Techtonica News

We recently took questions from our community on the official Techtonica Discord for our monthly Developer AMA. The questions ranged from those about gameplay specifics to design philosophies and, of course, release information.

We encourage you to visit the Discord to check out all of the questions and answers, but we wanted to pull out the relevant Alpha information specifically so that our followers here on Steam could stay in the loop.

Here are the questions and answers connected to the Techtonica Alpha.

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Can we throw money at your to help with Dev of the game... and maybe secure a spot in beta testing?

You won’t need to throw money at Techtonica to take part in the Alpha. We’re offering that to community members and content creators for free. Once the Alpha is over, we’ll make sure the keys we sent out no longer work. So, once we launch, that’ll be your chance to throw money at Techtonica.

But! If you’re looking to help us, we’ll take help in the form of community participation, wishlisting the game on Steam, and providing feedback on the Alpha.

After game release, is there plans to extend the story or release substantial content to the game or will there just be minor updates/bug fixes?

Yes, we have big plans for Techtonica. From definite features that we’re actively working on today to a laundry list of planned and proposed updates. We’re doing a private community Alpha, which will talk more about throughout this AMA, and we’ll move to a Beta release after that. We’ll perform regular updates in both the Alpha and Beta phases, and those updates will range in size from minor bug fixes to major new systems, features, and content.

Of course, the whole time we’ll be collecting and considering any community feedback shared regarding the game.

From @ozmethod - No release date has been announced, but is there a target alpha/beta/release window you can share?

Yes! We’re not ready to share the exact date just yet, but we’ll slowly roll out our Alpha over the coming months. Access to the Alpha will be free, but it will end once the Alpha window closes. At that point, the keys players receive will be revoked. You’ll need to buy the game at release. But the playable window for the Alpha will be weeks, not days.

Being here on Discord is the best way to make sure you’ll have a chance to join the Alpha once it’s live. We’ll have a lot more to share soon, so stay tuned.

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As you can see with that last answer, the best way to get into the Techtonica Alpha is to join the Discord.



We’ll have lots more to share regarding dates and how to gain access in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned.

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

Last week, we held a Developer AMA on the official Techtonica Discord. We received a lot of great questions from our community over the open submission window.

This week, we shared our answers. While we absolutely invite you to join the Discord to read all of them—and connect with like-minded factory builders and sci-fi lovers—we wanted to share a few of our favorite questions and answers here.

Away we go!



Is the world procedural or handcrafted?

The world of Techtonica is handcrafted.

We want to tell a really compelling story in Techtonica, and part of building that strong narrative relies on our ability to intentionally shape and mold the world to meet our story’s needs. We can’t do everything we want to do with a completely procedurally generated world.
Related to the world gen/creation, how large scale is the map going to be? Relative to whether it's handcrafted or infinitely procedural?

The world in Techtonica is big. We may have handcrafted open spaces, but the destructible terrain means players will be able to carve out their own factory floors as they look to expand. This goes in vertical directions, too, as you’ll be able to dig and build multi-layer structures.

We won’t use words like infinite or procedural, but players will have an opportunity to make their factories sprawl.

There will also be massive ore veins buried deep within Calyx rock caverns that will require serious excavation to reach. There will be enough resources to last 1000s of hours alone.

What are your thoughts on various environmental hazards throughout the world?

In a word: yes. Your question sort of answers itself here, but we’ve absolutely discussed and are working on environmental hazards and considerations for players. We have some cool ideas (the trailer hints at a few), and we will have more information regarding mechanics like hazards soon.

Will there be any PVE content?

While there is no combat, there will be environmental hazards and challenges for players to solve, mitigate, and exploit. It’s important for us to make environmental challenges that both apply pressure to players and create opportunities to advance their factories.

Will there be any PVP content?

There will not be any PVP content. While we enjoy various kinds of games (including those with combat and PVP!) we, as a studio, choose not to make violence one of the core focuses of our games.

We’ve joked around internally about using the M.O.L.E. (that’s the tool that fires black holes to cut into the rocks of Calyx) to bury co-op partners in massive holes. PVP? Not really. Still fun.
Will there be liquids? (that can be used to craft things or do other stuff)

Yes, we have plans for liquids. In fact, there’s a lot of excitement internally about what liquids can do for a lot of the dynamic systems in Techtonica.

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If you have any questions about Techtonica, we encourage you to bring them to our Discord. We will hold AMAs like this one regularly.

-Fire Hose

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

All this week, we're taking questions from the Techtonica community on our official Discord.

If you'd like to ask a question, take part in more community events, and/or find some like-minded factory building enthusiasts, you can join our Discord by hitting the big banner below.



We're accepting questions for the AMA through Friday, March 25th, 2022. Our team will answer the questions, and we'll share those answers on our Discord the following Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.

If you haven't already, be sure to wishlist Techtonica here on Steam to stay in the loop.

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

You can also visit Techtoni.ca to sign up for our official mailing list to get a few free goodies and keep connected with the game and its development.

You've covered an alien world with a sprawling megafactory in Factorio. You've done the same in a first-person view in Satisfactory. Hell, you've converted half the galaxy to factory in Dyson Sphere Program. Reader dear, you still might be interested in an upcoming factory-building game, Techtonica. It's a first-person industrialiser set beneath the surface of an alien planet, complete with destructible terrain to carve out space for your mechanical machinations. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Read more