Techtonica News

Techtonica is entering into Early Access on July 18th. ICYMI, here’s some info on that!

To give players a better sense of where Techtonica’s heading, the team created a roadmap that showcases what the next few updates will look like. Closer updates have more details, as we’ve fully scoped those out and planned them. Further updates have less details, as we aren’t 100% ready to commit to the designs we have planned.

This is important: this roadmap isn’t locked in place.

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We plan to adjust this roadmap based on your feedback! If you haven’t already, join our Discord or stay tuned for our soon-to-be-launched feedback website. As we make adjustments, we’ll be sure to notify the community and keep y’all in the loop.

Without further delay, the roadmap:



[h3]Welcome to Calyx - v0.1[/h3]

v0.1 is what will be available on July 18th. This has everything you should expect at launch, including the M.O.L.E., destructible terrain, 4-player online co-op, the monorail with the rideable zipline, and an open world with fully voiced characters.

You’ll also find that Techtonica has been localized (in-game text and subtitles) into 10 supported languages. We will be adding more languages as time goes on, but for now, we prioritized the languages that popped up highest in our wishlists.

[h3]QoL Update - v0.1.1[/h3]

The Quality of Life update planned for bugfixes will happen soon after launch, and we will need your help for it! Any player feedback submitted on our soon-to-be-launched website or in the Discord will be taken into account. While there’s no way we’ll be able to get to everything, we’ll rely on the community to help us figure out the most critical matters.

[h3]New Foundations - v0.2[/h3]

The New Foundations update is where things get really exciting. There will be new narrative and research pieces, and Base Building will receive a massive upgrade. As players who spend 99% of their time in other games simply building houses, we are pretty darn stoked about this. You can expect new floors, walls, lights, and decorations. The art team has a pretty big list.

We’re hoping this update will launch a few months after the QoL update, which will be our typical cadence for updates moving forward.

[h3]Take Flight - v0.3[/h3]

The last update we can provide even a small amount of details on is Take Flight; we’re adding a new vehicle to the game. What kind of vehicle? We can’t reveal that yet, but once the team is ready to share we will give you what we can. We’re adding in some gameplay-enhancing build modes as well.

As far as Desert MIRAGE goes? We’ll leave that one up to your imagination.

This is our current roadmap! We will update this roadmap as we get closer to other updates, and we will let you know when it happens.

See you in the Discord!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1457320/Techtonica/

We’ll admit it. Our players are definitely better than us when it comes to building factories. We know this is true, and it’s only going to become more true after Techtonica enters Early Access.

Relyen is one of those players, and we wanted to work with him to help make some stellar factories for our release date trailer. Boy, did he deliver…



How did we find Relyen? What made us want to work with him for our trailers?

Before we answer those questions, you should subscribe to Relyen’s YouTube channel. If you’re reading this post, you’ll probably enjoy his content.

In addition to our video and blog update, Relyen made his own behind the scenes video.

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Let’s dig in.

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[h3]How and why did this happen?[/h3]

Relyen signed up for the closed Alpha in May of last year. He was part of Wave 1, and, we didn’t know it at the time, decided to make some videos.

These videos were rad. They involved math and design decisions, and Relyen was one of the first players to actually use Power Floors to decorate factories. He was pushing out some of the most informative Techtonica content available at the time. You can still dig into that Alpha playlist, but the math is all broken now (sorry, Relyen!).

Our team noticed these vids, and then we noticed Relyen had a history of making really great Satisfactory tutorials. He has a knack for making stuff look pretty while eking out every ounce of efficiency.

Relyen joined our Discord, started chatting with the devs, and we realized he was a pretty cool guy. When it came time to plan our release date trailer, we decided that Relyen would build a way more impressive factory than we would, so we got in touch.

Relyen put up with some jank and bugs in order to craft the massive factories you see in the Release Date trailer, and we think the result is incredible. Here’s that trailer again.

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[h3]What about the timelapse?[/h3]

Who doesn’t like a good timelapse shot? We wanted to showcase how quickly a small factory outpost could scale into something larger in our release date trailer.

So, Relyen, two other Fire Hose members, and I dove into a multiplayer session. While Relyen and I built the factory, the other two players dropped their HUDs and stood still to record. Over an hour-ish, we’d built a pretty spiffy factory.

The result is cool!



[h3]Relyen’s actually working on another factory for another trailer right now…[/h3]

When Techtonica enters Early Access on July 18th, 2023, we’ll do so with a brand-new launch trailer in hand. We needed a cool factory, so we turned to Relyen again. Here’s a small tease of what’s coming.



Thanks to Relyen, thanks to all creators big and small, and thank you to the players who blew our minds during the demo. We can’t wait to see what you build once we launch into Early Access.

Our plan in the future is to highlight our community members' factories, so share what you build with us!

See you soon.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1457320/Techtonica/

Hey Groundbreakers! ICYMI, we finally announced our launch date last week. Techtonica will be coming to Early Access on July 18th!

As we get closer to launch, we wanted to start giving you more details on what the Early Access release will look like. And that begins with some more exciting news. Techtonica’s Original Soundtrack will be available on day one on Steam!

We took the time to deep dive Techtonica’s music and SFX this week with our Composer and Sound Director, Brandon Ellis. You may have heard his music - under the name Cityfires - in Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered & 30XX!

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First, let’s take a moment to listen to some music. There are two versions of each song in Techtonica. These change in-game depending on how close you are to big machines. Below are two examples:

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Let’s hear from Brandon.

What was the original inspiration for the River Biome tracks?

Brandon: The team had some very clear goals right from the start to help direct the type of mood we wanted. It was important to use the music to help the player have a feeling of mystery and isolation while exploring the biome. But on top of that, we wanted to make sure the music reflected a sense of productivity and progress as the player slowly builds out their factories all across the world.

It was also really important to make sure the music wasn’t scary or uncomfortable! I realized very early that it’s a fine line between relaxing music and sounding like something is about to jump out at you around the corner.

How much do you take into account the environment? Did anything inspire you there?

Compared to other “level themes” you might think about from video games, the River Biome, a large series of caves with rivers stretching out all throughout, has a lot of room for interpretation and influence. We decided to settle on some specific instruments to serve as the foundation for this biome: lots of piano, bells, and synth pads. I would consider those “watery” instruments.

And then the design of the biome itself is a really interesting blend of expansive space AND stone walls and ceilings all around you. We want the music to almost sound like it’s just coming out of the ground and echoing through the caverns, like it’s part of the planet itself.

And adding the “Factory Mix” of the tracks ended up being a really great idea by our game director!

How did the idea of intense factory music versus ambient exploration music come about?

There are tons of games that have dynamic sound when you’re in or out of combat. The FTL Soundtrack, for instance, has an incredible dynamic flow between when you’re planning out your moves and when you’re actively trying to not die for your 100th run in a row.

And while Techtonica doesn’t have combat, it does have two really different experiences that the player moves between: exploring the world and trying to uncover what exactly you’re doing on this planet, and working in your factory to keep up your productivity.

So Richard, our Game Director, brought up the idea of having the music change when you’re in your factory and when you’re out exploring!

What are the major differences between those tracks?

When you’re in and around a bunch of mining drills, assemblers, and smelters, it can be hard to hear the light ambient music that occasionally fades in and out. So the “Factory Mix” of each track adds some percussion, bass, and more intense synth sounds to blend better with your machinery. And as you step away from the factory floor and move into the more natural spaces in the game, the music will fade back into the more ambient mix. The goal is just to properly match the vibe that the player is experiencing.

Where did you pull inspiration for the machine sounds from?

A majority of our machines in the River Biome have real-world analogs we can pull references from. So typically it’s a blend of recording huge, industrial machines and blending them with synths and effects to match their size and scope in-game.

Some of those machines are more real than others, so for some of the more fantastical and futuristic sounds, we relied a lot more on creating synthetic sounds. The idea of making all the sounds for the M.O.L.E. (our handheld black-hole mining tool) was really daunting because it had so many parts to it: the mechanical tool itself, the black hole radiating energy out in front of you, the rocks cracking and exploding…. That one was definitely a giant blend of real sounds and some really wild synth work.

How many layers of sound does each item have? Which is the most complex?

The M.O.L.E. was definitely pretty daunting, and several other machines have some pretty involved triggers. Some machines like the Smelter are just on or off, but others like the Monorail can have 4 or 5 different “states” they might be in. Those were complicated not just because they have a lot of moving parts and visual elements that need to be reflected in the SFX, but because they need extensive implementation to make sure they all trigger at the correct points.

How do you balance the music in game with machine sounds and environmental sounds?

It’s definitely a challenge to properly balance it all, but luckily the music intensity change and the natural flow of the game between the natural and artificial sections help ease the player between all the different sounds. You expect the sound to be more dense when you’re around a bunch of machines, and that allows for a really pleasant feeling when you move back out into the wilderness and can hear the gentle flowing of the water again.

Anything special in the SFX you might not notice?

I had a hard time finding the right sound for the mining drill’s motor sound, and I ultimately settled on using some recorded samples from a bunch of motorcycles! And I’m actually really happy with how that turned out!

Also my favorite way to test new sound implementations is to just record myself saying whatever the machine is doing. And when I forget to replace them, I usually get really confused messages from the QA team asking why the monorail is saying “WHEEE!!!” as it flies past. Or why the Assembler is just saying “LASER LASER LASER.” I keep telling the team we need talking machines in our game.

How many tracks will be in the final OST?

I think the goal is to have a robust, unique set of songs that play in the River Biome. As of right now the River Biome has about 11 songs that will randomly cycle during gameplay.

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We’ll be posting a tracklist in the upcoming weeks and more info on the OST as we get closer to launch!

If you want to meet the rest of the community and speak directly with more developers, join our Discord.

See you soon!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1457320/Techtonica/

Ten new indie games are coming to Xbox Game Pass following a rollercaoster of a not-E3 season. Each have varying release dates, but as some of the more hotly anticipated smaller games announced right now, it's worth keeping an eye out for them when they eventually drop.

This information comes via the Xbox Game Pass official Twitter account, which dropped the news with a short gameplay reel of all the new additions. They're coming in part thanks to ID@Xbox, the companies independant publishing arm that has been pulling hundreds of small games of quality to the consoles and PC Game Pass for years now.

The ten games on the way to Game Pass are:

Read more

We just had a huge weekend for Techtonica news.

If you count yourself among the newly recruited Groundbreakers, welcome! If you’ve been here for weeks and months now, welcome back!

Every week, we put together a blog post, newsletter, and update video featuring Techtonica details big and small. Whether it’s reworked Conveyor Belts, new tools, or major announcements, we’ll share something new weekly.

This week, we’re recapping all the info that came out over the weekend. Let’s dig in.

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First, Techtonica will enter Early Access on July 18th, 2023. In case you missed it, here’s the new trailer that revealed the date.

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We also announced that Techtonica will be available day one with Xbox Game Pass.

You might have figured this out already, but we’ll make it official. Since Techtonica is coming to Xbox consoles, Techtonica features gamepad support.



Since day one, we’ve been quietly designing Techtonica to work natively on gamepads. In fact, in the very early days, we made it so the game was only playable with a gamepad in order to force ourselves to really consider intuitive controls. Richard, our Game Director, talked about this on our Discord.

Originally posted by Richard-on-Discord

Techtonica originally only worked on controller 😂 We knew making an automation game work on controller was going to be hard so we forced the controls to be only controller at first to make sure we did the controls well

We’re really happy with how it feels, and some team members prefer the gamepad over keyboard and mouse.

We can’t wait for you to join the ANEXCAL mission on July 18th, 2023, as Techtonica launches into Early Access.

If you want to meet the rest of the community and speak directly with the developers, join our Discord.

See you soon!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1457320/Techtonica/