From where do you draw design inspiration?

[Maehlice]

What motivates your build choices -- color, material, shape, layout, etc -- for your factories?

When you set out to make something "cool" (whatever that means to you), how and where do you start?

[The Big Brzezinski]

In this game? The desire for ease of use and avoidance of frustration.

[Fenix]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3164517271
I'm Utilitarian, no fancy walls just Machine on Platforms
My blueprint are setup in a way that there is a input direction and a output direction
Just about everything flows North

[nfgman]

Once had the abandoned Packard factory for inspiration. Big box, windows broken, roof caved in, plants growing inside. Perfect.

[DaBa]

I don't think I draw inspiration from anywhere, I just do what I find aesthetically pleasing and satisfying in a moment. If I am inspired by something I can't pinpoint what that is.

I naturally like things neat and orderly, so that's always my guiding principle. Sometimes when making something I will experiment and add a wall here, a ramp there, put some things in a new spot, and sometimes I'll like how it looks so I'll continue to build like that.

For example, I once put the pipes below my coal power plants just to see how that would work, then I put a line of glass foundations to see the pipes below and it looked really cool so I started doing that. Then on a next playthrough I made a really compact coal power plant setup with no space to walk, so I put walkways that went between the buildings and it also looked excellent so that's how I do it now too.

Also I don't like leaving big, empty spaces. They look weird and unsatisfying to me, normally when you design something functional you will try to be space efficient, so leaving a big flat area with nothing there just looks... odd. So I try to make things compact while leaving just enough space to freely move around.

[kLuns]

The environment the factory has been built in.
How much coupons can I spend at the moment?/ What buildables are available?
Does it Z-fight? If so get rid of it.
Always 100% working before going for the looks.

[mackster]

For me I generally build with making sure its walkable and not tightly packed in. Any blueprint factories I do rely heavily on power shards, so there are fewer machines to make room for walkability.

Lots of glass walls and floors as well.

Overall, I build small and modular - rather than the mega-base approach.

[cboath11]

Rectangles, squares and spaghetti.

[Zak]

Design? You mean.... I'm supposed to design stuff in this game???

[kLuns]

Originally posted by Zak:

Design? You mean.... I'm supposed to design stuff in this game???

Yes else you are doing it wrong ;)

[Zak]

Originally posted by kLuns:

Originally posted by Zak:

Design? You mean.... I'm supposed to design stuff in this game???

Yes else you are doing it wrong ;)

I knew it :)

[Lawn-Mower]

I tend to start with foundations..

[Lawn-Mower]

But seriously.. The terrain gives me the inspiration. Or, sometimes I come up with a theme, then I find the terrain to suit. The machines/resources [production line] can influence too. E.g., I tend to like frames with refineries.. Sometimes I have a broad idea (e.g., with a theme), others I'll just let it sort of evolve after laying out the machines. Colour scheme tends to be influenced by the colours of what's on belts / in pipes, with a consideration for the environment..

I still haven't really broken away from laying out straight lines of machines though [straight spaghetti is so much easier to deal with than trying to split/merge on fancy curves]. As such, all production of a particular product will be at the same level [so I haven't tried kLuns' multi-floor approach for a single product either]..

Therefore, it's really a mix of everything, but when building to terrain, it starts with the production line goals - machine numbers dictates the minimum footprint. But that's just the starting point, I often don't limit myself to minimums - I've even built sizeable miner homes with lots of space to walk around with art pieces to visually stimulate. Pipes and beams are particularly fun for easy cosmetics.. Lighting is a big consideration for me. Sometimes I'll make 'features' from flora/fauna..

[greyworld]

Circuit board design. If you'd like to try it sometime, get KiCad, it's free and open source. Once you get past the initial "OMG WTF" of it, you'll feel right at home, as laying out the paths of electron flow and logic gates is very much like setting up a factory layout in Satisfactory.

https://www.kicad.org/

[Ryzilynt]

Imagination !

This is a completely self contained fully functional 160 unit turbo fuel power plant, everything fabricated /processed onsite. The bands you can see on the outside are logistics floors, all belts, electric, and pipes are tucked away.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303746487

[BeastMTL]

For me, it's an evolving process. This one is my local battery factory.
Still in a mindset that factories should look industrial. Also get inspiration from youtubers etc.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/BeastMTL/screenshot/2321110410945367010