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

Last week, we've had a really productive discussion with our Discord community. It all started with us working on one of our next big features: unlockable territories on the map. Here's a concept of a hypothetical map look (a work in progress, naturally):
The idea was to let the players explore the map in a new way. The problem was, we really needed ideas on how to make this mechanics really intriguing, without disrupting the game vibes. We've asked our community to share their ideas and concerns. And now we want to share them with you, too! Q: Why make you spend money to unlock it, and will you be able or unable to progress without it? Will you present a knapsack problem if you spend money but then can't achieve a necessary task due to lack of coins? -rik A: The way we see it right now, the territories will be unlocked with both money and different resources. You won't be able to progress without unlocking them at some point (late in the game): different areas will be set in different biomes, which have different unique resources. Q: [Aren't you afraid that this mechanic] force limits players play areas? Typically in factory style games you could run 10000 tiles away from the initial area at the very beginning and the game wont do much to stop you from doing so. A: We are afraid that some players might feel like being held back by that, we honestly are! Thank Dr. Katz, we're still in Early Access, so we could make alterations, based on player feedback! Our first solution to that problem: we'll make the campaign map 1.56 times bigger, and the initially available area will be huge enough for you to roam freely! Q: But would buying the land ASAP mean that you can't then buy something that you need to progress an earlier puzzle that you haven't yet completed? -rik A: Nothing like that, is on our minds :) There are no soft locks due to the lack of money in the game Q: What concern I have about biome specific resources are that you would need to build an extremely long conveyor belt to bring them to the shop. I don't know how normal is this in typical factory game, but as someone who wants to minimize footprint, it is not a pleasant feeling. -Rich Richie A: There's already a hoverboard, a jetpack and a couple of upgrades to help you traverse the map, that is not that huge at the moment. Did you know that you can lay down transporters WHILE riding a hoverboard? Also, there are no enemies to disturb you or your conveyor belts. As for addressing this issue in the future... We have actually been discussing zeppelins as an alternative means of transport, but it was on our list of "crazy ideas that we might return to some time later" ;) Q: If we are the only ones on that planet what in lore wise is stopping us from just naturally expanding? Who would the coins be going to and why are they trying to sell the land on this barron planet anyways?-Kryptonik A: Our current concept is that there are cats who act as landlords of certain territories. They could make you trade offers! Additionally, Mars is in no way barren (especially with that last update), it was terraformed by joined forces of cats and humans! Q: We had a MAP in this game???? A: YES :) Here's another work-in-progress view of a mini map, divided into unlockable territories:
Additionally, here are a couple of questions not related to territories, but which seemed interesting to us anyway (all asked by our friend Kryptonik): Q: Will there be any modding tools to help create workshop content and is there any news on when workshop content will come out? A: We are planning modding tools, but don't have any due dates at this point. First thing we're planning to add is sharing scenarios, Ruins and map keys. We've had the opportunity of letting the players share user generated content from the start, and the game is designed in a way, that adding new resources is done by creating a couple of strings in a spreadsheet. We'll see how the players like the features mentioned above, and think how to expand them, based on that! Q: Is it safe to expect more resources or buildings in game in the future? A: Definitely, you can see respective points pinned to our roadmap (see '20+ New Researches' in Stage 4). Q: How close do the devs feel the game is to a "finished" state where no new additions to the game would be added outside of bug fixes/patches A: We'd say, we're about halfway there! And we'll also keep supporting the game post-release, content updates are also quite likely. But again, it all depends on feedback from you folks! We rely heavily on our community and we'd like to discuss features with you on a regular basis! If you feel like joining our friendly ranks, come to our Discord server (now with separate channel for cat memes!):
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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How to Get More Involved

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

Share Your Gameplay and Become Part of KOTOVOD History

Learning Factory needs your help! Record a 10 or more minutes of you playing the game, share a video using any way you see fit, write your name into Learning Factory credits and get a promo cat! Make history here

[ 2022-03-11 17:45:28 CET ] [ Original post ]