oh, i enjoy this game a lot! (unfortunately i deleted my cookies ...)
but it is sad that in a game about computability problem definitions are not to be taken as they are.
isn't it quite easy to implement the accept/reject thing for custom input via regex? (i mean, you did program the whole game, so it should be easy for you, at least in theory)
or adjust the problem definition.
feels like a nerd game, so it should be for nerds (thus consistent).

(A) Manufactoria is Turing-complete; that means that formal regexes aren't sufficient to describe the later problems, and actual-programming regexes... might work, but it'd be really clunky.

(B) The situation you described is in fact an oversight, but it's a very minor one, given that the game will never test strings of an invalid type when running your machine.

Thanks!

yes, i was testing it in custom input mode.

Well, the game will only test your machine with strings of the correct format (x+green+y). The behavior for strings not of that format is unspecified - the fact that the custom input claims empty strings should be accepted is arbitrary & meaningless! Don't worry about it.

(Glad to hear from someone enjoying the game!)

hi, Seraphim wants me to accept an empty string, but that does not count as two equal strings separated by a green. the minimal accepted string should be one green.

Yeah, that's an oversight on my part! Sorry about that. If there's another update, the fix will go in it.

EDIT: actually, you shouldn't be getting that string as an input - are you testing on the custom input mode?

People have been suggesting a mobile port for a while, but my current policy is to prefer working on newer games rather than porting existing one(s). That may change at some point, but I also lack an Android to develop on, so that's unlikely to be a target platform in the case of a port.

Android devices can play Flash games and Manufactoria does work. In full screen mode it looks good (at least on a 10" tablet). The only problem is the interface is not that great without a mouse and a keyboard. In particular, as far as I know, there is no way to do a shift-click.

Right now, when we click on an item, the box containing the item goes white and a copy of the item follows the mouse. When we click on a "Rotate" button or on the "Flip" button, it's the copy of the item which is changed (which is obvious since there is no more an item inside the original box).

This doesn't work well when there is no mouse. I think that simply drawing a big rectangle around the item to show that it is selected when we click on it, and then changing the image of the item inside the box when we click on a rotate or flip button would be much better. The last touch would probably be to completely hide the mouse pointer as it looks clumsy on a touch screen.

Of course, the most important thing would be to add a "Shift" toggle button.

Oh, I hadn't remembered that Android devices can run Flash! If it runs well, that's fantastic; much simpler than doing a native port.

I'm not currently working on such a port (I'm working two new, semi-secret games), but if/when I do, I'll take your advice into account! It's very useful feedback.

Thanks!

I accidentally played the game on "extreme difficulty" since I didn't notice that it's possible to cross conveyors and flip branches. So I had to invent special solutions for situations that wouldn't arise during "normal" gameplay.

I'm so incredibly glad I found this post, because I've been doing the same thing and finding myself spending more time trying to logistically fit everything without crossing paths. This should save some time (although I do kind of enjoy the logistics challenge that is trying to fit everything in without bridges). =]

There was a recent Reddit post on the front page of the programming subreddit, featuring Manufactoria. I was amused, reading the comments, to see the number of people who had the exact same problem.

If I ever end up porting/re-releasing Manufactoria, that's definitely something I'll fix.

(Bonus trivia: in older versions of Manufactoria, the behavior was reversed: placing one conveyor belt over another would bridge by default. The current system is nicer once you understand it, but...)

Oh wow, it's been over 2 years since the first public version of this? Still love it to pieces! :D

Haha, I realised a game on Android without owning an Android device, I just built it with AIR and sent it out to some testers...

My guess would be that the biggest problem with a mobile version using the current code and AIR would be fitting everything into the smaller screen space. If you ever want to investigate that possibility, let me know and I'd be up for helping out!

Aw, thanks! I'll let you know.

I found this game last night thanks to Notch and lost out on an hour of sleep! Super fun! 

It would be nice if I could keep my progress across computers so that when I'm obsessing about a puzzle while I'm out, I can bust open my Chromebook or something.

Also, is there any chance of a mobile (Android) port? I'd pay money for that! 

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

People have been suggesting a mobile port for a while, but my current policy is to prefer working on newer games rather than porting existing one(s). That may change at some point, but I also lack an Android to develop on, so that's unlikely to be a target platform in the case of a port.

Last-day-of beta update!

I've removed the unlock system, because it wasn't really adding anything to the game. Also made some other tweaks.

Have a look!

[Quick poll]

I've actually taken out most of the 'lots of bla bla bla' parts in the latest update (last night) - if you're curious, you can check out the tutorials and see what you think.

Both of your suggestions re: piece voiceovers are really good (increase volume, add floating text); I'll try to get them in for the next release.

Also... (requoting because it's lost on an old page)

Quick poll of those who've played enough to beat one level outside the tutorial:

(1) Which control method are you using for controlling the targeting cursor?

(2) How many of you would miss the minimap if it was removed from the game?

Updated with new tutorials and some other tweaks/fixes. (Rockets are a new color, and why didn't anyone tell me that music looping was broken?)

Let me know how they work for you.

Neat ideas, but I think the walls of text really need to be replaced with more interactive tutorials.

More interactive than the tutorials that you play through in the current version?

EDIT: I realize that the walls of text are a problem, so I'm trying something new for the next version.

[Quick poll]

The rotation in the space levels is hard to use. I wish pressing the rotation button just once would rotate 90 degrees, like with the rest of the pieces that you rotate. Losing just because you can't figure out how to rotate to the correct side before a meteor hits you is really frustrating.

It originally did that [instantly rotated 90 degrees], but there were issues with that approach, too - you can't rotate so that a piece you're dropping (or a meteor) is 'inside' the station, and it could be very hard to visualize why the station was refusing to rotate if all you had were 90 degree rotations. The point of the slow-rotation was to make it clear why the station couldn't rotate the way you wanted, in those cases, but you're not the only one it's confused... perhaps I could change it so that you tap to set a rotation direction, and the station continues in that direction until a 90-degree lock unless you reverse it? I'll have to experiment.


Quick poll of those who've played enough to beat one level outside the tutorial:

(1) Which control method are you using for controlling the targeting cursor?

(2) How many of you would miss the minimap if it was removed from the game?

When playing Full Game / Normal, I can't launch missiles. (Thus, my game comes to an end at the first meteorite storm). Launching missiles generally works correctly in Easy or Beginner, although I had them stop working mid-game on a Single Level Easy Medium Moon game. (It's also possible I misunderstand the rules: are there circumstances when crewed and powered missile defense stations cannot launch missiles? Do they get used up?)

Thanks.

Shouldn't be anything different between the difficulties. You do have a limited number of missiles per wave (4 per gun; they're displayed visibly and used up as you fire). The sprite's not very good, though; I may want to rework it to be more visible.

If that's not the problem, PM me and I can try to sort it out.

Some of the mechanics could be a little less opaque. For instance, when the meteorites were falling and I didn't have a missile tower that had line-of-sight on them, it just felt frustrating and confusing for a while. In fact, I felt pretty sure that I did have line-of-sight, once I figured out that that is what was going wrong. I might suggest drawing out the line-of-sight for your missile towers and indicating graphically or aurally that your buildings are in the way and so you are unable to fire. This would make it a lot clearer to the player what's going wrong.

Sure. It did that in the past, but it seems to have gotten lost somewhere in recent changes. (Drawing out a truncated line-of-sight.) I'll have it in the next version.

Audio is slightly harder, but it's a reasonable idea. It was on my to-do list at some point, but was never a high priority and vanished at some point. I'll stick it back on and see where it goes.

Also, when I finished the first tutorial, I thought I'd finished all of them, so I tried playing the full game. This game is impossible to figure out on the fly. That's fine, but you should make it clearer that the player has not finished all of the tutorials until they have, and then strongly recommend that they DO play through the tutorials. Make the default menu starting point be in the tutorial selector until they've finished all of them, perhaps?

That's a bug. Sorry. It's been a nightmare weeding out all the tutorial-specific bugs... it's supposed to route you directly into the next tutorial after you finish the first one. That must have broken at some point. I'll have it fixed in the next version.

Very sorry for the confusion! I'm pretty embarrassed that one slipped through.

EDIT: found the bug, it's about a day old. You chose the exact wrong time to start playing!

EDIT 2: New version is up.

I loved it! Novel idea and well executed. Didn't quite understand how to tell how many units a barrack would produce though. Also didn't care for the barracks or the "rocket-for-sending-home-minerals" sprites, but overall i actually quite liked the aesthetic.

Are you planning different kinds of minerals?

Barracks produce 1 crew per 'block'; a 2x2 barracks (the small one) holds 4 crew, and the 3x2 barracks holds 6. The number of unemployed crew they have is displayed once they're powered.

I'm not very fond of the rocket sprites either.

Right now there are a few different 'densities' of mineral, represented by different colors - you can see them all in the first tutorial, actually. There are also different ways to mine minerals - drills, accumulators (in the Nebula), scoops (in the Sea)... the 'different densities' are actually a remnant of an earlier design in which there were five (!) different colors of minerals, all of which would vary in value based on a metagame "stock market" sort of element, but that went by the wayside when I redesigned the metagame into the much simpler "full game" campaign currently in the game.

Not really sure how 'different kinds of minerals' would fit into the game right now (what would they do differently from the current types?), but if you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

I broke it because I'm an idiot. Managed to upload a debug version that 'crashed' on startup.

Should be working now.

I watched a friend play today.
The pipes are still actively misleading.
He also expected the 3 square section of the drill to transport resources.

Well, that's the sort of thing the beta is supposed to catch. Hmm.

Pretty much everyone I've talked expects the drill to serve as a conduit, at first, so both of those now count as "standing issues". I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a fix tomorrow.

I might be a good idea for the defense section to be easier for now so that more feedback can be gotten on the interface.  I placed all barracks and missiles adequately but failed the second wave due to clicking too early.

Hm, all right. The options I have are basically "decrease number of meteoroids" or "decrease meteoroid speed"; I'll think about which is more effective. Probably the latter, or a combination.

This is the sort of thing I have trouble judging, just because I've had too much experience with the game to see what's easy or hard for a new player.


Thanks for the feedback! It's very helpful, exactly the sort I'm looking for.

Can we have some graphics other than cheap gradients and Atari 2600 pixels, please? Nothing in the game looks like anything.

Nope!

The game doesn't have an artist, and so my options are in a range between 'abstract programmer art' and 'realistic programmer art'. Honestly, if I was going to do things over again, I'd opt for more abstraction - who complains about the graphics in Tetris, or Geometry Wars?

"This L-piece doesn't even look like anything!"

Bumping for a few fixes. Most notably, I removed the block limit - it was only there for arcane debugging reasons! (Basically!) Check out the new version if that was giving you problems.

The other potentially notable change.

The first one?

Not sure.

I was getting maybe one in three or four.

If you mean the tutorials, the housing tutorial gives a lower conduit ratio, just because you don't really need as many. (Because the scenario comes with all the conduits you need pre-placed; the ones that drop are extra.)

It was pretty neat, although I found the block distribution kind of odd. During the launching minerals phase, I found I almost never got wires, and just stacked up tons of barracks and crap waiting for one to drop

That's very strange. The game pretty much guarantees that you get two conduits for every four blocks. What level was this?

I couldn't play for long though, the colors tend to blend into each other and are generelly quite bright, which makes it difficult for me to see them clearly.

I've added an option to disable glow. Try it out and let me know if it helps.