Building the Satisfactory Website: My First Game Project (and a Giant Leap Into the Industry)

The Satisfactory website holds a special place for me — it was the very first video game website I ever built, and only the second project I worked on with Mike Heald at Fully Illustrated. That was five years ago, and looking back, it was the project that set everything in motion.

At the time, I was still finding my feet in the world of creative dev work. Getting the chance to build the site for Coffee Stain’s upcoming factory-building game was both thrilling and slightly terrifying. But once I started digging into the project, I knew this was exactly the kind of work I wanted to keep doing.

The Brief

Satisfactory was gearing up for its debut, and the website needed to do a few key things:

• Introduce the game and its core mechanics (open-world factory building, conveyor belts, madness, etc.)

• Deliver trailers, media, and links to the store

• Build hype without giving away too much too soon

• Reflect the quirky tone and humor Coffee Stain is known for

Working With Mike

This was only my second time working with Mike Heald, but even early on, we had a solid creative rhythm. His designs are always bold and personality-driven, and the Satisfactory site was no different. Bright colors, large typography, and plenty of visual cues from the game’s UI made it a really fun design to bring to life in code.

That collaboration ended up being the start of a long-running partnership — one that’s taken us through dozens of game websites since.

The Build

The tech stack was a bit simpler than what I use today, but it was solid and suited the needs of the time. I focused on:

• Responsive layout across devices (this was still a manual task in many ways)

• Trailer embeds and media display

• Simple CMS for content updates

• A launch-ready structure that could expand over time

What It Meant to Me

Looking back, this was the project where it all clicked. I realized how much I enjoyed bringing game worlds to the web — translating visual design and narrative tone into something functional and interactive. It wasn’t just about clean code; it was about building a vibe.

The success of the Satisfactory site led to more work with Coffee Stain (including Goat Simulator 3 and Valheim) and gave me the confidence to keep moving deeper into the game industry.

Final Thoughts

Everyone remembers their first big project. For me, it was Satisfactory — and it still makes me proud. It marked the start of a career direction I never expected, and I’m incredibly glad I took that leap.

If you're working on your first game and need a web presence that does it justice — whether it's quirky, serious, weird, or wonderful — I'm always up for helping make that happen.

Check out the live site here: satisfactorygame.com