Questions: What is the end objective of the game? How many hours of story/content is there? Thank you

[GnomeSlayer]

Thanks

[MMT Brenden]

Currently, the game is in early access and we have two biomes.

We say we have about 20+ hours of content, but as an automation game, how many hours you can play really depends on how you tackle the very open ended puzzles. When we had our demo, we said that it had 3+ hours of content, and there were a few players who decided to spend more than 24 hours on a single playthrough, and since we have a procedurally generated world, some players said that they completed the demo more than three times!

The end objective of the game is not really "available" yet in our early access release. The premise is to have an adventure and uncover the secrets of the Sparks by finding shrines, creating Sparks, and upgrading the village monument.

There's two core storylines, the story about your adventure and how the villagers around you help you, and of the mysterious past of the Sparks. Where did they come from? Who originally created them and why? But that one is much more subtle right now and mostly hinted at.

At some point, you'll unlock everything in the game and we don't have an "end" yet, but then, we do plan to add more biomes and we felt that this was a better experience than to create a partial ending that you can try out. This way, we can hopefully have players continue the story when the new update drops.

[mmt_olivier]

To add to the playtime question: I've spent around 36 hours for my complete playthrough (as someone who played the game a lot before). Very curious to see how long other players will need :)

[Chucky]

Can someone tell me please how complex the game is at the moment? How many production lines are available? Like copper, iron, steal and more?

20 hours of content but with how many different materials and complexity?

[mmt_olivier]

I think adding a complete overview would spoil too much (especially since everybody can read this thread), and I also don't have a specific number. In any case, there's a lot of types of production lines you'll have to build throughout your playthrough. Just to highlight a few, there's different kinds of vertical logistics, fuel-based production lines, production lines where you'll have to work with and around gas, production lines which require you think of special types of storage transfer, production lines that incorporates aether refinement, various recipes for the infinite resources we have in the game, and a lot more!

[Chucky]

No need for spoiling but you can maybe say there are 10, 20, or over 30 different materials ingame. Like 10-20 raw materials and xx refined materials or so?

I mean i play a lot of Satisfactory and there you have many materials and outcome production lines with Tiers like cooper, iron, steal, and more until you reach nuclear power for example and make complex items.

This game looks family friendly so if i only have one type of wood for planks and two types of ore and stone and a hand full more materials only i dont know if i like it than. I want complexity at endgame.

[mmt_olivier]

I just counted through the items we currently have implemented and we have more than 30 types of materials in the game. Most types of materials (like wood-type, stone-type, aether-type...) have multiple versions/levels of refinement.

I get why you would think our game is family friendly - and we definitely aim for a more accessible approach to automation games. However, we equally aim to offer enough complexity and fresh ideas for automation veterans that have played countless hours of Factorio or Satisfactory. Especially towards the endgame.

[Chucky]

Ok thanks for the good response.

I mean with family friendly the look and the art style of the character with the staff. A Factory automation game normaly dont have a ending or a point "game is over" because optimization is the true endgame but this i dont find on the steam page presentation.

I look like you have some fun with automation with some materials and after this go for an adventure through the world. So can i make stuff for my advanture like weapons or armor or something else which help me in the world?

I played hundreds of hours Satisfactory only for building, optimization and make my factory look nice. Only 10-20% there are exploration or combat.

Dont get me wrong i want a game that i can play also hundreds of hours because i am never finished with my own goals because is one goal reached the next show up. ;) thats factory automation for me

[mmt_olivier]

Since we plan to expand the game throughout Early Access with new biomes, features and an extended progression, naturally the playtime will also increase with that. But already in our current state of the game, the further you play, the more gadgets you unlock to solve increasingly complex automation puzzles. You will have to deliver huge quantities of refined items (and also figure out how to manage these huge quantities) which will demand to optimize everything out of your increasingly complex production lines in increasingly complex terrains. And even after that you are free to optimize in any way you see fit.

We don't have weapons or armor but you can unlock other things in the game. There is a monument in the village (the game's "hub" where you get quests and start out your adventure) which you can supply with resources to unlock things that will make your life easier. Also, you can complete achievements to unlock character customization options. And of course, unlocking sparks (and with that, their special abilities that will help you in various automation scenarios) is also a big part of the game.

I said earlier that I finished the current state of the game after around 36 hours. But that was just finishing the progression. If you have intrinsic goals and/or just want to optimize things the game is open ended - you can continue playing after finishing the progression.

[GnomeSlayer]

Thank you very much.
I appreciate the detailed reply.
I love Devs that are involved with the gamer community.

[Chucky]

Thanks too for the detailed answer and reply. :)