Launch Trailer, Questions Answered for Factory Game Shapez 2 - Hardcore Gamer

hardcoregamer.com:

The thing about factory games is the final product doesn’t really matter.  What’s being built, what’s its purpose?  Who cares!  The goal of making a thing isn’t so important as the process of its construction, with a million bits and pieces all whirring along in sync, each machine hand-placed in a system that makes perfect sense to the builder but is utterly incomprehensible to anyone else.  There’s an order to the systems that’s satisfying to watch, and whatever the outcome may be is less important than that it all functions as designed.  The original Shapez is a game about using factory elements to mine, cut, manipulate and stack basic shapes into a specific configuration, and the sequel is more of the same but much shinier and with a few wrinkles to the landscape to shake up production.

The basic premise of Shapez 2 is that there’s a huge warp-hole in the middle of a functionally-endless space-themed arena, and the object is to toss a huge number of the needed shape inside.  The asteroids around the central area have shape deposits on them, providing an endless supply of basic units that can be cut up into four quadrants and reconfigured endlessly until you’ve got the requested piece.  Once delivered the shapes count as currency, and the goal is to not only create the right thing, but do it fast enough so that you’re not waiting forever to purchase new tech that can make the factory bigger and more efficient.  Cutters, rotators, painters, stackers and more unlock one tech-tier at a time, while bonus goals increase machine efficiency.  While there’s a price for researching new tech, equipment is free once you’ve unlocked it, so there’s no reason to ever do anything but build big.

[Hardcore Gamer] Shapez is different