TerraTech Worlds News

The end of 2023 is fast approaching: how quickly we go from frolicking on the beach to fighting strangers in a car park over the last honey-glazed ham hock every year.

2023 has been a landmark year for TerraTech Worlds: we announced the game, published our first trailer, started to show off gameplay footage, and finally held our first external playtest just a few weeks ago.



[h2]Feedback Focus
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We gained a wealth of knowledge from our playtesters as they checked out TerraTech Worlds for the first time!

Overall feedback was incredibly positive, and we also learned about a lot of things that might need tweaking or changing as we go forward with development. (We heard you all loud and clear about the mud: less mud, more not-mud.) Thank you to all our playtesters for taking the time to check out TerraTech Worlds!

If you’re interested in taking part in future playtests, you can sign up to our mailing list over on the TerraTech Worlds website, which will keep you up-to-date with playtesting opportunities. (If you’ve already signed up for playtesting, you don’t need to submit your details again!)

[h2]Looking to the Future[/h2]


TerraTech Worlds is currently in active development, and we’re adding new assets and features to the game every day. We wanted to take the opportunity to show you a few of the most recent things we’ve added, which we haven’t shown off before! (Just a reminder that all of these are subject to change/removal as development progresses!)

[h3]Girders[/h3]

The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘girders’ as ‘a large iron or steel beam or compound structure used for building bridges and the framework of large buildings.’ And if you think I didn’t know that before writing this article, I’ll see you in court.

Our wonderful Art and Design teams have been hard at work developing new girder structures for TerraTech Worlds, which will help you with building larger and more complex bases. Here's an early look at a few of them:







[h3]Weapon VFX[/h3]
When you use various weapon types in-game, each one will have a different visual effect to it, depending on weapon type, ammo type etc. Our Art teams have been hard at work figuring out the correct ‘feeling’ for various weapon types in-game, translating this to some of the VFX Concept Art that you can see here:









[h3]Wrapping up for Winter[/h3]
We’ll be taking a break now until early January to let our Payload staff spend the winter season with their loved ones. If you find yourself lamenting the lack of updates, you can check out our backlog of TerraTech Worlds videos over on YouTube, or follow the Payload Studios TikTok.

Finally, just a quick word from me, Cassie, Community Manager for TerraTech Worlds: thank you for welcoming me to the world(s) of TerraTech this year, it's been such a delight to be able to share the game's progression with all of you and see your reactions to each and every update. 2024 is going to be an amazing year for TerraTech Worlds, and I can't wait to share more with you on streams, blog posts, across social media and more.

Have a wonderful winter with your loved ones, play some Baldur's Gate 3 of your favourite games and we'll see you next year!

Come join Dean for more TerraTech Worlds gameplay as he tries to make his new base a proper home.

November: what a month! If you’re in the US, you associate it with turkey and pumpkin pie. If you’re in the UK, you probably think of Guy Fawkes and that very divisive thing he almost did. And if you’re reading this, you probably associate it with base-building and showing off new biomes in TerraTech Worlds!

Here’s a little wrap-up of everything we showed off this month, all in one neat little package. Think of it as a multimedia gift, tied with a metaphorical bow.

[h2]Arctic Antics[/h2]
We kicked off the month by giving you a first look at the frozen landscape of the Arctic biome, which brings new challenges to your journey through TerraTech Worlds. Instead of just having to deal with hazards and enemies, the Arctic weather is also something to contend with, as your Techs will start to suffer the effects of the cold.

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Junior Designer Lewis and Video Editor Dean hopped on a livestream to show off some of this treacherous landscape, piloting a mighty Tech through the snow and ice, fighting off danger and adapting their gear to the Arctic.

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And if you’re interested in more of a deep dive behind-the-scenes look into the planning and design of the Arctic biome, we also published a Dev Diary with Lewis and Art Director Jason, where the pair go through some of the decisions that went into designing this new biome, as well as an initial teaser where they speak more to the origins of the biome. You’ll find out that the Arctic actually started off as a joke (like many things in gaming), but slowly made its way into Payloaders’ hearts.

[h2]Building A New Home[/h2]
We also showed off a little bit of base building: bases are an important part of TerraTech Worlds, and Dean and Cassie even managed to definitely-not-trap a fellow Tech in their newly-built base, before accidentally rapturing them into the sky:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’ll be adding to this base as the weeks go by, so remember to wishlist TerraTech Worlds here on Steam to watch us developing the base in real time: we aim to stream every Friday at 2 P.M. GMT, and we send out a notification once we’re live!



So that’s everything we showed off this month, we’ll be back in December with some more development updates! And, if you’re more of the TLDR; type, this month we also launched the Payload Studios TikTok channel, where we’re posting gameplay snippets and behind-the-scenes interviews and development footage! An early Christmas present, if you will, if your Christmas list consists only of short form video content.

Thanks for reading: see you in December!

Earlier this month, we revealed the Arctic biome for TerraTech Worlds, and today we wanted to dive deeper into what makes this frozen landscape unique, as well as showing you some early in-development game footage of the Arctic!

Bundle up and let’s dive in!

[h3]
Arctic Architecture [/h3]
“The challenge was twofold: firstly, we didn't want to fill up the biome with large flora like the Woodlands and the Swamp, and we wanted to create a threatening biome instead of making it feel like a Christmas card,” explains Art Director Jason Howard, “the second challenge was finding ways to give the terrain some texture rather than just having flat white snow. In the end, we were able to combine the look and feel with gameplay elements, adding slippery low-friction ice along with deep snowdrifts and rocky outcrops to add variety to the terrain and also make the biome more exciting and challenging for unwary players.

“The thermal vents were the final part of the puzzle. To mitigate the unrelenting temperature hazard, we added safe areas in the form of geothermal vents. These break up the landscape, add some visual variety, and just to stop them being a perfect haven from the blizzards, we've added a few hardier subspecies of the planet's aggressive plant life that could not plausibly survive in the harsh Arctic Glacier biome.”

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[h3]Temperature Troubles[/h3]
“Each biome has its own base temperature,” explains Junior Designer Lewis Kielthy, “and usually this wouldn't be too much of an issue as most biomes are very easy for the player to maintain optimal operating temperature in. The Arctic biome however (as the name implies!) will be extremely cold. The extreme temperature here will mean that it's much easier for the player's Tech to start to freeze up, which can cause a few different effects.

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These can be split into two categories: a penalty state and a damage state. The penalty state is the less severe of the two and causes effects such as increased fuel consumption or slower weapon turning rate. The damage state occurs when the player has caused their Tech temperature to creep too far into either being too hot or cold. At this point the player's tech will begin to take damage and if not rectified could even lead to their tech being destroyed!”

“The player will have ways to mitigate effects from the extreme temperature of the Arctic biome, so I hope players will experiment with the tools provided and also maybe try interacting with some other systems in the game to help them explore the biome. And yes: having this system in the game does mean that other much hotter biomes might be a thing to look forward to in the future! We can't wait for you all to see and experience what we've been working so hard to achieve so far.”

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you’re interested in being the first to find out when TerraTech Worlds is released, remember to Wishlist us over on our main Steam page!

Thank you, and we'll see you soon for another update!

Join us for a Q&A stream and see some of the new base building mechanics in TerraTech Worlds!