Techtonica News

In the demo for Techtonica, the Echosketch is a functional mapping system that lets you know where you are in Calyx’s network of twisting caverns.

In a game design sense, getting the Echosketch is a big part of how players in the demo move from Production Terminal Lima to the more open Production Terminal Victor area. You need the Echosketch to spot the caverns beyond the tutorial space you’ve grown accustomed to.



It works! For the demo.

But… we have so much more planned for the Echosketch you’ll build upon release, and that’s what we’re taking a look at today.

What’s changed, in a nutshell?

1. Colors have been tweaked to take the Echosketch from “eh, I can kinda see” to “ohhhhh, so that’s where I am.”
   
2. Resource veins now appear on the minimap and in the Echosketch, adding a completely new degree of usefulness to the tech.
   
3. Your machines also appear… and they even animate!
   
4. The Echosketch range will eventually be upgradeable in the Tech Tree so you can see fuuuuurther.
   

Okay, so let’s dig into these new elements of the Echosketch so you can see what’s what and why it’s super cool.

[h3]Look at all the new colors![/h3]

It’s a little tough to make out the player icon and the rest of the map on the Echosketch that’s working in the Techtonica demo. Those colors have been updated for the Early Access version of Techtonica.

At release, you’ll find a high-contrast map design that makes it easy to pick out the player icon against the terrain quickly. This update is pretty stark; see for yourself in the before and after screenshots below.

Before ⬇️



After ⬇️



[h3]Oh, there’s a massive copper deposit over that way.[/h3]

In Techtonica, we want Groundbreakers to explore the world of Calyx and dig out secret hideaways, buried facilities, and lots more (seeeecrets). We also want Groundbreakers to tap into resource veins across the map, expanding their network of industry as they move.

The new Echosketch enhances your ability to find those resource veins by plainly revealing them on the map. A quick glance gives you a sense of where you should head next for that source of iron, copper, or atlantum.



[h3]Look at my lil’ factory go![/h3]

The Echosketch players will build upon Early Access release features machine placements.

It’s super helpful to have machines, belts, and belt-riding materials show up on the Echosketch map. As you explore the caverns of Calyx and expand your factory’s footprint, you can sometimes get a little turned around and forget where you put, say, that bank of miners or smelters. With the Echosketch, a quick look now tells you where things are and even if they’re operating.

Here’s what it all looks like in motion.



Yep, the little animated factories look great. And they serve the purpose of sharing your machines’ status from the map itself.

We asked Richard, the Game Director on Techtonica, why he added the animated machines to the Echosketch. As usual, his answer was poetry.



For fun. True.

[h3]Bonus round: Check out some early map concepts for the Echosketch[/h3]

The Echosketch design has, as with almost everything in Techtonica, seen its fair share of iteration. We thought it’d be fun to share an earlier mockup of what the map system could have looked like.

Notice the machines, the conveyor lines, and the ore veins? Those are all in and working for the in-dev version of the Echosketch. The other stuff? Maybe those are hints of what’s to come.



Thanks for reading, Groundbreakers! We’ll see you next week.

Wishlist Techtonica, tell your friends. Let’s get to work.

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

Techtonica will have four-player co-op when it launches into Early Access next year.

We’re still in active development, and that means lots of what we’re sharing and showcasing should be labeled “work in progress.” Some of you eagle-eyed Groundbreakers even noticed a multiplayer clip from a couple of months ago on TikTok that featured dev team members moving without animation.

Recently, we added physics simulations to take our multiplayer character movement from locked and stiff, as seen in the TikTok above, to more fluid and animated. When you fire up Techtonica with your friends, it’ll look something like this.



That’s right. To help tell your friends apart, Groundbreaker suits come in a variety of colors.

Getting to the version you see above, though, was a ride.

Techtonica Game Director, Richard, made the mistake of sharing his work in our team chat, making it possible for us to grab the clips for posting here for you today.

Thanks, Richard!



He’s not paid for puns, folks. Still, this is perfect.



The next iteration was less underwater but somehow equally ridiculous.





Finally, Richard brought his work much closer to the final version you see near the top of this post. This is what your friends will look like when they join your multiplayer Techtonica sessions upon Early Access release in 2023.



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A note and a question for you before we go. In case it’s not obvious, we recently switched to weekly updates for Techtonica. We hope you're enjoying the extra looks at what we’re working on. These posts will continue, and we’ll showcase more interesting stuff as we near release next year.

Onto the question: Besides our planned announcements, what would you like to learn about when it comes to the development process for Techtonica?

Thanks for reading, Groundbreakers! See you next time.

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

Factory automation games tick lots of different boxes for all sorts of players.

Whether it’s logistical problem-solving, exploration, accomplishment, objectives, or that flow state we’ve talked about before, these games rely on lots of moving parts (literally and figuratively).

In Techtonica, a lot of satisfaction comes from seeing the fruits of your logistical labor reach their intended destinations. Watching the iron ore you mined move along Conveyor Belts to become iron ingots, then iron components and a swarm of Inserters is part of the magic of what makes factory automation games feel so good.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that our art team has been hard at work on the resources and products that move along each factory’s Belts.

If you played the demo, you might remember some pretty placeholder art and 3D models between your inventory menus and on your Conveyors. Those have all been replaced in the in-development version of Techtonica, and they look much, much better.

Creating an intermediate, such as Iron Components, starts with sketches against reference pieces. Those sketches get feedback and iteration as the concept moves from idea to model, as seen in macro detail below.



Feedback comes from members of the art team, of course, and it can be incredibly specific or more generalized. Here’s some mid-stage work with real feedback from our team.



With feedback, icons and models became much more refined into what you’ll actually see in the game at launch.



And here’s what it looks like on belts in the in-dev version of Techtonica. We’ve changed the way we render metal since the Alpha and demo, too. Metallic resources and products will look properly shiny in low-light environments instead of too dark or flat, as they were before.



The work includes what these resources and products look like in your inventory and crafting menu, too.



These models and icons come together to progress the vision of Techtonica and the world of Calyx for players. Hopefully, you dig what you see and take as much joy in producing these materials as we did in creating them for the game.

Until next time, Groundbreaker. Be sure to Wishlist Techtonica here on Steam, and tell your friends to check out the demo!

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

As we announced last week, the Techtonica demo has officially returned!

What’s changed? Super, super minor stuff, quite honestly. We did prepare these patch notes for your reference, though, and we’re renaming the Techtonica demo in order to solidify that this will not be updated.

The Techtonica demo is now live as the Techtonica Prologue!

[h3]Here come the patch notes![/h3]

You, the community, wanted a way to play the game after the Demo’s untimely demise, so here it is! The Prologue is very similar to the Demo, with a handful of small changes.

Please note that the Techtonica Prologue is an UNCHANGING MONOLITH, a snapshot in stasis, a stationary testament to how time makes fools of us all. Which is to say… we’re not gonna update this.

We’re pouring our effort into making Techtonica proper the best game we can, which means leaving the Prologue as-is.

🏭 Minor Updates 🏭
⛏️ = Changed in response to community feedback

• Updated in-game text to remove reference to Next Fest. Next Fest is so two months ago; the Prologue is what’s hot right now.
  
• Disabled the in-game feedback form because we were tired of hearing from you (no wait, that’s a joke, please don’t go, just give us feedback in Discord!).
  
• ⛏️ Improved performance while navigating menus with large inventories (this does not affect some menu hangs on open/close)
  
• Updated resource icons. They’re so shiny! They don’t match the models for their resources… YET!
  

A Note on Save Files

For the diehard Groundbreakers who just can’t let go of their Demo save files, good news! Your save files should be mostly compatible with the Prologue.

However, Demo/Prologue save files will not work in the Early Access release of Techtonica.

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Welcome back to Calyx, Groundbreakers. Now, let’s get to work.

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

It’s true! There are real human people making Techtonica, and we took a week to hang out, eat, play games, and bond as a team for the first time since the pandemic began.

Fire Hose Games was founded and is largely based in Boston, MA, but we now have team members distributed across the U.S. and in a few other countries around the world! We went remote because of the pandemic, and that means a lot of folks have never met in person beyond the confines of a virtual meeting place.

So! Before Thanksgiving here in the States, we held our annual summit in Boston and gathered as many of our team as possible to grow as a company and as friends.

We thought you’d like a little look at what we did over the course of the week!

Oh, by the way, the demo relaunches this week.

[h3]On Monday, we traveled. [/h3]

When we officially got together, we chowed down on ramen and, of course, hot chocolate. A few of the team even made it out to a great dive bar for a few beers.





[h3]Tuesday? Aquarium.[/h3]

On Tuesday, we ventured to the aquarium before a bunch of very (boring) important team meetings. Excuse me, Penguins.



[h3]Wednesday meant Boda Borg.[/h3]

Boda Borg is this really interesting take on real-life video games, sort of. It’s equal parts escape rooms, puzzles, and obstacle courses, and the team had a blast breaking into groups and fighting through failure to stretch brain muscles and conquer rooms.



[h3]Thursday was museum day.[/h3]

On Thursday, the Fire Hose team hit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a beautiful place and perhaps one of the most interesting museums I’ve ever visited.





[h3]On Friday, we called it quits.[/h3]

We all made our way back to our respective homes on Friday, but not before we spent Thursday evening saying goodbye to Ruma.



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Thanks for reading about our adventures. Now? Other than swapping some language in the demo to relaunch it, we're hard at work on the Early Access release of Techtonica. You can expect lots more about the game soon.

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