Freaky Factory – My Vat Runneth Over

     Of all the games in Neopia, Freaky Factory is one of my favourites, though many find it quite difficult. I have decided to write down my tips to see if it can help anyone.

     The game is easy enough to understand. You are a worker in a Kreludan factory, and your job is to aim the blobs of Kreludite whizzing by into their proper vats to produce Neopet toy miniatures. On the right hand side of the screen next to the blue vat, it shows you which toy is to be made next, and how much of what colour is needed in each vat to start the assembly process. On the left of the screen it shows how many toys are needed to complete the level. Completed toys are not counted until they go across the conveyor to the left side of the screen.

     The Blobs:

     To drop a blob into the vat, all you need to do is click on it. When you click on it will depend on how fast it is moving and how fast your computer is. You will have to experiment, but dropping the blob right over the vat will usually end up it in over shooting the vat and hitting the floor unless it is moving super slow. There aare many different sizes of blobs. The smallest will fill the vat one notch, one size up will fill it 2 notches, the next size will fill 3 notches and the big one will fill it 6 notches. The total size of the vat is 9 notches. Best practice is to fill all vats without overflowing. You may not need that colour now, but the next production line may need it and they will start the making process right away instead of waiting, helping your time bonus and toys in queue bonus. Sometimes you have to overfill the vat, if you need a full vat of one colour to start making a toy, and the blob that finally appears is too big and will overflow your vat, add it anyway, just watch your waste meter. If your meter is too close to the top you will have to wait for a smaller blob.

     The Wrong Blobs:

     There are also evil, unhappy looking blobs. Do not use these, they will explode and make a mess, filling your waste meter on the right of the screen. Too much overflow waste and its game over, so avoid the bad blobs at all costs. If you drop the wrong coloured blob into a vat, it will increase your mess meter. If you ever see a super huge drooling durpy blob, avoid it as well, it will make a humongous mess that may cost you the game.

     The Good Blobs:

     There are special blobs available as well. The glowing green blob will upgrade only the completed toys on the conveyor to a better colour, except for rainbow, which is the best. The blob with wings will speed the conveyor for a short time; the ice blob will slow it down for a short time. The angelic blob will fill a vat to full, no matter what level it is at, but be careful; if you miss and hit the floor, your waste meter will go up fast! The eraser blob will remove some waste from your waste meter. The clock will add some time to your timer and in later levels there is a super purple coloured atom blob that will fill all vats (it’s pictured on the freaky factory game header). If that blob appears, ignore all the other blobs and make sure you click that one.

     Yoinked:

     Watch the conveyor for the Grundo thief, he pops up periodically to steal the miniatures right off of the conveyor. Click on him with your mouse to make him duck down, or as a last resort hit him with a blob, that will make him duck down as well. Keep an eye on the spout on the right side where the toys come out, if the dots are all green, that means there is a backlog and a lot of finished toys will pass across the conveyor, tempting the thief further. If you have no toys being made as you wait to fill the vats, leave him there until production starts on the toys as he will only keep popping up and distract you as you wait to fill your vats. It’s not a bad thing if he yoinks a basic coloured toy, especially if the blob you need has finally appeared and you can’t be in both places at once. You want him to stay away from the combo and rainbow coloured toys as they give the best points. Sometimes you have to sacrifice one basic toy to the Grundo to save the others going across or to fill a vat.

     Scoring:

     Different colours and different species of pets will give different points. Jubjubs are 1 point, Poogles are 2 points, Scorchios are 3 points, Kaus are 4 points and Chombies are 5 points. The lowest scoring colours are the primary colours of red, yellow and blue which is 1X. Achieve a better score from the mixed colours of orange, purple and green which is 2X. The best score comes from the rainbow colour which gives you 3X. If you can aim well, drop an angelic blob on a toy on the conveyor belt. This will add a halo to the toy and increase the points received on that one when it reaches the end of the level.

     At the end of each level your points will tally up. You receive a bonus on time remaining, toys on the conveyor, toys in queue, a bonus if a toy had a halo, and a remaining consecutive bonus. So even if you have lots of time in the game and only a few toys to make, click on the time blob when it appears, and ensure your conveyor is full with toys queued to increase your bonuses. The avatar score is 1250+ which is easily attainable.