Earendel

So as mentioned in the latest FFF, I'm Wube's new concept artist: https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-365

So what does this mean for my mods and other works?

Two main things have changed.

First. 

Over the last (5 years?) of developing mods, the major Factorio updates have caused some really big problems for mod development. The biggest standout was whichever version changed the way that terrain was generated and I took holiday to work on a new version of Alien Biomes practically non-stop for a few days to get a new working version, and it ended up being almost a completely new build. Having detailed behind the scenes knowledge of changes before the happen will be a huge time saver. 

Second. 

Running into game engine limitations has been a constant struggle with my mods. Most of my mods are made specifically to push the boundaries of gameplay, and add new gameplay mechanics. It's stuff that hasn't been done before so often I have to make feature requests to get the game engine changed a little. Sometimes it was hard to convince the Factorio devs that a request actually has value, and if whoever read my feature request didn't agree there was no way to escalate the issue or ask for a 2nd opinion. Now maybe my requests will be taken a little more seriously, and if it's something I feel strongly about and all else fails then I have a direct line to Kovarex. How cool is that?

What hasn't changed?

The plans for my mods haven't really changed. 

I'm still putting lots of time into the mods and that won't change. I'm starting to get though the backlog of bugs and small issues the built up during my winter break.

There are a few fairly medium sized features for Space Exploration that are nearly done (like a space capsule update). 

The equipment gantry is finally working now (it needed a game engine change). The main hold up on that is that the plan was for it to be part of AAI Industry, but I'm considering making it a standalone mod. It can be useful in Space Exploration so that you can equip a spidertron remotely before rocketing it off to start a new colony.

The next big feature is going to be space elevators for Space Exploration. It is still at the early stage of experimenting with cloning parts of trains to other surfaces without breaking too much in the process.

There's a long plan for future content, some of that is on the roadmap, but there's still a lot of secret stuff too. You can checkout the roadmap here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18vqKDduFUbqxnJLqD5PJPvb1kxRoN1Er3LGQLSSkW5I

I've resisted adding new larger containers for a while because there are some standalone mods that already provide these tools to you. The problem is that I find they don't match the style of the rest of the game.

I'm not really sure why, but a little while ago I just felt inspired to make a set of larger containers that are based directly on the game's own containers and other assets. 

The examples here are the logistic storage set: 

Storage Chest (1x1)

Storage Strongbox (2x2)

Storage Storehouse (4x4)

Storage Warehouse (6x6)

I still need to work on things like destroyed version graphics, recipes, etc. 

I'm unsure if these will be part of AAI Industry or a standalone mod. Currently I'm leaning towards them being part of AAI Industry at first, then also released as a standalone mod but without being removed from AAI Industry. 

Update:
I released it standalone at first.  
Would anyone be interested in a 8x8 version with 800 slots?
Also as the mod has been released I'm making this post public.