With the caveat that Factorio is EXTREMELY addictive, properly described as "programmer crack", here are some other Factorio related discussions:
Factorio – a game where you can automate basically anything (factorio.com)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11266471
"This game is like crack for programmers." -kentonv (Tech lead for Cloudflare Workers, author of Sandstorm.io, Cap'n Proto)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11269098
Raycasting engine in Factorio game – Facto-RayO v1.0 [video] (youtube.com)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19878688
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lVAFcDX4eM
Factorio to talk about horizontal scaling of software services (medium.com)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19095271
https://medium.com/@chrisfauerbach/gamification-of-horizonta...
Mapping Factorio with Leaflet (cloudflare.com)
https://imgur.com/c51pTnP - here I tried to invent a way to solve the accessibility issues of moving walkways; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17703131 for context.
https://mastodon.technology/@temporal/100646861775747986 - Factorio-inspired tootstorm about what I'd like to see in an IDE/debugger.
Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of keys
But don't touch my bags if you please
Mister Customs Man
https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/humor/deep-crack.txt
Factorio does have a rather steep learning curve, and the UI is not the most intuitive. But. Once how it works clicks, it clicks, and suddenly morning. And I'm in my 40's, I'd thought my days of unexpected overnights while working on fascinating problems were mostly behind me. Highly recommended, but be aware.
But wow, what a great game.
Not... at all? I mean, Vim has a steep learning curve[1]. Factorio is a game meant for the masses.
Of course any game is hard to master, but in that case any game that is not made for 3 year olds has a steep learning curve. You won't know how to set up and manage a 1kspm factory from day one, but that's okay, you can start by exploring and have a lot of fun doing that.
[1] (if you ignore that you can just start by hitting "i" and save with "<esc>:wq" and you have an ordinary editor, but that's not the point.)
Mind you, compared to other “programming games” like e.g. Shenzhen I/O, the main gameplay loop of Factorio is quite a bit simpler to wrap your head around. It's only when you try to ultra-optimize everything that it reaches that level of complexity. (Or when you "program in Factorio", ala "programming in Minecraft.")
I didn't learn to write code until I was in my late teens although. Ultimately I've found factorio a rather tedious game, that kind of reminds me of my job. I also tend to not code things for fun, seeing how it will ultimately turn into a large project I won't have time to maintain. Kind of like how mechanics don't like maintaining their own cars.
It makes me wonder sometimes.
I initially found Factorio interesting, mostly for the parts that encourage spreadsheet calculation, e.g. balancing the various rates of production and resource intake. Some other aspects appealed too, such as finding drill placements to fully cover ore deposits.
Where I lost interest is when the game became mostly about refactoring large transport belt networks. That reminds me of the non-fun aspects of programming.
Indeed the second best positive percentage according to steamdb: https://steamdb.info/stats/gameratings/
No 29 if you just sort by positive reviews.
(That, and building vast quantities of artillery in the middle of almost fully red zones, then flipping the power switch for the loaders and watching the fun. :D)
There are lots of games I can play for a specified amount of time and be fine with it. Pretty much all of them, really. Factorio, I get annoyed if pulled away in the middle of a project. So now I know to not even start unless it's free time for the rest of the night.
For whatever reason crack allusions are a bad taste joke that people (unlike most of the above) don't seem to realise is bad taste, possibly because they consider crack addicts as either other or lesser to them, rather than unfortunate victims with a shared humanity.
No. For example, my cousin plays it, someone who typically plays games like the Sims (and other games popular amongst women), has no university degree. She has no trouble with Factorio. I am honestly confused how anyone would call Factorio a difficult game. It's nigh impossible to lose unless you change the default settings to generate a more difficult world with much more aggressive biters. It's a building game, not a shooter that requires any kind of skill or specialised software that requires a manual.
Edit: asked said cousin whether she thought it has a steep learning curve. Answer was "lol, yes! And the curve just continues, there is still lots I could do better". I suppose having nearly only programmers as friends skewed my view of how many people had no trouble getting into it.
In high school, my friend was into drugs and partying. I was into EverQuest. I think we'd have both been better long term if he'd gotten me into drugs instead of me getting him into EverQuest.
I know these things happened, happen and most likely will happen and such metaphors are unpleasant for people affected, but I think it's natural language evolution.
People still get murdered occasionally and families of murder victims might be uneasy when they hear about someone that "he killed her with this joke!" but it won't prevent people from using that phrase because murders are so rare for most people that the word gradually loses its literal meaning.
https://wiki.factorio.com/Blueprint
https://wiki.factorio.com/Blueprint_book
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/7vnkze/blueprint_...
One of the stages of evolution of a Factorio programmer is learning how to make scalable modular blueprints that you can stamp down one next to another, with their inputs and output routed so they all plug together easily and run in parallel, without having to be manually wired together.
Just like NPM packages, blueprints just let you get into much more trouble much faster!