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Factory Game Design

First Prototype Scope

Decision Decided

The first playable prototype covers Tiers 0 and 1 and ends when the player restores the ship’s electrical systems (the Tier 2 unlock). Tier 2 itself isn’t built.

Target length: about 60–120 minutes of play Tentative.

Mid-game and late-game systems are left out on purpose. The point is to find out whether the opening and the core loop are fun before building the big tech tree.

Questions the prototype must answer

TierFocusQuestion
0: DiscoveryScouting, discovery, Harvesters, depots, construction, Evolite studyIs the opening engaging? Does progressive reveal work? Do players always have something to do?
1: Primitive IndustryRefining, logistics, stationary mining, defense, first alien pressure, Evolite researchIs the shared-inventory factory plus truck logistics satisfying without belts? Does noise create good tension?

In scope

Simulation

  • Grid map with fog of war, procedural generation including spawn protection and guaranteed nearby Basalite and Calcified Evolite.
  • Connected networks via building footprints plus foundation tiles; automatic merge and split.
  • Server-owned simulation at 20 ticks per second Decided; in single player the phone hosts it.
  • TypeScript web client, Node server, shared simulation package Decided. The client and the host are separate from the first build; in single player the host runs in a Web Worker (see player-and-platform.md).
  • Simplest sync Tentative: the whole state every tick as JSON, things moving once per tick, no smoothing. Players’ own actions still show at once (runtime-and-sync.md).
  • Sim structure Tentative: ECS with Bevy’s conventions, built in the order in simulation-architecture.md, with the Python sims ported as tests.
  • The first test goes up to the first Depot Decided. Its scope and technical choices are in first-test.md.
  • Per-tick netting inventory, one-chunk input buffers with fair sharing in shortages, output buffers, stacks, silo filters, no same-tick chaining.
  • Building states (running, starved, blocked, off, damaged) and the production overlay.
  • Per-network totals plus net change per minute.
  • Noise (additive) and the noise overlay with hatched fog.
  • Alien AI: attraction → targeting (threats first, then nearest noise) → commitment/memory → spread → retreat; 20-tile (80 m) pathfinding around walls.
  • Hives as Live Evolite; spawning; clearing by kill-and-harvest.
  • Dropped Evolite with about 5-minute expiry.
  • Ruins and rebuilding; 50% demolition refund; free ghosts.
  • Alerts only for attacks or damage (cause, not consequences).

Content

  • Crashed Ship (indestructible): Scout Drone, Harvester, Engineering Crew.
  • Tier 0: Depot, Storage Silo, Foundation, Barracks, Stone Wall; Sword Bot.
  • Tier 1: Primitive Refinery, Outpost, Primitive Fabricator, Colite Drill / Mining Drill, Basic Gun Turret, Reinforced Wall; Logistics Truck, Gun Bot.
  • Resources: Basalite, Colite, Ferrite, Cuprite, Calcified / Live / Dropped Evolite, Iron, Copper, Basic Components, Ammunition.
  • Missions: scout out-and-back, Harvester Gather, Harvester Patrol & Collect, truck routes with per-slot loading, crew construction, Barracks patrol/defend/escort/attack/recall, mixed groups.
  • Evolite global balance; sample-to-ship study gate; small Tier 1 research tree (Refining free → Logistics → Stationary Mining; Defense and Fabrication in parallel).
  • Placeholder art Tentative: colored shapes with letters, strong panels and status lights. Baked 3D sprites come later.
  • Ship Restoration screen showing the electrical-systems repair as the end goal.
  • Story: crash, the four resource discoveries and checklist, alien sighting, Evolite discovery, study complete, first attack, first kill and Evolite reveal, electrical restoration. Delivered as dialogue panels.

Out of scope (for now)

  • Electricity, generators, power networks (Tier 2+). Exception: the end-of-prototype unlock moment.
  • The Evolite Drill and seismic signature, underground scanning, bosses.
  • Communications and demand-driven logistics, automation controllers, timers, blueprints, auto-repair.
  • Day/night cycle [Open whether it’s in the prototype].
  • Hive recolonization from dropped Evolite.
  • Rally points and squad features.
  • Multiplayer may not be needed in the first prototype; design data structures with the global Evolite balance and shared world in mind Tentative.

Metrics to collect

Time to first Depot, Depot payback time, buildings at 12 minutes (target 5 / 10+), time between affordable builds, time between big new capabilities, idle time with no meaningful decision (target about zero), time to Tier 1, time to the electrical repair. Targets are in balance-and-simulations.md.