I recently bought the game for some friends so we could play together and decided I would make a map that is really really really easy (stupid easy, island with all resources, huge supply, ideal placement, etc) just so I can teach them the game in a very secure and "at-their-pace" environment. As I was making the map, it really felt like a tool that was quickly thrown together. If this game is to see a 1.0 release, I highly suggest looking at the map editor for quality life updates. Here are my suggestions.
My Suggestions
First are foremost: GUI to load a map.
The "Delete" is waaaayyy too close to "load". If you accidentally click "Delete" its like pressing the reset button on a NES. No "Are you sure?" message just - boop. Gone. Deleted. Oops, oh well.
Side note: It is the same way in similar GUI menus, see: Play->Custom Scenario. Same GUI, same problem. Either move it away or add the "Are you sure?" prompt.
Secondly: Visual bugs** and general placement issues*
Replicate Ability: 0% right away. 100% after a few minutes of editing. Maybe a memory issue?
**There is no way to screenshot this because the big issue is that while trying to place an object (happens to me under "Entities" more than other menus, but still applies to everything at times) your cursor completely disappears. The object you are holding looks like you are not holding it but in-fact is still in your hands. You still place the item with a click but with a blind click as you don't see any indicator as to where your mouse is.
*While fixing this problem it would be nice to have the placement of entities work like they do in the game. If I place an underground pipe, I want the next one I put down automatically rotated 180 degrees like it does in the game. Or, maybe, make an option to enable this. Check (or uncheck) a box to auto rotate these types of items.
Additionally when using undergroundies it would be nice to see the range and arrows of direction before I put down the exit side.
Clicking items in chests.
If I click the entity tab, click any chest (or even any item that can hold an item like Oil Refinery, Assembling Machines, etc) and if I load that entity with anything, clicking it alone does nothing at all. You have to delete the item or replace it with another item, so if you misplace an item in a chest you can't just click to move or remove it.
This QoL update seems completely useless because you can shift click to remove items. The reason why you should be able to click items is because it will be easier for players to change between the two. The editor will feel less like a separate add-on and more like it belongs.
A new placement shape, Amoeba
Right now you can put objects/resources/terrain/etc as a square shape, circle shape, or single entities at a time. Getting straight to the point, there should be an "amoeba" shape. It would randomly generate a shape similar to how they spawn in a real randomly generated map. This would get rid of the tedious amount of work it takes to create a custom realistic looking island or resource patch. If this is an easy thing to do I would at least think about it.
A new placement shape, Custom
Basically it's a square but let's you set the dimensions. Want a 2x500 patch of iron? No problem. Want a 50x5000 water-way? Just a second.
"Real time" animations"
I would like the ability to turn on real-time animations of the things I'm editing. If I'm putting down belts, I want to see and maybe hear them animated. If I'm editing a circuit that changes a light color, I want to see the changes to the light as I'm editing the circuit in the map editor. Maybe show a fake fluid flow in pipes too, have electric mines running and furnaces burning. Show the red and yellow "no power" signs on things if it's not connected to any power source. When placing a storage chest (or any other related item) show the range of roboports. Once again, could be enabled by a click box in the options menu.
This idea comes from editing maps in Heroes of Might and Magic 3 where putting down something still showed its animation. The reason for this is the same as the first suggestion. It would make it feel easier to switch between the real game and map editor.
Railroad tracks
Copy/paste the game from the code. Make it work the same way. Don't make switch between curved and straight rails.
Map Editor Blueprints
Let us use special map editor blue-prints that allows us to copy an area and paste it somewhere else like we can do in game with real blueprints.
New map: Empty world
Have an option to have a world 100% empty. You get to choose the starting tileset that covers the world and thats it.
Exiting a game (small problem)
Change "Close" to "Exit Editor". So many time I've saved my map (in case of power outage or random computer reset or game crash, you all know the fears) and then want to go back to editing the map, so I see "close " and naturally think that it closes the menu. I don't even see "Resume editing" at the top. I click close and boop I'm at the menu. This is not really a big issue at all because if you have not saved it, it will prompt you to save the game before exiting and let you save before quitting. It's just a minor annoyance.
Closing
Rereading this, I feel like most of my suggestions are things to make it easier for the average player to understand and not shy away from the map editor. I understand that a map editor is not the same game but I've worked with thousands of hours in various map editors from SC:BW, WC3, Unreal Tournament (+GOTY Edition), Heroes Of Might and Magic (2 thru 4), Dark Reign (hello 1990s), and many many many other games and I do know that it is important to distinguish between "Hey you're making a map" and "hey you're playing the game" but it can't hurt to make things look more clean and polished in the map editor if you're going to do the same for the game.
We were very lucky to have Blizzard and Epic Games where they give us so much power in map editing which helped the community grow in the map editing sector as well (see: Dota ). The fact that factorio is taking the same steps just lets me dump even more hours into the game. The only things really missing, making this map editor just a bit behind what I would like to see, is a string editor or script editor.
