The in-game encyclopedia serves now as an information center. Patch notes, feedback, roadmap migrated over there.
The amount of pages stripped from original playtest branch, as the shape/graphics updated - in future updates, I keep adding relevant pages in order of importance. Any feedback on things that need clarification in game, is very helpful. The basics are now there!
Hello everyone! Dropping an AI disclosure related to ASEMA now, and here.
The disclosure is simple:
**No gen-AI is used in creation of ASEMA.**
Then some other news! 17E went live both on pre-ea pt and Demo. Here's a video of me explaining some stuff related to logistics!
Ps. What's with all the exclamation marks? Perhaps I'm losing my solo-dev-sanity, as I basically work two jobs right now and I am not young anymore! So it is getting under my skin! But ASEMA has progressed nicely - I'm happy of the progress, and the shaping of the game feels good!
Happy Wednesday!
Hey all, I've been solo-working on ASEMA the space/scifi automation/factory builder for a long time and since I'm participating a Steam Next Fest with it soon and EA is creeping closer and closer, I'm introducing the current mechanics a little bit.
The video focuses on basic logistics;
-Small local logistic nodes: Hubs + small railguns feeding production
-Haulers used for moving between nodes
-Large Artillery Railguns (LAR) for long range logistics, founded on rotating planetoids, fire when the barrel aligns with target
The path of developing this sort of weird concept has been rocky, yet wonderfully interesting. I'm hand crafting everything for the game alone and while my background with design/management/gaming in general do help quite a bit, this has been.. It has been quite bunch of work. But i love every second of it, just wish I could do more of it.
The game has a Demo on Steam and the full version (Steam) is coming out for EA in Q1 2027.
If building, automation, management, expansion and logistics in space (top down2D, but 3D visuals) interest you, perhaps you like the dark hard-scifi setting too - wishlisting helps a lot, and I'm always keen to hear playtester/player opinions and feedback to make the game fun to play.
I'm creating this game as an enthustiastic factory automation player (Factorio, Satisfactory), but I guess my largest inspiration is Captain of Industry, due to it's own special way of doing new and unique mechinisms, instead of relying entirely on classic grids, voxels, belts and inserters. Nothing wrong with them, but stirring the soup can get sometimes interesting.
On this video, you can see hauler flightmanship. It's still early stages (pre-EA), but how does that look like? You can actually build Haulers in the Demo, it just requires some hours of playing, as they are not early game tech.
Hey all, I've been solo-working on ASEMA the space/scifi automation/factory builder for a long time and since I'm participating a Steam Next Fest with it soon and EA is creeping closer and closer, I'm introducing the current mechanics a little bit.
In ASEMA, you'll be fending off the Locals while progressing with the campaign that unfolds some cosmic and fate-determining events that started a long time ago - and you expand, automate, gather resources and progress in tech tree.
The video focuses on basic logistics;
-Small local logistic nodes: Hubs + small railguns feeding production
-Haulers used for moving between nodes
-Large Artillery Railguns (LAR) for long range logistics, founded on rotating planetoids, fire when the barrel aligns with target
The path of developing this sort of weird concept has been rocky, yet wonderfully interesting. I'm hand crafting everything for the game alone and while my background with design/management/gaming in general do help quite a bit, this has been.. It has been quite bunch of work. But i love every second of it, just wish I could do more of it.
The game has a Demo on Steam and the full version (Steam) is coming out for EA in Q1 2027.
If building, automation, management, expansion and logistics in space (top down2D, but 3D visuals) interest you, perhaps you like the dark hard-scifi setting too - wishlisting helps a lot, and I'm always keen to hear playtester/player opinions and feedback to make the game fun to play.
I'm creating this game as an enthustiastic factory automation player (Factorio, Satisfactory), but I guess my largest inspiration is Captain of Industry, due to it's own special way of doing new and unique mechinisms, instead of relying entirely on classic grids, voxels, belts and inserters. Nothing wrong with them, but stirring the soup can get sometimes interesting.
Greetings, Pioneers.
>> Steam ASEMA Demo Page <<<
-Optimization Push 1 (supports 100s of machines; depends on your PC specs)
-Tutorial Map (a separate small map that helps with basics)
-Cinematic Videos (including Character Selection)
-UI improvements
-Animations
-Bug fixes
-Stutter fixes and other optimization
-Many more small changes
Before October Steam Next Fest, there may be one additional Demo update - and there will be a separate SNF update with additional localisation.
-goblin
>TL;DR - Perhaps you want to play test automation+factory builder game that runs with logistical railguns rather than conveyor belts?
Hey, working on ASEMA, a weird new type of a factory builder automation game. Set in space, runs without conveyor belts, building is not based on grids and the game plays in a custom physics 2D engine that takes into account stuff such as radiation and gravity.
The tech trees are heavily inspired by hard-scifi; so you evolve from "Metallic Boulder Crusher" to stuff like "Hadronic Neutron Injector" that requires a micro black hole to work. What ASEMA actively avoids, is things like portals and semi-magical beams.
Development has been going on for a while now, and while a demo is out, I need more fresh eyes on the newer builds of the game. We got ~50 testers on the discord, but I exhausted those poor people with my tormenting old crude alpha-builds - I still do that to some degree, but the play-experience has evolved significantly.
Playtests take place from now till EA. A new version just dropped into the test branch, and I wish to get feedback from volunteer testers.
I spent yesterday ~3 hours building from Bulk to Nano - however, I merely made sure the economy works, aka, I used dev-tools to acquire the required resources after I had made sure I have production chain for them all as I was simulating a playthrough - what I mean by this is that an organic playthrough will last quite a bit longer than 3 hours.
-Goblin
>TL;DR - Perhaps you want to play test automation+factory builder game that runs with logistical railguns rather than conveyor belts?
I spent yesterday ~3 hours building from Bulk to Nano - however, I merely made sure the economy works, aka, I used dev-tools to acquire the required resources after I had made sure I have production chain for them all as I was simulating a playthrough - what I mean by this is that an organic playthrough will last quite a bit longer than 3 hours.
-Goblin
TL;DR: Your favourite building animation in games?
Ever since I was a kid, I loved to stare at how buildings rise in games. Age of Empires, Red Alert - and one I loved especially, was when you built monuments in Pharaoh. The details and "what are they doing now" was big part of it.
Just added a building animation to ASEMA (factory-automation game). Since ASEMA is in space, and player does not represent humans, the machines can and should have some eerie/alien vibes to them.
I built a modular animation that sort of whips out the machines into existence; individual parts rotate and scale up to their places. The animation is quick, but I tried to tune it punchy - and now all 70+ machines have the same animation, as they are all modular, and that part required no manual labour from me.
While my design does not have a "long term construction" animation at least right now (I've conceptualized some, but don't have time resources to focus to it right now), I wanted the "a machine has finished" -event to have something going on, instead of the machines just popping into existence. But the same modularity that runs the construction animation, runs "production" loops aswell - different parts can portrude, rotate, glow; and thus, it looks pretty neat when the machines move and function.
Do you have any facourites when it comes to how building/construction is animated in games? I'd say one of my current favourites is Factorio - while Captain of Industry is also cool, it's animations are almost too sensible and logical. But building new buildings in CoI also just always initiates a short period of me watching what happens when the building operates.
17A has received some visual updates. Machines have more details, background visuals are improved, strategic map has evolved, the machine ID widget is now simpler and more informative, and much more.
Working on Nano Tech branch now.
17A will go live on testbranch, and some later iteration of 17 will go live on the public demo aswell: the update will provide you the strategic map, and the first optimization push.
The live demo version (16) is at step 1. Soon a closed playtest-branch will have an alpha version of step 2.
Due to the nature of the factory builder game genre, there is nothing more discouraging than your hardware starting to struggle to run the factory. This is why the goal was always to support high numbers of machines.
The physics based system where each machine is a physical entity that can be bumped, landed, moved, rotated, gravitated and radiated, introduces new challenges to the optimization - but none of it is unheard of.
The first optimization run is encouraging.
Between now and EA, numerous new machines and world features will be introduced to be exploited. While the test branch has been on a quiet period due to onboarding and UX updates, this starts to shift in the very near future as the rest of the content execution climbs up on the priority list.
A tested version of the optimization will eventually go live to demo, too - since the demo does not currently have a limit for machine counts, and the world does allow medium sized builds, the update will be essential for some pioneers. The updates will not break savegames - this principle is valued all the way to early access.
For early access build, the step 3 is considered the minimum requirement.
The onboarding of new players will keep being improved - plans for visual clarity tweaking and more game modes are in the works. These will likely go live on demo, also.
Strategic map is vital. You can only fit so many machines in the regular world view. The strategic map allows you to see your entire play area - your machines, their locations and symbols and statuses - but also asteroid streams, gravity bodies, and other celestial entities.
The map can only become more useful, as it gets more features.
Ps. ASEMA has also hit a new milestone with wishlists. Thank you all for the support and interest towards the game. Don't hesitate to join the Discord, if more detailed daily devlogging and discussion interests you -or if you are experiencing problems with the game.
ASEMA (steam) on tehdas-rakentelupeli, jossa perinteiset liukuhihnat on korvattu raidetykki-logistiikalla.
Demo löytyy steamista, siihen tehty päivityksiä ja lisää on tulossa; vastikään valmistui laajempi päivitys, mutta hommat jatkuu.
Ylhäältä-kuvattu ASEMA tapahtuu 2D-tasolla, mutta pyörii 3D-visuaaleilla. Pelikenttänä täysversiossa on yksi aurinkokunta. Tarinassa hard-scifi-konseptit kohtaavat, mutta kaikki johtaa siihen, että automatisoitava ja laajennettava on - ja paljon.
Aurinkokunnasta löytyy kaikenlaisten haasteiden ja ongelmien lisäksi runsaasti asteroidi-virtoja ja pieniä planetoideja joiden päälle rakennella. Voitkin rakentaa paitsi avaruuteen, myös planetoideille; riippuen koneistasi ja tilanteistasi.
Jonkinverran pääset myös sotimaan, mutta automatisoitava sekin tietty on. Mikään ei tietty estä kääntämästä Pioneer-koneen työntövoimaksi tarkoitettua raidetykkiä kohti vihollisaluksia ja mäiskiä menemään.
Peli pyörii custom-fysiikkamoottorilla, jossa on painovoimaa, lämpösäteilyä, ynnä muuta. Teknologiapuu on korkea ja hard-scifille tyypillisesti eksoottinen; muttei maaginen, eli portaalien tyyppisiä soft-scifi-juttuja ei tulla näkemään.
Et ole ihmisperäinen.
Jos kuulostaa siltä että voisi kiinnostaa, laita wishlistiä - demon voi ottaa myös kokeiluun, saa pientä maistiaista. Demon päärungon voi pelata ehkä tunnissa-kahdessa läpi, mutta aika monet näyttävät jäävän säätämään pidemmäksikin aikaa. EA tähtäimessä tammikuulle.
Discord: DISCORD (~100 jäsentä, deviränttään päivittäin ja kun saadaan syksyn testit käyntiin, voidaan saada pelitestaajat aktivoitumaan uudelleen - mutta uusia tarvittaneen, eli teretulemasta jos intressejä löytyy osallistua kehitykseen!)
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4478970/ASEMA/
Ps. Roadmapissa jotain avainjuttuja; optimointi 1000 > 10000+ koneen tehtaat pyörimään sulavasti; taktinen kartta; modding-support (peli rakennettu täysin modulaariseksi); co-op harkinnassa; ~10 teknologiapuun päähaaraa; QoL:ää suurten kokonaisuuksien ja etäisyyksien hallintaan; Jne.
These changes are wip, not updated into any build yet. The Steam playtest branch (testers are on Discord), will get the 17A update first, when it's got enough meat around it's bones.
The scalability project is on. Goal is simple: A lot of machines, and a lot of tools to manage them. Strategic Map is the main tool.
The main steps are:
OPTIMIZATION 1 - 100 machines - Current
OPTIMIZATION 2 - 1000 machines - Up Next
OPTIMIZATION 3 - 10000+ machines > and more - Up last
To get from BULK tech branch to NANO tech branch, player already builds approximately 50-100 machines to produce enough resources and goods (amount depends on how fast you want to produce things). This means that to test NANO tech branch well, the OPT 2 needs to be online.
With 100 machines spread between a few resource nodes, you already need a map. You no longer remember where things are, or perhaps you do, but 100 machines is a large herd. Which machine has what resources? Where is the <machine>, I thought it was here - the strategic view map solves this.
Here's some snippets. I started the map building yesterday, and we got now a rough version.
The features I've thought so far, which may appear in various form and schedule to the test branch:
And more, naturally, but here's the main things.
All planetoids and moons in my work-in-progress game ASEMA, rotate. They have a gravitational pull that you have to compensate with mathematical resources, Focus, to float nearly near them.
All the machines in this gif are production and logistic systems. You build individual machines in space and moons, refine resources and climb the tech tree to build the required megastructures.
It's not a small task, as you end up needing mmense amounts of resources and logistics, and you're not alone.
Despite ASEMA being an automation game, it lacks conveyor belts and there are no grids to build on.
So, forget splitters, lasers, portals and drones. It's all about momentum of mass, kinetics and velocity.
Thoughts? Some early commenters back months ago, were worried that lack of conveyor belts make things hard to understand. For that, I'm adding layers of QoL features. But it hasn't been a problem so far!
This game is all about automation, but it has no grids, no conveyor belts, no inserters.
Instead, you manage logistics with railguns - all items must physically travel thorough empty void. Gravity can curve trajectories. The spatial puzzle of conveyor belts is gone, but it is replaced with something completely new.
And I'm not going to lie, it's not an easy game. I do my best to help you, tho.
The completely just overhauled demo can be found on Itch ( https://certaingoblin.itch.io/asema ) and Steam ( https://store.steampowered.com/app/4478970/ASEMA/ )
I'm doing some test-runs on my own on the demo scope to figure out if it has too much content.
My recent run sits currently at 95 machines, (the screenshots are from this run; no dev-tricks or hacks, just organic play) and I still haven't achieved either of the 2 final locks of the demo - and it has taken me 3+ hours. Which makes you think, as I know the game thoroughly, new players don't - I "fear" it could take new players too many hours. But what is too many. It's a free demo at this point.
I sort of want to challenge you to finish the demo's last mission (the last 2 machines, as the Nano Scaffolder softlocks the demo) , and then drop some feedback.
QA shows still some signs of players needing more handholding and better onboarding, which I'm working on, in addition to full version content. If you try the demo out and struggle, what part needs tweaking? What's working well? I'm trying to integrate the tutorial to the regular gameplay.
I've spent months on thinking, conceptualizing and testing various ways of introducing the mechanisms. Since they are very unique and new - and some other technical aspects awell - it has been an interesting challenge. I may now be closer to it, but it's not yet perfect.
The feedback has been encouraging, though - players who get through the barrier of learning the unique new mechanisms, are very positive - things like qa-tester saying "I think the game design in its core is genius almost and really interesting. And I think once you fix the small problems I've experienced, it will transform into a very exciting and addictive game" gives the long hours I spend to this, meaning.
, a play tester said.
ASEMA is an automation/spacesim game with railgun logistics and simulated 2D physics. Momentum, thrusters, railguns, recoils, payloads - all of the good stuff is there.
It focuses on automation and logistics, but it has a dark hard-scifi lore and steep tech tree to climb as you expand. The environment is dangerous, the physics is dangerous, and the setting is dangerous.
Would this be something you'd play? https://store.steampowered.com/app/4478970/ASEMA/
I'm slowly moving from the backrooms into the light, as last weeks I've been mole'ing around with demo updates. The recent QA is encouraging. I'm currently expanding the new demo's world.
Something all testers agree with:
-This is a difficult game
-But it is fun to play
I think people come for the railguns, but stay because of the physics. I'm having way too good time building this.
The full game will have a lot of replayability, full modding support, a lot of NPC interactions and a dynamic enemy eco system, and much more.
Currently I'm figuring out, whether player's machine breaking apart while spinning too hard is a good thing, as braking it is a bit tricky. But I like consiquences, and space has a lot of them.
The EA is probably in january 2027. The development is going well. What's something you'd definitely expect a game like this to have in it?
This update went live to the Demo branch. Not yet in playtester branch. Ongoing QA determines immediate next fixes to the build and when pacing and onboarding is deemed to represent the quality I aim for, I can dive deep into the full content.
This update introduces a lot of UX polish, feel improvement, feedback, bug fixes, confusion removal, clutter cleaning, simplification (yet still), etc.
Player receives messages, the campaign introduces complexity little by little - in an order that is natural for expansion in ASEMA.
------ UPDATE 16 A -------
--- GENERAL / GAMEPLAY ---
-Item movement from machine to machine key-binded, aims towards Mouse (any direction)
-Hostile Combat-AI tuning/tweaking
-DefenderModule added to Pioneer, registers nearby hostile bodies for Railguns to shoot at
-Logistic Railgun has ability to (slowly) shoot at registered enemies (requires Hub to command, still)
-Boulder carry keybind fixed (was unresponsive)
-Damage-system introduction (overspeed, atmospheric entry, lethal spinning speeds, overheating): Machines Shred, which means they eject their content out as collectible items. The Shred targets first Inventory, and Reaction Mass (may be thus used as shielding)
-Other factions added (introduced partially and on surface level in Act 1)
--- USER INTERFACE ---
-HUD reworking: New icons, clearer visuals, less clutter, reduced text clutter, refined tooltips, general polish pass
-Gravity Meter added to HUD (shows direction and strength of gravity being applied to the machine)
-Machine Viewbox now shows requests from logistic system
-Fade In / Fade Out added to Machine Viewboxes
-Machine Viewboxes stutter fixed + by default, only machines near cursor show their viewboxes
-Floating icons/texts overhaul: styles are now distinct, more clear and polished, introduced icons
-Resource floaters now display as icons, not texts
-Resource Pop feedback added to many additional events; payload recieving, railgun send, production, mining, etc
-Similar feedback added elsewhere; damageinput, etc
-Campaing / Objectives / Messages widget overhaul (Right side panels) > Toggle on/off, increase screen space
--- MISSIONS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ---
-New Campaign core and introduction of Act 1 (beginning of automation and why)
-Tutorial has been replaced with refined Act 1 of Campaign
-Fixed softblocks in tech advancement
--- TECH TREE ---
-UI reviewed, polished and fixed
-Easier to read layout
-Research time for certain machines reduced (Hub and Logistic Railgun for starters)
--- TUTORIAL / ONBOARDING ---
-Onboarding reworked; Act 1 of Campaign teaches both the setting and basics
-Distinct Tutorial no longer exist
-Demo Scope
--- KEYMAPPING ---
-Keymap panel in Options is now visible
-Keys not yet editable (Coming Soon)
--- SAVE / LOAD ---
-Savegame headers added > More info on saved games (progression, time, etc)
--- VISUALS ---
-Damage visualisation (crashes, ejects, Shredding)
-Other factions / machines / structures (introduced partially and on surface level in Act 1)
--- CONTENT ---
-New objects / Resources added
-New damage system
-Act 1 missions
-Enemy system introduction
-Demo world and tech scoping
--- CORE / ENGINE ---
-Save system overhaul
-Modding framework overhaul: World mods introduced (foundation for custom gamemodes and world modding: background feature)
-Campaign/World/Other factions -cores introduced (in world modules, allow any environmental scripting/shaping: background feature)
--- BUG FIXES ---
-Plenty of bugs / UI issues / softlocks removed, fixed and polished
--- KNOWN ISSUES ---
Some issues are known and identified, please provide bug reports and feedback for further polish and improvement.
TL;DR Jos majesteettisen hitaasti pyörivän asteroidin päälle asennettu lentotukialuksen kokoinen logistiikkaraidetykki kuulostaa hyvältä, ota ASEMA seurantaan.
ASEMA on top-down automaatio- ja logistiikkapeli. Se käsittelee synkkiä kaukaisia tulevaisuuksia, mutta pelaaminen itsessään on fysiikkapohjaista, armotonta rakentelua.
Rakentelet koneita avaruuteen tai planetoideille, järjestelet asteroidimurskia, väistelet fysiikka- ja eliöperäisiä ongelmia ja työstät jättimäistä hanketta eteenpäin.
Viime aikoina olen ollut pelin kanssa pajassa paasaamassa ja olen vielä tovin ennen kuin esittelen seuraavaa isoa päivitystä demoon - suorastaan jopa sanon, että jos peli kuulostaa kivalta ja haluat koeponnistaa demoa, odota että uusin päivitys valmistuu. Se vie asioita ns. eteenpäin ja antaa osviittaa siitä huolellisuuden ja pelillisyyden tasosta, johon yritän rakentaa ASEMAa.
Tämä proggis on peräisin aivojeni syövereistä, ekat muuttujien nimet keksin miettiessäni orbital construction -peliä teininä ja nyt viimein keski-iän lähestyessä, kriisi antoi puhkuvan innon viimeinkin toteuttaa peli. Hyvä niin, koska viimeisten vuosikymmenten aikana on tullut pelattua paljon superhyviä automaatiopelejä joissa on paljon hyvää ja jotka ovat antaneet paljon hyviä ideoita - ja jotka haluan haastaa jollain täysin uudenlaisella.
Eli unohdetaan inserterit, gridit ja liukuhihnat: ASEMA:ssa resurssit paiskotaan avaruuden halki raidetykeillä, raskas avaruusalus on käännettävä 180 astetta jarrutusta varten ja pölypilveen liian lujaa lentäminen aiheuttaa näyttävän räjähdyksen. Tuotantokoneisiin kiinnitettävä Nanopiiska voi nopeuttaa lähiautomaatiota, mutta fotonikiihdytetyt end-game-tykit nopeuttavat kiertoratojen välistä logistiikkaa vielä entisestään ja se voi olla game changer.
Viime aikoina työn alla on mm. maailman granulaarius, nano-teknologia, Paikallisten äly ja verkostoutuneisuus (he verkostoituvat enemmän kuin minä irl; sori, LinkedIn, en ole avannut sinua vuosiin enää), - ja niin paljon muutakin, että täytyy varmaan kiittää lähipiiriä siitä että katsoo vielä toistaiseksi sormien välistä tätä aamukolmeen valvomista ja tyhjyyteen tuijottamista (suunnittelen silloin yleensä jotain logistiikkaoptimaatiota, että saadaan tuhannet koneet pyörimään sujuvasti).
TL;DR: Enemies, Campaing, UX / UI deep polish, NANO tech, Damaging system, ETC.
Hey all, doing a small update on the work behind curtains.
Current roadmap points strongly in polishing the basic UX and onboarding.
The next update (16A) has following key points. All of them appear on closed test branch version, and some (especially onboarding-related) will appear on Demo, too.
After 16A, the battle continues:
What does each one of these mean? A short summary for each.
For the shipped game builds, this means a more final mission-framework. The Act 1 tells how the ASEMA automation story begins. There is hard scifi behind it all. It ends with player meeting the Locals for the first time.
Behind the curtains, this introduces a modular campaing system, which again points towards moddability. Campaings run now on modular frameworks, which can contain pretty flexibly all sorts of stuff. Foremostly, campaings, stories and missions, but also custom gamemodes, minigames, and whatnot.
When you combine the Gardeners (world manager modules) into Campaings, you can create worlds.
Machines now lose health. In more hands on way, they lose matter. Their inventory is shredded first - if the machine has shielding materials, they are prioritized first. This means, cargo is protected by shielding materials. When it runs out, the inventory wears out. If damaging continues, then the hull starts to lose integrity. This causes malfunctioning.
Damage is modeled in various ways. Shredding is spatial damage: either impacts, or centrifugal forces. In shredding, the machine physically ejects the lost matter out into the space. Those resources can be collected.
Entering atmospheres too rough causes shredding. It takes some damage until the machine absolutely destructs, but lost of inventory content makes you cautious - and with enough speed, any machine gets whomped in one bite.
Hostiles shooting kinetic slugs cause damage, too. But same applies to Them.
ASEMA is an automation game, but there are still enemies. You can minimize them if such things do not interest you. But consider experiencing them, as they are still a logistical scenario.
The enemy data architecture is currently in the works. They have nodes, reactions, events. They probe, investigate, call for backups, search for your machines. They attack and you can defend.
The enemy system introduces many features and mechanics, which I look forward to hear feedback and playtester experiences on.
A systemic approach is tenderly present here, too. The enemies react to your activities, they gather intel on you, they grow with you in a lore-spesific ways. You do not have to build a war factory, but you better still handle the native threats correctly - with automation and logistics, in base, with ballistics. The fights are pretty cinematic, I must admit I like the way it shapes up, but we'll see.
Acquire intel on the enemies, resources and the world. The lore introduces new mechanisms related to the past and the future - and this ties up neatly to tech tree advancements, exploration and discovery. Being able to mark locations on map, and crunching intel data to get locations of the enemies is valuable. Sending probes and stealing Data Cores to expand your knowledge of your nearby space surely helps in expansion and finding what you need.
The enemy will gather intel on you, too. They actively attempt to study your machines, hijack them and introduce new technologies for themselves - and expand, too.
Nano is the 2nd foundational tech branch. It can together with Bulk, produce more exotic tech branches. Most of Nano already exist in the developer build. Adding some missing features and visuals, still.
Visual and content overhaul. While the old version was ghastly, the new wikiguide is simplified, visually cleaned and de-cluttered, adjusted for better reading, finding relevant info and helping player on board better - as well as introduce more details for more advanced players.
After the key Demo and UX updates, I seek for more stable roadmapping and scheduling. There's much in the works and recently, the days have been long but productive - see you in the space, stay tuned.
Are you interested in participating testing and/or modding ASEMA?
New playtesters are invited to join in testing the larger content additions outside the public and limited Demo. Automation game experience and critical approach is welcomed. If you like to analyze games, this is perfect for you.
Perhaps you wish to playtest AND participate in modding testing?
Modders will be able to:
We will begin the testing with machines, techs, recipes, resources, which is the bare minimum for the EA launch.
All current content is built on modding framework (it is modular, and can be externally added and tweaked) but in the near months, tools/doors/UI for adding content in form of mods, are starting to be focused. The goal is to have modding capabilities at early access stage. The scope of this depends on how the development progresses. In 1.0 release, the modding framework will be entirely finished.
Contact here or on discord. https://discord.gg/kMJfQv62U2
TL;DR Which automation game do you consider having the best or most interesting tech tree mechanic?
My introduction to the genre was Factorio and i've been knee deep since. I always thought of it as the baseline for everything.
But after all the 100s of hours ive played it i must be honest. I'm sure the tech tree is logical, but for me it's a bit confusing at times. Often i just brute force click my way around it, queuing stuff up.
Another approach is how Captain of Industry does it. But it makes me a little lazy: I would often just queue everything up and leave. It feels like paddling in air. The research is sort of like a short clicker-game. Just toggle everything. In some specific order, sometimes, but because there is no "rush" and as you do stuff elsewhere, time passes along nicely, it's easy to just queu all.
Which one do you like better? It's a matter of taste surely.. Factorio entirely runs around the science potions. No progress happens unless if you work hard towards producing more science. When I started playing Factorio, it was annoying to find out that the next potion sort of requires a complete shift in everything. In COI, it is almost like a timer-thing, where stuff unlock if you've clicked and built a few things.
The other is damn complex and hard, the other is a bit too simple.
Tech trees are much like skill trees and their design vary greatly. But i feel like it's a lot of how it is visually presented; usually the skill trees are just interfaces for clicking certain things.
I am working on a game (Asema, the space/railgun automation game), and it's part of why im publicly thinking of this. My design requires requires a machine who is somehow related to the new tech in question, to stop all it's normal production/refine work and run a slower research routine.
Like to get a more advanced asteroid crusher, you'll use a simpler crusher to "study" how that could be done; usually it needs some new asteroid chunk types as input to "figure it out", and so on. Then after foundational main tech branches are unlocked, you can access more exotic ones.
From left to right: Main branch, individual techs, one tech all information (wip)
To level up the machine types for production/etc perks, you need to build a machine and then sacrifice it to level that type up; as you know, dismantling things helps you understand them, it makes some weird sense.
I even turned the tree-structure view which previously had cards and tiers visible for player, into just a simple "available with current facilities" type of view; just a simple list. I went from the other extreme (visualize the tech tree in some unique way) to another (1 screen has it all).
But, really, how you view tech trees? Is complex good or is it just frustrating? I'm curious if anyone shares my "criticism" with Factorio's tech tree. It has some genius filter in it, but as an workflow/intuitive optimization nerd, I'm not sure i love it. But intuitiviness has to work for everyone, otherwise it doesn't work at all.
Adding my weird bonus 5 cents: I think there has been one (skill) tree structure that has worked almost "perfectly" imho: Diablo 2. Sure it's not automation, but the core of it is rather perfect. Your main branch fits on 1/3 of the screen, and it's just a few icons you keep leveling up - and that is plenty enough for the entire run of the game. It is incredibly simple, but still super small in scope. In the other end we got stuff like Path of Exile. Which I think is made to look complex, but in reality it apparently is not complex at all (correct me if I'm wrong). Just a lot of perks.
Ps. I love all the games I mentioned. I was afterwards worried I sounded negative. Hope that's not the case. I am one of those gamers who plays a handful of games, but each for decades.
