“If you are hungry for factory fun at present, and want it on a level that lets you play with the stars themselves as fuel, I’d struggle to think of a reason you shouldn’t try this game,” our Nate said after playing Dyson Sphere Program. Big nods to Factorio here. One worth keeping an eye on as it ventures towards a full launch in a year or so. Developers Youthcat Studio and publishers Gamera Game have released a few wee patches with bug fixes since the early access debut on January 21st, and now are looking at adding and expanding features. Before February 11th, they say, they plan to launch three handy additions. A Steam post on Thursday first outlined these, but here I’m quoting a press release from today because the original is a bit wordmuddled. First, logistics. “This will begin in a basic form in February and will be fleshed out more as the game progresses,” they say. “Its first implementation may only bring ‘basic’ logistic solutions, such as the furthest transportation distance and the quantity requirements of delivering goods.” Handy. As for new construction options, they say “You will be able to upgrade some buildings and conveyors by directly putting the new ones (cover/overlap/move) on the lower grade facilities, without having to demolish the old ones.” Also handy. And yep, rebindable keyboard controls are the third big feature coming up. Yet more handiness. Looking ahead to later in early access, they’re thinkinking about “features such as Steam Workshop integration, combat features, and even space platforms”, and say they plan to publish a development roadmap “soon.” I’m listening. I’ll probably wait until it leaves early access, because I’ve not yet had my fill of Factorio, but I am glad to see yet another demonstration of quite how popular this niche-seeming genre actually is. Building big stuff is great. Dyson Sphere Program is available on Steam Early Access for £15.49/€16.79/$19.99.
