Industry Idle
Patch 0.16.1 - Achievements for Expansion Pack 2
- Add 'Trusted Account': to prevent cheating/fraud, free-to-play accounts are required to pass the platform requirement to participate in player trade
- Add achievements for Expansion Pack 2 maps: Perth (Pademelon/Wallaby/Kangaroo), Kansas City (Corn on the Cob/Corn Dog/Popcorn), Rio (Leblon/Barra da Tijuca/Copacabana), Random Island (Bernoulli/Poisson/Gauss), Istanbul (Leo the Great/Justinian the Great/Constantine the Great), Admiral of the Fish Pond
- Show Expansion Pack 2 badge in Leaderboard
- Bugfix: Fix a bug where greenhouses on Random Island have UI glitch showing random crops on every cycle (If you are on random island, you might need to restart on that map)
- Bugfix: Fix a bug where 100% Gluten Free does not unlock Flour Mill
- Bugfix: Fix a bug where UI panel covers the edge of the map when it is docked
There are 140 resources, 197 factories, 59 policies, 18 maps and 68 achievements available in this version
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
0.16.0 - Expansion Pack 2 is here!
- Expansion Pack 2 is here: this version contains the support Expansion Pack 2
- Trade Center UI has been redesigned
- Add an option to show Standby Mode in toolbar (Steam Only)
Expansion Pack 2 will be available for purchase on Steam on 28 Mar 2022. There will be a 15% launch discount and a 20% bundle discount
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807800/Industry_Idle__Expansion_Pack_2/
Patch 0.15.3 Bugfixes and QoL Improvements
- QoL: Add an option to filter 'what I have' in player trade filter option
- QoL: Add an option to change mousewheel zoom sensitivity
- QoL: When zooming using mousewheel, the camera will zoom to the cursor location
- QoL: Add a confirm dialog when cancelling player trade
- Change: Disable profit warning icon on buildings as it is confusing for new players and useless for experienced players
- Bugfix: Fix a but where turning on automatically claim trades will result in right to trade error
- Remove 'Always Export' option in Trade Center since it is mostly useless
There are 140 resources, 197 factories, 59 policies, 18 maps and 52 achievements available in this version
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
Pricing and Release Date of Expansion Pack 2
tl;dr
- Expansion Pack 2 will be released on 28 Mar 2022, one year from the game's initial release
- Expansion Pack 2 on Steam will cost $4.99. There will be a 15% launch discount and a 20% bundle discount (if you purchase with or already own Expansion Pack 1)
- Expansion Packs on mobile platforms will cost $2.99 each (reduced from $4.99). All players who purchased Expansion Pack 1 at the original price will get a free Expansion Pack 2
- Expansion Pack 2 will receive free content updates for at least three months after the release date
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807800/Industry_Idle__Expansion_Pack_2/
Expansion Pack 2 Progress
I have finished all of the planned features of Expansion Pack 2 - it is now in a good shape that I feel confident to put out a release date: 28 Mar 2022, which happens to be exactly one year from the initial release of the game.
Now I am focusing on balancing the game and fixing bugs from playtesting - this is an ongoing process - just like the previous expansion pack, the new one is expected to receive new content updates and balancing changes after the release.
Pricing And Changes
Expansion Pack 2 will cost the game as Expansion Pack 1 on Steam - there will be a 15% launch discount. In addition, there will be a 20% bundle discount if you purchase with or already own Expansion Pack 1.
On mobile platforms (iOS/Android), the price of expansion packs will be changed: each will cost $2.99. I have received some feedback that the old one-time purchase price ($4.99) is too high a barrier for mobile gamers. The old price is the same as the Steam version simply because I had no experience in pricing and went with the simplest approach. After receiving the feedback, I studied several games - most mobile versions do have a different price. Also, I've learned that to sell expansion packs on different platforms, I have to use each platform's own payment system (and pay around 30% commission to each platform owner) and they are not interchangeable. Another reason for price reduction on mobile is that Steam has lots of "sales" events but it is quite difficult to offer discounts on mobile.
For people who have already purchased Expansion Pack 1 on iOS and Android, I feel I need to compensate them for the price difference. Also, they are the early supporters of the game, helping to keep the game's server afloat and they should get some perks as a reward. So I am giving a free Expansion Pack 2 to all the players who have purchased the expansion at its original price, just as a thank-you.
Plans After Release
I already have plans for content updates after the release - all content updates will all be included for free in Expansion Pack 2 for at least 3 months (same promise as Expansion Pack 1). One of the areas I'd like to work on is to offer more online content - guilds, MMO-style persistent map, etc. However, these will require more server costs - and the cost is recurring (every month) but the sale is one-time (I do not have plans to add microtransactions to the game). That's why I am quite careful when it comes to adding online features. So far I have spent all income of the game on server cost - and I plan to keep doing so to keep the server afloat as long as possible. Hopefully, with a new expansion pack, I would have a better idea of how much extra income would be available and plan the online content accordingly.
Patch 0.15.2 - New "Right To Trade" System for Easier Save Transfer
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Replacing São Paulo with Rio de Janeiro
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Map - Istanbul (Tower Defense Mode)
There are 140 resources, 197 factories, 59 policies, 18 maps and 52 achievements available in this version
Also, I am asked about Steam Deck support. The game has a "native" Linux build - so it should run on Steam Deck. The UI works with touch screen devices (like mobile phones). Although I have no devkit and Valve hasn't tested the game officially (I assume we are a niche group). If any of you have access to Steam Deck, feel free to test it and let me know if there's any issue.
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
Expansion Pack 2 Progress Report #2
Wishlist Now
First of all, Expansion Pack 2's Steam page is now online and you can wishlist it now! I was told it was the best practice to set it up as soon as possible but I was always lazy with paperwork. But anyway, here's the link https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807800/Industry_Idle__Expansion_Pack_2/
You've probably noticed that two pieces of important information are missing: price and launch date.
I am still working on the final pricing - the goal is to have enough income to cover the running cost of the game: i.e. the global trade/chat/leaderboard server. And your wishlist will help derive a more accurate estimation.
Although the pricing is left to be determined, what I can say for sure is that there will be a launch discount and a "complete the set" bundle. These two discounts should stack as far as I understand.
Building Recipe System
A lot of work has been done on adding core mechanisms for farming and food expansion. A new addition since my last report is the recipe system: a building can have multiple recipes. Some of them require the building to reach a certain level to unlock.
To unlock a building in Research Lab, you only need to unlock the basic recipe (the first one) - this would allow easy diversifications of productions. However, the adjacent bonus, in this case, requires not only the same type of building but also the same recipe as well.
This system has been backported to the base game - in fact, the new Battery Recycler (Patch 0.15.1) makes use of this mechanism as well.
Food Processing and Trade
Certain food items cannot be traded locally or with players - like chicken and beef. However, after being processed and turned into processed food (frozen chicken and canned beef), they can be bought or sold in the player market. Since most higher-level recipes do not take processed food directly, you can "restore" them in the food processing plant as well.
Regional Crops
Just like in the real world, not all crops are available on all maps - there are regional variations on different maps. All the existing maps will get some crops as well (you still need expansion pack 2 to actually grow them)
It has been carefully balanced that you should be able to unlock most of the food technologies with basic crops, if not all. The additional crops provide alternative ways to design your supply chain.
Finalizing Perth and Kansas City
I have finalized the content (e.g. unique bonuses) for the two new cities in expansion pack 2: Perth and Kansas City. Previously I have been focused on the core mechanisms and the content is only a placeholder. Now I have taken time to design and balance those content. You can see the details on the Steam page for Expansion Pack 2 as well. If you want a recap of the unique mechanism, you can read the previous progress report
Dropping "Competitive City"
If you have read my initial plan for expansion pack 2, you probably realize that I have mostly followed the plan, even though there is much more content than initially planned. One content that will be dropped though, is the competitive city. I have spent quite some time on its design but unfortunately, I cannot seem to get it right, mainly because:
- To make the map fair for competitive mode, I have to disable a lot of features, like player trading and Swiss upgrade, which makes the map less fun
- Even with those features disabled, the map is not 100% fair - stock rating and market updates (pricing) are fundamental game mechanisms that cannot be disabled and will result in variations
- The potential Swiss money gained from the map will be much less compared to other maps, which doesn't provide incentives for people to do competitive runs
I have tried several designs in an attempt to make this concept work but in the end, I've reached the conclusion that this mode doesn't really make much sense - so it's better to cut the loss and spend the development effort on something else.
New Map: São Paulo Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo Rio de Janeiro is the latest map focusing on the farming expansion. It has a unique fuel: biofuel as a byproduct of animal farms. It's also a hex map, which is good news for adjacent lovers. Not only that, a unique building - Cristo Redentor (I know Cristo Redentor is in Rio but it's too late to change the name) - will consume culture and provide an adjacent bonus to any building! If you were unhappy that your buildings on the edge of the cluster don't get a full adjacent bonus, this map is definitely for you!
Update: After getting feedback from the community, I feel I should make an effort to respect the geographical accuracy. So I am changing this city to Rio de Janeiro, where the Cristo Redentor is actually located.
Tower Defense Mode
The last planned content for Expansion Pack 2 is the tower defense mode. I've made pretty good progress and finalized the game design. As a reminder, this mode is optional is only available on specific maps.
Implementation has started already and will most likely take some time - tower defense is a very big addition to the gameplay and the effort needed is almost like a new game.
I have received suggestions that tower defense could be its own expansion - I think it makes sense. But I also want to make expansion pack 2 worth the price. In addition, setting up a new expansion pack requires paperwork, which is something I don't like - so I opt for bigger and fewer expansions. Also expansion pack 2 will cover at least 3 months of premium content update after its release, just like expansion pack 1.
Here's how tower defense works (at least for now):
- On maps that have tower defense enabled, you will get a certain number of (4-6) "wormholes", which spawns enemies.
- The enemies will find the shortest path between the wormhole and the headquarter.
- You can build more buildings to alter the path (buildings will block the path) but you cannot completely block the headquarter - i.e. there should be at least a possible path
- You can construct defense buildings. They do two things: 1) they pull resources (i.e. military ones) and convert them into "damage" based on the resource's market price; 2) they deliver damages to the enemies within the range
- There's only one "type" of defense building, but each building has multiple modules and you can fully customize its features via loading and upgrading different modules. You can also move defense buildings.
- You control when you are ready for the next wave. Once a wave is started, you cannot build or move buildings (the path cannot change).
- If you successfully survive a wave, you will get cash rewards based on the damage delivered (with a multiplier, of course). If you failed, you can always retry but the damage delivered will be gone (you won't get that money back)
As you can see, the tower defense is closely tied to the economy. After all, to win a war, you need a good economy as support. Winning a war offers another path to expand your economy. That's how it works in the real world, that's how it works in the game.
That's all I have for now. Hopefully the next progress report will be the last one for Expansion Pack 2 before its release. Until then, the factory must grow!
Patch 0.15.1 - Battery Recycler, New Batch Mode, UI Scaling and File-Based Save
- New building: Battery Recycler - you can recycle battery shells to iron and aluminum or recharge battery with C. If your map has lithium, you can also recycle shells to lithium or recharge it with lithium
- New Batch Mode: You can upgrade or apply changes to adjacent, clustered or all buildings of the type
- New save format: Now all save is filed based instead of text based
- Save import player trade cooldown adjustment: from 2h to X^X h where X = the number of imports in the last 30 days
- Add UI font size scaling option in Headquarter
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Fried Rice, Fried Chicken, Fish Pond, Coffee, Cocoa, Food Processing Plant
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Map - São Paulo
There are 139 resources, 197 factories, 59 policies, 18 maps and 52 achievements available in this version
Also in case you missed it, Expansion Pack 2 can be wishlisted now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807800/Industry_Idle__Expansion_Pack_2/
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
0.15.0 - In Game Streaming, Recording, Batch Upgrade and Lunar New Year Event
- In-game Streaming: You can now watch your friend's gameplay while building your economy!
- Gameplay Recording: You can record your gameplay - either a freeform recording or a 10s director's cut
- Increase active trades allowed for Expansion Pack 1 owners from 4 to 6 (Hong Kong still gets 50% more active trades)
- QoL: You can now batch upgrade a type of building to certain level
- Lunar New Year event (25 Jan - 10 Feb): New resource - Lantern, produced by power plants and can be used as fuel. New policy - Year of The Tiger. All buildings that consume paper will use Lantern instead and will have 2x capacity. Paper mills become Paper Academy and produce culture instead
- Optimization: Add a new resource movement option: In Viewport
- Optimization: Improve the performance of large base with resource movements turned off
- Optimization: Improve the resource movement (flying dots) rendering by 30%-60%
- Bugfix: Expansion Pack 2 resources accidentally show up in news and crowdfunding
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Buildings - Pig Farm, Dairy Factory, Fast Food Chain, Sausage Factory
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Resources - Butter, Cheese, Cookie, Burger, Sandwich, Pork, Sausage, Hotdog, Pizza
There are 125 resources, 169 factories, 58 policies, 16 maps and 52 achievements available in this version
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
Patch 0.14.5
- Add an option to show the whole supply chain when highlighting a building
- Add standby mode - the game will run in the background but will disable graphics. This will reduce GPU/CPU usage (Steam Only)
- New chat badge style for mods and expansion owners
- Update translations and game framework
- Bugfix: chat doesn't scroll to bottom if there's an image
- Bugfix: clear My Trades doesn't work properly
- Bugfix: achievements are not translated
- Bugfix: force downgrade might lead to data corruption
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Fix a bug where Factory Mine policy cause incorrect theoretical value in Stat Bureau
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Warehouse Push Mode
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Multiple Source routing mode
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Map Kansas City
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Deposit - Water
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Buildings - Water Pump, Farmland, Greenhouse, Hydro Dam, Vapor Condenser, Capacitor Factory, Fodder Factory, Sugar Refinery, Chicken Farm, Cow Farm
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Resources - Rice, Corn, Wheat, Soybean, Sugarcane, Vegetable, Bread, Fodder, Refined Sugar, Cake, Chicken, Egg, Beef, Milk
- Expansion 2 Playtest: New Policy - 100% Gluten Free
- Expansion 2 Playtest: Offline Production (via Capacitor)
There are 121 resources, 163 factories, 57 policies, 16 maps and 52 achievements available in this version
Web: https://play.industryidle.com/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/
Google Play: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.fishpondstudio.industryidle
AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/industry-idle-factory-tycoon/id1554773046
Expansion Pack 2 Progress Report
Perth
As our first map in the southern hemisphere, the building spinners rotate clockwise, which is different from the rest of the cities. Apart from aesthetic changes, Perth has a few new notable new mechanisms:
- Geothermal Vent and Geothermal Power Plant
- "Factory Mining" allows a factory to mine the deposit tile directly! This would be a great permit saver especially in the late game
- "Adjacent Explorer" gives resources explorers massive boosts when placed next to a mine, which brings them almost on par with a regular mine
More bonuses are being added to the map, you can check the latest in-game.
Random Island
Do you know Random Island is a real place in Newfoundland, Canada? This map is for you RNG lovers. All the deposits and unique bonuses are randomly generated after you start the map - you don't even know it beforehand!
Kansas City, Water And Hydro Dam
Yes, farming is coming to "Industry Idle", Kansas City is the new map that features a new "water" tile. But don't worry, you will be able to farm on other maps as well - Vapor Condenser allows you to extract water out of thin air!
There's a new building - Hydro Dam that has to be built on top of a water tile and it will flood adjacent empty tiles and turn them into water tiles! Of course, you need to have enough power to maintain the dam otherwise flooded tiles will turn back to empty tiles.
(See above, the highlighted water tiles are flooded by the dam)
You have to build a dam on natural water tiles - if a tile is a flooded tile made by the dam, building another dam on it won't flood more tiles.
Apart from building a hydro dam, you can also build Water Pump to extract from the water tile.
Farmland and Greenhouse
Farmland has to be built on top of a water tile -it can be a flooded tile as well. It only works 50% of the time (when the sun is up) but it will work when you are offline as well, as long as you build it on a natural water tile! You can change what the farm produces at any time.
A Greenhouse needs power and water but it is reliable - works all the time. It can also produce when you are offline but you need capacitors. Wait, what is the capacitor thingy?
Capacitor And Offline Production
A capacitor is power storage - One capacitor stores 100WxSec energy. The main purpose? It allows a factory to produce when you are offline! If a factory has enough capacitors in its storage, it will use that as the power source to continue production instead of using power from your grid.
Of course, since transportation doesn't run when you are offline, you need to stockpile a factory's input resources, in addition to capacitors in its storage. For your convenience, you can see a timer in the building panel that shows you how long the factory can run when you are offline.
In Central Bank where you normally claim your offline cash, you can also see the offline production as well (the actual production is credited to your balance without clicking the claim button)
Warehouse Push Mode
"Offline production sounds cool!" - you think, but "how do I stockpile resources and capacitors?". Introducing warehouse push mode. Now warehouse not only can pull resources from any buildings, it can also push resources to any buildings as well.
(In the above screenshot, the warehouse is pulling capacitors and coal and feeding it to the coal gasification plant, which enables it to produce offline)
Manual Source and Multiple Sources
The building's sourcing AI has been rewritten to allow more control! You can set a manual source for each input and the buildings will pull from there instead
You can also specify a fallback strategy - if the manual source doesn't have enough resources, you can ask the building to pull what it has currently, skip this cycle, or use the default AI router to find a new source instead.
There's also a "Multiple Sources" mode for a building. Currently, a building will pull from the closest building that has enough resources. If you turn on that option, a building will pull from the closest building, period. And if that building doesn't have enough, it will pull from the second closest building and so on - potentially a building can pull from multiple sources in one production cycle.
Playtesting is On!
I am happy to announce that playtesting for Expansion Pack 2 is now on (and free of charge to participate of course). If you are an experienced player and don't mind some adventure, join our Discord channel to apply for playtesting: https://discord.com/invite/xgNxpsM
Also, I want to take this opportunity to thank our players for making our in-game community the best I've ever seen! The game has quite a steep learning curve and the tutorial is lacking at the moment. Your answering question from new players is essential to growing our player base and I really appreciate all your effort.