Wearing Shorts, Keeping Things Short - Learning Factory Dev Diaries, July 2023
Hey everyone!
The biggest news about this edition of Dev Diaries: there're no dev diaries this month. Well, kind of. You see, the summer vacation period is upon us, and while KOTOVOD Learning Factory never stops, its devs sometimes need to.
That doesn't mean we'd leave you without content though! In fact, we've been keeping updating the visuals of cat items you'll be producing. Here's a summary of the job Sergei the artist did:
The new building of the month is our brand new Cargo Dock: an intermediate form of evolution between a Small Cargo Dock and the mighty Two-Item Cargo Dock - this one holds but one item but in a greater amount than a Small Dock does. At the same time, Two-Item Cargo Dock now holds slightly less amounts of the two items, and researching it is no longer mandatory:
And finally, here’s a couple of 2022 vs. 2023 screenshots - just so we could anticipate how the game has changed since last year’s summer:
A little heads-up: the next update is scheduled for August 15, so make sure you have a good summer rest, because there will be even more awesome cat-related awesome stuff once we return! In the meantime, here's some more Learning Factory content:
You can watch one of the latest YouTube videos by Z1 Gaming (English) and Canal do Void (Portuguese). By the way, do you have a favorite content maker who you'd like to see playing Learning Factory? Let us know in the comments, we'll try & reach them!
Join our Discord to discuss Learning Factory with fellow players and with us personally. We share WIP stuff straight from the devs’ table over there, too
Have a great summer (or winter, if you happen to be in the Southern hemisphere)! See you in August.
Hotfix v0.22.144
Some bugs were neutralized since we've released the last update to Learning Factory. Please update again to enjoy an even less buggy game!
Hotfix v0.22.144 Released!
Bug fixes
'Collect all items' option now picks up items around the map, too
Summertime Hibernation - New Update, v0.22.143
This update comes earlier than ususal. It comes with a heads-up, too: present day labor law systems of the present are imperfect, which is why we still have to take annual break from our working activities.
Which is why the updates will be released slightly less frequent than usual. As always, we're planning to return back to rocking and maybe even rolling in the second half of August.
Have an awesome summer, everyone! If you don't go out of your house much (because there're too many video games to play), don't forget to open the window once in a while, and stay hydrated!
As for today...
v0.22.143 Released!
New Smoothie visuals
New Batteries visuals
High Quality (++) Milk recipet altered
Upgrade for High Quality Milk recipe provides 2 recipes instead of 1
Updated tutorial
Updated terraforming Guide
More phrases for selected Legendary Cats
Added a counter for satisfied Legendary Cat requests (suggested by Trichouette)
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
Dock-dock-dockin'! - New Update, v0.22.142
Say what you want, but we think that when you put the word "Factory" in your game's name, that's basically a commitment. That means, another fortnight - another update! Yes, with more content. Yes, with another new building. Yes, with more gameplay tweaks. No, it's not gonna last forewer: we're going to release the game soon. But there's so much fun to have still!
v0.22.142 Released!
Gameplay
New building: Cargo Dock is more spacious than a regular Dock, but still only fits 1 type of goods
Two-Item Cargo Dock is now a bit further on the Research Tree and is optional
High Quality (++) Cat Food recipe altered
New perk for cat researchers, allowing them to use all types of data from Data Storages
Perks slightly rebalanced
Doubled the efficiency of the Lumber-mill upgrade increasing the chopping speed
Added a new default recipe for Lumber-mill for chopping Fir Trees in the northern biome
After unlocking Tavern Tier 3 players can choose to search for researchers with the focus on selected knowledge field (suggested by Cat (the Black))
Graphics & Sound
New art for Microchips
New art for Graphic Cards
New art for Cat Food
New art for Hammocks
2 new tracks for Underground level
QoL & Interface
Pressing Wiki hotkey when hovering mouse on an item in the Backpack or on the recipe list in a building opens this item's page in the WIki
Item categories on the building panel are now available underground, too
Improved object pickup (options)
Improved Zeppelin route removal (options)
Sorting by skill feature added to the Dormitory
Sorting by skill feature added when selecting a researcher in a Lab
Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there
----------------------
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
Learning Factory Dev Diaries, June 2023 - Stage 3 Complete, Content Intensifies
Hey everyone! You know the drill: the full release is approaching, much stuff is being added to the game these months, and lots of polishing tasks lie ahead of us!
That said, this issue of Dev Diaries will have little text and lots of pretty pictures: last month was marked with not one, but two major updates, a new story chapter, a handful of new buildings, and a bunch of redesigned items!
Let's start with those buildings though: all of them will provide a lot of challenges and opportunities in the late parts of the game!
Gummy Press & Omniloom produce multiple types of High Quality items but require respectively exquisite ingredients. While Teleports allow you to travel between any parts of the map - given that you have enough Machine Learning capacity to afford them.
Lots of fun stuff is happening under the surface of Mars, too: there're now glowy plants for you to harvest & make into the finest cat goods in the Solar System:
Speaking of goods, the great redesign of in-game art continues! By now, most of the items you produce in the game, including Quality and High Quality items, have their own distinctive look! Within the next couple of updates, we'll complete our collection of uniqe-looking items (that is if we don't introduce more items - no immediate plans for that but who knows!):
Sorry, we won't be showing much of the new comics (except for the art we used for cover image above) - we wouldn't dare to spoil the fun of discovering them by yourselves! But we assure you, they're in the game: adding them allowed us to mark Stage 3 of Early Access as complete! It's been a bit more than a year since we've closed Stage 2 - we considered it a legitimate excuse to show you some images, all taken sometime in May of 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively:
…here, have some more, wouldn't you:
And here's our roadmap, so you could appreciate the path we've come along with you, our awesome players:
See you with more Learning Factory news in July! In the meantime, you're always welcom to chat with us on our Discord server. Until we meet again!
Hey engineers! This week's update is rather festive: we've got new visuals for a whole array of items, along with some sweet improvements here and there! If you already have a well-built Factory, check out on it: you might find it looks a whole lot different!
v0.22.140 Released!
Gameplay
New building: Omniloom makes only the High Quality Cloth, Pillows, and Hammock, from the finest resources found on Mars
New upgrade: increased speed for Cat Blimps
Using Biodynamite also maximizes the efficiency of surrounding tiles (without changing the type of tiles)
The recipes for Quality (+) and High Quality (++) Claw Sharpeners were changed
3 new achievements
Graphics
Loom re-rendered
Batteries re-rendered
Pillows re-rendered
Claw Sharpeners re-rendered
Cat Vitamins re-rendered
Concrete re-rendered
QoL & Interface
Pressing 'Ctrl' + 'J' now auto builds upon Blueprints on both surface and underground levels
Improved tutorial
UI/UX fixes
Other
Improved Twitch integration: added links to selected (by us) streamers, along with the list of active Learning Factory live streams
Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there
----------------------
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
Major Update, v0.22.139: Early Access Stage 3 Completed!
All the machinery on Learning Factory is gently humming, operating at their highest productivity rate. Manipulators are moving back and forth, performing their beatiful dance, silent and nifty. Zeppelins are soaring in the sky, carrying tons of top-notch cat goods in their holds with grace and dignity.
Everything is going according to the plan as Dr. Katz is checking the box next to "Stage 3" line of his "Things to do to reach Catopia" list.
Stage 2 was closed a bit later than a year ago: May '22 it was. Do you remember Learning Factory of the time? No Territories to unlock in Campaign, no Guilds to trade with, no Zeppelins to transfer goods in the sky... The game looked and felt quite differently - just look of these screenshots and spot the difference:
The development is moving forward. Glory to Science!
v0.22.139 Released!
Graphics & Art
New story comics
New menu theme
New graphics settings: dynamic resolution & anti-aliasing
Sound
New music track for the Underground level
Gameplay
Advertising Cat Gate & Target Ad Cat now attract Cats with higher Loyalty level
Advertising Cat Gate Gate do not try to summon a Cat without target item in their shopping list, if this Cat type generally has target item in their requests list
More Cats are requesting Ice-Cold Smoothies as upsale items
Upon reaching the Digital Cat Consciousness milestone on the Research Tree, Dr. Katz requests are rewarded with science points more often and lead to better rewards in general
Clicking RMB on a recipe pause button in a building switches on that recipe (suggested by DrDoctor)
Added an option to quickly switch from the Dormitory to a Science Lab (suggested by Cat (the Black))
QoL & Interface
Improved Tutorial
Improved tooltips
New engine version
Key input is no longer registered in the game when the game window is out of focus
Added 1 more mouse cursor option to the Accessibility options
Don't forget to follow Learning Factory on Steam to get the news about new updates as soon as they're out there
----------------------
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
Learning Factory is 20% Off For Cozy & Friendly Games Celebration
That's right, you heard it! The game is on sale as part of this awesome, cozy & family friendly event.
The 20% discount for Learning Factory will be there until June 5!
Got get a bunch of great games, and then some! Buy Learning Factory for your family members, too:
