Base building games are amazing avenues for creative expression. Satisfactory is no slouch in that department, with players building some impressive creations from cathedrals to the Eiffel Tower. Of course, that means content creators for the factory simulator love to show off their talents. One way they do that is a recurring event called Pass It On.
Game Rant recently spoke to two Satisfactory community managers from Coffee Stain Studios Snutt Treptow and Mikael Niazi, as well as content creator DC Wan Kenobi about what Pass It On is, how it came to be, and what the most recent Pass It On had on offer.
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A Satisfactory Competition
Roughly three times a year, players of Satisfactory get together for a Pass It On event. During these events, content creators load up a save file and have two hours to contribute to a factory build before the save file is then given to another content creator to add their work, creating a collaborative gallery of creative pieces of art in one save file. These unique designs, constructed by large swaths of the Satisfactory‘s community, are then shown off, and winners are selected from the things the community creates.
Last December, the eighth Pass It On ran alongside the annual FICSMAS event, which Coffee Stain Studios celebrates the holidays with every year. That made for some interesting designs early on, using Christmas trees, presents, and snow blowers. Unfortunately, these elements caused performance issues in the builds, so they had to be removed mid-competition. Despite that road bump, some truly amazing designs came out of Pass It On, as Treptow says they always do.
“I really enjoy the ones that are like dioramas, where you can walk around and notice all the little fine details that people somehow manage to squeeze in there in such a short amount of time. The builds that are semi-functional are also really cool, and the builds where they manage to use the materials in the game in really creative ways makes me appreciate how cleverly creative folks are in the community.”
Niazi, meanwhile, loves the designs with moving parts. On that front, Pass It On absolutely delivered in December. One of the builds was a factory that formed a moving snake, which was just one of the more memorable designs from the most recent outing. Another impressive build was a fully functional test chamber straight out of Portal, itself a game that inspires a lot of creative design among its community.
That Portal test chamber build wouldn’t have been possible without the portals themselves, introduced in the full release of Satisfactory, which came out in October. In addition to that, the nice colors and design of the Mk. 6 conveyor belts came in handy. New materials and variations on color from the 1.0 release also added a lot to the toolkit the Pass It On pioneers had at their disposal.
Passing it On for the Ninth Time
Two and a half years after the first competition, the ninth Pass It On will take place in spring, either March or April. Specific dates will be available on the Pass It On website, and while the event is geared toward streamers, it isn’t just streamers that can participate.
Pass It On originated in October 2022 as a collaboration between 31 streamers, including Treptow. The idea came from DC Wan and another content creator in 2021, with the initial goal being to complete the game in small blocks of time, passing the save file to the next streamer like a relay race. That changed with an update that introduced beams and pillars, which revolutionized what could be done with building. That opened up new avenues for creators like DC Wan:
“Finding inner creativity and having an outlet for this is something I am very passionate about. I’ve always wanted to bring creativity out in people that they never knew they had inside and have a community spirit of bringing people together while meeting like-minded people with common interests. I have been involved with events most of my life, back in Counter-Strike: Source, Rust, and more. Making maps for said games, plus Portal 1/2, building levels in the Unreal Engine.”
Following in Coffee Stain Studio’s penchant for fun acronyms, the original name of the event was Pass It On Near, or P.I.O.Near – pioneer being the FICSIT corporation’s euphemism for the player’s underpaid, overworked industrialist. DC Wan built the website for the event which has been continually improved from feedback over the years.
Coffee Stain has remained a partner in the event from the very beginning, with Treptow participating in the first and Niazi in the most recent. However, that doesn’t mean that Coffee Stain hasn’t dropped surprises on the event in the past, with the 0.7 update launching just days into a previous Pass It On event. Still, the event continues to grow, with the Blueprinter that once caused issues aiming to return in an upcoming Pass It On. As DC Wan explained,
“The last event broke all kinds of records. I hope we can keep this silliness, giving people some quality entertainment that runs for days going for a long time to come. Organizing bigger events, meeting other creative people who share the same passion and goals! Being able to put on such an amazing event, watch the Pass It On event grow. Observing participants’ growth and creativity as they become more comfortable while improving their building has been a wild and wonderful journey that warms my heart.”
As for growing the event, DC Wan teased an upcoming goal: continuing the work with Coffee Stain and making a similar event for the studio’s other major base-building powerhouse Valheim.
- Released
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September 10, 2024
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+
- Publisher(s)
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Coffee Stain Publishing