Hello everyone!

With the lead up to release we wanted to talk about the new game mode that will be making it's way into 1.0 and also follow up with a little more news regarding 1.0's release date and further questions and suggestions.

At this point in time, we are finalizing and balancing the new game mode, so there may be some small adjustments by the time you get your hands on this.

Having listened to player feedback over the years, we've noticed that the side tasks force players to build factories that become useless after completing the side task series and this has had quite the split between the community. Showing a clear divide in how two types of player, play the game. Firstly, we have the "puzzle players" who love to solve each of the puzzles and this side task is a challenge they love, however we also have another audience to cater for, and that's the "factory mode" players, who prefer building permanent factories that focus on sheer throughput of resources. Which is why we wanted to develop a new game mode that caters for that side of the community.

As part of 1.0 we've been working on the Manufacture mode, which focuses on large scale factory logistics. When we first set out developing the new game mode we anticipated it becoming the default game mode, however it throws you straight into building factories at the space belt level, which we feel can be overwhelming for new players, so we’ve decided to make it an optional game mode, that’s ideal for players who already have a firm understanding of how to play the default shapez experience mode.

In the Manufacture mode, you'll supply specific shapes to a Trade Station instead of the Vortex. This Trade Station will then output a brand new shape type in return, which you'll need in order to supply the next tier Trade Station, and so on.

A Trade Station only continues to output the new shape types as long as you keep supplying it. So, if you want a strong output of the final new shape, you'll need to make sure you sufficiently supply all prior Trade Stations.

Knowing factory players love building progressively larger facilities, we needed to approach the game mode more like a classic factory game experience. In most factory games you require 1000's of base resources in order to produce a handful of late game products. As such we wanted to implement a new system that converts inputted shapes into a new type of shape that you'll have to use in future production lines.

Probably the biggest change in the Manufacture mode is the use of trade stations. These are our manufacturers, each one requiring set inputs in return for the new shape. To make the system easier to view we've decided on colouring each of the tiers differently, with a total of 9 tiers.

Naturally, we know factory players love to optimize their lines, as such we've also added 7 additional trade stations for the initial tiers, which can be unlocked through research and act as an alternate recipe, requiring different inputs, but offering a variation of that tier's trade station's shape, which may be better suited for your facility. To make the system a little more interesting to play around with, we've also adjusted the shape of the manufacturer to give you a little more of a challenge when setting these up.

The Trade Broadcast Hub will be replacing the vortex, and will be the only source of production for the first shape. As you progress through the game there will be mechanics in place allowing you to scale up it’s throughput infinitely.

In order for you to generate the research needed to unlock the alternate manufacturers, you'll need to make use of another new buildable, the Donation Station. This building accepts shapes, allowing you to increase your operator level, and grants the research points you'll need. Though the new alternate manufacturers aren't the only addition to research.

Alongside the alternate manufacturers you'll also be able to invest research into unlocking the research station, which works similarly to the donation station except you'll receive shapes in addition to the research points.

You'll also be able to research upgrades to the Trade Broadcast hub, allowing you to increase the shapes generated for the late game facility, which draws us to the goal of the game mode.

In Manufacture mode, you'll be committing these new shapes to the production of a vortex in the grand vortex assembler. It'll require a lot of resources to run, but once setup, you'll be producing the vortex platforms which are used in the classic mode.

Finally, we wanted to address the Q & A video. We had a fair few questions asking when 1.0 will be released and having had a conversation internally, we want to let you know that we are aiming for a 1.0 release in April. However, we are not 100% certain on this, but as soon as we know for definite, we will announce the date!

We know a lot of you have questions regarding the game as well as some fantastic suggestions. So we've decided to open up the community section of our YouTube channel, so from now on, you should be able to post questions on there outside of the comments on devlogs like these.

I also wanted to mention that for those who have suggestions they're dying to see in the game, that we have a dedicated website for suggestions which can be upvoted by players.

Using this system is great at showing us what features you're most excited to see, so please use it! You can find the site here:

https://shapez-2.nolt.io/

That's everything we wanted to cover in todays devlog! Do let us know what you think of the new mode. In the meantime we’ll be working on a new addition you’ve been asking for!

Hello everyone!

We collected a bunch of your questions from Steam and our socials, and Tom (aka TotalXclipse) is here to answer them for you!

Not every question got an answer, as there are a couple major points we can't quite talk about yet, like the release date of the 1.0 update and details about the new game mode – though we'll have a dedicated video for the latter soon.

If you'd rather read through the Q&A, continue below!

How frequently can we expect news from you?

We're currently planning content around the lead-up to launch, which means, I can't give you a definite answer, but we're planning a minimum of 1 to 2 videos – along with a written devlog – per month plus some shorts!

Will you be playing shapez 2 on your channel?

Unfortunately not. We don't want to blur the lines between me as a community manager and my own content. So we feel it's best to keep clear separation between the two.

Will you be active on the official shapez 2 discord server?

I'm on the Discord, and will be keeping an eye out on the goings on there, especially the epic builds in the gallery! Yes, I see you Hybrid, but the content is my first priority.

Can I speak to the community manager?

As mentioned, I'm on the Discord, so feel free to @ me in the appropriate room.

What's your favourite shape and are there plans for new and more shapes?

My favourite shape is anything food related, so that means anything that looks like a slice of melon or pizza for me! As for plans for new shapes... Well, you may be in luck but that's all I can say for now.

What topics are you going to cover?

I'll be providing updates on what's coming but also give you all an insight on what goes on behind the scenes when developing a game but that's just the start, we really want to share more as a studio in the long term.

Will the devlog release cadence remain or will you replace that entirely?

We know a lot of you love the Steam devlogs, and we don't want that to change. If anything we want the content that we provide on here to supplement the devlogs, catering for those who prefer to watch than read.

Are there big plans beyond 1.0 and will the upcoming updates remain free? Are paid DLC's a possibility in the far future?

Really valid question, with the release of 1.0, we plan on developing some smaller updates which will be free for the community as well as a future Puzzle DLC.

Will the game "naturally" teach us how to work with wires, logic gates, and that "side" leading to automation in shapez 2?

Speaking to Tobias, most likely not because it's quite a sophisticated topic, but what he has in mind would be for me to create a 'wires tutorial' video that we could produce on this channel and recommend directly in game.

Is there a buildable planned that can both merge and split at the same time?

We have considered this, but not found a satisfying way to show this with our open machine design, but it could be a great mod idea.

In earlier versions, as the player moves farther away from the center, the graphics gradually become very noisy and start to behave strangely. Has this issue been resolved in version 1.0?

Unfortunately we will not be able to fix this, it's called floating point precision issues and would require re-writing our whole rendering code to fix it, which isn't feasible at this point.

Will there be another objective, such as sending off x amount of shapes per minute?

There is a new game mode, which we'll be talking about in a future video which does have a different objective to the classic mode. That being said, I think your suggestion would be another opportunity to make a great mod.

Will large factories be more optimized?

The game and engine are already being pushed to their limits on what we can do with it, that being said a few optimizations are definitely planned. We’re really happy with how the game performs but given the game has infinite resources and space to build, there will always be players who push the limits. After all, the factory must grow. That being said we are constantly improving and optimising the game for all factories, big and small.

Are you planning a console release?

For the time being we have no plans for a console release, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen further down the line.

Will 1.0 have controller support?

Unfortunately not, as it's quite a big feature to add, Currently the game has over 150 keybindings which makes it really difficult to condense into a controller layout without requiring considerable rework to the HUD. The same goes for Steam Deck.

What kind of mod compatibility will be available?

This is quite an open question, and one that is a little above my technical understanding, but speaking to Tobias, they mentioned the modding system will support dependencies between mods, and supported version ranges. So quite a bit more than in shapez 1!

Whilst we’re talking about mods, for those who are interested in modding the game, we currently have a modding beta[discord.com] which can be accessed through the Discord and you’ll find the official modding documentation linked to that.

One of the concerns we've received is that the biggest need at this point is for us to segue from the game in early access to launch and with a new game mode, that might not sit well with the community and more importantly would benefit from months of playtesting and feedback.

Firstly, after a fair bit of consideration, we’ve decided the current game mode will still be playable as the default experience. Secondly; I can confirm there has been playtesting with the new game mode, and more importantly the feedback has been positive overall, providing it's own distinguished experience to enjoy; but don't worry, we'll be talking about the new game mode in our next video and devlog.

That's everything for now! Stay tuned for more update details in the very near future.