The designer of a popular mod that is strikingly similar to Factorio is working on a new expansion for the hit strategy game Factorio, three years after it was launched – and seven years after it hit Steam in Early Access.
In case you are not familiar with Factorio, it is essentially a strategy game in which you build factories on an alien planet, efficiently processing the resources in order to eventually build a space rocket by using the resources efficiently. Factorio: Space Age, the newly released expansion for the game, allows you to build orbital space platforms and explore four new planets, each of which has its own resources and gameplay mechanics, extending the game past its original ending.
The developers of the game have just posted a new blog post in which they explain that they feel confident enough about the shape of the expansion to announce more details about it every week from now on. At the moment, it is anticipated that the expansion will be available in about a year’s time.
Those who have played Factorio and are familiar with the popular Space Exploration mod that was developed by a modder named Earendel might think this expansion sounds similar to it. I have been involved in most of the gameplay discussions since Earendel has joined the actual Factorio dev team several years ago, and says that for Space Age, “I made the first space and planet prototype builds, and I have also been involved in almost all of the gameplay discussions since then.”
There is no doubt that the mod is notoriously complex, as Earendel readily admits. Space Exploration is targeted at a small group of challenge seekers, it isn’t meant for everyone by design. Space Age, on the other hand, is designed to appeal to all Factorio players with a more approachable approach.” That alone makes for an interesting difference between the mod and its official release.
