A Mole back in action
So... after a long absence, motivated by lack of “stuff“ to post (such as art or stories I’d want to post), I made a decision to get back here, and start posting some other things too - for example, musings on game design, or on writing, or on proper infrastructure. I was never much of a blog person, but perhaps I can change this and actually use Tumblr for its intended purpose.
And, on the note of game design, as well as writing, and infrastructure, let me kick things off by mentioning a particular aspect of factory-building games. Starting from Factorio, which pretty much started the genre as we know it, factory games and automation games like to finger-point at the player for the pollution and resource depletion that comes from their factory/base development. Some games, like Factorio itself, are subtle about it and only imply the bad environmental effects through attacks by local creatures, forests dying near polluting industries, and lakes showing water pollution; it’s enough of a background thing, but still notable enough, that the game ends up without really having a message one way or another. Satisfactory, which put the genre in 3D, simply goes full-on Spec Ops: The Line and bludgeons the player with “You’re a bad guy! Stop playing!“, and hey, it got what it wanted from me at least. The Riftbreaker is another bizarre take - the main protagonist seems to be interested in reducing environmental harm and peacefully studying the planet in question, but the gameplay goes completely against that. Other automation games downplay the pollution problems, or put the player on barren planets with no environment to harm, or they might be using medieval-fantasy-level technology like the good old Settlers games, meaning the environmental impact is notably lower. But. Looking over the genre, it honestly feels like none of those games (at least, none I’ve played or seen) let the players actually clean up after themselves. And that feels like one hell of an omission.
Here’s one example: in Factorio, all the pollution is abstracted into the clouds of soot and dust around the factory, not even visible except on the map, while none of the machines ever produce even one gram of metal filings, one cubic centimetre of mine tailings, or one millilitre of industrial runoff. Satisfactory has no pollution mechanic at all, while admonishing the player for building up industries. (Yeah, okay.) And while I’ll easily admit I haven’t played all of the genre, the only notorious building game where managing waste and byproducts is an issue is Captain of Industry. Which is honestly a shame, for one simple reason - the ability to upgrade to clean, effective industrial processes, and to actually look after the environment while the player pursues the actual game goal (remember, Factorio isn’t actually about growing the factory - it’s about creating machines sophisticated enough to build an escape rocket for the main character!) would make for a great game mechanic. For proof, look no further than Terra Nil: a “reverse factory game“ where you clean up the results of wasteful industrial expansion in a fun and exciting way, and look good as you restore nature to full splendor. It’s a great demonstration of why environmental remediation should be a mechanic in more building games.
