The difference is that factorio is artificial, so it can cultivate that flow feeling perfectly. If that’s what you seek, then factorio will give it to you. A s

The difference is that factorio is artificial, so it can cultivate that flow feeling perfectly. If that’s what you seek, then factorio will give it to you. A side project may well give you that some of the time, but will also involve tasks that don’t give you that. In other words, factorio is a game! They rigorously exclude more realistic features if they believe they'll make the game less fun. You can't do that in real life! When I play it, I feel like I'm working on a side project in that peak phase where you're fleshing it out and what you have in your brain is appearing in front of you. As another commenter said, it helps you recover from the constant stumbling blocks and blockers that burn you out during real development.