Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft news & patch notes

Hello mates!

A small update from the workshop: there will be no regular patch this time. No, we have not abandoned the game. Quite the opposite — we are currently sprinting full steam toward release. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f2026c797c3f16530acf04bc505ac14fb12e6b00.gif Right now most of our attention is on the bigger features and changes that we want to bring to you with the release version. That means the usual flow of patch notes may be a bit quieter for a while.

So what about bug fixes?

We are still working on fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and changes based on your feedback. Reports, saves, screenshots, and suggestions from players are still very useful for us, and we will keep rolling out the improvements that make sense to ship now. But the biggest stuff is currently being tested and prepared carefully before release.

And this is where we need your help

If you are curious to see what we are cooking — and would like to help us test it — you can take part in testing a closed version of the game. We will ask you to play a specific part of the game and either:

• record your playthrough for us,
• or answer a written survey after playing.

Both options help us a lot. Watching how real players interact with the game is one of the best ways to catch confusing moments, strange bugs, pacing issues, and all those little “hmm, that robot should not be doing that” situations.

How to join

To take part, follow this link, choose the most convenient way for you to participate, leave your email, and wait for access: SIGN UP FOR THE ACCESS AND GET A PASSWORD: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/dd66f10b2092be2af40e9ea6bc1b5f4d92b4f2b6.png By the way, share in the comments what features you’d like to see in the game. We often hear requests like “add more gameplay,” but we’re not always sure what people specifically mean by that. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please share them. We are very grateful to everyone who wants to help us polish Craftomation 101 before release. Your feedback has already shaped the game in many places, and this final stretch is no different. Thank you for building, testing, breaking things in creative ways, and telling us about it. See you in the snow! Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Sign up for testing the pre-release closed version of the game
• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft/

Hello mates!

A new update for Craftomation 101 has arrived — packed with highly requested quality-of-life improvements, interface upgrades, and bug fixes. Thanks a lot for all the feedback and suggestions you've been sending our way. This update contains several features directly inspired by player requests.

Navigation Improvements

One of the most requested changes is finally here! Now, when switching between robots using the next/previous buttons, robots are selected in the exact order you arranged them inside the navigation menu. No more mysterious robot roulette. Your carefully organized production empire finally respects your organizational genius.

New Hotkey for Craftomat Speed

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/444b6567d468a2010d2e236145515e71d68e197c.png We added a hotkey for switching Craftomat speed settings. Faster automation tweaking, fewer clicks, more science.

Pause / Resume Controls

Added a global pause/resume button for all robots {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/892cd7caafdad4894c9610398c20cbf9207ae479.png Added separate pause/resume controls for individual robots {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/34fa5bdecc137a3e01ac36b7a3731de43ff3cd6b.png Added controls for entire robot groups in the navigation menu Perfect for when one tiny robot decides to become "creative" with your factory layout.

New Code Block Connection Setting

We added a separate option to disable automatic code block connections when placing new blocks. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9cf4b4f81ae523153c0500cdde4643ccb25bec14.png For players who prefer cleaner manual programming control — this one's for you.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed very long loading times for some player save files
• Fixed Get Element behavior for arrays — now works correctly with connected coordinate/type arrays
• Fixed text issues in several menus

Support Craftomation 101 with the Art Pack DLC

If you'd like to support the development of Craftomation 101, please consider checking out the Art Pack DLC! It includes beautiful concept art, wallpapers, development sketches, experiments, and behind-the-scenes materials from the creation of our cozy automation world. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795690/Craftomation_101_Art_Pack/ Stay tuned — more updates are already in development!

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

Hey mates!

We’ve just rolled the Arrays update from beta into the main branch — and once again, your feedback helped us polish it into something much more powerful and convenient to use. Here’s what’s new:

Meet Arrays

Arrays are containers that can hold multiple elements — think of them as a collection of variables grouped together. You can store numbers, positions (coordinates), and even object types inside them. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/601742c5ee8d9529bc430c476d7e9d56592b7be3.png You can now add and edit elements directly inside the array node, making it much easier to manage your data without extra setup.

Working with Arrays

Each element in an array has its own index (starting from 1 in our case), which lets you access and modify it precisely. New commands include:

• Get element: retrieve a value by its index
• Set element: change a value by its index
• Array length: get the total number of elements

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/c66f7e763983c09455cc469ba40e63c89f3f660d.png

Advanced Tab

To keep things clean and organized, all array-related commands (along with Repeater commands from the previous update) have been moved into a dedicated Advanced tab. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2532044861af2f71cc027c4ccbaefcd108783a39.png

Arrays + Functions

And here’s where things get really interesting: Arrays can now be passed into custom functions. This means you can reuse the same logic to process different arrays across multiple robots — or, on the contrary, share one array between different parts of your code. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/60f6272b1817783dc4ac8405c67db97c4180f5d0.png To support this, functions now include:

• Array input: pass an array into a function
• Array output: return an array from a function

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/fe879c1e2434a72ee22126114e96df435235fcad.png This opens up a lot of new possibilities for building scalable and reusable systems. IMPORTANT! WHEN YOU PASS AN ARRAY INTO A FUNCTION, THE FUNCTION RECEIVES A COPY OF IT, WHILE THE ORIGINAL ARRAY REMAINS UNCHANGED.

BTW about robots...

Friends! We make games about robots — but they’re made by people, and for people. Our wonderful soundtrack was composed by the talented Arman Mkhitarian. If you’d like to support the development, you can grab the game’s soundtrack DLC https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795680/Craftomation_101_Soundtrack/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

We’ve added a new feature to the game — Arrays to test IN BETA VERSION.

What is it?

Arrays are containers that can store multiple elements. Think of them as a collection of variables grouped together.

An array can hold:

Numbers

Positions (coordinates)

Object types {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/601742c5ee8d9529bc430c476d7e9d56592b7be3.png You can add and edit elements directly inside the array node.

How it works:

Each element in the array has its own index number. In our implementation, indexing starts from 1.

New array-related commands:

Get Element — retrieve an element by its index Set Element — change the value of an element by its index Array Length — get the total number of elements in the array {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/c66f7e763983c09455cc469ba40e63c89f3f660d.png

Advanced Tab

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2532044861af2f71cc027c4ccbaefcd108783a39.png To keep things organized, we’ve moved array-related commands — as well as Repeater commands from the previous update — into a separate Advanced tab. As always, we’d love to hear what you think!

If you don’t remember how to join the beta, here’s a quick guide:

Step 1

Find the game in your Steam Library, right-click it, and select “Properties.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3b43b87ff5f8861261b725b19fca98639ff67230.png

Step 2

In the pop-up window, select the “Game Versions & Betas” tab. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/6cc242ca75b64473f0ddd79fad64ccb1d7210923.png

Step 3

Select the branch “unstable” and close the window. The correct version will automatically start downloading. Enjoy!

Something broke?

We’d be extremely grateful if you report any issues through the in-game feedback form or on our Discord.

Want to return to the default branch?

No problem! Just repeat Step 1, but this time choose “Default public version” instead of “unstable.” When you restart the game, the “Continue” button will be unavailable, along with your beta saves.

By the way!

Don’t forget—we have a cool art pack for Craftomation 101, featuring over 90 images from throughout the entire development process: early sketches, all existing robot designs (including ones never shown before), and a set of unique wallpapers. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795690/Craftomation_101_Art_Pack/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

Hey mates!

We’ve just merged some exciting beta features into the main branch — and yes, your feedback played a huge part in shaping them. Here’s what’s new and improved:

Meet the Repeater

Think of it like a “for loop”: it lets you repeat a set of actions multiple times. You can set the number of repetitions manually or pull it from a variable. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/1e040391e0387b5404b0d7e0416c68d121794631.png Repeat output: goes to the actions that run on each iteration. End output: leads to the actions that happen after all repetitions are done. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9d58110ade29548e1e07e4164db6c27bdfb39c07.png Optional "To Repeater" block: makes your setups cleaner and easier to read, but isn’t required. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/6f469780237ca2a760a8831c08d52b540d8cd279.png

Stability & bug fixes for Global funcions

We also reviewed the bugs reported after the last update on Global functions. While these fixes aren’t flashy, systems are now more reliable, smoother, and easier to work with. Your setups should feel more predictable and less frustrating.

Bonus: Dive into the world of self-replicating machines

For anyone curious about the bigger picture, remember that we have DLC — Craftomation 101 Mega Map of Self-Replicating Machines — is a giant, printable poster that charts the most important moments in self-replicating machine history. Great for classrooms, office walls, or even as inspiration for your next project. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2832980/Craftomation_101_Mega_Map_of_SelfReplicating_Machines/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft/

We’ve added a new block to the game — Repeater

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/1e040391e0387b5404b0d7e0416c68d121794631.png If you’re familiar with programming, it works just like a for loop: it lets you repeat a piece of logic N times. The number of repetitions can be set manually, or taken from a variable. How it works:

• The Repeat output goes to the actions that should run on each iteration of the loop.
• The End output leads to the actions that should happen after the repeater finishes all its runs.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9d58110ade29548e1e07e4164db6c27bdfb39c07.png For convenience, iteration actions can be ended with a To Repeater block. THIS BLOCK IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL — it doesn’t affect how the logic works. It’s simply there to make your setups cleaner and easier to read. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/6f469780237ca2a760a8831c08d52b540d8cd279.png As always, we’d love to hear what you think!

If you don’t remember how to join the beta, here’s a quick guide:

Step 1

Find the game in your Steam Library, right-click it, and select “Properties.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3b43b87ff5f8861261b725b19fca98639ff67230.png

Step 2

In the pop-up window, go to the “Betas” tab. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/b0597af3ffaf9ae537e680a503dd30fc81e94658.png

Step 3

Under “Beta Participation,” select the branch “unstable” and close the window. The correct version will automatically start downloading. Enjoy! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/77d98f4f7501c72cfbf6532dda93e5df46307334.png

Something broke?

We’d be extremely grateful if you report any issues through the in-game feedback form or on our Discord.

Want to return to the default branch?

No problem! Just repeat Step 1, but this time choose “None” instead of “unstable.” When you restart the game, the “Continue” button will be unavailable, along with your beta saves.

Our DLCs

Friends! We make games about robots — but for people. And games are made by people, too. If you enjoy our soundtracks, please consider supporting the developers and our wonderful composer Arman Mkhitarian by picking up the music DLC. Your support helps us keep making more games (and more music) for you! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795680/Craftomation_101_Soundtrack/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/18775ffe5552d1c8410e56b50f294ef09daed24f.png Hey everyone! New version is here — and this one is all about your requests!

Community-driven improvements:

Meet global functions

You asked, we delivered! Now you can mark your most-used functions as global. A little globe icon in the interface makes it easy to save them, and they’ll be available in every game — no need to rewrite them each time. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0eb2571406151cae941a792fb6c1c257119cd48c.png

Control your campfires

Another popular request: you can now extinguish campfires manually before the fuel runs out. Just use the С button on your keyboard to control your fires!

Rebalanced Command Center objectives

The objectives on new maps have been rebalanced to make them more engaging. Note: to experience the new objectives, you’ll need to start a new game — old saves will keep the previous objectives.

Visual improvements

The tunnel maps now feature falling rocks with smooth animations — much nicer to watch. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f6695be3e7a937f50b2dc67df70c01581bb0f0e0.gif This update is a big thank you to the community — your feedback shapes the game, and we’re thrilled to bring your ideas to life. More updates are coming soon. Stay tuned!

Don’t forget about our amazing DLCs!

For those who love our visuals, remember you can get the special art pack and support the developers. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795690/Craftomation_101_Art_Pack/

Bundle

Also, don’t forget our bundle with Nimbatus is still available — you can get both programming games for yourself or your friends with a 10% discount. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/65502/Space_Programming_Duo/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9b58352d2b5137590da712d118cda6e51a876dc9.png Hey everyone! New version is here — and this one is all about your requests! But before we tell you what’s coming, we want to stress one important thing: THIS UPDATE IS A BETA!!! ONCE AGAIN: BETA! This is an unstable version, potentially full of bugs. It’s for those who really can’t wait to take a look and are ready to help us test it.

Briefly, how to test it:

Step 1

Find the game in your Steam Library, right-click it, and select “Properties.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3b43b87ff5f8861261b725b19fca98639ff67230.png

Step 2

In the pop-up window, go to the “Betas” tab. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/b0597af3ffaf9ae537e680a503dd30fc81e94658.png

Step 3

Under “Beta Participation,” select the branch “unstable” and close the window. The correct version will automatically start downloading. Enjoy! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/77d98f4f7501c72cfbf6532dda93e5df46307334.png

Something broke?

We’d be extremely grateful if you report any issues through the in-game feedback form or on our Discord.

Want to return to the default branch?

No problem! Just repeat Step 1, but this time choose “None” instead of “unstable.” When you restart the game, the “Continue” button will be unavailable, along with your beta saves. To pick up where you left off before joining the beta, just click “Load Game.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/505237d7e4664a8684d335da17d6dd8bdb8e4230.png And now — on to the update!

Community-driven improvements:

Favorites for your functions

You asked, we delivered! Now you can mark your most-used functions as favorites. A little star icon in the interface makes it easy to save them, and they’ll be available in every game — no need to rewrite them each time. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9d86c5a3ff065c87635986ac7b70800550eb707e.png

Control your campfires

Another popular request: you can now extinguish campfires manually before the fuel runs out. Just use the С button on your keyboard to control your fires!

Rebalanced Command Center objectives

The objectives on new maps have been rebalanced to make them more engaging. Note: to experience the new objectives, you’ll need to start a new game — old saves will keep the previous objectives.

Visual improvements

The tunnel maps now feature falling rocks with smooth animations — much nicer to watch. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f6695be3e7a937f50b2dc67df70c01581bb0f0e0.gif This update is a big thank you to the community — your feedback shapes the game, and we’re thrilled to bring your ideas to life. More updates are coming soon. Stay tuned!

Don’t forget about our amazing DLCs!

For those who love our visuals, remember you can get the special art pack and support the developers. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795690/Craftomation_101_Art_Pack/

Bundle

Also, don’t forget our bundle with Nimbatus is still available — you can get both programming games for yourself or your friends with a 10% discount. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/65502/Space_Programming_Duo/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

Hey everyone! A small but important patch is here — version 0.94.2 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/423e586099bd76547c5cd984656d8d847b2c4c95.png

What’s in this update?

Bug fixes

Fixed a major FPS drop on the new tunnel map. This issue occurred when robots were searching for stone in areas covered by snow.

Fixed a bug where the \\n symbol was frequently showing up in in-game texts.

Other changes

Reworked the Command Center objectives on the tunnel map — it should now feel much nicer to play. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/cbf19bd6c2904590dcb072350707adc954bb8d3c.png

Several smaller tweaks and improvements to the new map.

Based on player feedback, we’ve rebalanced the recipes for several campfires to improve overall game balance. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/87302dc74b4597ccd87f278dd45b52789a8c1dff.png As always, thank you so much for your feedback and bug reports — they help us track down issues like these and keep improving the game More updates are coming soon. Stay tuned!

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3bfa852cff9a999f99e3345c7c5993a8085ddbdd.png

Hey everyone!

A tiny but merry update has landed — here’s what’s new this holiday season!

What’s in this update?

We’ve further polished the new tunnel-based map. Tunnel passages now differ in difficulty, and you may even run into rockfalls while digging your way through.

Fixed a number of bugs and issues.

Added new animations for the campfire and for paint puddles — small details, but they add a lot of life to the world.

Just look at the new animations!

First, we added animations for puddles — take a look: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0c68ed5e9459a49b516ad7c834525ebd6f7795c7.gif Second, we updated the existing animations: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/98899a36bacc8444f37d65eca99d4099f251da2c.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/c7fa95b7bda47ba105d0255062575c2bbe3d4d78.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/e8192d570c6a2ee677bf6af5cc8983f0f10fcb0e.gif As always, a huge thank you to everyone who keeps sending us feedback and bug reports — it genuinely helps us make the game better That’s it for now, but more updates are on the way. Stay tuned!

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9d8c31923ac83d301315fcf19cbdb7afcf7ee213.png

Hey friends!

We’re super excited to share something special — our second map is finally here: Tunnelbound. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/60c77ff6d2d3195062fe2430e82cfde1d7d2f0ec.png This map is a bit different from what you’ve seen before. It’s split into small zones, but you won’t just walk into them — you’ll need to dig through tunnels to reach each area. And each zone has its own resources and surprises! As usual, objects and resources on the map are procedurally generated.

Please, help us!

We're very curious: How does the experience of Tunnelbound feel compared to the tutorial map or the circular map? Your feedback matters so much — don’t hold back! Drop your thoughts in the comments here, in Steam reviews, or in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft/ Every opinion helps us make the next map better, because… more maps are coming soon. So stay tuned, don't miss our new major updates.

Don't forget our extra content!

For those who love the atmosphere of a frozen yet cozy planet, remember that you can download our soundtrack. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795680/Craftomation_101_Soundtrack/

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/529fe5da5a7913f44f6c7d8d29eb01d89de4b9fa.png Friends, congratulations! We are finally rolling out to the main branch the update you have been asking for so long — generated maps! First of all, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the beta test and reported bugs! Without you, this update simply wouldn’t have happened.

What has changed compared to the beta?

Oh, a lot!

We added the volcano and sulfate, which stubbornly refused to make it into the beta.

We added a menu where players can choose a map (only one for now) and generate a location on it.

The map you already know from earlier versions is still available, but is now more of a tutorial — the main gameplay now takes place on generated maps.

We fixed a ton of bugs that we might never have learned about if not for you.

More details

The game now has its first generated map. How does it work? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e89c072f4344ca21d14c75da989a488e0839e6c.jpg

You choose a map (there is only one for now, but more will appear with upcoming updates!)

Generate a random seed, or paste in a known one… for example, maybe you or your friend already generated the perfect map and want to replay it forever.

Click “Create Map” — and voilà! The system scatters resources, volcanoes and buildings randomly across the map. For now we only have one radial map, but trust us — we’re just getting started! We’ve finally rebuilt the system to support generated maps, and now the rest is just a matter of content. So stay tuned and watch for updates. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/7ef6256106844d43b5d5796b592211aa48d5bc0a.png

Art

And another big improvement coming with this update — new and improved art, as well as a better randomization system for artwork. But screenshots will probably tell this story better than any words: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3e5be74cc639e64da110809d23f81379b7f33114.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/71bb296b3cdc8915638a12a760d8cb6eb40cf688.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f2bfca48ba5980ddc80c3db50430b34abce0a22b.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/22b0d32d6588e4407ced7d9c7deab796d53d8a3d.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/51d6a591527988cf398c2156ccb9bdf11a5ec79a.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5723df335efa0388f3a421ff5b70ed7ca6a0c739.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/305667d0995c83ac26a0218dc596aaa5037a2120.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/63ffeb6a5641f3e1bee286a9196e222c3543baed.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/87b1b7201a6eccf8e4db660bb77d04d67865acf5.png Stay tuned — new maps for generation are coming very soon!

How to join the development?

Want some more Craftomation 101? We got you! Here's what you can do:

• Suggest your ideas for the game on our Discord server
• Help us translate the game into your native language
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow studio news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter
• Leave a comment under a video of your favorite content maker, to let them know about the game
• Sign up for our Newsletter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/96b5f0949f012f9b3c324e16669bcab1614b349c.png Hey friends! Hello to everyone who’s been eagerly waiting for the new maps — and is ready to help us make them better. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/994935b53b3660ac2c41d90e1dfcc8656429f670.jpg After so many weeks of struggles and bug fixing, the maps are finally seeing the light of day — as part of beta testing! Let us emphasize once again: this is a beta. Beta. BETA!!! Which means it’s an unstable version released on a separate branch, first tested by brave volunteers. That means it may work poorly, crash, or not launch at all — and we really need to know about every such case. But don’t worry: if you ever get tired of testing, you can always roll back to the main (stable) branch. So, if you’re in — here’s how to join the beta and test our long-awaited maps:

Step 1

Find the game in your Steam Library, right-click it, and select “Properties.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3b43b87ff5f8861261b725b19fca98639ff67230.png

Step 2

In the pop-up window, go to the “Betas” tab. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/b0597af3ffaf9ae537e680a503dd30fc81e94658.png

Step 3

Under “Beta Participation,” select the branch “unstable” and close the window. The correct version will automatically start downloading. Enjoy! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/77d98f4f7501c72cfbf6532dda93e5df46307334.png

Something broke?

We’d be extremely grateful if you report any issues through the in-game feedback form or on our Discord.

Want to return to the default branch?

No problem! Just repeat Step 1, but this time choose “None” instead of “unstable.” When you restart the game, the “Continue” button will be unavailable, along with your beta saves. To pick up where you left off before joining the beta, just click “Load Game.” {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/505237d7e4664a8684d335da17d6dd8bdb8e4230.png Goog luck with testing, we hope you enjoy the maps!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/e0dd5c4b62679ce0a6f298d59af42e7b4da0842b.png Hey everyone! We’ve been quiet for a while — no devlogs, no updates — and that’s because we’ve been completely buried in developing the new maps you’ve been asking for. We thought we’d release the update on Tuesday or Wednesday. But, as it sometimes goes in game development, everything suddenly broke. Like, everything. So here we are on Thursday — knee-deep in bugs. Instead of an update, please enjoy a short compilation of the funniest issues we ran into while trying to add something the game was never originally designed to handle.

Where the chaos came from

First, a bit of context: our game maps may look 2D, but under the hood, they’re layered like a cake. There are multiple layers for different things — snow, grass, resources, and so on. While we were digging through this mess, we even found a mysterious mold layer. We honestly can’t remember why it was ever added, but apparently it’s been sitting in the game this whole time. Imagine that!

The funniest bugs we found:

We’ll spare you the most technical details, but here are a few highlights from our personal hall of shame:

The command center’s arm suddenly detached and started wandering around the map on its own — like Thing from The Addams Family. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/fcdfae2ee7b10d55cbdc56ab45f5d74942330000.jpg

Map loading broke spectacularly. Some of the layers got mixed up and overlapped, turning our map into a glorious Frankenstein creation: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/134011c588b44332c39f84a199d6c564f92f1eea.jpg

Objects started piling up on top of each other during map loading. Let’s just say it looked… chaotic. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/51d8df798eff4b6453ddbe716bf30768d78aa8ad.jpg

And finally, a bug that taught us a good lesson. When we first wrote the logic for buildings (like breweries) and large objects (like volcanoes), we didn’t plan for them to ever move. So technically, we could only make new maps if they were the same size and layout as the old ones. To fix that, we had to completely rewrite the old system and make buildings fully modular — so they can exist anywhere, on any map. Moral of the story for fellow devs: always go for component-based design. Treat each system as a black box you can move wherever you like. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/25ba7e47f982ddf3843daf27d35dda299804758f.png

What’s next?

We’re now fixing all these bugs and plan to release a beta version with maps next week. Stay tuned so you don’t miss it!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/3d5132050258f92f42392ddec76da7ff624902c6.png Hi mates! It’s been a while since we last updated you on Craftomation 101, but it's all better now: we have returned to our regular schedule of 1 update per 2-4 weeks, and the plan is to keep them coming. Today, we’ll walk you through everything that’s happened in the game since… March? Oh boy. We started with migrating to a new engine version, 1.10.0. Which is always quite risky — you never know what might break. This time, screen zooming started working incorrectly, which meant the camera couldn’t show half of the map, and on top of that, the game wouldn’t even launch on macOS. To make things worse, the issue didn't reproduce on displays with 100% scaling, so it took some time to figure out what the players were complaining about at all. But in the end, we tracked down the problem and fixed everything. With that out of the way, we added one small feature that made Craftomation 101 50% more programmerly — we’ve added the block with comments. One little feature for a patch note, and a huge leap for those players who are into serious coding (which turns into hell without having an opportunity to comment). Then there's DYNAMITE! Yeah, you can now blow up tiles of land, temporarily removing snow out of it. It doesn't do much, but hey - destruction is fun, and we all know it. Let us know if you want more explosive features in the game, will you? Remember, we prioritize features based on your feedback! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5549bf2761045044edadb07d8fe833382064b36f.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5cbf1a7d69e28f6a7eb6eb521153b2c07c85c1dd.gif With the next little tweak, we wanted to make players’ lives harder and more fun at the same time by adding more sense of progression. So we limited chests in the game by volume. As it sometimes (very often) happens, this change dragged along a bunch of other reworks. At first, players complained that the storage capacity was too small, so in the next update we increased the maximum size. And naturally, while making these adjustments, we ran into some bugs — as you can see in the screenshot below, something went terribly wrong with the chest art sizes. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/389bad6992d75ef651704e28b733009e2f018725.png Another problem was that replacing a small chest with a larger one turned into a real headache: the player couldn’t move a chest that already had items inside. At the same time, the situation where you want to place a bigger chest in the exact same spot and move the same items there happens pretty often. After analysing your generous feedback on Steam forums and our Discord server, we made it so you can now simply drag a bigger chest onto a smaller one to replace it — no more tedious back-and-forth item transferring! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/a44d1cde7fe0c6a685f8f291c12accf2cdf3b35e.gif We’ve also made lots of other cool small improvements, especially in the interface (though the biggest UI update is still ahead — we’ll talk about that in future posts). We also added plenty of new sounds and tweaked the balance to make life a bit easier for players. After all, we can’t only make things harder — like we did with those storage units! And now for the most exciting part — what’s next? The big UI/UX update was already mentioned. The next big thing is sitting in the game's main menu for a while - more maps! It is one of the most requested features, and we're excited to bring it to you. We're now considering ways of adding procedurally generated maps but maybe we'll start with more pre-made maps. Anyway, here's Alex the artist's vision for your (and our) inspiration: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5ba7f959adf2de5836dd55e4721ba1d2f5e98592.png Next on the list was that annoying feature when you programmed a robot to, say, make batteries and carry them to storage — but then the storage got moved by accident, and the robot just froze. That happened because in its code, the robot was told to deliver the fire to a specific spot on the map, not to “the firebone” itself. Also fixed now! The decision — the arrays of campfires, chests, and other objects. Remember how the moving campfires or storage units could mess up your whole game? With arrays, you’ll always know exactly where each campfire or storage is. We can’t share all the details just yet, but we hope you’ll like it. To quote one of the greatest robots of all times - Bender B. Rodriguez - we're back, baby! Stay tuned for more news!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/7b6af01c598fa66eb98175a954113cd6c905ffd2.png Hey friends! The 256th day of the year is also known as Programmer's Day! That's today. A huge kudos to all the knights of ones and zeroes, present-day, former, and wannabes alike! Without you, there would be no video games! If coding at work is not enough for you (we get it) - did you know that there's a dedicated page on Steam's programming games? Check it out:

Browse Programming games on Steam

As for our own programming games - you know where to find them: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3818770/SuperWEIRD https://store.steampowered.com/app/619150/while_True_learn https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101_Programming__Craft https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/ Last but not least, here's one for those who fuel our programming power by providing an endless amount of internet memes - the cats! The furry muses of Luden.io say hi: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/9a2223438537a917928771cea55dee3ed3363c9c.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/69087b5814465abee5424f918355dab06ddf1605.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/64b3dc5324eb73619ae0b83cf2204893360d8aea.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/2db367e9e23cd7cfe5ea65b0d4207f867b2c2de6.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/eb26f55bc4184f9b96db7cdb0206082c5eb67306.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/97214e627210ec03ee74d0c9e0dc101bfad88e44.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/5bc429151adaa3135074a0651a508e1a07ad9ae7.jpg Happy coding, everyone!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/cb8323aef38e68d50d41a2523d5d5da13c88320d.png Hey mates! A little teaser about bigger things: we've now started working on one of the most requested features from the game, which we will start showing and discussing with you very soon. We will tell nothing more for now. Instead, we'll show our artist's vision of it: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2277481462e0e1bfdcf02d42fc66b1677fed535a.jpg But big features take some time, so while you're waiting, we’ve released yet another new update with tweaks based on your feedback. Here’s what’s new:

New Sounds

Last week, we added a bunch of new sounds to make the game feel more alive. You’ll now hear audio cues for resource gathering, mistakes, dragging items, and more.

Campfire Upgrades

The main highlight of this patch is new upgrades for campfires:

• Two upgrades now increase campfire duration by 25% each, for a total of +50%.
• Campfire balance has been revised: early game campfires now burn longer.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/733832dfb78437d8e7fbf5364553678f91b0ff69.png These changes were made based on player feedback.

Bug Fixes

As always, we fixed some minor bugs to improve your experience. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want more Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/59bf55953d3f2ce18aa7b17a80ede52f15af5700.png Hey mates! We’ve got a fresh update for you! It’s not huge, but it’s packed with improvements that will make your experience smoother and more fun. Check out the details below!

v0.91 Released!

Added logging to help us react to bugs faster and keep the game running smoothly

Introduced notification windows so we can communicate important info and tips directly in-game {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2d295ddb00d24b404285b9caffddbf923fde355f.gif

You can now upgrade a full chest by simply dragging a bigger chest onto it—no more hassle! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/a44d1cde7fe0c6a685f8f291c12accf2cdf3b35e.gif

Finally fixed that tricky bug where robots had more charge than they should Thanks for sticking with us and sharing your feedback—it really helps us make the game better! See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/e0701e1e18b55d65d825d2e176c3544758d22d8a.png Hey mates! Finally we've got a content update for you! It may not be big, but it sure is hot! One could say that it will blow your mind! More explosive details below. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5549bf2761045044edadb07d8fe833382064b36f.gif

v0.90 Released!

• Added new Objects: Dynamite and the Thermal Bomb. Both of them temporarily warm out frozen areas, with Thermal Bomb having larger radius and power
• Object wiki items order was re-arranged to become more comprehensive
• Storage unit capacity increased, thanks to your feedback
• Game engine version updated
• Fixed a bug which caused Objects to disappear when a player tried to drag and drop it to a cell, occupied by anothere Object
• The names of selected programming blocks were slightly changed to make them more obvious
• Fixed a bug that caused game camera to teleport to the corner of the map upon loading a saved game
• Fixed a bug that caused incorrect display of the area of effect for heat-generating Objects
• Fixed a bug that didn't allow moving the game field with a mouse, if a Craftomate was selected

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/5cbf1a7d69e28f6a7eb6eb521153b2c07c85c1dd.gif See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/b921b389352bda677c692af15c5964152f62b040.png Wow, it's been some kind of a break. But we're moving forward!

v0.89 Released!

• To spice things up, Storage units no longer hold infinite amount of items
• Instead, there are now 3 tiers of Storage with the limits of 50, 200 and 1000 units
• In existing saved games, all Storage units will be replaced to the ones with maximum capacity
• UI/UX improvements: the buttons that can be pushed are now visually distinguishable
• Dragging a robot into a group no longer causes map scrolling
• Minor bug fixes

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f2efd5639824d5c2b22c433d92f1a929aa2498bc.png NB: Due to technical stuff, Mac version will arrive in a couple of days... Sorry about that! See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/ For the cherry on top, here's a video with an unofficial soundtrack made by danjvi. Consider having it for your new lo-fi tune for working/studying:

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/a776da45215430688e6da3c373bde45e3abb4fb3.png Hey everyone! We hope that you're having a great Summer Sale, and your Steam library is full of awesome new games (again). As for us, we've got some exciting news of our own! For one, while True: learn() is expected to become a part of exposition in a hi-tech museum in Antwerpen (that's in Belgium) Craftomation 101, in turn, is getting a lift-up in the UI/UX department: we've hired professional designer to make the game shine, and she's doing an awesome job: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38078557/14c107a551992f4c151aafb7a25fcd441e8b1e04.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38078557/5d6e57e7470444992ad2ff50f8766563a3d4a8c2.gif The next update for that game is just around the corner! As for Learning Factory, it now comes with a controller support, which kind of makes it one of the friendliest factory-building games out there: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38078557/97143333553c15e2dbf68214a4312ebd29dcfa18.png Last but not least: have you heard of our new games? One of them is called SuperWEIRD. It's a tower defense adventure with automation and some resource management, and it looks exacly as the name suggests: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31382118/a0e0be81ec3da01d623fac906dbf2f5c1a1b13ac.png So many games, huh? Are we allowed to wear game publisher hats now? Just kidding, we're still keeping things simple, with all games being done by less than 20 people. So we're still your friendly neighborhood indie devs, who will do their best to bring you tons of fun! We'll get back to it now. Until we meet again! P.S. We're also doing tons of videos on our YouTube channel these days, so there's no reason to not subscribe for it. See you there!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/c40125df3b22002127a778950ceea883c1c74447.png Hey mates! We're slowly returning to our regular updating schedule, so stay tuned for more news! As of today, here's a nice little list of patch notes: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/dcc312393e4ba390445dcbe45e2dc1751b39d961.png

v0.88 Released!

• Added comment block, as seen in real-life programming languages
• Updated zooming in the Editor
• Updated GPT translations
• Fixed a bunch of bugs around achievements

See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/a77351fdd434f88f6f5a17ffdcf4b19506e5ef6f.png Hey, mates! Today, we'd like to talk about New Year's resolutions. We know it's almost the end of February, but time flies! Besides, we actually made our resolutions back in December. At that time, Ivan the programmer was coming up with a big plan of features and tweaks we'd like to introduce to Craftomation 101 before the v1.0 release. We already mentioned certain ideas from this master plan in our previous piece but we have developed these ideas since, and had them entered in a document - that's how serious we are! Here, we've even made a (quite literally) shiny new art for the Steam page: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/cff762cd5a6e85e2ded77aeca1feb722c473df33.jpg Here's the old one, so you can compare them and see that we mean business: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9b59af091acc2c00f1d0d965277bad728a5de511.png Below, you will find some highlights from our list of next features. Some of them are definitely making their way to the game. Others still need to be tested to make sure they're fun. But we're equally excited to try out all of them, and we hope you'll have a fun ride along with us!

Some things that (most likely) will appear in Craftomation 101 before v1.0

• There are plans to replace the Sulfur source with an entity codenamed Research Center. Details will follow. Some day
• More programming tools, definitely: conditional searching, debugging, advanced interaction between CraftoMates, global Variables, and much more
• The Brewery will become mobile and more compact
• Brewable items will become applicable to heating elements, organics, and maybe some other stuff on the map
• Unique heating elements in each climate zone
• New Storage mechanics: limited Storage capacity, an ability to rename Storage units and empty them quickly. We don't yet know if it will be fun to play; we'll discuss it with you when it's there!
• Dynamite and the ability to throw items
• Fishing (because it makes everything better)
• Flying CraftoMate (AirMate? FlyingMate? The name is TBD, send your ideas to our Discord server!)

We're also experimenting with new animations, details of which we're not yet ready to share… however, we can show some WiP stuff instead: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f2026c797c3f16530acf04bc505ac14fb12e6b00.gif But you know how New Year's resolutions are: sometimes they don't get done. That said, this list is not a commitment, just an array of features from our to-do plan. It will be fun to check on this list again in a year or so and see how things will have turned out! What is definitely happening - is the new look for the UI. Finally, we have moved on from making our own efforts and called an actual UI/UX designers, so now they're making this: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/7385333c08f9e05be4e45588493c5aafef2df38f.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0146b5af799c4fd5c5bbec5732270f8db9b245a7.jpg

New Dev in Town

Please welcome Andrei, our newest mate on the team, helping us push Craftomation 101 beyond the current boundaries! Here's his short bio: Name: Andrei Fenderov Occupation: programming, prototyping Works on: experimenting with web platforms and potential next games concepts Favorite games: disco elysium, outer wilds, minecraft, cyberpunk, the talos principle Favorite IDE: coding directly in Defold, because it's easier to switch between working with in-game objects and writing the code. Outside of work, it's VSCode What makes a good game: Who knows! I like it when the game allows you to feel as part of a fantasy world, no matter the way - be it the means of gameplay or the good connection between the art and the sound, or the fascinating story Other interests: painting, crafting silly presents, cooking, hanging out with cool people!

***

The year is young, and we have lots of things we'd like to improve in Craftomation 101. Thanks for being with us, and please: don't hesitate to share your thoughts about the game, the Universe, and everything. Until we meet again!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/6dba83fa3c22eafbb7b055acb07d5ab21203eb4f.png Hey, mates! This edition of our developer diaries is quite deliberately named after the iconic (and totally fake) robot holiday from Futurama. Because it's the holiday season, and robots are playing a growingly important role in our lives, they deserve a holiday of their own, don't you agree? You can post your ideas for alternative names in the comments, and we'll keep telling the story of Craftomation 101. It was quite an important year for us, as the game was released into Early Access on Steam. Even more so, it started coming into shape, thanks to your generous feedback and a bit of hard work. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2724b430daa527325ec21a129978aef457bdb2ba.png About a month ago we released the coolest update for the game so far. It is so cool that it introduced 2 new types of frozen areas for you to warm out. This system is a result of weeks of experiments and it comes to replace the infamous Thorns (along with a weird thing called Ancient Ice). After many experiments with them we came to the idea that progressively colder areas felt more intuitive. So now the planet is effectively more icy and even more lifeless. We hope you enjoy it! That also led to rebalancing existing heating elements, such as Bonfires and Furnaces. We even introduced new visuals for their area of operation - and then changed it again in another update, for your convenience. Now the preview shows the final state of the affected tiles, instead of the heating level change (which makes sense with the new climate zone system): {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/61803e8539c199cbe17ea3172a1d80ef33227e6c.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/cceaf0bb559e1b2c1f6892f1c4ed79444857f673.png Heating elements will keep evolving further. We have spent a lot of time drafting a content plan for the game. Although the details may and will change as we go, we now know the general direction in which we will be heading. More on that below. The biggest mission for the next few months will be to build a more fluent system of objectives. One target effect is to bring together various gameplay mechanics that sometimes feel like they work independently in their present state. For example, remember the Sulfur Source? Once you unlock it, it's kinda just… sitting there. Which is a behavior expected from a mineral but it is not very fun. So, since managing that zone also implies working with various kind of organics, our idea is to replace the Source with something more alive. A giant tree? A giant forest? A wise giant turtle (not likely)? Ideas are very welcome: let us know in the comments or on our Discord server! Introducing this… thing will most likely lead to a separate line of objectives which will not be like the ones given out by the Command Center at the moment. One of the concepts we're going to experiment with is to ask for a certain amount of items to be provided per second, in the hope of motivating the players to experiment with balancing harvesting and crafting various objects. Another idea for new kinds of tasks is procedural goals - when a player will be asked to provide a random-ish number of random-ish items and write a program for CraftoMates, that will allow them to properly detect what needs to be delivered. Proceeding to the Volcano will also imply a new structure for the objectives though this is still rather early in the works. But what's definitely coming soon is several new types of heating elements, so you could experiment more with the new climate zones and optimize heat levels in different parts of the map. We do have a long backlog of ideas that we have plans to experiment with next year. Like adding more minor mechanics that will let interact with the environment in different fun ways (one word: dynamite!). The Brewery could use a renovation, both in terms of mechanics and visuals. And we still owe you that bonfire-carrying ability for CargoMates! It's coming, too. Highly likely. It was a good year for Craftomation, and the year 2025 is promising to be even more interesting. Happy Holidays, mates, especially to those of you celebrating Robanukah! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/8217c6417cdb5294e2a04ee5f38997c9e09d2c25.png

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/4593fd5efd7585ca061d9c4ce2e77731ed960ed2.png Hey mates! Here's the latest update for Craftomation 101, which fixes some important stuff: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/61803e8539c199cbe17ea3172a1d80ef33227e6c.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/cceaf0bb559e1b2c1f6892f1c4ed79444857f673.png

v0.87 Released!

• We've changed the display of work range for heating elements to make it less frustrating. It now shows exactly the result of placing a heating element on a tile
• Optimized pathfinding for robots in case of an error
• Fixed the bug that sometiomes caused a CraftoMate to freeze upon executing a Function
• Fixed the bug that caused Command Center to shrink into total disappearance if a player placed a Storage unit with demanded items in front of it
• Fixed the bug that caused incorrect of display of the number of discovered items in the wiki
• Fixed a number of other bugs

See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/7483cc21145fcc675be9c753b409d7d743876b1a.png Hey mates! We promised you that in our last developer diaries, and here it is! The new cold and heating system is now in the game, and we can't wait to hear what you think of it! More on that below. Warning: Unfortunately, this new system changes the game so much that the older saves are incompatible. We added an option to convert old saves and make them playable in the current version, but doing so may result in bugs (errors, not insects) emerging on your map. We apologize for any inconvenience, Early Access can be a bumpy ride (to making an awesome game)... {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/2724b430daa527325ec21a129978aef457bdb2ba.png

v0.86 Released!

• The map is now divided into 3 climate zones, each one progressively colder than the next one: the first is as cold as the map used to be, the next one is 10 times as cold, and the last one is 100 times colder
• Subsequently, Bonfires, Furnaces, and Heaters were rebalanced, so more advanced heating elements would be more efficient in colder areas
• More powerful heating elements can also be used in colder areas to warm them out more efficiently
• The display of heated areas and the heat map were improved to better show the areas, warmed out by heating elements
• Great news for everyone who were frustrated by Thorns: they are gone for good! And so is the Ancient Ice. Don't hesitate to celebrate it!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/7f52124e1f62a7665768cb26d8ecffe3e4efc629.png See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/d02ce06a6d9280ed14ac08f3657be84e2022cb53.png Hey mates! While we're working on some major new gameplay features, please enjoy this update that brings a lot of optimization to the game.

v0.85 Released!

• Fixed the situation that was causing performance drops during the first seeconds of the game
• Optimized heat map render that now works faster on weaker computers
• Optimized the system for updating Objects on the map which improved the overall game performance
• Added an upgrade to the upgrade tree which expands the battery capacity of your robots (and auto recharges all existing robots once you unlock it, as a bonus)
• Fixed the bug that caused issues when trying to connect a Variable to 'compare' block
• Fixed the bug that caused issues when using a Fuction as a "dictionary"
• Fixed the old bug that caused connection lines between programming blocks appear on top of everything else in the work field
• Game engine version updated
• Added commmunity translation into Hungarian

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0f13175b0a2bb61040c1d5d9da09d2456b085698.png See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/18aa1ae7fc5f3876a21caec4a70e09c1e1356ac2.png Hey, mates! The last couple of months were pretty intense for Craftomation 101. We got featured on Steam's main page for a while, we participated in a programming-themed event (that also got featured on the main page). But most importantly, we released not one but two major updates, in which we introduced new mechanics, reworked the old ones, and added some long-awaited QoL improvements. It's been a wild ride, so let's try and summarize it all up. It sounds somewhat ironic but we quite literally started this cycle of development by dealing with weeds. Those thorns that we had initially introduced to add more challenge to the game, turned out to be in the specter between annoying and frustrating. So now there's an option to permanently deal with those pesky Bushes, or use them as a source of Thorns that can now be used for producing Fire. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/9814e7bf3789c62f33105186bdf9ef8abffd7740.jpg But adding new ways to deal with Thorns (including a special brew known as ‘Uproot Beer’) has not solved the problem of them being frustrating, Thorns still felt out of place. Reinventing them would mean creating the whole gameplay mechanics from scratch. The initial goal of introducing Thorns was to add more challenge to the game and stimulate the players to warm out map tiles more efficiently. So, after weeks of discussions, we remembered similar mechanics from earlier prototypes. We’re now about to introduce a new system of snow, in which some areas will be more frozen than others. Here’s a work-in-progress example of how it will look: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/dfe017267273fdbbdbe2ee8968b9467ec75850d4.jpg This would mean rebalancing the Bonfires and improving the heat map but this system looks and plays more intuitively than the current mechanics. With it in place, the Thorns (and also Ancient Ice) will most likely disappear from the game in one of the next updates, so take your time to say goodbyes! As for another mechanic that we introduced in September, it’s a keeper. We mentioned them more than once already but now you can finally try them for yourself: Ale Sprinklers disperse whatever Ale you load into it at an area on the map. This opens a whole new level of organizing your base: create dedicated areas near the resource where CraftoMates work faster? Sure, do that! To enrich this part of the game we changed the effect of Primordial Ale: now it slowly replenishes the battery of your robots for 2% per second, for 45 seconds. Wanna try making an area with auto-charging for your CraftoMates? By all means, do that too! And then, of course, there're new programming tools. The ‘uncombine’ command allows you to disassemble an Object into its’ components. We also added 'any object' and 'nothing' categories to Object categories (e.g. in Variables): you can now make a bot check whether its' hands are empty, whether a selected tile contains Objects, etc. CargoMates have dedicated commands for checking the amount of items in their backpacks. Oh, and in one of the next updates they'll learn to drag Bonfires around, too (although they don't look very excited by this idea): {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/4899c5771bf3098f77c5271315dd8641e804d2ca.png Last but not least: let's talk about those UI/UX improvements. The word around indie devs today is that in 2024 users are becoming more demanding of the quality of Early Access titles. Craftomation 101, on the other hand, is an old school, ‘polish it as you go’ kind of an Early Access game. That means some pretty obvious and intuitive features take months to implement - sometimes due to technical limitations of the engine, sometimes because we get too carried away by improving the gameplay.

• But we're getting there! Here's a brief list of improvements we made in the past few months:
• ‘Ctrl + Z’ and ‘Ctrl + Shift + Z’ now work in the Editor (oh yeah!!!)
• Smoother camera zooming due to the release of a native camera module in Defold
• You can now input numbers as arguments for variables from the keyboard (can you believe it?!)
• We also added an option to input custom names for Variables and connectors of Functions

Oh, and for your convenience, there's now an option from the main menu that allows you to get unlimited progression points, so you could get the full set of programming options from the start, if you wish so. This feature becomes available after you unlock Sulfur Source at least once during a playthrough. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/fb5622822fc52fe97813ff935e590d85fa888737.png And if, on the contrary, you need more guidance in the early parts of the game, we have frozen not one, but two CraftoMates on the map, who have a premade programs installed in them: for your inspiration and maybe occasional copy-pasting. We also added ‘fog of war’ into the wiki and the tooltips, which looks surprisingly good and intriguing: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/a2260a9c1dcd3413e9224462007ad6d3b2370081.jpg As for the near future, we're up to something really exciting: we are now discussing the narrative structure of the game. After studying the feedback and playing the game again and again for a couple of weeks, we feel that this is the kind of motivation that Craftomation 101 is currently lacking. We still have to figure out how it will work though, and we'll make sure to let you know as soon as we've come up with a decision. Our Discord server is the place if you want to hear about it first and discuss it with us. See you in the next edition of our developer diaries!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/08a4c8f4db5b5d9ad48e6ef4c4e982d9c6689644.png Hey mates! This content update comes with a new frozen robot, more flexibility for Variables and vital QoL improvements: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/fb5622822fc52fe97813ff935e590d85fa888737.png

v0.84 Released!

• Added functional 'Ctrl + Z' and 'Ctrl + Shift + Z' keyboard shortcuts! Small step for game development, huge leap for QoL: this was one of the most frequently requested features from the community, and it's finally here!
• Added another frozen CraftoMate with premade code: it's found near the Sulfur source and it will help you deal with those annoying rock piles that are blocking the way
• Added 'any object' and 'nothing' categories to Object categories (e.g. in Variables): you can now make a bot check whether its' hands are empty, whether a selected tile contains Objects, etc.
• Added 'fog of war' to the wiki, that conceals Objects not yet discovered by the player
• Bug fixes

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/1e1e5ce372be70b714326eb677990f88a17336d1.png See you in a couple of weeks, when the next update rolls out! And if you haven't done it already, please don't forget to add Craftomation 101 to your wishlist, it is an important marker to us, that brings the game's release closer: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/f75a0f61a8184858c3a22e9a12a9005714d7a799.gif https://store.steampowered.com/app/1724140/Craftomation_101/

---------------------- How to get more involved?

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41979260/0e5123e9d04a7ef569c5d447881ff98fe8c927d1.jpg If you want Craftomation 101, we got you! Here's what you can do:

• Join our Discord server, find your mates and chat with us, the devs
• Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest Craftomation-related news
• Follow Craftomation 101 on Twitter