I have a suggestion which I haven't seen mentioned here yet: Why don't you come up with an explanation for how the beacon actually works, then build its design around that? If the beacon works by constantly analyzing the manufacturing process, eking out productivity gains through opportunistic adju...

Make the cut scenes have like, black bars top and bottom? Cinematographic quality guaranteed right there guys. How can you *not* know you're in a cut scene when them bars slide in from top and bottom? Also I do agree with all the smoother movement transition ideas.