Blueprint mode
Players capture a built structure as a reusable template and stamp it down elsewhere — often as ghost outlines that workers or logistics then construct. Blueprints are the quality-of-life keystone of large-scale automation and building games: once a factory module or base layout is proven, the player shouldn't rebuild it by hand a hundred times. Designers use blueprints to shift gameplay from tedious placement to design and scaling — the fun is engineering the perfect module, then deploying it as a unit. Key decisions: what blueprints capture (entities only, or settings and circuit wiring too), sharing and import/export (Factorio's blueprint strings created a whole community economy), ghost construction that ties into the labor or logistics system, and mirroring/rotation. Pitfall: introducing blueprints too early removes the manual-building learning phase; they're a mid-game unlock that rewards players who have earned the shortcut.
- Dev effort: Medium
- Timing: Real-time
- Common in: automation, city-builder