Hey everyone,
Stephen here with a new progress update. We've been quiet for a while but for good reason - we completely changed the beginning.

Our gameplay loop sucked.

Well, it didn't suck, it lacked cohesion… which I guess kind of made it suck.

After releasing the game into early access, we watched a TON of playthroughs, chatted with our players, spend some time playing the game ourselves, and realized that we could do better..
This is the reason we do early access - to be able to make big changes based on your playthroughs.
We also know if we didn't change it now, we wouldn't ever change it. So we decided to take a step backward, and make a better gameplay loop.

What is a gameplay loop?

"A core gameplay loop is a gameplay loop in which a highly specified set of actions undertaken by the player, most often the main actions defining the game.
In Call of Duty or Battlefield, the core gameplay loop is more or less targeting enemies, shooting them, and seeking out new enemies."
[Credit: Perfecting A Core Gameplay Loop]

Atrio's original gameplay loop

The original gameplay loop was as follows:
1. Get a task from the Heartbox 2. explore the dark or automate 3. to get an upgrade item 4. Upgrade the Heartbox while at the same time maintaining the fuel depot.



The two separate tasks in steps 2 & 4 made the experience very confusing for new players, and lacked a primary overarching goal for the players. Also, after watching all the playthroughs, nobody was automating fuel into the fuel depot.

We needed a single, cohesive gameplay loop that fit well with the story AND fit well with the overarching goal - to light the world (which by the way wasn't very apparent thanks to our messy gameplay loop)

Atrio's New Gameplay Loop

We hired AntiElitz, a Factorio speedrunner, for several brainstorming sessions to help explore how to make the game better. Between the two of us, we came up with a new game loop:



We've already tested it out with new players to great success, but we've broken the second half of the game. We'll need more time to re-build a cohesive experience.

So what's been done so far?

1. The fuel depot

now relies on fuel/min. The more average fuel/min, the more lightbulbs are supported

2. The Pickerpal

is a creature that automatically harvests plants on the ground and drops them onto gravpipes

3. The dispense chest

is a chest that automatically dispenses items at a set rate. You can currently choose any interval between 1/min up to 60/min.

4. All of the tutorials in story mode are different to reflect the new flow
5. A brand new training area to teach players how to use the pickerpal

What's next?

1. We will be experimenting with a new battle system!
2. Adding a new type of fuel - Shroom Fuel
3. Making our creatures less dumb. Let's be honest, they're dumb. They bump into everything, their animations slip across the ground when they walk. It's time to polish them up and get them to feel good.
We have a couple of other secret items in the work, but you'll just have to wait.

This next patch will take some time, but it will be our biggest yet!

Talk to you soon,
Stephen + The Isto Team.