Greetings Groundbreakers!

Today, we have some exciting news to share concerning the Techtonica Alpha, the launch of a Techtonica demo, and our participation in an upcoming Steam celebration.

Grab your M.O.L.E.s. Let’s dig in!

The Techtonica Alpha will wrap on September 19th.

We launched the Techtonica Alpha to the first wave of Alpha Groundbreakers on July 19th, 2022, with the goal of collecting player feedback, particularly regarding areas that needed improvement. The Alpha delivered for us. We gathered a ton of useful feedback, for both immediate and long-term implementation, about user experience, performance, and more.

The best news from the Alpha, though, is that Groundbreakers have been having fun. Techtonica’s core gameplay is enjoyable, and we’ve seen players take what was supposed to be a 10-20 hour Alpha and stretch it well beyond 100 hours as they developed and fine-tuned their factories below the surface of Calyx.

There was another surprise with the Alpha, though. We’ve had a huge influx of fans who want to play, even more than we’d hoped for when we launched. We want to give everyone who has been waiting patiently a chance to play, so we’re changing tactics and switching from a closed, invite-only approach to an entirely open demo that everyone can access.

That’s right… once the Techtonica Alpha wraps, our open demo goes live!

The Techtonica demo will launch on September 20th!

Once the Techtonica Alpha wraps and keys are rescinded, we will launch the Techtonica demo for free on Steam. Access to the demo will be public, and everyone will be able to download, play, share content, and provide feedback.

The demo will be a little different from what folks played during the Alpha.

First, the demo will include several performance updates that should make the game run better for those with mid-range hardware. The demo will also include some user experience enhancements identified by our community during the Alpha.

Second, the demo will be shorter than the Alpha. The demo will be played by a larger range of people, and we want them to experience the satisfying exploration, terrain destruction, and factory building mechanics in Techtonica a little bit quicker, so we’re reducing some of the requirements for advancement in the demo.

Players will hit a wall on the Tech Tree, but they will be able to keep playing and exploring without a time limit. They can also restart the demo, should they want to run through the limited pool of upgrades again.

Third, the demo will feature voice acting. One of the things we’re most excited about for Techtonica is its narrative. Part of that narrative includes voice talent, and some voice work will be on display in the demo.

Techtonica will be a part of Steam Next Fest in October.

The final bit of news we have to share today is that Techtonica will be part of Steam’s Next Fest in October.

Next Fest is a special, limited-time event that Steam puts on to showcase upcoming games that feature playable demos. It’s a great opportunity for players to play and Wishlist a bunch of upcoming games, and we’d love your support for Techtonica during this event.

Steam Next Fest runs from October 3rd to October 10th, so be sure to download and play the Techtonica demo, add the game to your Wishlist, and share it with your friends!

That’s it for now, Groundbreakers. See you all on Calyx soon!