Techtonica News

Now that Oops! All Concrete has launched into the Techtonica void, it’s time for a roadmap update! Below, you’ll find the updated roadmap and a brief overview of each item. We’ll go into much further detail over the coming weeks regarding how these tools look and function.

Without further ado… The updated roadmap!



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Let’s dive into what’s coming in v0.3. Several of these items were upgrades that you, the community, requested. We really value your feedback and we’re doing what we can to implement it!

Vertical Belts
Techtonica is going vertical! Conveyor Belts will go from the floor to the ceiling and will be able to pivot in multiple directions at either end.

Stack Filter Inserters

They stack, they filter, they make everything go brr. You asked for ‘em, we’re delivering.

Quick Copy

Quick Copy will be a …quick copy and paste of machines, machines and recipes, and just recipes. This is a big quality of life feature, and we’re excited to show it off over the next few weeks. The gist? Look at a machine that’s been built, push a button, open a buildable of that machine and/or its recipe to be built again. All without scrolling through your toolbar or opening your inventory. This makes setting up a large factory much easier!

Replacement Tool

Instead of deleting a MKI Belt and manually replacing it, you can drag a box to upgrade belts and machines to a higher tier. This will work on Belts, Drills, Smelters, Inserters, and even some Base Building pieces.

Storage Limiting

Tired of having so many open slots in a chest? With v0.3, you’ll be able to block off storage slots in containers!

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We’re adding even more to this update! Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore all the new features and upgrades coming to v0.3.

Several of these items were the top upvoted posts on our Feedback Website. Have an idea for Techtonica? Submit your own post and cruise for others to upvote!

Some Update Pack information

The response to Oops! All Concrete has been really great! This is the first of our upcoming Update Packs, which are slotted between the larger banner updates like Base Building and v0.3.

These Update Packs are designed by our art team based on player feedback and internal ideas for content. They’re focused on smaller content pieces that require little-to-no engineering time, so development can chug along on our larger updates. This means you get more content for Techtonica while not impacting our production schedule for the game.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments on what we’re adding to Techtonica! And join our Discord to share your factory, debate which setup is best for Threshers, and laugh at some memes.

Welcome, Groundbreakers, to the first Update Pack for Techtonica: Oops! All Concrete.

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That’s right, we’re giving you All Concrete variations across beams, pillars, walls, and wall cutaways. Let that clean brutalism reign supreme on Calyx.

You can learn more about our plans for these Update Packs and how we’re delivering them alongside our regular, large updates here.

What’s in this update, exactly? Let’s dig in.

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[h2]The Complete v0.2.1 Patch Notes[/h2]

[h3]Mechanics and Feature Changes[/h3]

• We’ve added All Concrete variations to the following pieces for your virtually seamless building pleasure. No need to scan or build anything new, these all live in the Variants menu of pieces you already have.
  + Calycite Beam (1x1) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Beam (3x1) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Beam (5x1) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Pillar (1x1) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Pillar (1x3) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Pillar (1x5) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall (3x3) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall (5x3) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall (5x5) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall Cutaway (2x2) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall Cutaway (3x3) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall Cutaway (5x3) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Wall Cutaway (5x5) - All Concrete
  + Calycite Angle Support (3x3) - All Concrete
  

[h3]World Changes[/h3]

• Lack of base building pieces giving you the early-game blues, Groundbreaker? We went ahead and added some new chests to PT VICTOR that contain more than enough base building parts to get you started. You’ll find them there regardless of whether you’re picking up an old save or starting a brand-new game.
  
• We’ve added some All Concrete fragments to facilities for your exploration pleasure, too.
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
Please note that this list is not exhaustive and does not include all minor bugfixes.

• Fixed a set of issues that broke the Freight Elevator UI making it impossible to repair by hand. Groundbreakers should now be able to fix the Freight Elevator however they like.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause Calyxian flora to wink in and out of existence, specifically inside Atlantum Geodes, which was totally bizarre.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Calycite Beam (1x1) to not show up in the Assembler or Schematics menus.
  
• Groundbreakers may have noticed the description for Clay indicating it was a byproduct of threshing Atlantum Ore. This has been corrected to say Atlantum Ore Chunks.
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

We have two larger known issues standing with v0.2.1 that players should keep in mind.

• To ensure your game progression is not broken, please do not skip the PULSE Room cutscene. We intend for this cutscene to be skippable without error as of 0.2.2, but skipping it currently may affect your ability to experience post-cutscene events. If you do skip the cutscene, that's okay! You can replay it from your log in order to continue progression.
  
• There's an annoying autosave bug that we're working on that still exists as of v0.2.1: playing for more than 30 minutes in a single session will cause autosave to overwrite the same file again and again until you restart. For example, if you play for 10 hours straight, you'll have autosaves for the first 29 minutes and then one at the 10-hour mark. For now, be sure to manually save at regular increments.
  

Techtonica is officially 25% off here on Steam, which is the biggest discount we’ve ever had! Oops! All Concrete (v0.2.1) drops tomorrow, so it’s the perfect time to get Techtonica for some pure concrete perfection.

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

Pick up the game, grab some friends, and experience 4-player co-op. Together, you’ll build your factories, dig into the terrain, and debate if concrete or metal pieces look better.

Let’s get to work!

The first Update Pack for Techtonica will arrive tomorrow, January 16th, 2024, with v0.2.1.

That’s right, it’s Oops! All Concrete, and we’re here today to preview what’s coming in this small update. We’ll also get into how and why we’re doing these updates in addition to our larger milestone updates like v0.2 and the future v0.3.

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Let’s dig in.

[h3]All concrete pieces to play with[/h3]

As Lauren shared last week, the Oops! All Concrete update is all about giving players some metal-less pieces to build with. Those metal seams can look weird or off in some places, so we’ve created variants for walls, pillars, and cutaways that are immediately accessible in the variants menu without any unlocks once you have the pieces in question.

What does this look like? Here’s the same wall done two different ways to show you how the All Concrete variations feel. We’ll start with the standard base building pieces.



And now for the same wall with All Concrete variations.



Much cleaner… I love it.

[h3]A trove of base building parts presented much earlier[/h3]

Lauren also talked about this in last week’s update, but we’ve added several chests to VICTOR’s front porch (as I often call it in my mind whenever I play). Inside these chests? A treasure trove of base building pieces for you to play with.

We understand that players want to interact with these pieces earlier in-game, so we’ve given you enough to build a small base near VICTOR before you head off into the wilds to scan, upgrade PT XRAY, and construct pieces of your own.

Here’s a sample of a small base that can be built with the parts in the chest at PT VICTOR.



Will you need to start a new save to get these parts? No! Boot up an old save or start a new one, you’ll find the new chests waiting for you at PT VICTOR. Enjoy!

[h3]What’s up with these Update Packs?[/h3]

As we’ve already said elsewhere, v0.2.1 marks the first small Update Pack we’re doing for Techtonica. We wanted to take a moment to clarify why we’re doing these and how they’re impacting our production schedule.

Let’s start with the latter.

Game development doesn’t happen all at the same time. That is, it’s not normal for art, design, engineering, and QA to be working on the exact same thing at the exact same time. Teams like ours rely on a producer to coordinate production schedules and divy out tasks, and that means an engineer may be working on something an artist finished a month ago.

What does that have to do with these packs? We build a lot of systems in Techtonica. Base Building, for instance, is one such system. Once the system is built and launched, it’s a lot easier for our team to make changes and additions to it. We know players want more stuff to play with, and our production schedule means that we have artists with time to spend on making extra elements for existing systems without impacting engineering time as that team works on building bigger projects in Techtonica.



So, that’s where Update Packs come in! We have production time available to push out these smaller updates that both introduce new content and provide minor design changes and bug squashing while we cook the next milestone update.

As for why we’re doing it? We want to give players more new stuff at a constant rate while staying responsive to their immediate bug and design needs. This smaller update in between bigger update structure means we can be faster for our fans and slower for our engineering team, so both parties win.

That’s it for the preview of v0.2.1, Oops! All Concrete. Reminder: the patch is slated to drop tomorrow, January 16th, 2024.

Thanks for reading and watching. Build something cool, join our Discord, and share it.

See you soon!

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

Hello Groundbreakers, we’re back from winter break and feeling rested, relaxed, and ready to reveal our first Update Pack!

Without further ado… (drumroll please)

[h3]Oops! All Concrete
[/h3]

Including pillars, beams, and walls, Oops! All Concrete allows you to build seamless expanses of smooth concrete. It’s pretty satisfying to build with, and we’re stoked for you to play with it.

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When we announced the updated Techtonica Roadmap in December (insert a joke about that being last year here), we briefly mentioned our new release cadence will include monthly Update Packs, and this is the first!



[h3]Designing with all concrete
[/h3]

For the all concrete pack, the art team wanted to come up with a unique treatment that differentiated these pieces from the existing Base Building parts, further than just removing the metal outlines. In addition to removing the chunky metal frames, they added recessed areas and metal rebar detailing on the sides.



And here’s a prototype of the texture on the models:



The rebar actually existed on the original assets for Base Building, but once the metal frames were added, it made more sense to remove it. So, some of the concrete texture is actually bringing back the original mockups!





All these concrete pieces are able to be built together, or blended with the existing Base Building parts.





[h3]Building bases, faster
[/h3]

Another big bonus with this update pack? We’re adding all new chests at PT Victor with Base Building parts.



[h3]Base Building OST
[/h3]

All the new songs from the Base Building update are out now on Steam! The full OST, including 6 brand new Base Building bops, is available as a bundle on our Steam page.



[h3]Stream returns!
[/h3]

Below is our stream schedule for January. Come hang at twitch.tv/firehosegames.



That’s it for this week folks! We’ll be sharing bits and pieces of the Oops! All Concrete pack over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

As always, join our Discord for memes, dreams, and to share your factory setup. See ya next week!