Wube Software has celebrated Factorio’s sixth anniversary since release and its arrival to Valve’s Steam Deck.
As the Steam Deck released on February 25, Wube Software has shared some details on how Factorio plays on the handheld. While the game is already Linux native, it did not require any changes to run on the Steam Deck. It also runs quite well, with the developer quoting 60FPS with any reasonable base.
The tricky part is in the input system. Factorio was designed for mouse and keyboard gameplay which doesn’t translate well to joysticks. The developer post said: “Making a good profile will require a lot of patience and a good understanding of Steam Input’s action sets, layers, radial menus, etc.
“As a proper solution, we are experimenting with bringing proper controller support to Factorio; this will not only benefit the Steam Deck but also those who want to play the game more casually with a controller.”
The post continued: “Work on the expansion is still the top priority for the team, and controller support is no easy task, so if it comes to Factorio, expect it much later this year. For now, the game will get some GUI fixes and improvements, so that it can be played on 100 per cent GUI scale even though the small 1280×800 screen is below our minimum 1920×1080 resolution.”
The post also contains a handful of bug fixes, primarily focusing on the ghosts used to build objects, which could block specific actions such as inserters moving items, and connecting power lines.
