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Just do be clear that I understand correctly: By 'button' you don't mean a button on the keyboard? Because that would feel kinda cheaty. I guess, you mean a special block, that the user placed, which is then pushed by pistons in a distinct pattern? That would be something I can get behind and is actually a very good idea! Maybe have some easier pattern, like squares of two for wires, or the fibonacci sequence for pistons and make it increasingly more difficult for more sophisticated items. I think, I will call it the 'Lazy Block' due to obvious reasons. It would also be a good place to hide some eastereggs, given it's not easily readable in the code. I'd need at least have a compiled WASM build, to not make it too trivial to find, but a server client model would be ideal for this. Also I think that a live service approach with scalable backend infrastructure would be inevitable, when approaching infinite maps, since client hardware would at some point reach its performance limits with expanding player bases.

Of course, I'd like to keep the open source approach, because the game would benefit much of it and players should always be able to play the game in singleplayer mode offline.

Given the maps will be a lot bigger in future builds, I definitely see practical purposes. I am thinking about fully automated mining operations, where bases will expand basically on their own. I think it's possible. For example, I designed a mining operation, that is capable of mining a resource patch on its own via a little walker unit. It will mine one strip of 24 items, then return to the base, where it's unloaded, the items are sorted, and it will then continue to mine the next strip of resources. Right now I am working on making the approach more feasible for early game and redesign the miner unit for automated construction. The next step in this regard would be mass storage of blocks on the map and production chains, that will be able to mass produce simple standardized circuits in units, which will be stored as well and reused in the production of more sophisticated units. God, I am using more time playtesting the game than actually developing it. I hope, that's a good thing?

I see, that all of this is of course not trivial to new players. I guess it's my job, to gradually lead players to realize what is even possible in this game. I'd have to extend the zachlike missions a lot, but before this, I have to know myself, where everything of this should lead, and if my vision stated above is possible at all. Thank you so much for your input on this and making me reflect. I really appreciate it!

That paragraph of yours about competition/tournament mode reminded me of the many minecraft modpacks, where it was possible to play the game in so many different ways, sometimes with strict, metroidvania-like progression, other times with open sandbox vibe. As stated earlier, I am very open to modding and hope some people will at some point come up with some fun derivatives, where the game gets a whole new direction.

So I will definitely check out the wire mechanic in terraria. I may add some to our base and wire up some pressure plates in front of our storage with those dart traps on the other end. Just some slight griefing on a friendly basis, you know.

I'll also try out the elevator glitch. This sounds fun!

No worries. I guess it's my job to make the UI as comprehensible as possible. Right now it's all over the place anyways. Good enough for a prototype, but needs some rework for later versions. Also it's designed with mobile devices in mind, since too much logic games lack the capability to enjoy a good engineering session in horizontal position with your feet up imho. And with this game it's only half the fun, if I cannot take it with me to the sofa or outside to touch some grass. So I am well aware about the performance aspect and trying to accommodate for potatoes as well.

I fully get your sentiment about creative mode. In fact, we're doing a playthrough of terraria right now. For me being a newbie, apart from 2D platformer not being my favorite genre, it boils down to: mine resources, craft better gear, kill boss, repeat with better resources. If there are any interesting mechanics (I don't know honestly), I guess our veteran is doing all the fun and heavy lifting in this aspect. So not really challenging for me and rather repetitive.

I loved the ex nihilo mods in minecraft skyblocks! In combination with other mods, skyblocks created this vibe:

- I built all of this myself from only one tree!

- I learned and applied many different gamemechanics to make all of this progress!

I love it, but it's not exactly the vibe I am aiming for in this game, but rather:

- There are this 2-3 mechanics. Let's see what I can build from only this!

- There may be other players out there. I want to explore and show off what I've got and also interact with and learn from others.

I can see a skyblocks like approach in this game with an empty map, but it would require a lot more different game mechanics, than only these two, that there are now. I think, I have to reflect on this a little more, maybe I'll come up with something. Or someone else does. Right now, the game is open source and of course I am open to modding, since tech heavy games always profit from it enormously.

For this game I see two scenarios:

1. Singleplayer as is. Customizable world size, pause- and steppable timeline. This already exists, but as you say, resources will be very limited and other than cleaning the map, there's no incentive to build something really complex.

2. Multiplayer. Infinite world grid, continuous timeline. Players will design their machines in creative mode, save them to blueprints and then drop them into the live MMO, using up the resources already colleted by the player. Blueprints will require some time to place, proportional to the number of parts used and only one will place at a time, others are in a waiting queue. Players should not be forced to rebuild their creations 1:1 tediously in multiplayer, but there still should be an incentive to automate production of various units via different means e.g. with printer units that walk through unit frames and print a predefined logic right into it.

Also I am thinking about multiple dimensions. The first one being peaceful, where every player has their own claim(s), can explore and expand, interact with other players via trading etc. Another dimension with pvp enabled, meaning players can claim ground by walking over it with their units and only then can place more units onto this ground. Also blocks of other players will be claimable, either by pushing it or by entering the units, I don't know yet. More different dimensions can be added when expanding the game further.

Does this at least somehow resonate with you or not at all?

Learning from successful games, and integrating into their own work what works well should be nothing to hate, but rather a skill every decent gamedev should apply.

So I will definitely extend the tutorials in some way.

As you suggest, a tutorial zone with better visual cues for the basic mechanics would be best in the beginning.

Later on, missions should be rather optional, but provide either additional lategame items, like the mover and collector to speed up progression, or just add a way to escape the current open world gameflow, to enter a strict, goal oriented, zachlike intermezzo, since working on a survival project can be quite lengthy at times. Also people could save their creations as blueprints and this way working on their survival progression as well. Or design missions themselves to share with other players. A mission designer is already implemented and ready, although I am still working on it to add more features atm.

I will check out the Introversion series, since I already had the concern, that this game may shift away too much in the mid/endgame from designing logic circuits to a 4x playstyle. Fortunately, I don't have an issue with not playing the game, since I am playtesting it for hours and hours now, on and off over the course of the last months.

Thank you so much for your insights and your references!

Thank you so much for your detailed comment!

There is a help section in the main menu (although incomplete). Did you see that? If not, I maybe have to move it somewhere more prominent.

The tutorial zone is a good idea, I will look into that.

I am planning to increase mapsize to a lot bigger and make this an MMO. But this will still require a lot of work and optimization.

If you are inclined to build some more complex mechanics, you may activate creative mode via the main menu (the button above the Run/Pause button) and build without resource limit. If you are looking for a more sophisticated challenge, some mechanics I have built are:

- Pulse Limiter

- Set Reset Latch

- T Latch

- 3 bit counter: I managed to cram that all into one unit without nesting units. Incoming signals must be only 1 tick long.

- A counter, that fires 1 pulse after counting 8 pulses, also no nested units.

- A walker: a structure that propels itself through the world without outside intervention. Bonus points, if you make it turn around when hitting something solid.

- A puller: a walker, that can pull another block

- 50 bit sequencer: a single unit that can receive, hold and dispense a sequence of 50 consecutive blocks in order. It consists of about 1000 blocks and has up to 4 levels of nested units (excluding the parent unit). I am sure, this can be built more efficiently. Right now I am designing a mechanic that is able to duplicate the sequence read from an existing sequencer. The duplication mechanism already works. I am still working on the recovery mechanism, that transports the needed resources into the duplication mechanism. The duplicator already has more than 3000 single blocks.

You can find the solutions to the challenges in the Examples section at the bottom of the help menu.

By renewable resource, do you mean a resource that respawns? Or like a seed that the player can plant, that will spawn new resources around itself over time. I was definitely thinking about spawning some npcs. Walker units, that randomly walk by, and may disrupt mining operations, but may be easily farmed for some extra resources.

I'm sorry about the mission breaking. It seems to be a networking issue. I am still trying to replicate that locally.

The mover is able to move the parent unit in the containing grid. When placing the mover inside a unit and powering it from one side, the parent unit will move into this direction where the mover is powered from. I included it as a means to speed up early game progression, e.g. automatically move miner units around. Combined with a collector this will lead to some easy early game mining automation. 

I am still working on more missions and a progression system that makes sense and catches newcomers as well as logic puzzle veterans alike.

Thank you again for playing the game and leaving this detailed comment. If you have more questions or suggestions, let me know.

I didn't know about Cell Machine and the Cellua mod, so that's a very valuable info for me. I guess, I have found my target group.

Yes, spatial restrictions were always a strong inhibitor, when designing complex mechanisms in similar games. With units, I tackle at least two things at once: Enabling local complexity and also movability of mechanisms.

Thanks for the bug report, I will look into it.