Hey engineers! We're continuing to making the final preparations for our grand v1.0 release! In this update, we've added a bunch of neew sounds and the long-awaited improvements of terrain visuals!

v0.90.190 Released!

• Improved tile junctions' look
• Improved terrain look
• Added shadows for hills
• Improved animation of the Catopia Ark engines
• Added sounds for the Catopia Ark
• Added ambient sounds for Zeppelins
• Added sound for Dynamite explosion
• Added sound for passing over trees while riding a Hoverboard
• Added sound for hovering mouse pointer over an active element
• Improved feedback upon interacting with soil, water, and lava
• Increased time interval between new cats appearing and new items being requested at the early stages of the game (suggested by Cyber)
• After researching the Smart Cat Store, a new quest emerges, with some Dynamite as a reward - to provide an option for terraforming at earlier stages of the game
• UI/UX fixes
• Improved adaptive interface
• Improved tutorials
• Copywriting fixes
• Big update for Chinese copywriting
• Improved tooltips
• Performance optimization
• Game engine version updated
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer, Cat (the Black))

Re: Factory

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How to Get More Involved

• 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 engineers, This is not a drill: a hotfix has been released, with somy juicy bug fixes inside (kindly pointed out by S'Kleer). Don't forget to update and enjoy the most wholesome Learning Factory experience!

Hey engineers, in this update we continue to make Learning Factory shinier, and even more colorful (see below). That concerns both the overall game look and the UI/UX:

v0.90.189 Released!

• Improved biomes' visuals
• Improved visuals for connections between different biomes
• 2 new colors for Zeppelins
• Machine learning optimized (but more complicated models will be learning longer)
• Added an option to remove map pins upon picking up the entire factory
• Minor UI improvements all over the game
• Improved adaptive interface
• Improved Steam Deck interface
• Bug fixes (kudos to Calame, Alex, Nazura)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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 engineers! We have some bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer for reporting), so don't forget to update to enjoy the most polished experience in Learning Factory, as of today! Happy factory building.

Hey engineers, This update brings even more overall polishing, but most importantly: all buildings in the game that were supposed to have animations now have them! These machines were working all the time but now you can see all of them in action - another big step towards the upcoming v1.0 release: [previewyoutube=4oP6a55zRDQ;full][/previewyoutube]

v0.90.188 Released!

• Animated Inventory Teleport
• Re-rendered Splitters
• Slightly improved connections between different biomes
• Slightly improved effect for items entering and exiting buildings
• Catopia Ark now has a visual exhaust when lifting off
• New tutorial: Research projects
• Milk pasteurization recipe buffed (suggested by S'Kleer)
• Improved art for Apple Trees
• Improved art for selected harvested plants
• Improved main menu interface
• Improved Wiki interface
• Improved Zeppelin Interface
• Improved UI for Steam Deck
• New animated avatars in Steam Points Shop
• UI/UX fixes
• Performance optimization
• Huge UI update to make it adaptive
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

We have to admit: in the upcoming few month,s these developer diaries will be progressively more boring, at least in terms of news. The game is basically finished in terms of gameplay. There's a lot of testing and polishing to be done still but nothing grand will probably happen to the game until we hit that big release button. And then there's some art to be added, too! This means our dev diaries will at least be entertaining to scroll through, even without new killer features. The remaining few months before the v1.0 release will fly by momentarily, as time always does, you'll see! However, this time there's much to be told, too! For one, we released the biggest update for Learning Factory in September. It pushes the game so much closer to its final state, that we have jumped from v0.3 to v0.9 The main reason this update was delayed for a few weeks was the infamous summer vacation season (even the most passionate of the game devs must take some time away once in a while!). But it was also a great time to thoroughly study the feedback from our players, take a look at the game with rested eyes, and make some necessary improvements. There were many upgrades and balance tweaks that came along with v0.9 that made the game more comfortable and flexible. The full (and rather long: 100+ points) list of changes can be found here. We won't list everything here but we have something better: video highlights! Check out these newly animated buildings in Learning Factory: [previewyoutube=Lhy0azSakTQ;full][/previewyoutube] Occasional new buildings still make it to the game once in a while. Here's another advertising building which promotes laser pointers and also served us a great excuse to make yet another pop culture reference: [previewyoutube=TFNIcWsm8y0;full][/previewyoutube] And this new building is meant for logistics fanatics: the structure of our game does not allow making Transporters faster, so we created this machine for packing items into archives, and then unpacking them, when needed: [previewyoutube=zAn0AhkxlO4;full][/previewyoutube] A big part of our work is about many things around the game: the menus, the tutorials - things like that. We added over a dozen mini-guides explaining the trickier aspects of the game, and well probably add some more (and likely accompany them with animated illustrations in the future). As for the menus, theyre slowly coming into lighter, more modern form all over the game. Check out how the Research Tree changed a couple of weeks ago. Old:
New:
Already existing structures get a lift up as well. Check out our more detailed redesigned Monument:
And the Trade Ports were upgraded with landing sites, with Zeppelins flying in and out to deliver the goods to the mysterious cat Guilds: [previewyoutube=bW1BXSWkejc;full][/previewyoutube] But perhaps one of the most time-consuming tasks was re-rendering Learning Factory's innumerous variations of Transporters, Splitters, Mergers and such. While Sergei the artist was at it, he got so deep into his early work that he started finding creepy-ish objects that never made it to the game, like this magnificent lineup of Tunnels:
One day we will gather and share as many weird artifacts like that as we will find, but this will happen once Learning Factory is properly released. Until then, there is more excitingly boring work on polishing the game. More tutorials, more visual upgrades, and vital QoL changes, hooray! The big day is coming. Well be in touch!

Hey engineers! If you're following our news for some time, you might know that in our spare time from making games, we're also organizing an event that gathers games about programming, automation and engineering. This year it is dedicated to Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating the first programmer in the world. We've got over 80 participants this year, and you might find some familiar names and hidden gems there:

Visit Ada Lovelace Day Sale

Hey engineers, We're getting back to our regular few-weeks-per-update schedule. The lists of changes will still be lengthy but incresingly more boring: we've really gotten ourselves to polishing the game, which means an awful lot of smaller changes to be made for almost every aspect of the game. [previewyoutube=aqAu1VskH_Y;full][/previewyoutube]

v0.90.187 Released!

Gameplay

• Simplified recipe for making Gold in the Lava Cooler
• Simplified recipes for making Quiality (+) and High Quality (++) Catnip Juice
• Added another type of trade deal: CHONK Guild will exchange Quality (+) Gold for a certain amount of Milk
• Added 2 new options for Zeppelins that allow you to disable item loading and unloading
• Selected trade deals with the Guilds were buffed
• Simplified requirements for filling up Solaris-powered Engine of Catopia Ark
• Small Cargo Zeppelins can now travel between only 2 Docks per route
• Decreased penalty for Jetboard speed when crossing over the water or hill tiles
• Improved Campaign map
• Improved Freeplay Mode maps
• Improved terraforming logic
• Improved plant fertilizing logic
• Improved small buildings/items placement logic
• Improved Cable/Transporter laying logic
• Dr. Katz can now send requests for researching upgrades
• 1 new achievement

Graphics && Sound

• Animated Laser Pointer Maker
• Re-rendered Roadside Boutique
• Re-rendered Experimental Lab
• Re-rendered Teleport
• Re-rendered logistic structures: Splitters, Tunnels, Switcher, Mergers etc.
• Item Archiver now has visually distinguishable states for packing and unpacking items
• Improved Halloween event art

QoL && Interface

• Optimized and improved Zeppelin Routes interface
• Added filtering options for Routes in Zeppelins' interface
• Improved Zeppelins' interface
• Improved interface for tutorials
• Improved interface for Steamdeck
• Improved main menu interface
• Improved In-game wiki
• Improved tutorial
• Improved context warnings for Zeppelins (suggeted by S'Kleer)
• New tutorial: map Grid
• Improved feedback from using the Pipette tool

Techie Stuff

• Performance optimization
• Copywriting fixes
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer, , GoEzTa, Kaiserschmarn)
• UI/UX fixes

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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 engineers! We don't want to distract you from processing that huge update we released tomorrow. But make sure you download this little hotfix to ensure the best quality of gameplay. It contains:

• Bug fixes
• Performance optimization

Hey, engineers! Noticed how we jumped from v0.3 to v0.9? That's how serious we are about releasing the game! This is the final Major update before v1.0. We did our best to meet this giant leap in version number. Just check the long list of changes that this update brings to Learning Factory:

v0.90.185 Released!

Gameplay

• New building: Item Archiver allows you to speed up the logistics by increasing the throughput of Transporter lines and Manipulators. Comes with 2 upgrades
• New service building in the late game: Shooting Range motivates the cats to buy Laser Pointers; also it can be placed underground

• An upgrade that increases the speed of Cat Vitamin crafting (Suggested by shlainn)
• An upgrade for increasing Wohlwill Purifier operational speed
• An upgrade for increasing Tech Overcharger operational speed
• An upgrade for increasing Land Digger operational speed (suggested by JoneY)
• An upgrade for increasing Lava Cooler operational speed (suggested by JoneY)
• An upgrade for placing Transporters and Cables in deep water without terraforming - enter Deep Ocean Bridge
• An upgrade for Bridge Crafter, allowing crafting of Deep Ocean Bridges
• Launching an Expedition with upgraded Catopia Ark modules provides Deep Ocean Bridges in New Game+
• Decreased cost of the upgrade allowing to craft Lava Bridges
• Decreased cost of unlocking and crafting Lava Bridges
• Increased cost of research for Long Manipulator
• Both upgrades for Fertilizer Dispenser were buffed
• Upgrade for increasing Jetboard speed when flying over water was buffed (suggested by )
• Cargo Zeppelins now have 3 slots for items
• Decreased crafting cost for Soil and Fertile Soil
• Decreased cost of research for Storage
• Logistics Assembler is now available earlier in the game and easier to research
• Inventory Teleport is now easier to research
• Cable Crafter is now easier to research
• Fishing Pier and Fishing Spot can now be placed on Bridges
• Juice production recipe's efficiency increased (suggested by )
• Base speed for all Zeppelin types slightly increased
• Item capacity increased from 20 to 30 items in various buildings
• Added a new tier-4 trade deal with the Cat Puns Union guild, allowing you to get Hard Rock Dynamite
• Selected trade deals in Trade Ports rebalanced
• Campaign map slightly improved
• More random buildings appear on territories in Freeplay Mode maps
• New achievement
• 4 new stats in 'Stats & Scores' section of the Monument
• Improved logic of cat generation to prevent generating too many cats of the same type in a row
• Minor changes in the distribution and the order of cats emerging in the early parts of the game
• Increased the threshold for advancing research projects with points from Cat Knowledge archives from 25% to 33%

Graphics && Sound

• New visuals for Trade Ports: Zeppelins now land from outside of the map to deliver goods
• New visuals for Concrete
• Animated Hammock Testing Booth
• Animated Scratch-Testing Booth
• Animated Schrodinger's Chamber
• Animated Bling Machine
• Animated Microchip Maker
• Animated Battery Maker
• Re-rendered Logistics Assembler
• Re-rendered Storage units (for better display with a zoomed out camera)
• Re-rendered Graphic Card Assembler
• Re-rendered Soil Silo
• Re-rendered Enriched Soil Silo
• Re-rendered Polynomial Regression
• Re-rendered Cat Gate
• Re-rendered Target Ad Cat Gate
• Re-rendered Exit Cat Gate
• Re-rendered Optic Cable/Vertical Cable
• Re-rendered Sphinx
• Re-rendered Monument
• Re-rendered Cat Blimps
• Re-rendered Geothermal Furnace
• Re-rendered Turing Trees with more diverse sprites
• 1 new color for Zeppelins
• Visual effects for Hedge when the player crosses them over
• 21 line with voice over for Dr. Katz
• Improved logics for switching ambient tracks
• Improved logics for switching biome-specific tracks

Modding && Steam Workshop

• Custom localizations available as a mod
• Added an option to upload a custom preview image for Steam Workshop mods
• New mod: generative map features are now available in the Scenario Editor, thus allowing editing them and creating scenarios with different territories
• Not part of the patch note but a friendly reminder: here's a little guide about making mods for Learning Factory

QoL && Interface

• New tutorial: Buildings' Panel and its hotkeys
• New tutorial: applying a Cat Knowledge Archive on the Research Tree
• New tutorial: creating routes for Zeppelins
• New tutorial: using Trade Ports and Relays
• New tutorial: finding Trade Ports and Relays
• New tutorial: using map lenses
• New tutorial: using the Pipette tool
• New tutorial: quick interactions with buildings
• New tutorial: building Transporter lines
• New tutorial: Upgrades
• New Blueprint available in the wiki article about Linear Regression
• Added a new article to the Wiki, telling you all you need to know about cat researchers and their perks
• Monument interface updated (partially)
• Hotkeys for buildings can be assigned on hovering them in the buildings' crafting window

• Improved Wiki interface
• Improved tooltips for Data Storage
• Improved tutorials
• Improved search fields
• Improved tooltips
• Improved map lenses logics
• Improved copywriting
• Added on option to hide Zeppelins on the minimap (suggested by JoneY)
• Auto-filling of buildings with items now works for a group of selected buildings as well
• Added shortcut from the Research Tree to instantly open Wiki description for an upgrade (suggested by Misako)
• Improved tooltips for locked tabs in the Monument
• Smoother placement of multiple buildings in a row
• UX for Zeppelins slightly improved (will be improved even more in future updates)

Techie Stuff

• Improved Twitch integration
• Optimized saved game loading time
• Optimized Storage units performance
• Optimized Transporter performance
• Optimized Zeppelin performance
• Optimized minimap performance
• Engine version updated
• Bug fixes, kudos to Bass, rolo9, Sana, your_local_rin, Jay, W, DLC prepared Ajnador, M0mb0t, hobbitfolk, Behemoth, Sunsphere11, 3fr41n, , and, especially JoneY

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

As your game gets closer to the release, you tend to look back more and more often. How many years has it been? Learning Factory was first drafted during the early pandemic months of 2020. Four and a half years in development is no record, but the density of events matters: we started with a quite different game. Let's talk about that today! To set up the mood, check out this short video of how the game looked back in pre-alpha times vs. 2 years ago vs. today: [previewyoutube=_e1LWPLBWXI;full][/previewyoutube] (It doesn't cover even half of the changes we made, so there probably will be more videos like that in the future) Since we started digging up the past, we decided to remember some of the features that had been in the game initially, but disappeared under not so mysterious circumstances.

Day & night cycles

Turing Trees as part of gameplay

Items quality as real numbers

Ships for Zeppelins & multiple map layers

What's next?

Hey factory builders, Here we are, with yet another report about how Learning Factorys being prepared for the full release. Theres not much to tell, but theres a bunch of things to show! For starters, weve freshened up Steam page assets (again), because the game has changed greatly since last revision (which took place in November 23). With that said, heres the most up-to-date Learning Factory trailer: [previewyoutube=cOzR8EMad8w;full][/previewyoutube] Also, heres a handful of new screenshots:



And of course, an array of Learning Factorys machinery acquired animations/new looks in the past month. Herere the new Linear Regression, Milk Drill, Brew Intensifier, Fish Maker, and Smoothie Maker: [previewyoutube=LBk15uV3BNw;full][/previewyoutube] Machine Learning Models got some cyberpunk vibes as well: [previewyoutube=qRE4hUB5ISY;full][/previewyoutube] And just in case you didn't notice them in the trailer - here are our new Cat Stores:
Apart from the visual side, the most interesting changes are happening with the game's structure, namely - with the tutorials. Throughout these years, Learning Factory has incorporated mechanics that added a lot of depth to the gameplay but were not so easy to discover and understand. Previously, in-game Wiki and descriptions on the Research Tree were the player's main source of information about those parts of the game, but seriously, who wants to search through bits of text for instructions in the XXI century? So we have spent some time and left a bunch of short and intelligible tutorial sessions here and there in the game. You will learn how to handle Deposit and lay underground infrastructure, deal with service buildings and storage units, use sales data, and much more!

We already have about a dozen tutorials, and we'll probably add at least as many in future updates. Some of them have illustrations now, but eventually, we plan to add short videos to these bite-sized tutorials. From how to use Docks and Zeppelins, to the tiniest interface tricks, such as the pipette tool, we'll try to leave no chance for misunderstanding. This would be a nice excuse for you to start a new game: chances are good, you'll learn about something entirely new! Or has it already happened to you? Let us know if you stumbled upon a feature you never knew to exist in Learning Factory! Not that we'd want to post any spoilers, but basically, we'll be working on the same things in July. More new graphics, more tutorials, more UI/UX improvements. If that does not sound very exciting to you, that's ok: just wait until we're done and youll see Learning Factory the way we see it in our minds - that will be the time to get excited! Until we meet again.

Hey engineers, When you get to design a factory, every small detail matters! And not only because you're working with complicated machinery, where everything will break if a detail breaks (do you like silly jokes as we do? share your favorites in the comments!). It is also important because we want you to feel comfortable while playing Learning Factory. Which is why this new update is dedicated to making game prettier, along with making complicated mechanics more easy to learn!

v0.31.184 Released!

• Re-rendered Vitamin Maker
• New phrases for cats, specific for their place of origin
• Increased speed (by 1 tick) for selective Manipulators (suggested by S'Kleer)
• Increased size of bubbles for cat phrases on Transporters and in Stores, to facilitate reading
• New premade Blueprint for Cargo Docks, available in the Wiki
• New premade Blueprint for the tutorial
• New item requests and cat types appear less frequently in early parts of the game
• Performance optimization
• UI/UX improvements
• Tutorial fixes/improvements
• Improved tutorial upon picking a Cat Knowledge Archive
• Bug fixes (kudos to VladGev, U[A]T morningstar2651, Malolitrazhka)
• Massive community localization update for the German language (kudos to Bass)
• Improved Steam Deck interface
• 1 new unique cat researcher
• A new item per each categories of appearance for cat researchers (3 items total)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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 that wonderful time of the year again, everyone! Time for picking flowers, enjoying the time in the sun, and (or?)... buying bulks of awesome games! We mean Steam Summer Sale, of course, where you can get Learning Factory 37% off the price, and all the DLCs are 16% off too: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/ Come one, come all! Make this summer count!

Hey factory workers! With this update, we introduce an array of new tutorials, which will make the game much friendlier for new players. We'd like to take a moment and thank those of you who played the previous, less comprehensive versions of Learning Factory: your feedback and your occasional confusion helped us understand which parts of the game must be improved and explained better. Together, we paved the way to a more cozy and relaxed Learning Factory! [previewyoutube=qRE4hUB5ISY;full][/previewyoutube]

v0.31.183 Released!

• Re-rendered Neural Network
• Re-rendered Deep Neural Network
• Re-rendered Logistic Regression
• Re-rendered Stores
• New tutorial: Zeppelins
• New tutorial: Docks
• New tutorial: Store placement
• New tutorial: Service buildings
• New tutorial: Storage units
• New tutorial: Sales data
• New tutorial: Machine learning
• New tutorial: Logistic Regression placement
• New tutorial: Blueprints
• Updated tutorials upon starting a new game
• Updated CV window
• Minor fixes for Transporter connections
• Bug fixes

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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 friends! We found some bugs in the game. This hotfix is here to deal with them. Please update and enjoy a less-buggier version of Learning Factory!

Hey factory workers, This update brings you an array of animated and re-rendered buildings, but also improved tutorials and interfaces! [previewyoutube=LBk15uV3BNw;full][/previewyoutube]

v0.31.182 Released!

• Re-rendered Compost Machine
• Re-rendered Fish Maker
• New art for the Arctic Ocean
• Updated art for Transporter crossroad tiles
• Animated Smoothie Maker
• Animated Milk Drill
• Animated Brew Intensifier
• Re-rendered Logistic Regression
• Metals on the map shoot sparks when a player crosses them over on a Hoverboard
• Updated particles from crossing objects over on a Hoverboard
• VSync option in the Settings
• Improved tooltips for ML models
• Improved visualization of Blueprints on the mouse pointer
• Improved interface
• Updated interface for Machine Learning model window
• New interface for Science Labs
• Improved tutorials for Data Storage, Dr. Katz's Office, Tunnels, and Blueprints
• Added more info about real-life data processing
• A new achievement (suggested by Ferri)
• A new parameter for Stats & Scores menu
• Improved controls on Steam Deck
• Improved tooltips
• Performance optimization
• Bug fixes (kudos to Ferri, Cat (the Black), mylovewill, S'Kleer)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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! We come with a game recommendation today. Our good friends at nimo Games Studio made this cute puzzle/automation adventure, in which you're reparing a star factory with some help from a bunch of robots! It's called Star Stuff, and it's out today: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1955110?utm_source=impress&utm_medium=presskit Here, check out the trailer, while you're at it, too: [previewyoutube=vaco8AlzODc;full][/previewyoutube] Buy yourself a copy or at least add it to wishlist!

Hey factory builders, As you probably know, we normally release an update for Learning Factory every fortnight, but this week is different. Ivan the programmer had to take a break from fighting game bugs to fight a virus. We all wish him to get well soon, and the next Learning Factory update will be released next week. Extra development time will, of course, make it even better! We're working on more updated visuals, along with better tutorials and more comprehensive menus. We'll let you know as soon as they're ready for you to check out. Here's a little teaser - animated Smoothie Mixer: [previewyoutube=TPj8Z9dDjk4;full][/previewyoutube] In the meantime, we suggest those of you who are interested in programming check out our blog article, in which one of the devs of Craftomation 101 (our other game) talks about developing a game using Lua language: Read 'What do I think about Lua after shipping a project with 60,000 lines of code?' (15 minute read) Until we meet again!

Pretty much as your Factory evolves from a humble Yarn Ball-selling store to a continent-wide industrial/scientific/commercial cluster, Learning Factory, the game, has grown a lot in the past couple of years. And when it comes to bringing such a game to the full release, one thing certainly leads to another: there are so many buildings now, and we must make them all animated! And if the buildings are animated, why dont we animate those Transporters, too? Etc., etc... Which is why this edition of our developer diaries mostly consists of short videos and pretty pictures! Even if your playing Learning Factory zoomed out to the max, animated machinery creates an unforgettable image of the whole factory working like one single machine. But if you zoom in to the ground, you will notice that every buildings design is full of details. And its even better when theyre animated! With the latest update, weve reworked just 2 buildings, but check out the difference (and some moving Transporters, too): [previewyoutube=JDz0LtueSAI;full][/previewyoutube] Animation of buildings looks inspiring even when you look under the cape. This is Catnip Juice Brewerys animation in the editor:
In one of the previous updates we also made Catnip Algae Harvesters animation smoother, but its not just that! Zooming your camera is now way smoother, too! Take a look at it (and some more moving Transporters): [previewyoutube=vQzrj_ASPCw;full][/previewyoutube] Were talking about Transporters so much, because it really took us a lot of time to come up with the right tile design, arrows shape and color, and animation details. And the process is far from being complete! For example, a couple of days back we had a very vivid discussion about the colors of crossroad arrow. Heres what we were choosing from:

Which one do you like more? Let us know! Our next target for visual reboot are the mysterious Cat Knowledge Archives, which are scattered around the map and serve as catalyst to your scientific breakthroughs. According to our scientists, they were left on Mars by the Interstellar Lazy-Laborer Union for Mars Integration and Never-ending Aspiration for Technologic Innovation (a.k.a. the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I.). Meaning that they simply must look scientific and mysterious. Like so: [previewyoutube=u1z20dIrXLU;full][/previewyoutube] After all those videos, one might think that only Sergei the artist is working on the game at the moment, but this couldnt be further from the truth! Its just that most of the work is happening around the cape and cannot (yet) be turned into pretty visuals. Polishing is happening on every level, and one of our big tasks for the upcoming weeks is improving tutorials and interfaces - there are many fun mechanics that influence the gameplay in Learning Factory, but not all of them are properly presented to the players. And since were making a cozy game here, our mission is to make the first contact with it as comfortable for the players, as we can. In other words, the evolution from janky-Early-Access-title to a shiny-awesome-v1.0-title is happening as you are reading these lines! Already we cant wait to tell you more about that - but well hold our breath for another month or so. But if you have any questions - we suggest you ask us directly, were a very open bunch of developers! Leave a comment, or go straight to our Discord server, where some of us is almost always online. Until we meet again! P.S. This edition of developer diaries was supposed to be posted here last Saturday, but it got delayed due to the fact that the author accidentally adopeted a street cat:
We've got a total of 11 cats in our team, and counting!

Hey factory builders, here's a little hotfix to make this day better:

• Fixed the bug with incorrect display of Tunnels
• New engine version
• Minor bug fixes

Hey factory workers! This update brings a couple of new upgrades for existing research projects, along with more animated Transporters, and couple of re-rendered buildings! But mostly it is, as it should be at this stage of development, about polishing the game in every possible way! Update, enjoy, and let us know how you like it!

v0.31.181 Released!

• More animated Transporter tiles
• Re-rendered Cat Food Maker
• Re-rendered Catnip Juice Brewery
• Improved Arctic Ocean tiles
• More plants visually react when a player crosses them over on Jetboard
• New upgrade for Geothermal Furnace allows making Quality (+) Milk
• New effect for Plantastic Cloning infinite research project: increased chance of spreading of plants
• Growth Hormones infinite research project reworked, a new effect was added: decreased penalty for growing plants on imperfect tiles (suggested by S'Kleer)
• 2 new upgrades for Fertilizer Sprinkler, providing a chance to fertilize a plant without spending a Fertilizer on it
• Campaign maps reworked to be more fun
• Improved tutorial
• Improved wiki
• Improved copywriting
• Slightly decreased chance of new types of cats emerging at the Factory early on in the game
• Current level of map zooming is now recorded in saved game files (suggested by Cat (the Black))
• Buildings can now be placed on top of the character, in which case the latter will be pushed out of the borders of a building
• Many minor QoL improvements
• Many UI/UX fixes
• Saved game optimization
• New community translation for Traditional Chinese
• Improved display of Hebrew and Arabic languages
• Bug fixes (kudos to S'Kleer, zhi-bin)

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

Hi there! This little hotfix eradicate some pesky bugs and adds some more animated Transporter tiles! Update and enjoy :)

Hey factory workers! Another update with a bunch of small changes here and there is out now. As usual, we're looking for your feedback in any form: leave a comment, write us on Discord, or send a report using the in-game feedback form! Enjoy the update.

v0.31.180 Released!

• Re-rendered Algae Harvester
• Improved animation of Transporter tiles movement
• Smoother camera zooming (can be tuned in the Settings menu)
• On the Underground level: water tiles can now be placed directly on lava tiles, turning the latter into land tiles
• On the Underground level: if a water tile is placed next to a lava tile, the latter turns into a ground tile, along with neighboring lava tiles. This works for both manual tile placement and when using Hard Rock Dynamite (suggested by zhi-bin)

• Improved Wiki
• Improved tutorial
• Improved credits
• Improved copywriting
• Improved contextual warnings
• Improved tooltips for Splitters and Manipulators
• Manipulators optimized
• Performance optimized
• Character customization optimized
• Engine version updated
• 1 new pre-made blueprint added to the Blueprint Library
• The frequency of random meowing sounds on Transporters and in the Stores was decreased
• Zeppelin Routes interface slightly improved
• Bug fixes (kudos to Cat (the Black), masaki, S'Kleer, zhi-bin)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

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, subscribe to out mailing list 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:

v0.31.178 Released!

Gameplpay

• 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

Graphics

• 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)

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

• 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)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

v0.31.176 Released!

• 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

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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.

v0.30.174 Released!

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics

• 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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

• 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

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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, subscribe to out mailing list 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.

Steam Workshop is (mostly) open for business!

Meowengers: Endgame

Something old, something new

Whats next?

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

v0.30.172 Released!

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics

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

QoL && Interface

• 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)

Techie Stuff

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

Steam Deck

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

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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.

v0.30.171 Released!

Graphics & Audio

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

Gameplay

• 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)

QoL & Interface

• 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

Techie stuff

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

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

• 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!

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

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...

v0.26.169 Released!

• 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)

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

Hey factory builders!

Steam Workshop (Beta) Now Supported

• 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

v0.26.168 Released!

• 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)

Re: Factory

----------------------

How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

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

What's Next?

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:

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

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

v0.25.166 Released!

• 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)

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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!

v0.25.165 Released!

• 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)

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

v0.25.164 Released!

• 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)

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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...

v0.25.162 Released!

• 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)

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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:

v0.24.160 Released!

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics && Sounds

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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

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

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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:

v0.24.157 Released!

New buildings && Gameplay

• 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

Graphics && Sound

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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

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

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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.

How to Catopia

What's Next?

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:

v0.24.156 Released!

New Buildings && Upgrades

• 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

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics && Sound

• 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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

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

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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...

Experimental Terraforming Re-Balance

v0.24.155 Released!

New Buildings && Content

• 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

Visuals

• 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

Gameplay

• 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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

• 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

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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:

To Programmer's Sale 2023

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!

v0.24.151 Released!

Visuals

• 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

Gameplay

• 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

QoL & Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

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

Rebalancing Crafting Costs

• 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

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

v0.23.150 Released!

Visuals, Sounds, New Content

• 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)

Buildings && Upgrades

• 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

New Hotkeys && Instruments

• 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

QoL && Interface

• 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

Techie Stuff

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

Re: Factory

• 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

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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!

v0.23.149 Released!

• 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

Re: Factory

• 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

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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:

v0.23.148 Released!

• 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)

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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!

The Great Rerender

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!

Buildings & Plants

• 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)

Visuals & Sounds

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

Upgrades & Recipes

• 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

Other Gameplay Features

• 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

QoL & Interface

• 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

Other Awesome Stuff

• 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)

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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!

Hotfix v0.22.144 Released!

• 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...

v0.22.143 Released!

• 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

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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!

v0.22.142 Released!

Gameplay

• 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))

Graphics & Sound

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

QoL & Interface

• 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

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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! Subscribe to Luden.io's newsletter for more news about our games

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!

v0.22.140 Released!

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics

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

QoL & Interface

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

Other

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

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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!

v0.22.139 Released!

Graphics & Art

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

Sound

• New music track for the Underground level

Gameplay

• 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))

QoL & Interface

• 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

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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!

Hotfix v0.21.138

• 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:

Major v0.21.134 Released

Gameplay

• 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

Gameplay Special: Upgrades & Recipes

• 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

Engine

• Upgraded to Unity v2022.2.20f1

Graphics

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

QoL & Interface

• 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

Other

• Performance optimization
• Bug fixes

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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!

Views of the Future

2021

2023

Clone Paws & Other Wonders

* * *

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:

v0.20.133 Released

Gameplay

• 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

Graphics & Sound

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

QoL & Interface

• 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

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

v0.20.131 Released

Visuals & Sound

• 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

Gameplay

• 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

QoL & Interface

• 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

Fixes

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

Cotton

Iron

Copper

Gold & Gems

Catnip Algae

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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/

When Cats Fly

Endless Research for Filthy-Rich Engineers

Another Round Underground

The Big Redesign

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!

v0.20.130 Released

Gameplay

• 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

Visuals

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

Other

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

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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

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

Hotfix v0.20.128 Released

• 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

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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.

Major v0.20.126 Released

• 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

Infinite Research: Eternal Quest For Knowledge

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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.

Blueprints Complete!

Visual Update: It Has Begun!

Gameplay Changes: Sales, Subsidizing & Dr. Katz Requests

Now What?

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

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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.

v0.19.125 Released

New buildings & Sales

• 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

Researching

• 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)

Graphics

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

Dr. Katz requests

• 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)

Blueprints

• 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)

QoL & Interface

• 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

Got Blueprints?

• 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

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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!

Major Update: v0.19.124

Blueprints

• 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

Gameplay

• 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

Visuals

• 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)

QoL/Interface/Fixes

• 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

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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!

Blueprints To The Max

New Buildings Again (And We're Far From Done Yet)

Now What?

• Twitter
• Discord

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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:

v0.18.123 Released

• 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

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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...

Major Update: v0.18.121

Gameplay

• 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 +

QoL

• 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

Interface

• 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

Accessibility Options

• Added an option to change mouse pointer visuals

Code Improvements

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

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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:

34% off the main game, and 14% off the DLCs!

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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:

v0.17.118 Released!

• 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

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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:

v0.17.117 Released!

• 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

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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]

v0.17.114 Released

• 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

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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:

v0.17.113 Released

• 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

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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:

v0.16.105 Released

• 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

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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:

Chill Milk

Operation Teleportation

The Taste of Scratching

Approaching Catopia, One Cat at a Time

• Twitter
• Discord

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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!

v0.15.103 Released!

• 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

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v0.15.101 Released!

• 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

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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:

v0.14.100 Released!

Gameplay: New Features

• 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

Gameplay: QoL Improvements

• 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

Interface

• 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

Peformance

• 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

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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!

Blimp My Ride!

It's All About Nature

Exit Through The Cat Gate

Quality Control!

Re: Style

* * *

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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:

v0.13.98 Released!

• 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

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

Learning Factory is 25% off until October, 24!

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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

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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!

Hey fellas! We've just release a hotfix that not only fixes some nasty bugs, but expands the amount of screen resolutions in Learning Factory! What a time to be alive! Please update, enjoy the game and have an awesome weekend!

You know, there are no small updates for Learning Factory... Ok, maybe except for the ones that are explicitly marked as 'Small Update'. This one might not seem very spectacular, but we believe it will be important for many players! Here's why:

v0.13.95 Released!

• Items leave production buildings in a smoother way
• Chinese translation updated
• More Halloween decorations!
• UI fixes
• Bug fixes

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Great news, good people of the internet! Even less bugs can now be found in Learning Factory for those of you, who update the game timely! But if you do find some, please report them via the bug icon (found in the upper right corner of your screen while in game) or on our Discord server!

Our bug-eradicating department works day and night to ensure smooth factory-building experience! Please update your game to find it less buggy than ever before!

Hello, Learning Factory workers! We have released a hotfix to make sure some nasty bugs won't bother you anymore. Please update! Have a nice rest of the week!

Sometimes, it's the small things that make the big difference. This is very true about this week's Learning Factory update! One new Building, some artwork updates, interface tweaks, building upgrades - it might not seem much, but it changes the game a great deal! Check out the list below to see what chaged, but even better: launch the game, see for yourself and let us know what you think! We're always waiting for you on Twitter, Discord and in the comment section below!

v0.13.90 Released!

• New Building: Loyalty Splitter helps split cats with high loyalty from the rest (what a twist, huh!)
• Artwork updated in all major comics, to match the game's new visual style (+1 new frame added to one of the comics)
• 5 new trade deals added to various tiers of Trade Guilds, including the ability to receive Splitters, Manipulators and Storages as a reward for trading
• Added upgrades for Small and regular Cargo Zeppelins to increase flying speed
• Added upgrade that doubles the rate of deals with Trade Guilds
• Long Cat Manipulator is now an upgrade for regular Cat Manipulator
• Research Tree slightly reworked
• OPTIMIZATION! Warning upon updating items in some buildings and Zeppelins will disappear; this is a one-time thing though
• Added an option to toggle goods uploading in the Docks
• Added an option to toggle and sort recipes in crafting buildings
• UI/UX fixes
• Bug fixes
• Bonus: Halloween cat outfits!

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It's this time of the year again. Seriously, who starts decorating for a holiday almost 2 months in advance? Apparently, everyone does. And so do we!!! Because, come on, why not! Autumn is a dull time of the year and there's no reason to not try and make our surroundings more fun! This is why Halloween event has been turned on in Learning Factory, bringing you spooky cats, spooky cat outfits, spooky menu theme and other spoooky stuff! Spooky! But that's not just it. We have released a hotfix today:

v0.13.88 Released

• Bug fixes
• Territories' names are now visible on the map on hovering
• Halloween decorations added (have we mentioned that one before?)

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Some nasty bugs were eliminated during yesterday's hunt on Mars. What a day, what a lovely day!

Since Cat Zeppelins were introduced to the factories of Mars, the view on Martian logistics has changed forever. But what if it was just the beginning? The situations has just become even more breathtaking, as Underground Zeppelins emerged under the surface of formerly red planet. The technical specs of this bold project is kept secret by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. - all we're allowed to know is that these spectacular machines are powered geothermal energy of Mars... and that they're darn effective!
In order to help KOTOVOD engineers with increasingly complex Zeppelin logistics, flight control center was established in the Monument, helping keep tracl of routes and waypoints. What a miracle of science! Glory to the genius of Dr. Katz!

v0.13.86 Released!

• There's now an option to pre-design routes for Cat Zeppelins, create profiles for loading/unloading at each Dock and assign those routes and profiles to any amount of Cat Zeppelins
• Underground Zeppelins (yes, really)
• All Docks can be place under the ground, after researching Underground Zeppelins
• New building: Compost Machine for automated Fertilizer production (up to 100 units)
• All Territories now have names which will be displayed on mini map, if a Territory is added to wishlist

• Katz requests now include tasks for buying Territories
• Fulfilled requests are now sometimes rewarded with Cat Knowledge points
• Satisfying a Legendary Cat now provides guaranteed Cat Knowledge points as reward
• In Science Labs, skills required for current research are now highlighted
• Increased the max amount of symbols for naming Docks and Zeppelins
• Cat Knowledge Archives can now be picked even when there is no research in respective knowledge category

• Fixed a bug in Cat satisfaction pyramid that sometimes allowed cats to ignore the lower level of needs
• Dock outputs can now be disabled (suggested by KenZz)
• OPTIMIZATION
• ML behavior could have slightly changed due to optimizaiton
• Optimized Autosaving
• Decreased saved games file size
• Bug fixes (a ton of which were reported by Meissnereffect)
• Text bug fixes
• Many UI/UX improvements
• 4 new achievements
• New menu theme to celebrate Programmer's Day! Enter the promo code: PROGRAMMING and get it in the Setting menu!

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The 256th day of the year is also celebrated as World Programmer's Day. Since Luden.io specializes at developing games related to coding, automation and data, we've decided this holiday is definitely worth throwing a party! We have invited a bunch of likely-spirited games, that will help you develop an engineer's mindset and feel like a true coding wizard:

Browse Programmer's Day Sale

That was a nasty one, but it finally looks dead for good! That bug that made your Drills stop all of a sudden after loading a saved game - is no more! Rejoice, update, go build a factory!

Hello everyone! We heard a rumor that you are enjoying recently released Zeppelins and literally sending your logistics to the sky. Alright, that's perfect! Now it's time to make it even more personal by changing the color of Zeppelins. Better look, easier to navigate. And also new Cargo Dock (which is much bigger) is waiting for new high-load challenges from your cat-satisfying factory.

v0.12.83 Released!

• Now you can change the color of the Zeppelins;
• New building: Big Cargo Dock supports two types of goods and can store a lot;
• Logistics Balance tuning: In all Docks, storage for incoming goods is now twice bigger than storage for outgoing goods. This is how we reduced the load on the logistics lines;
• Zeppelins are now shown at the minimap (actually, do you know that you can click on the minimap a number of times to make it bigger each time?);
• In case a Dock's name is already taken there will be a warning message;
• Define how often you want autosave to happen in the Settings menu;
• Tons of bug fixes and usability improvements.

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Get a Promo Cat and let us put your name into the credits

Thank you for the inspiration and support!

This day of Mars history will be remembered in the centuries to come! Thanks to the genius of Dr. Katz and our tireless engineers, the industry of cat service on the planet is thriving. In fact, it's booming so much, that traditional Transporters are sometimes just not enough to support the growing logistics, especially when it comes to delivering goods from distant regions in the north and the south. It all changes today, as the first (of many!) Cat Zeppelins are floating in the skies, silently and steadily delivering payload between Cargo Docks. Solar-powered and robot-piloted, they're here to revolutionize the way we think of transportation, bringing us one step (nay, leap!) closer to Catopia!
"I iz so proud! Zeppelinz naemd aftear my father'z old Freund, Ferdinand von Zeppelin! He uzed to be maiking zeppelinz too!", - Dr. Katz said in an official, yet personal, statement. What a lovely day! Glory to Science! Glory to KOTOVOD!

v0.12.82 Released!

• Cat Zeppelins (Beta!) - this time it's 1 type of Zeppelin and 1 type of Cargo Dock, more types to be added later on
• New item: Fertilizer boosts the growth of immature or recently harvested plants of Mars
• Science points are randomly given out when satisfying a loyal cat customers
• When gaining Science points from a Cat Knowledge archive or from a cat, progress bar of a research project that benefits from received points turns yellow
• New upgrade: Long Manipulator operating speed can be increased by 1 tick (default speed is 5 ticks)
• Neural Networks are automatically assigned to Cat Stores (same way cat researchers are automatically placed into Labs)
• Neural Networks optimization
• Reduced time of saving and loading a game
• Added possibility of moving buildings without resetting their stats (as with machine learning Models, Data Storages etc.), the default keyboard shortcut is 'V'
• Added possibility of limiting the amount of auto saves on disk
• Improved Twitch integration

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[previewyoutube=El4rXYZQM-0;full][/previewyoutube] Hey there! As we've mentioned in the previous edition of our developer diaries, the team was mostly enjoying their vacations in the past 4 weeks. But we were taking turns, which allowed us to make progress with the game! (A friendly hint: Learning Factory is 30% off on Steam until August 15!) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory One thing Sergei the artist was quite busy with, is updated terrain looks. Last time it was just the grass and underground tiles, but now the transformation is complete, and the whole game looks different, default terrain and both biomes included! Rate the scale of changes yourself:


And some more:


Aaaaaand more;

Reverse Splitter: Natural Heartbreaker

Cat Zeppelins: Almost There

New Looks, New Style

Up Next: Full Speed Ahead!

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Hi everyone! Lots of exciting news this time, so let's keep it to the point!

Learning Factory is 30% Off!

v0.11.81 Released!

• New building: Reverse Splitter splits incoming stream of goods into 2 and sends them opposite ways (what a heartbreaker!)
• Terrain visual improvement
• Increased limit for zooming the camera out
• Some Territories also expand Dormitory space when a player purchases them
• Current income parameter is now clickable and allows players to see their money without opening additional interface windows
• Updated tutorial
• Bug fixes

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Hello everyone. Oleg from Luden.io is here. Right good ol' days, right? Since almost all team members are on summer vacation I will handle this update if you don't mind. Last few weeks we were busy updating the terrain's appearance. After 2 years of solid color-filled snow, desert and forest we welcome you to the new world, full hand drew details. Also, we tested the new look on how comfortable it is to play long sessions (some of you spent 100+ hours in the game so we care). After that test, we reworked it one more time and are now ready to share it with you.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Version 0.11.80:

• Brand new world appearance
• Beautifully reworked loading screens
• Three shiny menu themes (you can unlock it with promo code CALL, KNOWLEDGE, SUMMER)
• Second portion of a huge sound design update by our long-time friend Vladislav Isaev (I am a big fan of his Unyt album).
• As always tons of bug fixes and optimizations (I literally have no idea how Ivan makes it even faster with each update)
• Twitch integration is now even easier to get started (tell your favorite streamer about that, Twitch chat can influence the game while the streamer is playing)
• Art Pack now contains more wallpapers and early days sketches

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After shooting with a grand update last month, we were making small steps, that, however, slowly turn Learning Factory in a very different, more polished and good-looking game. Below is the summary of what we've done within the last 30 days, along with a sneak peek of the next big feature we're currently working on. [previewyoutube=i8V8vOmHna4;full][/previewyoutube]

Terrain Redesign: Better Grass, Brighter Lava and Blue Mushrooms

Up Next: Zeppelins!

See You Soon!

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The terraforming process of Mars is ongoing on so many levels - that, of course, includes things happening below the surface. Thanks to advanced technological tools (courtesy of the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I.), this process is mostly automated and unsupervised by human or feline observers - most likely, it's driven by machine learning models. That results in all kinds of surprises! For one, just this week, the engineers operating under the ground have spotted tiny glowing blue mushrooms, emerging from deeper, uninhabited levels of Mars.
They look very pretty and help find a way in the dark, but the scientists of KOTOVOD Learning Factory urge Mars residents to not try to pick or consume them in any form. The side effects from eating those mushrooms are yet to be studied, but it is already known that they can make one's heels turn blue. Last but not least, their taste is just disgusting. What other surprises does the future hold for KOTOVOD engineers? Subscribe to 'KOTOVOD Worker' to be the first one to know! Until we meet again! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

v0.11.78 Released!

• Underground art improved with smoother and prettier visuals
• New interface sounds
• 1 new track in the soundtrack, this time - written by an acutal human being
• Bug fixes
• Performance optimization

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Ah, Steam Summer Sale! It's that time of the year again! Plants are blooming and the discounts are booming! Time to shake that good ol' wishlist of yours! Time to plunder your own bank account! Time to get awesome games! Speaking of which:

Learning Factory is 30% off until July 7!

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Hey friends! We've released a little update that not only eradicates certain bugs, but actually makes the game prettier! Check it out as soon as you can!

v0.11.77

• Update grass visuals
• Research Tree structure slightly altered (reserving space for future awesome updates)
• Rafts are now available for crafting from the start, no need to research them
• Fixed a bug when the camera was zooming in and out when scrolling throught the inventory
• Other bug fixes

This week marks 2 historic events that will change KOTOVOD Learning Factory both literally and metaphorically. Since our Factory keeps introducing a more and more diverse array of goods, five major cat Trade Guilds have opened their branches on Mars, and are willing to get involved in exchanging goods for money, goods and other services ASAP. Since the offices of Guilds' branches are based on various continents of Mars, a series of Trade Ports has been established, sending automated ships back and forth on a regular basis (because it is well known that cats hate swimming and water in general). The commerce is now expected to flourish, but only if KOTOVOD's engineers keep Guild bosses happy by providing goods.
The other sensational story of this week is somewhat connected to providing more goods, but it is much more significant at the same time! Ancient pillars of Cat Knowledge were considered lost since the first iteration of KOTOVOD, built back in the XX century, in the pre-terraforming era of Mars history. But thanks to the genius of Dr. Katz (and thousands of working hours of his human employees), they're now back on the map! Each Cat Knowledge Archive contains priceless data about the history of ancient interstellar feline civilization that populated Mars before cats had to finally move to the good old Earth. Although we are not yet able to get to decipher the actual facts about that legendary era, even bits and pieces of Cat Knowledge can boost current research projects on the Factory, helping to diversify production, sell more goods, accumulate even more data about cats and, eventually, establish Catopia on Mars! What a time to be alive! Now, to the weather forecast: meteorologists are sure that the mysterious fog that has been spotted over the oceans of Mars is completely harmless. All is good at KOTOVOD. Glory to science!

v0.11.76 Released!

• Trade Ports and Trade Routes now emerge on the edges of the map, allowing you to exchange goods with five feline Trade Guilds, each specializing on their own category of items (new game only)
  
• Speaking of the edges of the map, they're now decorated with beautiful (and totally not ominous) fog. We call it Fog of Peace internally, because there's no place for war in the world of Learning Factory
• Unlockable Territories are now available in campaign mode, too, previously they were present in Freeplay mode; (new game only)
• To make things more interesting, Cat Knowledge Archives now emerge on the map. They represent mysterious sources of data about cats, left on Mars by ancient interstellar cats from long time ago. Each Archive contains knowledge from one of five available types of research (Logistics, Production, Science, Terraforming and Upgrades). Upon activation, it adds research points to available and/or active research project, thus making those projects easier to complete. If don't have any research project in said research field, a Cat Knowledge Archive can't be activated until you do; (new game only)
  
• Campaign mode map is now 1.5 times bigger, time to go hiking! (new game only)
• In case you get cold while hiking, 2 new and fancy down coats are now available for purchase in customization menu
• And when you're really ready to roll, feel free to enable an option that allows you toggle the button that launches you onto Hoverboard or Jetboard
• Twitch integration! For broadcasting enthusiatst out there, we now have a generous array of options that will make your live streams look lively as ever (we're going to hell for all those stupid puns, aren't we?). Go check them out, and if you're only considering a career of broadcaster - Learning Factory is the perfect game to start (according to devs and their moms)
• When the map is zoomed out all the way up in the sky, those phrases that cat say in lines will still be occasionally visible. Remember how there's no place to escape when your cat yells in your house? That was our reference for this feature
• 2 new achievements
• UI fixes
• Bug fixes
• There's now an option to automatically sort goods of the same types in all the Stores that are selling them. We sincerely hope that it makes some of you happier

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There is a well known trend that summer is generally a quiet time for the gaming industry. Well, it's definitely not our case! For us, it's time for big changes and even bigger plans for the future. That said, here's a summary of what's been happening to Learning Factory in May and what are we up to in June (and beyond!) [previewyoutube=Pg-1q6TP8ek;full][/previewyoutube]

Early Access: Stage 2 Complete!

Coming Soon (Really Soon!): Trade Ports

• Part of control keys can now be reassigned in settings menu (requested for so many times!)
• New menu themes
• New customization items (there's now a gold chain for your character's pet cat!)
• 8 new wallpapers in Art Pack DLC
• More Ruin types

Up Next: More Awesomeness!

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If there's one thing Dr. KAtz and his team can't get enough of - it is data, especially when said data is cat-related. The deal is real simple: to achieve Singularity and establish Catopia, we need to accumulate as much knowledge about cats as possible. Which is why new statistical instruments have been introduced to Learning Factory's engineering team, so they could work some more! Additionally, new and more comfortable conditions of moving around and operating are now available. It's like you don't need to rest at all now: work as many time as you want, and then work some more! Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

v0.10.74 Released!

• More Ruin types
• Additional statistics available on the respective tab in the Monument: including data on how many items are/aren't used in crafting and cat loyalty graphs
• Statistics interface now allows displaying up to 6 graphs at a time
• Graphs display optimization
• Part of control keys can now be reassigned in settings menu
• Several main menu themes unlocked by default (previously required a promo code)
• New main menu themes
• Interface fixes
• Bug fixes
• Decreased ocean tiles weight in territory price generation algorithm
• Cat business purchases are now visible in the Stores

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This glorious day will definitely make history, and massive celebrations are happening all over Mars: Stage 2 of KOTOVOD Learning Factory renovation is officially complete! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/ 'Veri noice! Pleaz get bakk to woark, hooray!', - Dr. Katz commented in his official statement. Naturally, all engineers are expected to celebrate this glorious occasion by increasing their work KPIs, as we continue our efforts of establishing Catopia on Mars! In case you are too busy doing your work, please refresh your memories of our glorious Renovation Plan, a.k.a. Roadmap:
So much already done, but the most glorious deeds are ahead of us! Glory to science!

v0.10.71 Released

• New building: X-Switcher swaps outputs of 2 incoming streams. Helps you to either organize your Factory or mess it up beyond repair. Have fun! (suggested by our community member gateway)
• 2 new story comics
• The camera now follows the character smoothly and no longer gets beyond the edge of the map
• Quad Splitter has been demoted to an upgrade for Triple Splitter
• New customization item: a shiny gold chain for your cat
• Territories cost less money, but the chances of generating territories that only cost money is generally decreased
• New button in Freeplay mode settings allows you to randomize all map settings so you could persist in the doomed world you have created
• 3 new main menu themes: try promo codes ILLUMINATI, CPU and MEOWFIA
• Bug fixes
• UI fixes
• 8 new wallpapers in Art Pack DLC

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Hey there! This time we've got a rather small update (comared to our usual bi-monthly content trains), but it's definitely cute!

v0.10.70 Released!

• 2 new legendary cats
• 9 new customization items (especially for your cat companion)
• Bug fixes

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Dear factory builders, cat lovers, science admirers and all our awesome page visitors! Please take a minute to read our monthly report of building Catopia on Mars.

Now with video version:

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Who has time to read the news when you can be playing games, right? That said, we don't wanna distract you any further, just keep in mind that:

Learning Factory is 31% off until May 9!

Check out Luden.io franchise page to see all the juicy offers of this week!

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What is, really, the Catopia? Catopia is like singularity, but with cats! Catopia is eternal abundance of goods (especially, for cats), without poverty, violence or excess weight. Catopia is KOTOVOD's engineers end goal and Dr. Katz's big dream. Catopia is YOU. This week, thanks to the work of our scientists from R&D department, new blueprints are available to be turned into new building, producing exclusive new goods for our beloved feline customers! That includes mice-flavored icy Smoothies, nanobot-powered Vitamins (which happen to help send the bowel worms away), and, last but not least, the ultimate cat toy - the Laser Pointer. The latter does not include Batteries (to be crafted separately), nor human operators. The latter means more work for you, engineers! Isn't that just wonderful? In other news, the very natural process of terraforming Mars has passed yet another milestone: clouds now appear in Martian skies, casting smooth and picturesque shadows on the newly terraformed planet!
A lot is done, but even more is ahead of us. Catopia awaits! Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

v0.10.69 Released

• 4 new Buildings: Battery Maker, Cat Vitamins Maker, Smoothie Mixer & Laser Pointer Maker. All of them require either specific biomes and/or landscape features for operations, so keep exploring and unlocking new territories!
• 4 new goods/resources: Batteries, 'Worm Greetings' Cat Vitamins, Mice Cold Smoothies and glorious Laser Pointers for your cats
• New Legendary cats
• New customization items
• There are now clouds, peacefully floating in the skies of Mars and casting shadows on your Factory
• Territories cost are now shown on the mini map upon hovering (no need to click them for that anymore)
• New events inform you when there's a Territory available for purchase and/or added to your wishlist. These events can be toggled off in a Territory trade window
• Remote territories' prices have been decreased (available in new game only)
• Bug fixes

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Hey everyone! We've releasefd a hotfix to make the game run better for you. Thanks for sending us your feedback, you're very welcome to discuss your game experience with us on our Discord server! Until we meet again!

Although KOTOVOD administration doesn't offer many benefits to its workers (no vacations, insurance or week-ends - the Catopia won't build itself!), it doesn't mean that Dr. Katz and his team stand against freedoms of the Factory engineers. At least one freedom - the freedom of self-expression! - is considered essential for every worker. Which is why every KOTOVOD engineer can now spend some hard-earned money to buy some fashionable outfits or even redesign their working tools, such as Hoverboard. (Also, since all the engineers used to look exactly the same, it was hindering performance evaluation) The other, most exquisite and rare items, however, will be offered for exceptional work achievements. "We valuz our workearz veri much, jsut not theirz time and opinionz", - Dr. Katz commented in an official statement. In other news, lava rivers have emerged under the ground. Probably nothing special, but we will keep an eye on this perfectly normal situation.

Version 0.10.67 Released

• Introducing Character Customization: certain items can be unlocked for coins, others become available upon meeting target factory-building goals
• Rivers now emerge on the underground level
• Lava rivers also emerge under the ground (new game only): they cannot be crossed using regular Rafts. Typically, Lava
• New resource: Gem Deposits can be found around the map and harvested by a Dredge for Bling production
• New Upgrade: Fireproof Raft upgrade now available (for crossing lava rivers). Fireproof Raft tiles can also be found around the map
• New Upgrade: 2x increased handpicking speed available for the Multitool
• New Ruins
• Ruins can now slightly change the map tiles around their spawning area
• Underground mini-map now available
• Underground map can be viewed in Freeplay mode when setting up map parameters
• Territories adjacent to the starting area now cost less (new game only)
• Cotton multiplication speed slightly decreased
• Wiki entries for goods and items now display the kinds of cats who are requesting them, along with request types (regular, specialized or upsale purchases)
• New events
• Dr. Katz requests automatically get cancelled if there was no progress towards completing them for 3 hours
• 2 new achievements
• Performance optimization
• Bug fixes
• UI/UX fixes
• FPS lock is now available in Settings

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Last month was marked with the final arrival of two important major features! One of them was planned long-time ago, the other one emerged out of a rather heated discussion and with a lot of help from our community! Here's how it all unraveled For Dev Diaries Feb '22 click here

Introducing Biomes

Territories: Mars for Sale

Up Next: Customization (Finally!)

• 1-3 new biome-specific buildings
• 1 new resource for crafting
• Underground Ruins

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Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we've released a hotfix, which eradicated a couple of particularly nasty bugs! We hope the game now runs smoothier than ever! Additionally, the character now leaves trails! Enjoy and let us know if it works for you :)

A sudden surprise! Learning Factory is 30% off for this whole week! Actually, the deal was about our previous game, while True: learn() which is now a part of the awesome SimFest: Hobby Edition. But we've decided that it's gonna be a cool thing to make a discount for Learnin Factory, too! Enjoy :) And don't miss while True: learn() if you don't have it in your library yet! It's a fun puzzle game and it's also dedicated to cats and machine learning: https://store.steampowered.com/app/619150/while_True_learn/ Finally, if you don't feel like paying for playing games at all, may we offer you check out our next game, Craftomation 101, which is currently in free alpha stage! There is terraforming and programmable robots over there, check it out and let us know how you like it! Let there be awesome games! Have a great and fun week, everybody!

Have you ever wondered whether cats can be land owners? Of course you haven't: everyone knows that every cat owns their territory by default. But since Mars is populated with sentient cats, they are also capable of managing their ownership rights as they choose. Which is why KOTOVOD engineers can now purchase certain territories of Mars from their respective owners. It will help expand Learning Factory and provide you a chance to find something valuable on your new lands. As for the cats, they will be compensated with money and goods (out of your inventory, that is), thus creating additional benefits for Martian economy. Catitalism at work! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory

Version 0.10.65 Released!

• Unlockable Territories (Beta - available in Freeplay Mode only): certain territories are owned by cat landlords and can be purchased with money or goods for Factory expansion
• A bunch of new Ruins, especially water-based ones. Ruins with more valuable buildings can appear on Territories when generating the map in Freeplay
• Updated animations for Hoverboard and Cat Jetboard
• Selected buildings in the Tundra now have special snowy visuals
• UI/UX improvements
• Bug fixes

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You know you can't stop the progress, especially when this progress is pushed forward by KOTOVOD's own Dr. Katz! Although Mars was generally terraformed years ago, the process is in no way over yet! Thanks to the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. tech, it was made possible to make climate on Mars more diverse! Because diverse climate zones inspire curiosity, and cats are very curious, you know!
There's now Jungle and Tundra and Desert areas on Mars! Various plants prefer different climate, which means: more job for you, hardworking engineers! Glory to science! Glory to Catopia! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Version 0.10.64 Released!

• Introducing cold and hot climate regions (available upon starting new game), which will host different biomes
• Tundra now appears in the cold region, while Deserts and Jungle emerge in the hot region (available upon starting new game)
• Apple Trees now mostly grow in the Jungle, which is also the best biome for growing them, from now on
• Catnip Algae now mostly grows in the Torpical Water
• Fir Trees are now generated in the Tundra biome. Also, Growing Fir Trees don't grow in hot regions
• When placing a crafted tile of Soil, Rich Soil, Shallow or Deep Water in a climate region, it will acquire the properties of a respective biome
• Concrete Mixer can now extract Sand from the Desert biome
• New object: Icebergs emerge in cold regions and produce Fish, when harvested by hand
• New object: Juicy Cacti can be found in hot regions and produce Catnip Juice, when harvested by hand
• New object: Growing Juicy Cacti can be found, picked up and planted elsewhere. They can also be researched on the Research Tree, to be produced and planted
• New object: Raw Concrete can be found in the Desert biome, it can be harvested and used for building
• New dev-made Ruins added, including biome-specific
• A fan-made Ruin added (the credit goes to Kryptonik)
• Sliders in Freeplay mode work slightly differently: resources are no longer interconnected
• Fixed bug of Turing Trees that could break their generation cycle
• Bug fixes
• UI fixes
• Optimization
• Game loading optimization

(Q&A) Cat to the Future

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You jnow what they say: you can't build Catopia without breaking down some old factory ruins... Ok, that's not exactly what they say, but this is what's happening in the areas surrounding KOTOVOD campus right now. It is widely known that KOTOVOD started out as an experimental project way back in the XX century. The experiment was a failure due to so many reasons (main of them being humans not able to understand the genius ideas of their cats). Nevertheless, a lot of work was done, a lot of structures had been erected and eventually left to rot... Until you have arrived! Thanks to our hardworking engineers, our I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. curators finaly had their paws free to start prospecting for the remains of older KOTOVOD. As always, they have succeeded! From now on, you'll be able to detect the Ruins of the factory's ancient campus, and put into good use whatever you find there! That said: please get back to work now, engineers... Hey, did you get your hair cut? You look kinda different...

Version 0.10.63 Released!

• New character art; more frames in animation, too
• Ruins of the old KOTOVOD campus are now being spawned on maps (but only after starting another new game)
• Small-sized Scenarios in the Editor can now be saved as Ruins and appear on regular maps in Freeplay Mode
• In relation to that, the minimal size of a Scenario has been decreased from 32 to 10 tiles
• OPTIMIZATION (yes, in caps, yes, again). Warning: when you load a saved game file from an earlier version, you will experience a situation when all the cats/objects on all your Transporter lines will disappear. Sorry about that, but worry not: just wait for a couple of minutes until those lines get filled with newly emerged cats/objects. No cats will be harmed. Many thanks to community member Da Hooman for providing a saved game that helped us optimize the game some more!
• Mouse grid can now be activated even when you don't have an object on your mouse cursor
• Turing Trees now have animation upon emerging/disappearing
• Bugs and UI fixes

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The Progress of KOTOVOD Administration rushes forward with an astonishing speed, urging the workers to rush along, to Catopia and beyond! This week, Learning Factory has just become smarter, with not one, but 2 new machine learning (ML) models to become available to engineers! To help them clear some space for inevitable expansion, the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. curators have even greenlit the use of experimental new types of dynamite: potent, but naturally harmless to living beings (except for plants) and expensive machinery! The hard work of KOTOVOD workers is already paying off, as more feline celebrities are checking out our glorious and abundant Factory Stores. Hooray, engineers! Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD!

Version 0.10.61 Released!

• 2 new machine learning models - Logistic Regression and Neural Classifier specifically designed for Roadside Boutiques
• New Dynamite upgrade: Eco Dynamite (for getting rid of unwanted plants fast)
• New item: Jetboard is the supreme version of Jetpack, allowing you to fly over hills and water
• Advertising Cat Gates display the process of summoning cats
• Cats passing by Roadside Boutiques get visually disappointed if they don't like the prices and goods on display
• Improved visuals for hills and rivers
• Improved visuals for plants growing by the rivers
• Improved visuals for buildings placed near the hills
• The character no longer gets stuck when trying to walk into the impassable biomes
• The character no longer visually walks on water
• A new Guide is dedicated to setting up and using Roadside Boutiques
• A new checkbox in the incoming CVs allows you to turn off the option to receive CVs
• Research Labs are now displaying current research progress and takes you to the Research Tree on click
• Research Labs allow to toggle the display of an Article research value calculations
• Crafting queue is now displayed in the Construction menu
• Dr. Katz requests that formerly offered Iron as a reward will now occasionally be rewarded by Copper and Gold as well
• Improved events display
• An event is now displayed upon unlocking an upgrade research
• Improved Milestones display
• New hidden achievement
• New legendary cats
• UI improvements
• Bug fixes

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Happy Lunar New Year! Steam has probably told you that already, but:

Learning Factory is 31% off until February 3!

Hard work eventually pays off! Even though all the profits eventually go for funding new research and reaching Catopia, it is important to find a moment to stop and smell the roses (before going back to hard and never-ending work). Okay, roses don't grow on Mars just yet. But you can smell the success when you see legendary cats visiting the Factory! The word of KOTOVOD's glorious deeds in the field of feline economy is spreading, and celebrities from the furry society start emerging on the campus! Bear in mind, their requests are sometimes... unconventional. When the fattest cats are coming to your Factory, it's sometimes important to be able to make quick alterations and adapt your production to meet the high society's highest standards. Which is where the next invention of the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. scientists comes in handy: enter the Smart Dynamite! It's powered by machine learning and allows wreaking havoc without the fear of harming cats or other sentient lifeforms, such as KOTOVOD's workers. We value you, because you're working so hard and we don't pay you anyway! The economy is BOOMING this week at KOTOVOD Learning Factory! Glory to science!

IVersion 0.10.60 Released!

• New cats: Legendary cat characters will be visiting your Factory! There are five of them now, can you spot them all?
• New research: Dynamite! It's a smart kind of explosive that only destroys things approved by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. Ergo, it can't harm cats or key research infrastructure... But it's great for quick landscape changing: capable of destroying a good chunk of ground, leaving a hole full of water
• There's also an upgrade for Dynamite, resulting in a smaller piece of Dynamite
• Lunar New Year decorations: asian-themed cats and Store visuals
• Hills now appear on the map: they can't be crossed, but they can be blown up (new game required for hills to emerge)
• Other terrain visual improvements
• Tutorial updated: new tasks added, older tasks clarified
• Improved Wiki: crafting and item description added
• Research queue display improved
• Crafting queue display improved
• Hills, rivers and lakes can be turned off entirely while in Freeplay mode
• Mouse grid now available for all buildings
• Bug fixes
• UI/UX fixes
• Optimization
• You can now pet the cat in the menu (click the cat to make it happen!)

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The diligence and dedication of KOTOVOD workers is out of doubt (and control), as they're getting closer and closer to establishing Catopia on Mars! As you definitely know already, the first step of building a greater society for felines and humans includes the latter providing material wealth to the former. Since lines are more than common on KOTOVOD's Transporter lines (a feature inherited from the Union times), some cats are actually spending a lot of time not buying any goods. This situation seemed somewhat suboptimal to KOTOVOD administration. Which is why they have teamed up with the brightest minds from the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I. and came up with not one, but two grounbreaking inventions! A Roadside Boutique is a building to be placed by Transporter lines: it sells goods to passerby cats, thus making them happier and more loyal to the cause (which is establishing Catopia). Item Splitter is a more humble, but most handy kind of a building, letting you detect and extract selected kinds of items from all kinds of places! Use them wisely. Catopia is inevitable. Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD!

Version 0.10.59 Released

• New building: Roadside Boutique is placed by Transporter lines; cats may choose to walk in and browse for goods. If they find what they were looking for, cats become more loyal towards your Factory
• More loyal cats are more likely to recommend the Factory to their friends (and less likely to dissuade them from coming, in case their shopping experience in a Store is unsuccessful). Go to the Wiki ('H') to check out what certain cat types are looking for in Boutiques;
• A new Boutique-related milestone added to the Global Progression bar;
• New building: Item Splitter. For sorting items. Choose a category and an item you want to separate from the other goods and - voila!;
• If a cat has fulfilled all their wishes in the Pyramid of requests (again, go to the Wiki to check it out), they will return to the Factory with increased level of loyalty;
• Advertising Cat Gate now gathers statistics about cats and later. With enough data, it will be capable to decide whether to show an ad to certain cat or not. It results in increased operational speed for the Gate;
• All Cat Gates feature improved interface and an option to clear stats;
• Generally more new statistics in Statistics menu;
• Research Tree slightly re-balanced in terms of cost and placement of certain objects;
• There now is an option to turn on grid view under logistics buildings while you're placing them. The grid for other kinds of buildings will be added in future updates;
• Bug fixes;
• Optimization;
• Interface fixes;
• Copywriting fixes;
• There now is art in the Credits!

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Greetings, engineers! This year, crazy on so many levels, is coming to an end! But the work on establishing Catopia and building the Factory is far from being complete! We wish you many festive activities and restoration of your physical and emotional forces, to help you make the human-feline dream happen! You are also encouraged to continue working on building Learning Factory these days. It only makes sense, since there has been a remarkable hardware upgrade (see below). Hooray, engineer associates! Happy 2021! Yours, KOTOVOD Science Team

Version 0.10.58 Released

• Shoreline art;
• Concrete Maker animated;
• New art for Drills: copper and iron Drills now look visually different;
• More Holiday art;
• Advertising Cat Gate sometimes show ads to irrelevant customers. That does not cost extra money, since those customers never arrive to the Factory. The more is the Hype, the less error rate the Gate has, but it also starts working at a slower pace (you can correct that by researching new upgrade for that type of Gates). This first Advertising Game was slown down to prevent accidental burning of too much money on early stages of the game;
• Cat House Maker now occupies 5*5 tiles;
• OPTIMIZATION (yes, in caps); Especially for Storages; Deep Neural Networks work a bit slower as a result;
• Save game optimization;
• Bug fixes;
• Copywriting fixes;
• Updated visuals for credits;

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Time flies, huh? Just a year ago we were in a free alpha stage, making our first steps towards developing the ultimate cat factory game... Today, we're a legitimate Early Access game on Steam, a very cute and relaxing game, according to our reviewers! Here are some more recent quotes from our adorable players: "I've no idea what machine learning is, but there are cats here! Also, you can just call it a day and go fishing at any time", - Yabl "The game has clean automation and talking cats on Mars with no combat. At the moment, that's what you're purchasing. I'm very happy with my purchase.", - Toodixinya "If you like factorio but want something more light hearted, this is for you :D It's very chill, I love it!", - Novirtue "Catorio catorio catorio", - Kryptonik https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/ If you're not in KOTOVOD Learning Factory ranks just yet, it's a perfect moment to enlist, because, you see...

Learning Factory is 30% off until January 5!

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Hello and welcome to this month's edition of Learning Factory developer diaries! Today we'll talk about global progression and the great mission behind KOTOVOD. We will discuss the mysterious, interstellar origins of cats and, of course, Holiday preparations! But first, treat yourself with some fresh cat photos from our team:

Global Progression: Next Stop - Catopia!

What Else Is New

(Yet Another) Advertising Cat Gate

Holiday Stuff

2021 In Screenshots

Pre-Alpha & Alpha (2020)

Early Access Release (Winter 2021)

Spring 2021

Autumn 2021

December 2021

Live Stream With Devs This Friday

Dec 17, 7am PST / 10am EST / 4pm CET

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Hey everyone! We've fixed some bugs. Hope the game will run extremely smooth for you now! Have a great rest of the week!

It is widely known, that KOTOVOD was created for establishing Catopia and bring eternal happiness and abundance to the feline race. This goal, however, cannot be achieved without generating profit: researchers need money for food and their researching stuff, so keep those catstomers coming!
Which is exactly why the new Advertising Cat Gate is now available for research and crafting at KOTOVOD! It is powered with early XX-century primitive marketing technique, where tempting images of goods were shown to random web users. There's no fine targeting there, but hey, it does the trick, provided that you can afford to spend money on it! And cats don't have anything to do anyway, so they'd probably fall for those banners, out of boredom at least. And this will help YOU, the engineer, pushing the feline science forward! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090 In other news...

Version 0.10.52 Released

• New Advertising Cat Gate added to the early stage of the game. They can spawn cats looking for specific item of your choosing
• Research costs and order on the Tree have been slightly rebalanced
• Final Milestone requires more points to be unlocked
• Minor Milestones now require certain major Milestones, in addition to certain technology research, in order to be unlocked
• Raft tile cannot be removed if the player is standing on it
• UI/UX improvements
• Bug fixes
• Optimization
• More Holiday art!

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Here at KOTOVOD, Holidays are a perfect excuse for working without distractions from the outer world - all in the glory of science, of course! Nevertheless, some decorating must be conducted and some festive activities must be planned, so we could further entertain those who we care for the most - our beloved feline customers! Therefore, Holiday season brings in the best news for KOTOVOD engineers: even more work! Every KOTOVOD worker is ready to go as far as possible while trying to fulfil the Factory's mission! They're even willing to change landscapes of Mars to make them look more festive! If and when you'll decide to join this noble quest, feel free to refer to one of our new Tutorials, explaining the art and science of terraforming! Education of staff is key priority for Dr. Katz's office, so please don't forget to check out the other new Tutorial as well. Glory to the Holidays! Please get back to work.

Version 0.10.51 Released!

• New Milestone on the Global Progression scale
• 2 new Hardcore Tutorials
• More Holiday art
• (community request by Jiiniasu) the money limit of 1 million coins has been removed. Get as filthy rich, as you want!
• Improved interface for Cat Store, Linear Regression and Data Storage
• Machine learning optimized
• Various UI/UX fixes
• New achievement for spending money on ads

Live Stream Tomorrow

12/03, Friday, 7am PST/ 10am EST / 4pm CET

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Hey there! Just patching up a few things, hope you're doing fine!

Hotfix v0.10.50

• Bug fixes
• Apple Silicon processors are now officially supported by the game (hence the picture)

It is symbolic that this news is published in #42 of KOTOVOD Worker! '42' is the answer to Life, Universe and Everything... Dr. Katz and his team don't have an answer to this question yet, but their latest invention certainly adds more meaning to the life on Mars! Global Progression Scale demonstrates what needs to be done as we keep moving towards singularity! It is marked with milestones, which also come with bonuses for Learning Factory performance. It is a great help for KOTOVOD's engineers, as they can now stop bothering about puny human questions, such as the meaning of life: they have a scale to progress on! And the answer to all questions is, as usual: get back to work! Get back to work we shall! Glory to Science! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Version 0.10.49 Released!

Global Progression Scale

• New story chapters (a.k.a. comics) are now unlocked via achieving certain milestones on the scale (to be found in the Monument). Its main features:
• Major milestones: unlocked mainly by successfully serving cats
• Minor milestones: unlocked mainly by researching stuff on the Research Tree
• Unlocking milestones grants minor cumulative multipliers for various Factory mechanics: at this time, it's research performance and researcher parameters, and Hype levels. More unlock bonuses will be added in the future
• Some major milestones unlock additional gameplay mechanics (see below)
• Certain milestone unlock will let cat researchers reach out to you with their CVs. If your Dormitory is already full, you can stop accepting applications in the Tavern
• After certain milestone unlock, regularization will be applied to linear and polynomial models, which will slightly increase their performance
• Every milestone unlocked will visually change the Monument looks (graphics in this version are not final though)
• Deposit mechanics becomes available after reaching the first milestone

Gameplay

• (community suggestion) pressing 'backspace' or 'delete' on the buildings from your toolbar lets you dismantle them and get up to 50% resources back
• Researcher generating algorithm has been tuned to make researcher perks more diverse and frequent to appear
• New perks for researchers
• New look options for researchers
• Tuned up Metal Vein generation on Archipelago maps in Freeplay Mode: more Veins spawn now

Visual

• Holiday theme! Cats sporting Santa hats are sending you seasonal greetings. More Holiday-related content coming soon
• Neural Network buildings occupy 6*6 tiles (previously - 4*4)
• More metallic Metal looks!

Interface

• Feedback button is now present in the main menu as well
• (community suggestion by xwingxx) when a building is selected from the toolbar, respective icon is highlighted
• UI improvements
• Cat Stores and Data Storages now display whether a cat invited a friend or dissatisfied a friend as a result of a deal
• Upon having started learning, ML models are marked with a special alert sign that signifies that said models are not yet trained to convergence, and they can't be automatically connected to Stores until they converge. This alert disappears after a certain amount of training epochs
• Upon opening an ML building, player can see whether there are better trained ML models, connected to the same network
• If an ML model is automatically switched to a higher tier model, the former model will be halted as chances of it to work more effective are close to 0

Other

• Performance optimization
• Bug fixes
• Tutorials updated
• Localizations updated
• Chinese localization updated

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It's that time of the year again, fellow engineers! You know the drill:

Learning Factory is 25% off until December 1, 10am PST / 1pm PST / 7pm CET

Live Stream Tomorrow

11/25, Thursday, 7am PST/ 10am EST / 4pm CET, the usual places:

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Wow, has it really been just one month? It almost seems too hard to believe, because SO many things have changed in the game since then - and we just can't stop working on adding more stuff, right as you are reading these lines. Let's try and summarize the most important stuff that's happened recently, shall we?

New Trailer & Your Help is Needed!

Rivers, Lakes and Rafts

Hardcore Tutorials

Deposit

Ads

What Else Is New?

Whats Next?

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Hotfix 0.10.48.93 Released

• Today is Grandpa Frost's (a.k.a. Santa Klaus for the westerners out there) birthday! Holidays Theme should activate automatically upon installing this hotfix
• If it doesn't activate by itself, use 'NEW_YEAR' promo code for unlocking it
• More Holidays art will be added later for proper celebration

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Everyone knows that all cats coming to KOTOVOD have funds of unknown origin. Sometimes they're eager to spend a very limited amount of it, but the fact still stands: cats don't need to care about their income. Our engineers, however, need to keep track of it at all times: the money is required for maintaining the wellbeing of precious scientists, working tirelessly to push the feline science forward! Without their pay checks, they immediately get very tired and proceed into slumber. Since KOTOVOD is functioning within the market economy, Dr. Katz commanded to issue more control to the engineers over the Factory's financial management. From now on, scientists are allowed to reserve certain amounts of money from turning into salaries, in order to accumulate funds for more strategic steps: such as, expanding the Dormitory for hiring more scientists. The engineers can also use that money to attract more customers: thanks to the new type of Cat Gate, it is now possible to bring certain types of cats who would definitely appreciate your current selection of goods. Needless to say, no extra funds will be used to increase the engineers' salaries, as they work on plain enthusiasm and their love towards cats. Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Version 0.10.47 Released!

• New feature - Deposit: an option to reserve a certain amount of money from being spent on research projects and ads, so you could spend it on hiring new scientists and upgrading the Monument later
• New building - Adv. Cat Gate: spend some money on clickbait paid ads somewhere in the Solar System, and attract selected cat types to your Factory (will be later powered with machine learning)
• Perks of cat researchers are now visible and accompanied by tooltips explaining their functions
• Researchers can't spawn with mutually exclusive perks anymore
• New perks for researchers added
• 3 new Hardcore Tutorial scenarios
• Custom Store names are now visible in the tooltips
• Bug fixes
• Terraforming optimization
• UI fixes

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It's that time of the year again! Don't be scared, be excited! You have all the reasons to be, because

Learning Factory is 20% off until November 1!

Job Opportunity at GameJolt: Machine Learning Engineer Wanted!

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Hey everyone! We've fixed some stuff, please enjoy:

• Trees now have tooltips showing their growth progression
• Saved game bugs fixed
• Saved games' file size reduced

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Hey engineers, Let's catch up, shall we? We'll be playing new version of Learning Factory, featuring lots of rivers, lakes, new content and other awesome stuff. Also: Halloween is upon us, and we have a surprise for you! Come and see for yourself:

8am PST / 11am EST / 5pm CET!

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The mission of the project which is KOTOVOD Learning Faactory is to make the world a better place. As long as 'the world' is Mars and it becomes the better place for cats! And by all means, this is already happening: the ongoing terraforming process of Mars (powered by the I.L.L.U.M.I.N.A.T.I.) filled the beds of Martian rivers with waters for the first time in millions of years! That means, of course, more challenges and hard work for KOTOVOD engineers.
But that's for tomorrow. As of tonight, Dr. Katz called in for a discoteque To celebrate this historic day. 'Everybodi danz now!', - KOTOVOD's Chief Scientific Officer commanded. And dance we shall. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

Version 0.10.45 Released!

• Rivers and lakes added to campaign map (new game only) and Freeplay Mode
• Hence the new map presets in Freeplay Mode: Amazonia, Continent, Archipelago, Wasteland and Sparse archipelago
• Freeplay mode: added sliders for regulating lakes and rivers generation on the map
• New Terraforming tool: Raft allows placing Transporters and Optic Cables over the water
• New Upgrade for Smart Cat Stores: expand your shelves with 3 additional slots for items, for easier and smarter logistics
• Certain cats will now rate their experience after attempting to shop at one of your Stores (zoom in the camera to be able to see them)
• Bug fixes

Live Stream with Devs this Thursday!

8am PST / 11am EST / 5pm CET!

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KOTOVOD Administration deeply cares about their human employees - as long as they are happy with working through crunches and don't ask for any payment. However, humans will be humans: sometimes they don't understand the simplest things, obvious for any average cat! Tired of watching silly bald apes making the same mistakes over and over again, Dr. Katz started implementing advanced factory management courses for volunteering engineers. All workers are expected to take them in our collective effort to decrease overall silliness around the Factory. Glory to science! Glory to KOTOVOD!

Version 0.10.44 Released!

• Hardcore Tutorials: 2 new scenarios, explaining tricky game mechanics
• Tutorials from the beginning of the game also updated
• Modified Business Request Splitters: it's now called Category Splitter and is capable of separating not just business-oriented cats, but all of the cats looking for selected goods category
• XP gain increased for all cat researchers
• Graphics Cards Maker animated
• Cat Splitters, Cat Manipulators and Categorial Splitter now display the category selected for them
• Chinese localization updated
• Bug fixes
• Performance optimization
• UI/UX improved
• Increased number of symbols for Store names

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How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

Oh hi there! It feels aa bit overwhelming as we're writing these lines, since this week marks the completion of Stage 1 of Learning Factory's Early Access! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory (pause for applause and fanfare) Thanks to your love and support, we have really pushed our game forward in the past 8 months! The game has changed drastically, and not only in terms of content: we're talking about more stable, more optimized, more user friendly version of Learning Factory, which lets you spend dozens of hours, chilling and building the KOTOVOD of your (cats') dreams. But hey, we've added tons of content as well! This iteration of our Dev Diaries is dedicated to the most important changes of the past 3 months.

Hype

Pyramid of requests

Upgrades

Business Requests and Specialized Stores

Harvesting

New Story chapter

Researchers for hire

New Cat Types

Grandma Cats

Tech Cats

New Buildings/Researches/Goods

What's Next?

Bonus: Cute Cat Photos

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How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

Lights on! Music! Bring in the flowers, release the clowns, let as many balloons in the sky as you can, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Learning Factory Early Access Stage 1 Is Complete

Version 0.10.43 Released

• New Story chapter
• Increased probability of getting a perk increasing XP gain rate for scientist cats in Research Labs
• Instant building removal in the Scenario Editor
• Instant removal of locked buildings in the Scenario Editor (no need to remove lock first)
• Bug fixes

Earlier This Week (In Case You've Missed It)

• OPTIMIZATION (capital letters intended)
• Optimization of loading and saving games (up to 2 times as faster in certain cases)
• Bug fixes
• Scenarios menu shows mini map preview

BONUS: Halloween Cats in Menu!

• MORALIST
• GAMER
• GHOST
• ALSO_GHOST
• BIRD
• FLOAT
• GENIUS
• FREDDYCAT
• HUNTER
• NOSFERATU
• JOKER

• Twitter
• Discord

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How to Get More Involved

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

More awesome improvements to make the game more awesome for you!

• OPTIMIZATION (capital letters intended)
• Optimization of loading and saving games (up to 2 times as faster in certain cases)
• Bug fixes
• Scenarios menu shows mini map preview

We don't know about the place you're reading this piece from, but the fall is a pretty gloomy time of the year here in the Eastern Europe. Which is why we firmly believe that everyone needs more relaxing cozy games for long and dark evenings. Which is why Learning Factory is on sale for the next week! Make sure your grab a copy for yourself and/or your significant ones: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/ It's not just the stress-free nature of the game though. It also might be the perfect time to join our cat-catering shenanigans! The game has almost doubled in sizes since our initial release in February, and it's getting closer to what we dreamed it to be by day.
We've added over 40 new researches and buildings, reworked dozens of old game mechanics and added as many of new ones, expanded our machine learning models roster (enter the mighty Neural Networks). It now takes hours to merely unlock that amount of stuff, and assembling it into a perfectly working factory can easily blow away a weekend, at least:
To quote one of the replies from player survey: The adorable cats drew me in, the automation kept me here. Please help, its been days since I've seen my family. On the other hand, there's still a lot to be done, and we lean heavily on the feedback from our players. So, if you've tried the game before and felt that it misses that one feature that will make it truly awesome, you're very welcome to share your feedback! You can always talk to us on Discord and Twitter. Together we will try and make the chill and thoughtful game about cats from our dreams! Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on our Steam Page to be the first to know when the next awesome updates come out! We're releasing them on almost a weekly basis, so you'll need a tool to keep track: