MoteMancer

MoteMancer is a very interesting concept with a lot of love and attention breathed into it. The potential of the game alone is genuinely something to behold, and if given the care it needs, could flourish into something truly out of this world. Do I recommend this game? Yes. Do I like this game? Not yet. On the surface, MoteMancer looks and feels like it will be "Just another automation game", but it has a lot of deep complexity to its mechanics and systems. However, the game lacks accessibility. Not in the sense of disabilities, but more in the sense of getting into the actual gameplay loop. What do I mean by this? Resources. Currently, resources are randomly placed and generated on the map. There is no way to dictate what, how, where or why. When you are starting the game, the map generation can literally make or break the game due to how difficult it is to get resources. On very rare occasions, I've had the resource patches generate practically next to eachother, on others, I end up with two resource patches miles apart and no sign of easily being able to access them. This renders the run dead in the water before it can even begin, and makes the act of actually getting into the game frustrating, as there's no easy way to combat bad generation. Perhaps, given time, if there were options for map generation, this would help to alleviate this issue. However, I have had more than a fair few runs die before they could even get going due to bad resource RNG. I would personally, as suggested, greatly appreciate some level of control over Resource RNG to prevent resources from generating too far apart. Otherwise, the game is stellar, and despite these gripes, I would highly advise anyone to get it.

Takes two of my favorite things – magic and Factorio – and combines them in a very satisfying way. The six elements providing six different avenues of tech progression that give different but complementary capabilities, of which you can (readily) access only three at any given time, is very interesting and the biggest factor setting MoteMancer apart from other automation games. Early access still, so I will expect some QoL improvements before full release, but I'm already enjoying it immensely. EDIT: So, yeah, those quality of life improvements I mentioned? They're coming thick and fast. The dev very obviously isn't kidding in the comment below about paying attention to feedback.

I want to love this game... and it may be more enjoyable in a future state when it's not EA. I've got enough hours into it that I won't refund it. It's good. However, in a field of factory sims, it's missing a few things. First, the good: It's beautiful and I love the elemental take on the systems, resource transits, and general idea of it. You can get used to the hex easily enough, but that's also where things start getting unwieldy. The systems they DO have are built solidly and nearly bugfree. To "win" you end up building 6 factories, which is a really neat idea. The parts that frustrate me: In almost all factory simulators, you get a level of control as to what you're doing when. One of my biggest gripes in this game is not being able to disable recipes. Feeders will grab whatever they can to make whatever they can try to make, which outputs into sushi belt results if you're not feeding very specific things constantly. The issue with this model is you need bussing to bring early items (think Factorio busses which still needed iron for end game items) to build the next thing. You end up with massive amounts of materials flowing from x to y to z and no way to control what you do, or don't, want it to grab or build. Which leads to the second major consideration: You do not have enough control over resource transit. Splitters are wide and unwieldy, tunnels are one size fits all, have a nice day. One of the best examples of this issue is Salt, Aether, and Prisms. These are three common elements (think Iron, Copper, and Rock) in pretty much the majority of builds across the system. Common methodology would be to put Salt and Aether on one line, and Prisms and Elements on another, and bring one of them to a build when you require it from off the bus. In reality, if you don't split the double line, you will be building the wrong thing because you lack control. This could be offset if you had enough space to lay things out and pick things off a bus more easily, but the tools available do not allow this, nor, in most cases, do you have enough map space to do factory style layouts for solid automation. The final impact of this affects long term play. Because you are actually building 6 factories (and they're all running while you're not there), the interaction mechanisms which you become heavily invested in suddenly are dead when you shift planes. So, the automation is difficult to layout and keep straight, you don't have enough space to build things well (particularly in the early planes, yes void makes things a lot easier but you're almost done at that point) and you have little control other than making sure a feeder can never get a component you don't want it to have due to a lack of filtering feeders and/or shutting off a recipe in a manufacturing facility. It's a very interesting design concept and I love the idea of it. I just can't get behind it as it stands today. I'll come back in a few updates and see if things have changed.

よく本作はヘックス版Factorioと表現され、システムのアウトラインは全くその通りですが、中身の味つけはかなり違うものとなっています。その違うところを良いと捉えるか悪いと捉えるかで評価が変わりそうな作品ですね。 先にざっくり書くと、自動化ゲームのレイアウトやルーティングといった側面をじっくり緻密に楽しみたい人向け、さくさく工場拡張でインプリメント的な面白さを求めると方向性違い、というところでしょうか。 建物の種類で考えるなら、すでにコンテンツ量は大型自動化ゲームと同クラスですが、アップデートやフィードバックに基づいたリワークも（ソロ開発としては）頻繁に行われ、また納得いくまで早期アクセスを続ける方針らしく、ゲームの性質についてはまだ断言しきれない部分もあります。 たとえば先日のアプデで設計図からの自動組み立て能力が（Factorioのドローンと比べても）早く習得できるようになり、これだけでもゲームプレイはだいぶ変わりました。 また以前は機械の処理速度やスループットが表示されてなかったようですが、こちらも実装済み。それぞれの値は3とか4といったシンプルな整数なので計算もしやすい…というより暗算で済みます（現在は有名外部サイトFactorioLabが対応してるので、そこもだいぶスキップできますね）。 ・開発者の言葉を借りれば、「広大なロジスティクスパズル」という表現はなかなか適切かなと思います。こういう時パズルというと「本来のゲーム性をシンプル化してパズル的にしたもの」と「逆に複雑化させ思考コストを高めたもの」という2つの解釈があり得ますが、Motemancerは後者です。 - まずヘックスであるというのが大きいです。ストラテジーやパズル等他ジャンルで慣れてるつもりでも、自動化ゲームでのヘックスはまた手強いといいますか。南北に真っ直ぐ並べることができず、代わりに2辺分の接続自由度が高い、これが最適化する上ではめちゃくちゃ効いてきます。 - 建物の形状がほぼすべて異なり、効果も魔術らしくユニークなものが多い（発電システムによって電力分配方式が全く異なる・特定のオブジェクト配置で効果を出す儀式・アイテムを液体のように扱えるが並走させるとくっついてしまうベルト、等々）。 マップは広々としているようで地形を考慮しなければならない、絶妙な塩梅してます。 この手のゲームでお約束な一直線マニフォールド式（まっすぐ伸ばしたベルトに沿わせて機械を並べるアレ）は通用しますが、最適解と言えない感じ。自分は正直、レイアウトの基本指針すらまだ模索中です。 その分、自分なりに綺麗に組めた時はとても気持ちいい。光の粒子がきらめくビジュアルも、そういう快感を後押ししてます。 - 標準設定だと鉱脈は有限ですが、埋蔵量が豊富だったり消費を抑えるソリューションもあるため採掘場所を頻繁に変えるほどではなく、最終的には無限生産も可能。 - これも設定で別の遊び方に変えられますが、全部で6つある元素（他作品の鉄や銅に相当）を、それぞれに対応する6つの次元を渡りつつ回収・活用していく、という流れが基本になります。次元6つと言っても全部巡る必要はなく、また何の次元から始めるか、どの順序で行くかは自由。 各次元のメイン元素と相反する元素を使った建物は設置できない（火の次元界では水元素が材料に入ってる建物は使用不可）という制約があり、これがかなりクセモノかつ面白いです。 一般的に自動化ゲームというのは、その時々で使うツールセットは一定なものだと思います。終盤であれば採掘機はこれ、輸送ソリューションはこれ、のように。 本作では次元による変化に加え、もともと各建築に単純強化の関係があまりなく、終盤でも最初期のパーツを使う意味があったりで、必要な製造ラインをどんな構成で、どの次元界に組むか、何を次元間で転送するか、など相当プレイヤーの個性が出ます。趣味で使う使わないを決められる、という話ではなく理詰めで考えても正解が変わってくる感じ。 なお元素1つ縛りは流石に厳しいと思いますが、2元素ビルドくらいはしてる人もいますね。 - 初期は脅威要素が強かったようですが、このゲームに激しい戦闘は合わないとの判断でだいぶ穏やかに変更された模様。 具体的にはゲーム中盤あたりから特定の空間に亀裂が入り、そこから魔力を打ち消す霧のようなものが広がるようになります。霧は一定以上は広がらず、接触しても機械を壊したり死ぬわけではないため、気づいたら手に負えなくなってた的なことは起きません。 この霧自体が7つめの元素みたいなもので、どちらかというと利用可能な環境の一部という扱いでしょうか。 …といった風に全体的にしっとりしているといいますか、上品なビジュアルにふさわしく静かな面白さを探求した、しかし底の見えづらい、かつ開放的でオープンワールド色のあるゲームです。 ・一方、まだ少し足りないかなという点で挙げられるのは、 - 現状シグナル機構は無し。開発者も言及しており実装はしたい様子。また列車そのものはありませんが、挙動がえらくユニークな大量輸送用の建物が存在し、これを発展させていく方向に見えます。 - 副産物処理を要するようなレシピが存在せず、ここはベテラン工場長にはちょっと物足りないかもしれません。 また、せっかく元素が6つあるのにどれも似たようなレシピ構造になっている、という批判も目にします。これについては話がそう単純ではなく、開発者も認識済みで対策を講じてるとのこと（実際、最近追加されたエンドコンテンツ的な無限研究はここを意識したそうで、複雑かつ大規模ラインを要します）。 ただ前述の通り、本作はどの元素から始めて何を経由するか、何をメインにするか自由という設計になっており、あまり極端な依存関係や難易度の偏りは作れない、という事情もあります。 また共通してるのは基本部分のみで、他作品で言うと鉱石→インゴットのような前処理に近く、そこは似ていて仕方ないという風にも考えられますね。 個人的に自動化ゲームでは（マイクラMODのCreateに次いで）一番方向性が好きな作品ですが、万人受けはしづらいだろうな！という印象もひしひしとします。とはいえ大型自動化ゲームはどれもだいたい独自性があるので、これもまた自然なことかもしれません。 演出や操作性等のクオリティは高く、情熱をもって開発してあるので、波長が合う人にはぜひ手を出して欲しいところです。

lowkey better than factorio; the design of all the buildings are weird & obtuse, which allow for more spaghetti and much more variety in the design of your factories (both visually and spatially). also has much more interesting endgame options, though some of them are a bit janky atm. had to get used to hexes n' stuff, but once i did it was really neat! everything about the game is just so weird and acane. which really fits the theme!

Great game for factory enthusiasts. The twist is the hex instead of rectangular grid, and six overlapping elemental tech trees that mean you restart your base better and better on each plane, with a shifting array of tools each time.

This is a really interesting take on the factory genre. I am really enjoying this one.

After spending thousands of hours across at least a dozen different factory building games, I can confidently say this is in my top 3 alongside Factorio and Satisfactory. Once it releases with 1.0, I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses Satisfactory to take the #2 spot. The hex grid layout changes gameplay way more than I anticipated and provides a new, fresh challenge. It scratches the Factorio itch, but changes the mechanics enough to feel like more than just an overhaul/reskin. My only complaint is that the difficulty feels a bit frontloaded. Once you adjust to the hex-grid and fixed-length undergrounds, it gets a lot easier (although still about as challenging as base-game Factorio). To top it all off, the solo dev of this game, Cyan Avatar is super active on the game's discord server and is extremely receptive to feedback and very kind. I cannot recommend this game enough, and it's an absolute shame it isn't talked about more

Excellent 2D factory game. "Fantasy factorio", but harder. The map and logistics and power can make it hard to fit everything together. Almost too hard for me. The six elemental tech trees add some good variety, and there are some creative ideas especially Earth using big chests instead of conveyor belts and Shadow using paintable chests instead of conveyor belts.

So I played 26 hours of this game over the span of 3 days. When I say this game has Factorio vibes I mean it in the best possible way. It brings all of the great things you expect from games like Factorio with the added benefit of it being hexagon based so your designs come out looking less like circuits and more like natural structures. Each element has its own unique shapes for the buildings which allows for constant new puzzles when it comes to design. Yes you can make perfectly tileable setups like in factorio, but I found myself veering away from that and finding more aesthetic builds that match the scenery. 10/10 so far, cant wait to see what the other planes have to offer as I progress from early game.