MapCraft — Factorio Production Chain Visualizer Mod That Shows You Exactly Where Your Factory Is Choking
You have 120 hours in Factorio and your oil refinery is still a crime scene nobody will talk about. MapCraft is a Factorio mod that overlays a live production chain graph directly on your map view, showing throughput ratios, bottleneck nodes, and deficit alerts before your spaghetti factory grinds to a halt. Debug your factory faster than your therapist can debug you.
Difficulty
intermediate
Category
Game Modding & Extensions
Market Demand
High
Revenue Score
5/10
Platform
Factorio Mod (Lua / Factorio Mod API / Mod Portal + Steam Workshop)
Vibe Code Friendly
No
Hackathon Score
4/10
What is it?
Factorio players on r/factorio and Steam forums consistently report spending 30-45 minutes manually tracing production chains to find a single bottleneck — the in-game production stats panel shows numbers but no visual flow. MapCraft is a Lua mod using the Factorio Mod API that intercepts entity production statistics, builds a directed graph of the player's current production chain, and renders it as an in-game overlay panel with color-coded throughput ratios (green is healthy, red is starved). Clicking any node in the overlay teleports your map view to the bottleneck machine cluster. It also fires an alert when a chain's throughput drops below a user-set threshold. Ships to Mod Portal and Steam Workshop. Monetized via Patreon for 'Supporter' tier ($3/month) and a premium pack with advanced analytics. Buildable in 2 weeks by one developer familiar with Lua — the Factorio Mod API is stable, well-documented, and has active community examples for production stats access.
Why now?
Factorio 2.0 and Space Age DLC released in late 2024 brought a massive new player wave with more complex production chains than ever — mod demand is at a multi-year high and the FGUI rendering API added in 2.0 makes overlay graph panels significantly easier to build than before.
- ▸In-game overlay panel showing a live directed graph of the active production chain with color-coded throughput ratios.
- ▸Click any bottleneck node in the graph to teleport map view to that machine cluster.
- ▸User-configurable throughput threshold alerts that fire an in-game notification when a chain drops below target.
- ▸Premium: historical throughput chart per node showing production rate over the last 60 in-game minutes.
Target Audience
Factorio players who have over 50 hours in the game and build complex production chains — approximately 2M active Factorio owners on Steam with a highly engaged modding community (top mods hit 500k+ downloads).
Example Use Case
Sam, a veteran Factorio player starting a new megabase run, opens MapCraft overlay, immediately sees his green circuit chain is at 40% throughput versus copper cables at 110%, identifies the bottleneck assembler cluster, clicks the node, and teleports directly to it.
User Stories
- ▸As a Factorio megabase builder, I want to see a live overlay graph of my production chain with throughput ratios, so that I can identify bottlenecks in seconds instead of manually tracing belts for 30 minutes.
- ▸As a new Factorio player, I want to receive an in-game alert when a production chain drops below my target throughput, so that I can fix deficits before they cascade into factory shutdowns.
- ▸As a Factorio veteran, I want to click a bottleneck node in the overlay and teleport to the machine cluster causing it, so that I can navigate large factory maps without wasting time scrolling.
Done When
- ✓Overlay render: done when player presses the assigned hotkey and a panel appears showing at least 3 connected production nodes with color-coded throughput ratios from live game data.
- ✓Bottleneck teleport: done when player clicks any node in the overlay panel and the map view centers on the corresponding machine cluster within 1 second.
- ✓Threshold alert: done when player sets a throughput threshold in mod settings, drops a chain below that threshold, and receives a visible in-game alert notification within 60 ticks.
- ✓Performance: done when mod runs for 10 minutes on a factory with 200+ assemblers without causing the game's UPS to drop below 55 on a mid-range PC.
Is it worth building?
500 Patreon supporters at $3/month = $1,500 MRR. Realistic at month 4 if mod hits 50k downloads. Top Factorio mods get 200k-500k downloads — 0.5% Patreon conversion is conservative math.
Unit Economics
CAC: $0 (organic r/factorio and Mod Portal). LTV: $36 (12 months Patreon at $3/month). Payback: 0 months (no CAC). Gross margin: 92% after Patreon fees.
Business Model
Free mod with Patreon supporter tier at $3/month for premium analytics pack — plus one-time $4.99 DLC variant if Mod Portal supports it.
Monetization Path
Free mod drives discovery, Patreon page linked in mod description and in-game credits screen. Premium pack adds historical throughput charts and export-to-CSV.
Revenue Timeline
First dollar: month 2 via Patreon once mod hits 5k downloads. $1k MRR: month 5. $3k MRR: month 10.
Estimated Monthly Cost
Patreon platform fee: 8% of revenue. No hosting costs — mod runs client-side. GitHub for code hosting: $0. Total: ~$120/month at 500 supporters (platform fees only).
Profit Potential
Lifestyle income at $1k–$3k MRR via Patreon. Not a full-time business but a strong passive income stream for a Lua developer.
Scalability
Medium — premium tier can expand to multiplayer production comparison and Space Age DLC chain support.
Success Metrics
Week 2: mod published to Mod Portal. Month 1: 5,000 downloads. Month 3: 200 Patreon supporters. Month 6: 500 Patreon supporters.
Launch & Validation Plan
Post a 60-second demo video to r/factorio showing the overlay in action on a real factory before publishing to Mod Portal. Reach 500 upvotes as signal before investing in premium tier.
Customer Acquisition Strategy
First download: post a demo GIF to r/factorio with the title 'I built a mod that shows you exactly where your factory is choking' — r/factorio regularly puts well-made mod posts on the front page. Ongoing: Mod Portal SEO via accurate tags, YouTube Factorio content creator outreach for feature coverage, Factorio Discord server announcements.
What's the competition?
Competition Level
Low
Similar Products
FNEI (recipe lookup only, no live throughput), Factory Planner (external planning tool, not in-game overlay), Rate Calculator (numbers only, no visual graph) — MapCraft fills the live in-game visual bottleneck detection gap.
Competitive Advantage
No existing mod overlays a live production chain graph inside the game map view — existing tools like FNEI show recipes but not live throughput flow or bottleneck alerts.
Regulatory Risks
Low regulatory risk. Factorio mod license requires attribution for Wube Software assets. Patreon operates under standard creator platform terms with no specific gaming regulation.
What's the roadmap?
Feature Roadmap
V1 (launch): live overlay graph, bottleneck teleport, threshold alerts. V2 (month 2-3): historical throughput charts, Space Age DLC chain support. V3 (month 4+): multiplayer production comparison, cross-mod API, CSV export.
Milestone Plan
Phase 1 (Week 1-2): core mod ships to Mod Portal, r/factorio launch post live. Phase 2 (Month 1): 5k downloads, Patreon page live, 50 supporters. Phase 3 (Month 3): 25k downloads, 200 Patreon supporters, premium analytics pack released.
How do you build it?
Tech Stack
Lua, Factorio Mod API, FGUI (Factorio GUI framework) — build logic with Cursor for Lua scripting, reference Factorio modding wiki for API patterns.
Suggested Frameworks
Factorio Mod API for entity and production stats, FGUI for overlay panel rendering, Factorio remote interface for cross-mod compatibility
Time to Ship
2 weeks
Required Skills
Lua scripting, Factorio Mod API production statistics, FGUI overlay rendering.
Resources
Factorio Lua API docs (lua-api.factorio.com), Factorio modding wiki, r/factoriomods community, existing open-source mods on Mod Portal for reference patterns.
MVP Scope
control.lua (main mod logic, event handlers, production stats polling), data.lua (mod registration and prototype definitions), gui/overlay.lua (FGUI panel and graph rendering), gui/alerts.lua (threshold notification logic), locale/en.cfg (localization strings), thumbnail.png (mod portal artwork), info.json (mod metadata and version), changelog.txt (update log).
Core User Journey
Install from Mod Portal -> launch Factorio save -> press hotkey to open overlay -> see live production graph -> click red bottleneck node -> teleport to problem machines -> fix issue.
Architecture Pattern
Factorio game tick -> Lua event handler polls LuaFlowStatistics per entity -> builds adjacency graph in memory -> FGUI renders graph overlay panel per player -> threshold check fires LuaEntity alert if ratio drops below setting -> click event on graph node calls game.player.zoom_to_world on entity position.
Data Model
Per-player session: ProductionGraph (nodes: EntityCluster with item_type and throughput_ratio, edges: ItemFlow with rate). AlertConfig (thresholds per item type). GraphState rebuilt each N ticks from LuaFlowStatistics API.
Integration Points
Factorio Mod API for entity and production statistics access, FGUI for in-game GUI rendering, Factorio Mod Portal for distribution, Patreon for supporter monetization, GitHub for open-source code hosting.
V1 Scope Boundaries
V1 excludes: multiplayer production comparison, Space Age DLC chain support, external web dashboard, CSV export, cross-mod API for other mods to query MapCraft data.
Success Definition
A Factorio player with no prior knowledge of the mod installs it from Mod Portal, opens the overlay during an active game session, identifies a real bottleneck they did not know existed, and leaves a 5-star review.
Challenges
The hardest non-technical problem is Mod Portal discoverability — thousands of mods compete for the same search results, and without a YouTube video or r/factorio post on launch day, the mod will sit at zero downloads indefinitely. Plan the community launch before writing the first line of Lua.
Avoid These Pitfalls
Do not poll every game tick — Factorio performance is tick-sensitive, poll every 60 ticks (1 second) maximum or players will flag the mod as laggy immediately. Do not build the premium analytics tier before the free mod has 10k downloads. Mod Portal discoverability requires an r/factorio launch post — no post means no downloads regardless of quality.
Security Requirements
Low regulatory risk. Mod runs entirely client-side with no network calls. No user data collected or transmitted. Patreon handles all payment and identity. Mod source code published on GitHub under MIT license.
Infrastructure Plan
GitHub for code hosting (free), Factorio Mod Portal for distribution (free), Steam Workshop for secondary distribution (free), Patreon for monetization (8% fee) — zero monthly infrastructure cost.
Performance Targets
Mod must maintain game UPS above 55 on a 200-assembler factory. Graph rebuild target: under 5ms per 60-tick poll. Overlay panel render: under 2ms per frame. No network calls — all computation is in-game Lua.
Go-Live Checklist
- ☐Mod tested on Factorio 2.0 vanilla save without crashes.
- ☐Performance verified above 55 UPS on large factory.
- ☐Mod Portal listing with screenshots and description complete.
- ☐Patreon page live and linked in mod description.
- ☐r/factorio launch post with demo GIF drafted.
- ☐info.json version and license fields correct.
- ☐Changelog.txt populated for V1.0.
- ☐GitHub repository public with MIT license.
- ☐Launch post scheduled for peak r/factorio traffic window.
First Run Experience
On first run after installing from Mod Portal: the mod adds a toolbar button and a keybind (default: Shift+G). User opens any existing save, presses the hotkey, and the overlay panel immediately renders based on their current factory state. No configuration required — the graph auto-detects all assembling machines on the active surface and renders live throughput data from the current game session.
How to build it, step by step
1. Define data schema: ProductionNode struct with entity_type, position, input_rate, output_rate, ratio fields in Lua table format. 2. Set up mod folder structure with info.json, data.lua, control.lua, and locale/en.cfg. 3. Register mod in info.json with Factorio version constraint and dependencies. 4. In control.lua, register on_nth_tick(60) event to poll LuaFlowStatistics for all assembling machines in player surface. 5. Build graph builder function that traces item connections between machines into an adjacency table. 6. Build FGUI overlay panel in gui/overlay.lua with a frame, scroll pane, and dynamic node buttons colored by ratio. 7. Add click handler on node buttons that calls player.zoom_to_world with the entity's position. 8. Add threshold alert system in gui/alerts.lua using game.player.add_alert when ratio drops below settings value. 9. Test mod on a mid-game factory save with at least 5 production chains running. 10. Publish to Mod Portal and verify: launch game with mod enabled, open overlay with hotkey, confirm graph renders and bottleneck click teleports correctly.
Generated
May 23, 2026
Model
claude-sonnet-4-6
Disclaimer: Ideas on this site are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies. Revenue estimates, market demand figures, and financial projections are illustrative assumptions only — not financial advice. Do your own research before making any business or investment decisions. Technology availability, pricing, and market conditions change rapidly; always verify details independently.