top of page
A first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat.
Play alone or with friends, explore an alien planet, create multi-story factories, and enter conveyor belt heaven!
Construct
Conquer nature by building massive factories across the land!
Automate
Construct your factories with gracious perfection or build intricate webs of conveyor belts to supply all your needs!
Explore & Exploit
Venture on expeditions to search for new materials and be sure to put everything to good use. Nature is yours to harvest!
MY role
Junior World Designer
My position at Coffee Stain Studios began in late August 2022 as a World Designer for their game project; Satisfactory. I contributed to the content development for Update 8 and the forthcoming 1.0 release as a member of the design team. I undertook the following responsibilities:
-
The polish and set dressing of various locations, such as caves and biomes. My focus in working with the foliage and assets at hand was to help create an immersive experience with environmental storytelling.
-
Providing polish to transition areas between different biomes in order to help them blend together
-
Replacing and converting old blueprints and assets in order to improve the game's performance.
-
Participated in the planning of biome updates, foliage set decisions, and foliage variations
World & Biomes
Satisfactory is set within a singular world, carefully designed, with no use of procedural generation in its crafting. Every element within the world is thoroughly hand-placed with thoughtful consideration.
The world features diverse biomes, encompassing deserts, forests, lakes, grass fields, mountains, and caves.
My work includes the biomes:
Abyss Cliffs
The Abyss Cliff features a compact and rugged mountainous landscape adorned with a multitude of stone bridges and an assortment of buttes situated at different heights
The Abyss Cliff biome underwent layout adjustments, focusing on organic foliage placement due to abundant stone.
Before
After
Before
1/2
Dense foliage clusters were impractical, leading to dispersed foliage, with added roots and rubble for a natural look on the rugged surface.
Before
After
Before
1/2
New assets replaced the old foliage set to better suit the area. The slideshow below illustrates the biome's appearance before and after the rework.
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
Before
After
After
Before
1/12
A gameplay adjustment was implemented by me in the biome, introducing a jump shortcut accessible to players who have unlocked a jetpack.
Before
After
Crater lakes
Crater Lakes is a highland characterized by multiple craters and serves as one of the primary pathways leading to Bamboo Fields.
As part of my work in this area, I developed a foliage set that would complement the existing assets in the biome, aiming for a somewhat fantasy appearance with pastel colored foliage.
Before
After
Before
1/2
Additionally, I smoothed the landscape as necessary, so that the crates do not have jagged edges.
Before
After
Before
1/2
Below, you'll find a slideshow showcasing key highlights in this region, along with a glimpse of the small transition area that leads to the Rocky Desert
Before
After
After
Before
1/12
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Desert Canyons
Located between the Spire Coast and Northern Forest and Titan Forest, Desert Canyons is a relatively small area that consists of a long canyon filled with indestructible stone mushrooms.
It was my task to:
Assist with the transition from other biomes as well as re-paint the landscape painting with a clearer pathing.
Update the existing assets by replacing them with more recent versions.
Landscape the hills and the roads to make it more accessible with vehicles.
Modify the material or reconstruct cliffs as required.
Colors indicate areas where the foliage has slowly dried out to fit arid conditions.
Before
After
After
Before
1/6
As you approach Desert Canyons from Titan Forest, lush vegetation thins out, replaced by sporadic greenery and dry bushes.
The cliffs changed material, as logically, the sand would not be able to reach that altitude.
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
The Northern Forest transition area underwent an overhaul, incorporating replaced foliage and landscape painting. The transition shifts from lush green to dried sand rocks as one approaches the Desert Canyons.
The prominent main road was recoated with a more suitable material. The cracked surface suggests that water once flowed through this area, but has now dried up.
Additionally, the bumps on the road were smoothed out, and more space was created in the tight turn corner to facilitate easier vehicle navigation.
Before
After
After
Before
1/14
Several cliffs were replaced in the area with better-suited assets.
During the installation of the new cliffs, I tried to maintain the shape of the previous ones to minimize disruption to structures or factories built by players in the area.
Before
After
After
Before
1/6
The bumpy hills were smoothed and spaced out for better vehicle navigation. A new foliage set and landscape repainting were also done to depict the gradual drying out of foliage towards the desert.
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
The geyser pools underwent a foliage overhaul, implementing a more suitable foliage set, along with landscape repaint and shaping to address the rough edges.
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Eastern dune forest
A sandy forest located at the East of the world, patches of sand dunes are separated by thin grassy areas.
My primary responsibilities in this domain included:
A basic overhaul of the sub-biome known as Coin Forest. I planned and implemented new pathways, polished the foliage set, and added gameplay adjustments around the cliffs.
Refine the Dune Forest with a pre-planned foliage set, interconnect all dunes, and implement additional pathways through dense forests.
Dune forest
Transition Sub-Biome
Coin Forest
Dune forest
1/3
Coin Forest
In the Coin Forest task, I focused on planning new pathways in the sub-biome for improved navigation.
The green areas mark locations where foliage needed to be added or increased in density to create a denser forest.
While working on the paths, I strategically implemented framing elements using foliage and cliffs, to guide players more effectively, providing clearer visibility along the routes leading to the Blue Crater and Abyss Cliffs.
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
This slideshow briefly presents the redesigned pathways in the sub-biome, highlighting the most significant changes
Before
After
After
Before
1/10
I implemented additional pathways around the cliffs, enhancing accessibility to the higher grounds.
Overall slideshow of the Coin forest rework.
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Dune Forest
The Dune Forest underwent a less comprehensive transformation compared to the Coin Forest. While a significant portion of the foliage had been tended to, the pivotal task ahead involved:
Enhancing its spaciousness by implementing connecting roads and paths for both pioneers and vehicles.
Refining the foliage with its latest replacement assets.
Complement the landscape by repainting certain parts to achieve a more natural appearance.
Quick sketch of open roads and small paths
Result
Quick sketch of open roads and small paths
1/2
These slideshows shortly depict the modifications and alterations made to the paths and roads in the area.
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Before
After
After
Before
1/12
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Overall slideshow of the the Dune Forest.
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Rocky Desert
One of the Starting Areas.
An open desert area rich with resource nodes.
Contains the world's highest point and longest cave.
Most of the work in this area had already been completed by other team members.
My work involved finalizing one of the last shorelines, using the designated foliage set and working on the landscape painting to match the rest of the biome.
Slideshows showcasing the shores and the reworked cliffs/landscapes.
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
Before
After
After
Before
1/10
Before
After
After
Before
1/14
Caves
In Satisfactory, I revamped several caves by improving the foliage and occasionally adding some gameplay elements.
The caves varied in size, ranging from small to large, whereas if it was larger more gameplay elements could be implemented.
Revamp of four small caves.
Before
After
After
Before
1/10
Before
After
After
Before
1/8
Before
After
After
Before
1/4
Before
After
After
Before
1/6
Revamp of two medium caves.
Before
After
After
Before
1/10
Before
After
After
Before
1/12
Revamp of a big cave.
Swapped the cave entrance with an improved cave-spline tool for more space and a clearer view of the main cavern.
Before
After
After
Before
1/10
In the main cavern, I placed pillars to create the appearance of supporting the structure.
Additionally, given that the cave is placed beneath a lake, I implemented water streams to depicting its water-filled nature.
Before
After
After
Before
1/14
Additionally, I added stepping stones for quicker approach the resources
Revamp of a Huge cave.
A river was added from the Swamp entrance to make the cave opening more noticeable for players and to provide clarity on the path where the water from the cave flows out.
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
Before
After
After
Before
1/18
Before
After
After
Before
1/16
I incorporated jumping puzzles in this cave to offer a quicker route upward or to speed up the player's return if they happen to fall, minimizing the time spent on climbing back up.
Video showcasing the jumping puzzle.
Jumping puzzle the other way.
