Techtonica News

Have you ever wondered how developers talk about unnamed spaces in larger video game worlds? That is, how do teams talk about a single location on a map that never really gets a formal name?

It’s like callouts in a competitive multiplayer title back before games started naming specific areas in the UI. We pick one or two distinct features and start referring to the place in question by said features. Names can and do often change, though, and that happened with the place we’re spotlighting today, Butterfly Grove Cove. Sorry, caught myself.

Butterfly Cove is the space right near Production Terminal Victor. It was initially called “Butterfly Grove” because it’s the first place to feature the Waterglass Monarch, a beautiful name for a beautiful tree.



“Butterfly Grove” is actually present in the Techtonica demo that’s live on Steam right now. But! That version of this beautiful little space isn’t what we’re going for when we launch into Early Access.

The name evolved to Butterfly Cove when Ben, our Level Designer, added sand to the shoreline and gave the space an alien beach-like feel. Plus, as Game Director Richard points out, they rhyme.



What else changed? What can Groundbreakers like you expect to find in this new take on an already pretty spot? Let’s dig in.

[h3]The Waterglass Monarchs and their neighboring flock of plants take root[/h3]

The flora is core to Techtonica’s art design, and its bioluminescence on Calyx has been central to our art direction from the beginning. These glowing plants and trees are meant to light the darkness, turning what should be a terrifying space into something bright and inviting.

That continues with the Waterglass Monarchs, Moon Blossoms, Maelstrom Lotuses, Yellow Emberstalk, and Painter’s Lilies that pock and spot the landscape in Butterfly Cove.



And yes! All of the plants and trees on Calyx are named, and you can learn more about them by scanning them and reading the databank entries that scans unlock.

[h3]Look up! The ceilings are alive with detail[/h3]

The Butterfly Cove is now home to detail above, too. The cavern ceilings now feature dripping plant life and stalactites, making the space feel more alive.



The fluorescent flora on the cavern ceilings of Calyx often reminds me of starry skies from a planet’s surface, and seeing this already pretty space teeming with “stars” is beautiful.

[h3]Fully flowing waterfalls and rivers[/h3]

Butterfly Cove got its new name from the sand added to the shoreline. That shoreline marks the boundary between Calyxian cavern floor and freshly flowing rivers fed by brand-new waterfalls.



This is the first time we’re sharing imagery of flowing waterfalls in Techtonica, and you’ll find them throughout the area you’ll discover upon Early Access release.

[h3]Surprises surround Butterfly Cove[/h3]

If you played the Techtonica demo, you likely stumbled across a few narrative set pieces. Sparks was with you when you found, for instance, the mineshaft or the makeshift camp. These small narrative tidbits, and more like them, now surround Butterfly Cove.

We’re telling the story of Techtonica with big moments, of course, but little surprises like the ones in the demo will help breathe more narrative life into the smaller moments. We hope you like discovering them.

[h3]A sneak peek at the new Production Terminal Victor[/h3]

Okay, so you’ve likely noticed the massive structure in the screenshots and clips throughout this post. As the letters on the building indicate, that’s the new design for Production Terminal Victor.



Next week, we’ll dive into the updated Production Terminals with a much closer look at Production Terminal Lima and how it works.

Stay tuned, Groundbreakers! Don't forget to Wishlist Techtonica!

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

If 'Satisfactory but underground and with destructible terrain' sounds appealing, you might want to stop reading this and start downloading Techtonica's demo - then come back and finish reading this, so I still feel useful. It's a first-person factory-building game set in an alien cavern complex with pretty bioluminescent plants. I am excited to lose dozens or hundreds of hours to it when it launches on early access.

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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/