Techtonica v0.5 is Out Now! 🏭

Welcome to the thunder factory-dome, Groundbreakers!

V0.5 has some unique updates that we think you’ll have a lot of fun with. A new character, fast travel, bug fixes, new construction modules, and as many of you have heard, laser mini-games.

When you need to take a short break from endlessly organizing conveyor belts and want to shoot at something, check out the new defense asteroid-shooter game in single-player mode, or shoot at your friends in some exciting laser games. Or, carry on the way you were playing before. There’s something for everyone!

Check out our trailer (that was so fun to make!) here:
Watch on YouTube

New Fully-Voiced Character

A new character joins the cast - and she isn't particularly thrilled about it! Watch for the (CS) facility signal to discover this expeditionary scientist.

Nexuses

The multifunctional new Nexuses offer fast travel and serve a purpose in laser mini-games. Build custom Nexuses to teleport between any two points for a cost of 10MJ per use (equivalent to one fully charged accumulator). For free fast travel, take advantage of the pre-built Nexuses located at Lima, Victor, Xray, and the Elevator.

These nexuses also serve as interactive bases for laser tag games, displaying team information and status while allowing you to select which game type you want to play.

Ping Tool / Laser Gun

I don’t know about you - but sometimes I get lost in caves (ok, fine, maybe I get lost frequently). Now we have a handy ping tool for you or your friends to ping at locations and resources! Just point and click and you and your friends will be able to see the ping with information displayed next to it.

The fun thing about this handy ping tool is that it’s also a laser gun! Just switch to laser mode and shoot at your friend, or take out the aggression in our new laser mini-game modes. Don’t worry - getting shot doesn’t hurt them. It just means they can’t shoot back for a short countdown.

Additionally, while progressing through the narrative, you’ll now find a small 1v1 Arena for laser tag hidden away in the standard Techtonica map.

New Laser Tag Arena Map

In our new Laser Tag Arena map, you can battle it out in Capture the Nexus mode across three exciting areas: 1v1, 2v2, or Free-for-all. Sneak strategically through the maze-like areas or charge in with lasers blazing to capture Nexuses and steal points from your opponents.

Game Modes

Capture the Nexus

In our new Laser Tag Arena Map, you can play Capture the Nexus in our new 1v1, 2v2, or Free-for-all areas. Sneak through the maze-like areas, or go in full laser-gun swingin’ to capture Nexuses or steal points from your friends by shooting them.

Defend the Nexus

Play solo or team up with friends in a holographic wave-shooter. Rack up points by destroying asteroids, spaceships, missiles, and bosses. Watch out for landmines and keep an eye on the Nexus' health to survive.

Disco and Glow Blocks

For those who crave organization or want to add a touch of fun to their factories, you can now utilize disco or glow floors! Color-code your factory and pathways for efficiency, or create a bright and festive mood. Customize your disco floors with six different light modes: Diagonal, Horizontal, Rainfall, Chaos, Synced, and Follow-Player. Glow blocks offer a vibrant palette of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Magenta.

Concrete Ramps

Unleash your creativity with three new concrete ramp base building pieces, available in sizes 1x1, 1x3, and 1x5.

We’re super excited for this update and hope you have fun! And now, without further ado, the complete patch notes:

The Complete v0.5 - The Laser Games Update Patch Notes:

Major Changes

• New fully-voiced character & main story narrative
• Nexuses
  • There are pre-built nexuses scattered across the map, including at LIMA, VICTOR, XRAY, and the Freight Elevator. Travel from these Nexuses for free!
  • You can also build Nexuses anywhere you want - time to make a base in a random, far away cave!
  • Nexuses cost 10MJ to travel - aka one fully charged Accumulator.
  • Nexuses can also be used to start the laser mini-games!

• Ping Tool and Laser Gun
• New mini-game modes
  • Nexus Defense:
    • Arcade-y Mini Game where you defend your Nexus from holographic asteroids, ships, missiles, and more. Play alone or with your friends! There's loads of depth and challenge to this mini-game including boss fights, power-ups and strategy!

  • Nexus Capture
    • For 2+ Players! Mini Game where you can challenge your friends to a match of laser tag. Capture Nexuses throughout your arena for points, or steal them from your friends by shooting them!
    • We highly highly recommend making your own arenas! Almost as fun as playing laser tag. Share your creations with us!

Mechanics and Feature Changes

Disco and Glow Blocks
• 6 Disco Floor Variants - All variants will be available under one unlock
  • Diagonal - Rainbow wave along diagonal, direction of movement follows rotation of block.
    Horizontal - Rainbow wave along horizontal, direction of movement follows rotation of block.
  • Rainfall - Drops of different bands of color fall both horizontally and vertically, direction of movement follows rotation of block.
  • Chaos - Follows a random color rainbow cycle.
  • Synced - Follows globally shared color rainbow cycle, rotation of block offsets the phase of the color cycle (i.e. there are 4 different color cycle phases to choose from).
  • Follow Player - All players have a glowing RGB effect follow them around when they are close to the blocks.

• 7 Glow Floor Variants - All variants will be available under one unlock
  • Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Magenta

• Concrete Ramps
  • 3 Concrete Ramp Base Building Pieces
    • Sizes are 1x1, 1x3, 1x5, Make the roof or slanted floor of your dreams!

• Characters in multiplayer now animate showing what tools they are holding and if they are using them. The M.O.L.E. FX now shows for other players using the M.O.L.E.

World Changes

• Laser Mall Map and Game Mode Preset
  • 1v1 Arena, 2v2 Arena, Free-for-all Arena, and Defend the Nexus Arena all available in one giant map! Go here if you’re interested in diving right into a match of Laser Tag without building your own map!
  • Laser Arena hidden away in Standard Map
    • A small 1v1 Arena for Laser Tag is hidden somewhere in the Standard Map for you to find as you progress through the narrative!

Settings, UI, and Performance Changes

• Improved performance for power floors and other base building pieces.
• Monorail Depots and Nexuses can now be renamed.

Bugfixes

• Some chairs in the world were not appropriately weathered. We dropped them off some rooftops and tossed them into the river, they look better now.
• Conveyor Hubs now no longer slow down items. We have given the hamsters inside extra caffeine, they’re good now.
• Biobrick Diesel Pure and Impure versions now show on the filter inserter menu
• Drills no longer sound like a car failing to start.
• HUD menu now no longer interactable during cutscenes.
• Pause menu now shows Easy Mode description.
• Connected players now see the Game Mode information in the Pause Menu.
• Base Building pieces now cannot be built inside the ground - aka outside the world map. RIP to your factories in the void.
• The Pulse Room waypoint no longer disappears before all TAP wires are turned in.
• Fixed an issue where Mining Drill MKIIs always consumed 1680kW ignoring the status of MDR PowerTrim Upgrades.
• Voltage Stepper “Inspect” button now shows the Power Menu. This one personally bothered me a lot, so I’m glad someone finally did something about it.
• While in the Monorail inventory, hitting RT or LT no longer blanks the player inventory.
• Fixed a bug where belts were dipping into the ground in certain locations.
• Fixed issue with a black patch in Moss Terrain texture that was visible when De-Tiling was turned off.
• Fixed a bug where autosaving began to cause errors after more than an hour during a long game session on Xbox platforms.
• Fixed a problem where machine SFX sometimes behaved oddly in Hyper Mode custom games.
• Fixed a bug where power floors did not light up with expected VFX when receiving power.
• Fixed a bug where some unwanted UI elements could appear on-screen during cutscenes.
• Fixed a bug where using the Respawn function would cause problems with the world geometry, or result in the player falling out of the level.
• The Monorail Depot now shows which item is selected.
• A certain door on Calyx was jamming up on older saves. We made a new one.

Known Issues

• Some important laser games voice messages may not play if SFX volume is set to 0.
• Laser games UI contains temporary translations in localized languages.
• Distant structures in the laser mall level may appear in the background of Nexus Defense games.
• The Nexus Capture UI may draw over other carousel menus.
• If a dialogue event is playing when a Laser Game starts, an empty dialogue box stays on-screen.
• Special event music cues may override the Laser Games music and it will not resume.
• Some Laser Games sound effects might repeat in random moments, especially if playing as a client.
• If the player presses the Remove button while rebinding keys while using a controller, they will lose the ability to input anything in Techtonica. This can be resolved by restarting the game.
• The Nexus Capture UI may draw over other carousel menus.
• Disconnects while laser games are initiating can lead to some funky laser game states! Try restarting the laser game.