Another Game About Automation

I like this game, but it has a couple of issues. Warning: this review contains maths. The main issue, ironically, is maths. Maths make it too easy. Given that any number is a product of primes, and that you can make any number divisible by 2 and/or 3 by adding or subtracting 1 or 2, it quickly becomes apparant that you can solve any challenge with simple multiplication and a single operation of addition or subtraction. My gameplay loop then consists of: - Find the nearest number that can be expressed nicely in primes (by adding or subtracting 1 or 2 from the required number) - Find the prime factors of that number - Multiply primes until you get there For example, 577 is just 2*2*2*2*2*2*3*3 + 1 (or with Powers, 2^3 * 2^3 * 3^2 + 1). 613 is just 2*2*3*3*17 + 1. 197 is just 2*2*7*7 + 1 etc. Since there are no requirements for throughput, and the required amount per solution is fairly low, there is no reason to optimize. That means that you can simply split a number-outputter several times and multiply them with eachother to get to the chains described before. And THAT means you only have to use a single number-outputter for each prime number you want to use per production chain. Just split & multiply. So in practice, you build one production chain, and copy/paste that as many times as your stock allows, which solves any challenge within a few minutes. And you only ever need Addition, Subtraction & Multiplication (Powers make it easier but are not necessary). Division, Modulo, Logic, I never saw the need for any of those operations. The reason that this is a problem is because each new challenge is just a bigger number, without any restrictions. So you can just do the same trick over and over again. That isn't very challenging and gets boring quite quickly. But the game does have potential. Some suggestions that can add more challenging gameplay could be: - Limit the numbers or operators you have available. For example, let's say you need to create 17, but you only have 10, 25, 50, 100, and you can only use Addition and Division (10 + (50 / 10) + (50 / 25)). This way you can 'force' players to use the other operators - Require a level of throughput. It's an automation game, but there is practically no incentive for optimization. Even with an unoptimized strategy like mine, you can simply copy/paste the production chain as many times as you want and you'll never have to wait more than a few minutes for the challenge to complete. A required throughput would incentivize players to actually pay attention to throughput rates - Find an application for Logic operators. Even if there's an incentive to use Division & Modulo, I can't find any reason to use Logic operators. Maybe a new number-producer can be introduced, like a Random Number Generator perhaps. Then Logic can be used to discard numbers you don't want to process Like I said at the start, I do like this game. I played the last demo for 3 hours straight, and I played the full release for 3 hours straight. But in order to get more replay-value from this product, the offered challenge can definitely be improved.

This is really cool, I truly love any factory+- it really well done, very very cool

The gameplay isn't as deep as some other automation games, but it's cheap, fun, and scratched an itch for automation games. I like it.

Definitely a great variation of the "manufacturing" genre, half-way between Shapez and the algorythm of Human ressource Machine. The animations are minimal but non-essential to spend a good time. All the path leads to Rome... and many paths lead to the correct number !

This game is a PERFECT intro to Automation games as well as a fine automation game of it's own. Not as big and fancy as FOUNDRY or Satisfactory, but it does an outstanding job of training the player which should make it very accessible to players new to the genre and yet, is a solid game on it's own. Also, the Save and Load for the tiles... PERFECTLY implemented! I hope you sell a million copies!

This gets a pass because it's cheap, but it's not very good. As other reviewers have noted: 1. It severely lacks polish - one save slot - belts sometimes won't connect when they should - I couldn't work out how to move around the map before I went into the settings and found the mouse-navigate option - There's a button top-left of the screen that I have NO IDEA what it does, and I've 100%'d the game - I thought the master-architect achievement was bugged, but it's actually mis-described: you have to have a lot of buildings on the map at once, not have built that many throughout your playthrough 2. It desperately needs something like different game modes to add challenge & liven things up. This could be: - restricted space (I'm sure you can solve most numbers < 2000 in a 6X6 grid). - restricted number-generators (like only one of each & only one splitter, or big numbers only) - a throughput challenge with no broadcasters and either slow addition or slow multiplication so there's a reason to try division, powers, or modulo. As it stands, it's very easy to multiply up to something near the target then +/- 1 or 2 and you're there. Rinse and repeat. Division, powers, and modulo are needless and needlessly slow. 3. There needs to be a point to having the logical operators in there or don't bother. I assume this was intended as a step towards making an "any number machine" but without being able to read in the target number this is impossible. I did try making the target number, deconstructing it into binary and then reconstructing it again, but you can do this without the logical operators too... I don't know. Ultimately though, it was a short bit of fun, despite its shortcomings. One of those where I wish Steam allowed a neutral review.

Not really much to it. Other than unlocking a few extra mathematical operations the game doesn't really evolve in any meaningful way. I haven't tried the demo, but based on a few other comments the demo gives you most of the game's experience.

目的性太單一了

Unfortunately the game is way too easy, and the progression system (especially at the end) isn't good.

我正在游戏中游玩，因游戏开发商提交1.0.3更新，竟然强制我退出游戏（没有任何提示直接杀死游戏进程）当我更新完再次上游戏时，存档废了（不是存档崩坏，存档还能进，但进度被重置且无法继续游玩）