In the last blog post, I talked all about conveyor belts and their inner workings, but I completely glossed over the fact that there needed to be a world to place those conveyor belts into. And that’s what I’m going to be talking about today: the world, how items get placed in it and interact with each other, and some special considerations for my implementation of inserter machines. So buckle up, because it’s time to explore the world.

Ah man, conveyor belts. Such a staple of the factory game genre. There are so many different kinds, from the unique, gold standard of Factorio’s simulation like belts, to the hassle-free auto connecting and splitting kind like what’s found in Shapez (and Shapez 2) and Alchemy Factory (amongst others). They all have their different pros and cons that either offer or take away challenge, and that provide different levels of detailed thinking required to meaningfully interact with them.