[Project Log] I want to turn my Factorio into a Tomagochi
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:09 am
Hey Factoriolings,
So, I've decided to start working on turning my Factorio into a Tomagochi (remember those little pocket pets people used to have back in the day?). I kinda know where to begin, but I'm probably going to get stuck programming the screen i'm going to be using. It looks like I'm going to be using either this, or this type of screen: If can't decide which i'll probably just end up using both, just in different capacities.
The cool thing about Factorio, is that all the signals are there that are needed to personify a factory, with a few exceptions. A fact that I think is kind of funny, because it's literally the opposite of what Factorio generally does (although i'm sure it's not on purpose).
What I mean by that is, despite Factorio being a really cool game that allows for some truly ingenius creations to be made, there are a couple of places where it falls short. One of these, is the depersonification of the native species. Now, depersonification is a thing that happens all the time in video gaming, and even the USMC (marines) uses a form of it to brainwash their recruits into killing machines. You can see it all over the place in games like Halo that use aliens that don't even look humanoid, and as such, you think of them differently. Factorio does the exact same thing, and I personally don't think it's a healthy thing, especially in this game which has a non-military theme. This is because, real factories don't work like that, or at least they shouldn't. In Factorio, the "enemy", or what we're led to believe is the "enemy" is just a bunch of tiny bugs that need to be squished. This is probably the single greatest failing of Factorio as an entertainment or educational device (although it is far from the only one). We're being led to believe that real factories should work this way, and instead of considering the consequences of our actions, as well as the environmental impact of our factories, we should just, "Eliminate anyone who opposes the progress of industry, restraint be damned!". That is effectively what Factorio is saying, and it annoys me because it is irresponsible in a really bad way. What annoys me more is that Factorio-dude doesn't even live on the planet, nor does he intend to stay, but that's another topic for another time.
But that's not what this topic is about, it was just on my mind when I realized that I wanted to turn my factory into a Tomagochi, and I wanted to share it here where (hopefully) it'll be received in a good light from the community here.
All that aside, I think this will actually be a really fun project to work on. From what I can tell, it'll have several different statuses to be displayed including: idle/happy, welcome home/goodbye (gate opening), hungry (copper, iron, coal, or something else), thirsty (oil), sleeping/tired (low power), and several others. Some I have in mind already, but no doubt more will be discovered later.
Unfortunately, I don't have any experience in intercommunications, so I'm not exactly sure how to get the screens working yet. I've been looking at a couple articles, but I'm kinda at a loss trying to understand them so far. Hopefully someone can point me towards a couple of articles/posts that can help shed some light.
Cheers,
-Ranger
Current Project Theme Song:
Stuff is Messed Up - The Offspring
So, I've decided to start working on turning my Factorio into a Tomagochi (remember those little pocket pets people used to have back in the day?). I kinda know where to begin, but I'm probably going to get stuck programming the screen i'm going to be using. It looks like I'm going to be using either this, or this type of screen: If can't decide which i'll probably just end up using both, just in different capacities.
The cool thing about Factorio, is that all the signals are there that are needed to personify a factory, with a few exceptions. A fact that I think is kind of funny, because it's literally the opposite of what Factorio generally does (although i'm sure it's not on purpose).
What I mean by that is, despite Factorio being a really cool game that allows for some truly ingenius creations to be made, there are a couple of places where it falls short. One of these, is the depersonification of the native species. Now, depersonification is a thing that happens all the time in video gaming, and even the USMC (marines) uses a form of it to brainwash their recruits into killing machines. You can see it all over the place in games like Halo that use aliens that don't even look humanoid, and as such, you think of them differently. Factorio does the exact same thing, and I personally don't think it's a healthy thing, especially in this game which has a non-military theme. This is because, real factories don't work like that, or at least they shouldn't. In Factorio, the "enemy", or what we're led to believe is the "enemy" is just a bunch of tiny bugs that need to be squished. This is probably the single greatest failing of Factorio as an entertainment or educational device (although it is far from the only one). We're being led to believe that real factories should work this way, and instead of considering the consequences of our actions, as well as the environmental impact of our factories, we should just, "Eliminate anyone who opposes the progress of industry, restraint be damned!". That is effectively what Factorio is saying, and it annoys me because it is irresponsible in a really bad way. What annoys me more is that Factorio-dude doesn't even live on the planet, nor does he intend to stay, but that's another topic for another time.
But that's not what this topic is about, it was just on my mind when I realized that I wanted to turn my factory into a Tomagochi, and I wanted to share it here where (hopefully) it'll be received in a good light from the community here.
All that aside, I think this will actually be a really fun project to work on. From what I can tell, it'll have several different statuses to be displayed including: idle/happy, welcome home/goodbye (gate opening), hungry (copper, iron, coal, or something else), thirsty (oil), sleeping/tired (low power), and several others. Some I have in mind already, but no doubt more will be discovered later.
Unfortunately, I don't have any experience in intercommunications, so I'm not exactly sure how to get the screens working yet. I've been looking at a couple articles, but I'm kinda at a loss trying to understand them so far. Hopefully someone can point me towards a couple of articles/posts that can help shed some light.
Cheers,
-Ranger
Current Project Theme Song:
Stuff is Messed Up - The Offspring