But for the argument's sake, imagine being able to collaborate with other players on Git, with a PR based workflow, wouldn't it be cool? Even if it's totally useless and inefficient?
Verilog shows that a hardware description language is useful, and I bet that real-world computer designs are more complicated than anything that happens in Factorio.
Still though: it brings to mind what exactly a text-based language that describes Factorio factories would even look like? I feel like the creation of 8-beacon PM3 assembly machine arrays is simple enough to be automatically generated (ratios can be already calculated in calculators like https://kirkmcdonald.github.io/... the "routing" piece of the puzzle needs to be solved though).
An "autorouter" that determines how many belts / pipes / trains are needed would need to be automatically programmed.
Once such a magic program were created, the "program" written would almost certainly be:
"Create 1000-space science per minute and feed it into a science array".
The ratios of what make 1000-science are determined in stone (assuming PM3 is set in stone to make sure that ratios don't change).
--------
Its the implementation details that are all the fun in Factorio. How do you build the thousands of PM3 modules you need to make a 1000-space science per minute base? Oh, but to build those, you need to have 2GW of power. How do you build a nuclear reactor of that size?
Etc. etc.
All of those problems have solutions that the community already created. But the fun of Factorio is coming up with your own solution. Not relying upon some kind of shared-github based workflow.
----
Alternatively: there are other designs (ex: "Speedrunner designs") that optimize on number of clicks instead of the optimal number of resources. Click-and-dragging red-inserters all over the place uses far fewer clicks than using yellow/blue/green inserters as appropriate, but the red-inserter is grossly suboptimal.
Still though, by using one inserter type, you quickly standardize your designs and "speedrun" the game faster. The resource inefficiency is wiped out by the far fewer clicks needed to create the overall design.
So I guess that's the thing about Factorio. The fun in the game is in making your own goals and then solving the stuff in your own way.
Still though: it brings to mind what exactly a text-based language that describes Factorio factories would even look like? I feel like the creation of 8-beacon PM3 assembly machine arrays is simple enough to be automatically generated (ratios can be already calculated in calculators like https://kirkmcdonald.github.io/... the "routing" piece of the puzzle needs to be solved though).
An "autorouter" that determines how many belts / pipes / trains are needed would need to be automatically programmed.
Once such a magic program were created, the "program" written would almost certainly be:
"Create 1000-space science per minute and feed it into a science array".
The ratios of what make 1000-science are determined in stone (assuming PM3 is set in stone to make sure that ratios don't change).
--------
Its the implementation details that are all the fun in Factorio. How do you build the thousands of PM3 modules you need to make a 1000-space science per minute base? Oh, but to build those, you need to have 2GW of power. How do you build a nuclear reactor of that size?
Etc. etc.
All of those problems have solutions that the community already created. But the fun of Factorio is coming up with your own solution. Not relying upon some kind of shared-github based workflow.
----
Alternatively: there are other designs (ex: "Speedrunner designs") that optimize on number of clicks instead of the optimal number of resources. Click-and-dragging red-inserters all over the place uses far fewer clicks than using yellow/blue/green inserters as appropriate, but the red-inserter is grossly suboptimal.
Still though, by using one inserter type, you quickly standardize your designs and "speedrun" the game faster. The resource inefficiency is wiped out by the far fewer clicks needed to create the overall design.
So I guess that's the thing about Factorio. The fun in the game is in making your own goals and then solving the stuff in your own way.