Category: Games

  • Satisfactory: Spiraling Into Control

    To be clear: There are videos on YouTube which can show you how to do this, but I don’t like scrolling back and forth through a video to tease out the details of a process. If you’re like me in that regard, here’s a tutorial for making a single-track train spiral structure in Satisfactory.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: In the desert, a railway spiral to nowhere stands in mute testament to the author's desire to craft a proper tutorial document.

    Note that you can (and should) play around with materials and other design elements. Maybe you want sign-based lighting on yours? Sweet, go for it!

    Let’s get started.

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  • Warframe: The New War

    An Aging Game-Player’s Perspective

    Warframe video game screenshot: Inside a futuristic spaceship, a Warframe decked out in bright colors stands in profile. Nearby, a shaggy dog-like creature observes attentively.

    I just finished Warframe’s “The New War,” the monumental game-changing quest from a few years ago. I don’t have all that many thoughts, but I have some:

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  • Space Ninjas… Again

    Early last year we finished up our long-running family game session of Satisfactory, and as a follow-up we decided to give Warframe a try. Out of the three of us, Spud (my son) is the top-tier expert with all the goodies and lore and know-how. Nyx (my daughter) was a dabbler who had played the game a bit but didn’t have a lot of equipment, let alone much of the star chart (playable locations) unlocked.

    Me? I was somewhere in the middle. I’ve played the game off and on for years, giving up a few years ago when I realized I was never going to have the kind of skill at navigating 3D space in a looter-shooter game that it takes to really tackle serious challenges. But… given a dedicated team to run with, maybe I could manage to at least pull my weight more often than not? I agreed to try it out.

    And now, here we are, months later.

    Warframe video game screenshot: The "Xaku" frame painted in bright, clashing colors and sporting big feathery wings for no particularly good reason other than "it looks kind of neat."

    I admit, the game’s grown on me… with certain provisos.

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  • Satisfactory: Logistics Floors Rock

    It’s been an entire month since my last Satisfactory post, hasn’t it? Not that I haven’t been playing, it’s just that I haven’t done anything particularly noteworthy. I haven’t picked up any more strange bomb-shaped gifts, don’t worry! I’ve just been chugging away, making progress toward nuclear power.

    (What’s that, you ask? What about the Turbofuel plant? Have I maxed that out yet? Of course I haven’t. Never mind, though! It’s time for the new and the shiny!)

    To that end, I needed a factory that can churn out a sufficient quantity of something called an Electromagnetic Control Rod. Today I completed that factory… and actually put a roof and some walls & windows on it, even.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: Atop a coastal bluff sits a factory, several floors high, wrapped in concrete and glass. Along the water runs a dual-carriageway train line.

    The details of the factory itself aren’t that interesting. What I want to highlight is the use of logistics floors.

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  • Satisfactory: FICSMAS Takes Its Toll

    Well, this is moderately embarrassing.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: A player character lays sprawled in desert sands, with an instructional message overlaid which reads, "Press RMB to Respawn."
    Insert “record scratch” meme, here.

    There I was, minding my own business, preparing a new site for a couple of electronics products (Remote Control Units and High Speed Connectors) when I saw something shiny.

    We all like shiny things, right?

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  • Satisfactory: FICSMAS 2024

    With the 1.0 release of Satisfactory comes the first “true” version of the annual FICSMAS event. The inaugural rendition came in December of 2020, right at the time I’d just bought the game… which made for a slightly odd first impression, indeed. The developers tinkered with it a bit once or twice since then but mostly it was just a low-priority side-project amusement for the team.

    This “northern lights” effect is a new addition for 1.0, and I love it. I want it all year ’round, now.

    Now, though, it’s fully fleshed out and polished to a higher sheen. Let’s get into it.

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