Demo seems unfinished?

[SirRichie]

I am going to write here, instead of writing a bad review since I do not want to cause a bad start and the game hasn't officially released yet.

The game seems to be inspired by shapez in its general way to interaction. Adding money is a nice mechanic, but seems broken at the moment.

A couple of my observations:
- I did not get any more objectives after providing 20 copper sheets. Not sure if the demo is over after this, I cannot remember seeing a message about it
- It tells you that items not needed for progression will be sold. After providing iron ore, I built a second mind to make the iron ingots. Now it seems that iron ingots get sold, but iron ore just vanishes in the hub without providing money.
- Above point led to the fact that I could not get a positive balance with my small factory

[feydk]

Thank you for trying the demo and providing feedback. It's much appreciated!

1. You should definitely get a new objective after copper sheets. There is a proper "end of demo" screen once you get to it. Can you try quitting and loading the save again, see if that changes anything? If that doesn't help, do you recall if you got an "objective complete" screen after finishing the copper sheet order?

2. Some items deliberately have a sell value of 0, including base ore items. Sell values are available in the Codex. In the Codex you can also read the "tip" on managing money and how to stay profitable.

But I will make a note that maybe the tutorial text you're referring to should explicitly mention that not all items are worth anything.

[SirRichie]

I tried some more
1. I did not save, so it loaded a save prior to completing the objective. This time it worked and I progressed towards the excavator. When it did not work earlier, I did not get an objective complete screen

2. The codex does not explicitly state a sell price of 0, it simply misses the line. Furthermore, I believe if an item is sold for 0, then it should not be sold at all and the belt backs up, stopping production (and therefore cost) of the basic item. This would be a much more sensible behavior.

Additional things I noticed:
- Belt placing does not happen fast enough if you hold the mouse and scroll to make a line.
- Changing direction of a conveyor belt needs it to be replaced and you pay for it again

[feydk]

1. Ok, I'll have to let that be for now, as I can't reproduce it. If it happens again let me know.

2. There's an important lesson in learning that not all production lines are profitable. So I'm inclined to keep current behavior (of the hub accepting all items), but I will think about it.

With the next update, sell values of 0 will appear in the Codex.

Replacing or building something on top of a block reimburses the build cost of said block. So you don't pay double (and you can verify that by keeping an eye on the balance while doing it), but I see your point. I've changed it so there's no floating number when doing replacements. That will also be available in the next update, but I'm not sure when that will be at the time of writing this. Probably within 24 hours from the time of this post.

The "slow belt placing" issue is much more complex to fix. But I am aware of it.