Because block production is runs at a precise pace I know exactly which part of the belt the two blocks I want will be on, so diverting them onto a second track is simple enough. The third block gets fused to the other two so it’s now a trio, the push forward lands the three-block line on a conveyer belt leading to the grinder, and beside the conveyer is a sensor wired to two pusher blocks further up the line. I need three to go through the grinder and two to remain untouched, so when the third block pushes the mass forward a couple things happen. The cubes coming off the conveyer push the one at rest forward, where a pair of welders fuses them together. My solution to the above puzzle was to run a conveyer to the grinder with a pair of platform blocks (they just sit there doing nothing, and are incredibly handy because of this) near its entrance. The producers emit blocks at a steady, reliable pace, so you can have all sorts of fun tweaking the timing to get things just right. You’ve got all the time in the world to think about the solution, and then the machinery springs to life with the press of a button to test your creation. The only things the level starts with are block producers and the end platform, and the rest is for you to build free-form. And you have to do it reliably, because the alien overlords need ten of whatever that is and any waste in the process will throw the design out of whack after the first few are produced. What you need to do here is fuse together two sets of five blocks, three run through the grinder and two normal, rotate one of the two constructs 180 degrees, line everything up so the white piece goes in the middle, and deposit the final result on the platform.

You’ve got a total of two dispensers, with the one producing the white round-ish block making one for every ten of the grey cubes. On the surface it looks like three kinds of blocks but it’s actually two, because the plain ones on top get run through a grinder to make them into the angled piece on the bottom. Take, for example, this thing right here: And why do you need all this? Well now, that’s where things start getting complicated. Then comes welders, which you put side-by-side to fuse blocks together, sensors, wiring, and pushers to move blocks around in ways more complicated than conveyer belts allow, rotators to change the orientation of blocks and block clusters, pulverizers to remove unwanted pieces, etc. Run a few conveyer belts and all is good with the world. You walk or fly around the world in first-person, dropping blocks either singly or in rows to create whatever it is you need. No one part of Infinifactory is overly complicated, and you start with a only few tools at your disposal to take blocks from their dispensers to their destination. At the moment that’s all there is, but the draw of Infinifactory isn’t its deep story or the complex motivations of its characters, but rather the irresistible challenge to create a perfect system. Every few levels you find a recording of those who have failed before you, and when a set of levels is complete the aliens reward you with a random piece of junk. The story behind Infinifactory is that you’ve been kidnapped by aliens to automate systems for them. Infinifactory is all about making a machine that works, but there are far more ways to build something broken than beautiful. When the blocks are joining up wrong or blocks are getting in each other’s way as you try to line them up just right, however, it can be a bit trickier. Infinifactory is a game about automating systems so that the end result is just right, and when the machine is chugging along producing exactly what you want it comes with an incredible sense of satisfaction that you managed to build something so effective. Watching precisely-organized machines turn random parts into something useful at maximum efficiency is endlessly fascinating, but creating that system isn’t a simple process.

Infinifactory level list