, brought together, will make Learning Factory an awesome base-building game one day. We've added more quality items, which increase the loyalty of your catstomers. We've added new upgrades. More trading options for Trade Guilds. Mass pickup of items. We've added optional multithreading (currently in beta) for even greater performance. We've also added an ability to mine metals on the underground level (previously only logistics items could have been placed there)!


We will continue polishing quality items mechanics in an upcoming couple of weeks. At the same time, we'll be making the underground level even more interesting to spend time on. But most importantly: we've had a very fruitful discussion regarding the process of polishing - which means, we have officially started pre-preparations for the full release! The date will be announced as soon as we're sure about that - we will make sure you don't miss it.

Until then - come chat with us on Discord, leave a comment, wishlist it, send us a postcard, send us a raven, in any case - don't be a stranger! See you in the next edition of Learning Factory developer diaries!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

• Twitter
  
• Discord
  

When it's cold and rainy outside, there's one thing that guarantees to make you feel warm and cozy: video games!

And Steam Autumn Sale is exactly about that: providing an awesome opportunity to grab as many amazing games as is reasonably possible! We're just here to remind you to not forget a copy of Learning Factory along the way:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

And the DLCs are 12% off as well!

The terraforming of Mars was contemplated decades ago by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. (the Interstellar Lazy-Laborer Union for Mars Integration and Never-ending Aspiration of Technological Innovation) to become the ultimate place for cat well-being.

It was not only about making it habitable, but also about providing any kinds of things that cat would enjoy (including some humans for cats to entertain cats and craft goods for cat entertainment). Naturally, this package includes milk, that our feline overlords enjoy so much.

Needless to say, milk on Mars is purely artificial (no animals were harmed!). The question is: how did it get there in the first place? The I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. have been delivering huge amounts of powder plant-based artificial milk to Mars, by making their pet humans think that they're actually sending 'scientific missions' there. Silly, silly humans. Mars was studied through and through centuries ago! Ever heard of 'unsuccessful' Mars missions? None of them were unsuccessful! Those huge rockets were sent out for milk delivery, to ensure the well-being and comfort of future cats. Glory to science!

[h2]v0.15.103 Released![/h2]

• New resource: Milk! Found in Milky Glaciers in the northern biome
  
• Regular Iceberg artwork updated
  
• New building: Milk Drill, for crushing Milky Icebergs and Glaciers into delicious Milk
  
• New building: Inventory Teleporter, brings incoming items right to you inventory from whereever it's placed
  
• New building: Scratch-Testing Booth, allows cats to play around with Claw Sharpeners while they're at the Factory. If they belong to a type of cats interested in Claw Sharpeners, they might add it to their shopping list and purchase it in a Store for a higher price
  
• Rich Iron Veins and Rich Copper Veins now appear on the underground level, allowing to mine quality metals from them
  
• Quality Catnip Juice now available for crafting, along with upgrades
  
• Quality Catnip Juice can also be harvested from Cacti
  
• Quality Mice Cold Smoothie now available for crafting
  
• Default terrain tiles can be replaced with those crafted by player if default tiles are not of maximum productivity (crafted tiles are of maximum quality by default)
  
• Improved Scenario editor: added the ability to place quality items, along with other minor improvements
  
• Late game Dr. Katz requests now provide quality items as rewards; might also provide high quality items as rewards, if Hype level is high enough
  
• Some research projects on the Research Tree were moved
  
• Decreased saving/loading time, decreased size of save game files
  
• The UFC Trade Guild now offers Zeppelins for importing at Tier 5
  
• Buildings that produce items that vary in quality depending on biome quality, now display the percentage of production quality
  
• Added an ability for mass pickup of items for upgraded Muiltitool (area grid view must be turned on for this feature to become available)
  
• Cat upsale purchases sometimes become disclosed when cats emerge from Cat Gates, the probability of disclosure depends on the Hype level
  
• Holiday outfits for cats
  
• Bug fixes
  

[h2]v0.15.101 Released![/h2]

• Trade Ports now provide Quality (sometimes High Quality) items in exchange for your goods
  
• New trading options in various Tiers of Trade Ports
  
• Quality Cat Vitamins and Bling now available
  
• Minimap texture quality improved, especially in the Guides
  
• Bug fixes! We're terribly sorry that the game wasn't launching for some users a couple of days back, everything should be working fine by now. For your inconvenience, here's a bunch of promo codes for rare cat maskot skins*: BIRD, GENIUS, GHOST, NOSFERATU, HUNTER, JOKER. Also, here's a couple of menu theme codes**: PROGRAMMING, KOTOVOD, SUMMER
  

As you know, the work at Learning Factory never stops. But it's not just about producing items that cats desire: it's about producing awesome items! Our machines are getting more complex, allowing you to produce and sell higher quality goods for our feline friends - to ensure they leave your campus happy and come back for more!

But of course, it's not that! Check out the many features that this massive update brings to the game:

[h2]v0.14.100 Released![/h2]

[h3]Gameplay: New Features[/h3]

• Cat Food Maker has 2 alternate recipes available by default
  
• Quality Cat Food recipe available as an upgrade
  
• High-Quality Cat Food recipe available as an upgrade
  
• New Upgrade for Lumber Mill: allows harvesting Quality Catnip Juice from Cacti
  
• Apple Boxes of different quality available for production
  
• New alternate recipe for Fish Maker for producing Quality Fish
  
• Boxes of Quality available for production
  
• Ropes of Quality available for production
  
• Yarn Balls of Quality available for production
  
• Cloth of Quality available for production
  
• Concrete of Quality available for production
  
• Selling higher Quality items increases the loyalty of Cats of the same type buying them
  
• Fish of varying quality can be caught at the Fishing Pier
  
• New Upgrade unlocks Water Tunnel, which connects watery tiles above and below the surface
  

• Quests with smaller monetary rewards no longer appear in later stages of the game. Quests are given out less frequently as the player progresses through the game. In general, quests will become progressively more difficult and provide better rewards
  
• Loyalty Splitter now routes Legendary Cats to the exit for more loyalty
  
• Upgrade increasing the speed of picking up buildings now also speeds up manual building crafting speed
  
• Upgrade increasing the speed of picking up buildings now allows picking up/harvesting plants and buildings with little pickup time without displaying the picking-up bar
  
• If there are no available projects that Cat Knowledge Archives can be applied to upon pickup, respective points are added to random upgrades, including the ones that are not currently available
  
• New tutorial in Tutorial Mode, explaining the basics of operating Cat Zeppelins
  

• New Statistics data, showing the average quality of produced and sold items
  
• New Statistics data, showing the amount of Cat Knowledge gained from selling items to different types of cats
  
• Added an ability to copy and paste settings between buildings of the same type - currently only for crafting buildings and Stores
  
• Items on the panel and receipts lists are now grouped
  
• It is now visible which items buildings can craft on the building panel (suggested by Trichouette)
  
• Random menu theme option added to the main menu
  
• Added an option to limit the amount of exit game saves
  
• Minor terrain art update
  

• Multithreading (beta) introduced for performance enhancement. Most importantly - for saved games: upon saving, the game will conduct several saving attempts in a separate thread. If these attempts fail, the existing autosave mechanism will be launched, but the autosave will happen a bit faster NB: We understand that bugs can occur while activating this mode (hence the beta status). We would be very grateful if you could try it and report bugs, if you encounter any
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Performance optimization
  
• UI/UX optimization
  

Hey there, Georgii from Luden.io here! Lots of new stuff has been introduced to Learning Factory since the last time we presented these humble Dev Diaries to you. With no further ado, let's get to all the awesome things you can play around with right now!

[h3]Blimp My Ride![/h3]


Cat Zeppelins is a feature we're particularly proud of because it was suggested by our community. Our awesome players are legitimately participating in the development, submitting ideas, and partaking in many creative brainstorms on our Discord server and in Steam discussions. But let's get back to those Cat Zeppelins!

In short, those elegant, AI-driven airships provide an alternative means of transferring items between different parts of your Factory. They operate a bit slower than regular Transporters (although there's a speed-increasing upgrade for them), but they are not restricted by landscape obstacles (and, you know, spaghetti-styled Transporter layouts). They can work like a miracle in the late stages of the game when you need to transfer crafting resources between different biomes on the opposite edges of the map.



There are Zeppelins carrying a single item or two types of items at once. They travel between dedicated Docks and you can create all kinds of routes and subroutine profiles in the Monument. Oh, and you know what? You can research a special kind of Zeppelin to work under the ground. Because, seriously, why not!?


[h3]It's All About Nature[/h3]

A rather surprising thing we've noticed about our players: cultivating plants is fascinating in Learning Factory! Picking up growing plants, putting them into the ground next to each other to shape neat harvestable fields - apparently, some of our players turned out to be rather committed gardeners! The only problem was the growth rate: although Martian plants grow way faster than their earthling kin, it still takes dozens of minutes (especially if you plant them in the wrong biome or soil type). Enter the Fertilizer! It significantly boosts the growth rate, allowing you to start shaping your personal garden on Mars very early on in the game. And when you establish the production of some basic resources, make sure to research and build a Compost Machine, that will produce Fertilizers automatically:



[h3]Exit Through The Cat Gate[/h3]

Where do cats come from when they emerge on your Factory? Where do they go after they have finished their business? Science fails to answer this question as of now - mainly because of the well-known fact, that cats are liquid. Do they go to Earth? To another galaxy? To a parallel dimension? Take a pick, any option is highly likely to be true (and none of them is your business, according to the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. official statement).



Anyway, there now is an option to safely (and automatically) remove certain cats from the Factory: just make sure to research an Exit Cat Gate upgrade! If you don't need cats of particular consumption habits, you can just send them back to well, wherever they came from. Just take notice that this will decrease the overall Hype levels: because cats do not forgive. Also, keep an eye on your slippers in case someone, you know, soils them. Purely accidentally.



[h3]Quality Control![/h3]

Another important feature probably does not look like a game changer for now, but it surely will do soon enough! Quality of items is one of the important mechanics that we had in mind from the very beginning. The idea is that some items will behave differently when sold to cats or used otherwise. One example that we have already introduced in the latest update is Wood. From now on, Fir Trees give Wood of better quality. When sold to a cat, it increases the probability that this cat will tell their friends about your Factory, thus increasing the overall attendance. Of course, you can use it for regular crafting, but that would probably be a waste of fine Wood.

Later on, higher quality products will be used in alternate crafting recipes to make the game deeper.



[h3]Re: Style[/h3]

Last time it was just the key art and some quick fixes in the trailer, but by now, Sergei the artist has finished his magnificent work, which makes the game look more adventurous. Here're some old vs. new pieces:










[h3] * * *[/h3]

We can't possibly cover all the changes in the game in one humble post: there are new upgrades, 2 new Splitters, and Halloween decorations If you're following our Steam updates closely, you probably know all about them. But if not That might just turn out even better for you: simply load Learning Factory and you'll see a whole new game, deeper, enriched with new mechanics, and better than ever before! And the future only looks brighter for Learning Factory engineers. Until we meet again! Glory to science!

• Twitter
  
• Discord
  

This week is rather special for Learning Factory, since we're cracking a new stage of development: quality parameter has been introduced for items and resources (ok, this time it's only one resource, but more will follow). What will it turn into when scaled to the whole crafting mechanics? Well, there will be lots of stuff, including more diverse gameplay strategies and more challenge for experienced factory-builders!

But as usual, it's not just that! Behold our rather lenghty list of new & cool features, including the long awaited cloud saves:

[h3]v0.13.98 Released![/h3]

• New feature: quality of items (beta). Higher quality items increase the chance for a cat to call friends to the Factory upon selling, along with giving a chance of increasing overall Hype level upon selling. Higher quality items can be used in crafting instead of lower quality items of the same time. At the moment, the only item of higher quality is Wood harvested from Fir Trees
  
• The amount of Wood harvested from Fir Trees is rebalanced
  
• New building: Quality Splitter allows distinguishing higher quality items from lower quality items
  
• New building: Exit Cat Gate allows the cats to leave your Factory without shopping; each cat left decreases overall Hype level
  
  
• Terrain tiles can now be placed upon Rafts; Raft tiles will be automatically placed back to the inventory
  
• Rafts and Lava Rafts are now also present on Logistics category (along with Terraforming category) on the building panel; Lava Raft research project is now related to Logistics and Terraforming fields of knowledge
  
• In Campaign mode, theres now a Copper Vein to the right from the default Sphinx location
  
• Certain piles of junk now also provide Copper upon harvesting
  
• Added a feature to instantly collect all buildings on unlocked Territories (to be found to the left from the mini-map)
  
• Added a feature to fertilize multiple plants at once: use Ctrl + click while applying the Fertilizer
  
• Improved tutorial in Campaign mode
  
• Cloud saves now available
  
• Updated keys in localizations
  
• System language is now automatically detected and selected on loading
  
• More hints while loading the game
  
• More Halloween decorations
  
• Updated Art Pack: more sketches and wallpapers
  
• 1 new achievement
  
• Bug fixes
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Performance optimization
  
• Loading time decreased, up to minus 30 seconds in cerating cases
  

Unholster your wallets! Blow the dust off your wishlists! It's the fall, and that means that prices are falling, too!

[h3]Learning Factory is 25% off until October, 24![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

DLCs are 10% off as well!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545760/Learning_Factory_AI_Generated_Soundtrack/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545770/Learning_Factory_Art_Pack/

Have an awesome week, engineers!

And don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

Let's face it: cats can be genuinely terrifying.

They creep on you. They appear and re-emerge in different places of the house. They suddenly attack the parts of your body that are careless enough to stick from under the blanket. Last but not least: they make infernal sounds, if not fed timely.

A purrfect creature for the purrifyuing time of the year!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/#app_reviews_hash

And we're prepared! If you've played Learning Factory at least once in a couple of weeks, you might already have noticed our spooky decorations. Halloween is on the trees, Halloween is in Cat Stores and other buildings, Halloween everywhere! Here's just a taste of that:







Cats have dressed up for the event as well:





Our unholy party will go on until November 1, so make sure you join us before it's over!

And don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there


----------------------
[h2]How to Get More Involved[/h2]

Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

[h2]Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History[/h2]
Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

New week - new bugs to be sent into oblivion! That's our job, no need to thank us! Instead, feel free to report other bugs, should you encounter them, to our Discord server. Or just come by to say hi!