MicroFab

MicroFab is a factory-building game set in 2047, a decade after the Great Chip Drought collapsed the semiconductor industry and left mega-corporations in ruins. You are a μFabber, a small-scale manufacturer using nano-manufacturing technology. Build a chip-making operation from the ground up, develop production lines and research, and grow from simple processors to valuable quantum chips while Helena Voss and Voss Dynamics watch for rivals to their monopoly.

Build and automate

Design production lines across three factory floors and secret dimensions. Move materials with conveyor belts, splitters, sorters, lifts and throwing belts, while managing throughput and defect rates. Controllers, Counters and Terminals let you build smart factory logic with threshold triggers, logic gates and event-driven automation; the Terminal also has a built-in programming language for custom scripts. Your production lines can run while you plan your next expansion.

Research more than 50 technologies across seven branches: Logistics, Automation, Control, Manufacturing, Power, Quality and Black markets. Unlock machines including the floor-spanning Lithography Machine, Laser Reflector arrays and the Dual Core Combiner. You can also exploit the black market and respond to changing market prices: flooding the market causes prices to fall.

Manufacture chips

Turn silicon wafers into chips through etching, chemical treatment, ion implantation and EUV lithography. The 13 chip tiers range from basic X1000 processors to legendary DC4000 Dual Cores. At L4, choose between dicing wafers into mini chips for quantity or fusing cores for greater value; these are exclusive research paths, so you specialize in one. Balance speed against quality, since too many defects can shatter your wafers.

Explore dimensions

Unlock the Pocket Dimension, where processing is 50% faster but costs twice as much power and risks void decay. The Temporal Rift slows time to reduce defects, and its rotating platforms can provide a 95% defect reduction. Dimensional portals let you route items between dimensions as part of your production strategies.

Progress and challenges

Choose from three difficulty modes. Easy reduces defects and rent, Medium is the intended challenge, and Hard offers punishing margins for players focused on factory optimization. You can reset your factory through the prestige system to earn points based on lifetime chip sales and unlock permanent upgrades, including dimension access, bulk discounts, defect reduction and factory blueprints. These upgrades carry over between runs.

Machines can jam, leaving you to pay a hefty fee or solve a logic puzzle to get them running again. NAND gate challenges grow harder, while overclocking makes machines faster at the risk of more jams. You can also find secret codes for bonus rewards and easter eggs, or play Snake on Dr. Chen's virtual PC.

Story and characters

Meet Dr. Maya Chen, your research scientist, and trade with Rico "Junkyard" Martinez for bulk material discounts. Helena Voss, the CEO of Voss Dynamics, is determined to rebuild her monopoly. Milestone events and rival confrontations reveal the story.

Factory details

Items change visually as they are processed, gaining more intricate patterns with additional layers. High-tier chips have holographic effects and rainbow sparkles, and unlockable machine skins let you customize the factory. Three graphics quality settings are available, with advanced fluid dynamics on high; the factory also has dust motes and machine sparks.