Just to reiterate, I played the Alpha in 2022, not the early access release, which was in July 2023.. To add on top of the video, that I missed off was I think the timing of the updates and the focus of each update is marketed wrong. Here is another food analogy, think of each Major Update as a burger, the main event of a burger is the meat which represents to core gameplay, this can be Story, Progression or QOL Additions that create a stepping stone to a bigger addition. And the salad and sauces are an additional filler content that compliment the meat.. 😂😂😂 Hopefully that makes sense. But again remember it's all my opinion and clarifies on why I'm holding off for now ❤
I think from a industry and automation game perspective I agree with you and the game is moving out of the realm of what I find interesting. But if you start thinking Garys Mod, Roblox and Minecrafts Hypixel servers, then the trailer suddenly comes into a new light. Which is more as a creative sandbox with a industry/automation core.
OMG I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. Things like laser games and game modes could have waited till after 1.0. they really need to get back to what the game is truly about.
Yeh, the core is what matters the most.. Bloating it with unnecessary still can damage it. In my eyes, i understand if they released it on April Fools, and left it in, meaning the game modes and Lasers.
Yea it’s a bit weird. All these features should have been post 1.0. Concentrate in the base building, story, core features. For the lasers, it seems like they added the lights, and thought “You know what would be cool to go with these, laser pointers”. I love Techtonica, I just wish they would focus a little bit more on the core gameplay a bit more.
Yeh, like I said I agree. Like I 100% believe it will be fun for a small percentage of players, but the core is a priority with every major update, with some spicy things as a side quest within that update.
They added laser pointers as a multiplayer ping tool, and then thought it'll be cool to make a minigame out of it. So, most of the update is actually useful for base building and QoL features, but with this quirky feature on a side. Weirdly enough, they marketed the update with this one irrelevant thing upfront.
As soon as I heard it was Laser Games they were adding for the next update, I also just got confused and decided to wait until they make some more actual progress on the game. No idea why they thought this was a good idea.
I'm glad I'm not the only one! It feels like the original game designer left the company and it's been taken over by someone who has absolutely no interest in making a factory game. It's original creepy, mystery laden vibe has been replaced with a discotheque. They appear to be doing everything to negate the factory building and create something else entirely.
Can it be that they, for some (or no) reason, are being too self-conscious about their rivalry specifically with Satisfactory? The trailer music is kinda resembling that of Satisfactory. A big nod with the lasers, like "ha, we have lasers earlier than Satisfactory!" I agree with Bitz's definition of it: identity crisis.
I'm okay with game's being inspired by others. Hence why i did not mention, that satisfactory released a New pioneer model, then a month later techtonica released one, also the same with laser, snutt has been memeing about laser being added into 1.0 for many months and then suddenly this update is about lasers.
agreeing with anything said. Had Techtonica on the watchlist for a long time. But it went down the list more and more. I hope they will find there way back to the Main route.
I think this update is made for people to have some fun while they wait for either the next part of the story to come out or maybe its something for friends to do while they are waiting for their factory to make certain things. I know sometimes when I play a factory game each time I start making things I try to make it have a surplus and overfill so that way while I am setting up the next steps I have extras.
I get that, but it just feels like the stuff that has been added, is very bloaty, especially for a Main Big Update, i can understand if it was a fun little thing along side a main feature update.
then they should be working on that next part and the story and not wasting time doing this. Plenty of other games feed us progression elements for updates, not useless stuff to 'hold us over' for said updates as that takes time and man power away from the updates we are waiting for. It's not like this whole laser tag thing was a push of a button, days or weeks of development had to go into the system, had to go into making the assets and program it all to work. WHY waste time doing such when they could be giving up updates to the story and further progression?! Plus it's fully useless to people who play single player. So they wasted a good load of time designing and programing a system no one asked for and a good chunk of their player base have no use for instead of working and giving us updates on the story and games actual progression.
@@fictitiousnightmares exactly. The only time I had played with any friends (satisfactory) was to show how to spiral a train rail around a stone pillar and not have it bumpy like a roller-coaster.
To be fair, they did say that a lot of the mechanics added with the "Laser Games" update were integral and needed for their next big story content update. Also, the laser games are not the only thing added with the patch. The trailer does a bad job at telling you that, making you think that the laser games were the only thing added when that simply isn't true. If you read the dev notes and watch their videos, they initially had the dev team split up with some of them working on the main update, and others working on smaller content updates, which is why we had a bunch of weird small updates. They have now swapped to everyone focusing on the big update rather than splitting their focus. The other thing is that they were taking a lot of the input on their updates from the discord, and based off of what people said that they wanted, and what the devs thought they could quickly accomplish would dictate what was being made and when it was being released. What has been added has for the most part, been requested by the community on discord. I do agree that they did a bad job with the marketing on the latest update, and they themselves acknowledged that in their town hall Q&A recently. The one thing to recognize is that the game is still Early Access. Give it time to develop and come into its own.
Completely agree with you. The story element in Techtonica is the best part for me. I played until the end of the story currently available in the early access and thought they would release more of the story in the next update. But instead they give me laser games and dance floors. I'm worried like you. It just doesnt feel like a factory game any more.
They did say that they have added a new person to the story, which add a new layer to the story, but really the laser game for me was a big waste of dev time and just add clutter to a game where there was already people complaining about performance issues, especially on Xbox. Really I have played over 100h to techtonica, I like the game, but I'm scared with how the development goes. The update 4 was nice, but adding game modes before finishing the core game was in my mind a big mistake (Like Satisfactory they have waited a lot before adding the advanced games settings for a reason). And now laser games? What the hell. The core aspect of a factory games is building a factory, they should focus on that and the storyline instead of adding useless stuff that divert the attention to the main goal of the game.
My thoughts on this are a mixed bag, and I think it's one that can be summed up as "this is one of the problems with early access": From a game development point of view, some items you critiqued wouldn't have taken away from development time at all - big heads, no-dismantle, and the such are relatively trivial. But that same argument absolutely doesn't apply to entire new world maps and game modes. I agree that the lack of metrics at launch was bananas, yet their reasoning was sound - they knew they needed to do a UX pass ASAP, yet for some reason had to ship before that was done. Arguably, that's an extremely valid and right use of early access to get feedback, validate their design, and ensure they knew were to focus their effort. The argument for laser tag is that it mixes up gameplay and gives you a break activity from the core gameplay. As a feature that's fine, but I'm not sure it's a flagship one they themselves should be promoting but rather allow the communtiy to discover and embrace when they realise the ping tool can PvP. I do think the strapline and marketing for this update was a combination of developer excitement, and pure promotional concept. It creates clickbait news opportunities, and streamer focused content, rather than core playerbase content. Imagine how different your thoughts would be if they let us, the players, inside their thoughts more. If they revealed that the lasertag map was them testing, and the asteriods game was one madcap dev's hobby project. If they trusted players to discover and embrace features and make their own dedicated maps. If they made it more clear why they were doing something, and how it either created the underpinnings for future features, or was an activity they were working on whilst the story & balance geniuses were pondering the next stage of the game. One of the failure modes for early access is not fully embracing the community, not being open and transparent enough to reward the time and money we invest into supporting a game. To panic as you feel you've lost that opportunity for a big-bang 1.0 launch, so you try and capture stardust again, rather than trusting your product and players to shine. Techtonica is still a dream game of mine, a cross between subnautica and satisfactory is so hella cool a concept. But early access success for these titles wasn't just down to the game - it was how openly they worked with the players, how much they dared to reveal publicly.
I feel similarily about the game atm. Its fun. But its also in a rough spot. I wanna build a cool looking automatic factory but with how rough and raw the gameplay is atm, I cannot really enjoy it too much. Its like in this area where I would put Slav Jank into. Where the game itself isnt made by neccesarily best in the business but still driven by passion and its showing. The environments are georgous, the story leads you on with a mystery, the voiceacting is fricking superb like... it puts some newer games I have seen as of late to shame Ill just have to say it. As a german, I am super happy with Paladins voiceactor. German accent but not poorly done and instead feels very respectful in how its brought over. There is a lot of love put into Techtonica. But as a whole it also needs a lot of care. Personally I dont mind the more community and longevity driven updates. It makes it so that if players are currently waiting for new content, they got stuff to do. Co-op being possible, lasertag and even being able to customize your world is honestly fun to some. If I had friends who played the game, I probably would build stuff with it. But no one I know plays it. So I play Singleplayer. And I feel this is also where my POV is coming from here as I personally dont really care for it too much. And I feel without wanting to assume, its where your POV comes from just as much. We both play it singleplayer. We dont got much use for it. Its what it is :o
I kinda paused playing after things got slightly cold. The story needs completion. It’s nice to hear that my sentiments are being shared by a lot of other players. I’d love some serious optimization to the different machines, numbers, and mechanics. I guess I’ll be waiting with you chief 👍
I'm right there with you. There are so many more things that need to be fixed/improved before they start pushing out silly things that don't even seem to be story, or even factory, related. For Example, they could have spent more time optimising the game so that FPS didn't die mid-game. I lower my settings to low with a 4070ti Super and still can't get above 30. Balancing is all wrong, and there are not enough resources in the game to cover the factory expansion required to mass produce parts. It is almost like they have no plans or idea on where to go next so they are just throwing crud against the wall to see what sticks.
Its like they are trying to do too much before they finish polishing the game. After seeing that trailer I really don't want to get the game because it doesn't look like a factory or automation game anymore.
First thought was disco lazer tag. I totally agree with you Bitz; the updates just seem to be treats being thrown out and no type of molding to the original premiss of the game. The team should definitely sit down and have a look at what the community feedback looks like as well as looking at what they are doing and making sure it makes sense to the players.
I played a bunch when it first came out than took some breaks and after a bit decided to wait for it to get outta EA so the laser tag announcement really confused me.
As someone who worked for many years in the game industry, I think something that is not well understood is how companies need to manage their different resources throughout the development process. It is an incredibly subtle act, because you have artists who are basically done while coders are still at it either hammering bugs and/or tweaking features. Sometimes, instead of letting go of potentially great workers, game company will try to scope feature that can better take advantage of as many people as possible so as not to waste wages. Maybe I'm not explaining it well but yea, out of all the different expertise required to launch a game, and depending on the type of game, not everyone reach the finish line at the same pace. Some of these puzzling features you are talking about might have been a result of a small team being done with their part while the bigger narrative is still figuring things out. Thanks for sharing, I look forward to how Techtonica evolves, cheers!
I feel this so much! I love factory games and resource management/efficiency games, which is what Fire Hose set out to make with Techtonica originally, and for a while there, it felt like they were doing a great job! These last few updates, however; it really feels like the team has lost their direction. Has there been any changes to the internal structure of Fire Hose Games? What happened to cause this very jarring and, quite frankly, vosceral change in design focus?
Okay - I'll just add my opinion to the mix here, since this is opinion-land we're off into here with this video. I've played quite a bit of factory-automation games, (ie Factorio, Dyson Sphere, Captain of Industry, Planet Crafters), and while those are good and all, and Factorio definitely sort of invented and popularized the genre it's sort of "staid" and straight-forward and boring, and actually kind of passe'.. Dyson Sphere is really beautiful with the Unity engine that it uses, and it's really super complex is the later part of the game getting automated logistics going between planets and different Star Systems, I really love that along with the absolutely awesome Dyson Spheres (and swarms) you make in mid-late game, absolutely AWESOME!! All that said - Techtonica being a decent up-coming factory-automation game is getting it's "feet under it" and making its niche in the genre. It's really beautiful (like Dyson!) in the underground caves. It's getting a decent sized tech-tree with a number of different recipes and ways to make things in later game. It's just "maturing" a little and I believe the dev's want this factory-automation game to be a little more whimsical, and out-of-the-ordinary as compared to the other factory-automation games with the new glowy blocks and the Laser-Tag aspects they added. It's just a little more FUN of a little different type that they added for people to enjoy.. Or Not!! You don't have to use the new Laser-Tag features if you don't want to, that's perfectly fine! I will probably check out the Laser-Tag Asteroids mini-game from time to time just to break up a long building and automation session.. Why Not?? While everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion on this great up and coming game, let's just all chill a little and enjoy the fun and interesting new features we have to play around with all the while reminding the dev's if there are features or additions we think would add to and enhance the actual factory-automation core aspects of the game. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the new story addition and eagerly jumped in and played through it last night. I liked it alot. I just wish there were more of it to enjoy!! Anyway, just wanted to chime in and give my $0.02 on this. For my part I enjoy Techtonica and will continue to enjoy it!! Can't wait for 0.6!!
Thanks for you input! This was a great read and I appreciate your side to my confusion from the opposite side from most people. I still have hope for future updates, as all games have an issue in everybody's own way. I think personally it can just be addressed better to the community, this include timing. This update honestly would of banged, if it was released around April fools, as a fun, crazy thing to play with as a limited event, put the main intention was to keep it in. It would not of received little to no negative interest, and to be fair, I did not realise how much people did not like this update until I released this video.. I don't have a problem with what there adding, its when a how they add it, that is my concern and confusion
This game had me enjoying digging in the dirt, exploring, waiting to hear a predictable story. I very much wanted to know what more the story had, What all was up that elevator having me thinking Metroid stuff, what's beyond that outer most wall the tool needed to be stronger for and had me interested in waiting however long they needed to do it, with a low version number and a tech tree that seemed like it could go farther, with a few more gadgets. Never expected Satisfactory, with Firehose being a small team, but they made a good amount of a game in 2 years and Satisfactory has had 5 years. My concern started at me falling through floors and a month later they introduce "Opps All Concrete" at version 0.2.2. Seemed too fast through the versions and wall ascetics over a full game ruining bug? I saw "Big Head Mode" in patch notes and I thought, "You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking." With this Laser Tag at version 0.5.0...been so mad. Had something beautiful, then threw candy sprinkles and confetti on it. Game over, Man! Game over! You ruined it.
Thanks for this video Bitz, you covered the main issue pretty well. It's just has no focus, direction of travel and clear end goal. The Devs have failed to communicate their vision for this game. They are certainly not going to attract any more idiots like me that have bought the game after the last update... Lesson learned! Wait until you can see that the Devs know what they are doing... e.g. Like Satisfactory update 7 or 8 when the game mechanics where pretty much mapped out and you could see what you were buying. Only a little over two weeks to go before 10th September 1.0 release now! 😀 Enjoy playing Satisfactory while this title rumbles on in the background for the next few years!
Yes this is all true. We've had discussions with them and they realise - from the volume of complaints received - that they went about things the wrong way. In their minds, they were working on what we think of as "actual updates" (factory, story, features, etc) - and that at the same time, different teams were working on other "fun" things. On the whole, these fun features represent time and work that would have been much better spent on the core game, especially at this early stage. Long story short, I think they have learnt their lesson :P
I had a meeting with the Game Director and community management about all of this before the Town meeting they had to address all the issue, they actually mention me in the town hall meeting as people did ask about this video.
@@ItsBitz Did you get positive vibes from it? How are your feeling on the game's progress and direction now? I'm quite looking forward to 1.0, whenever that happens. I really hope it turns out to be great!
with you NOT sure what Lazer games / Disco Mode has to do with stuff right now, could be a after 1.0 release also. Fully agree with ya. Keep up the great vids!
I've had the impression since the game had its first demo that it was Subnautica-esque exploration FIRST with factory game elements, rather than a factory game first with Subnautica-esque exploration elements. I feel bad saying it, but similarly to your impressions I've felt that the folks designing the factory aspect of the game don't quite... 'get it', from 1) not really understanding why the core factory crowd would want to hard-math the production lines w/ metrics etc (and lol, the monkey's paw of when metrics were added, the realization that there literally was not any neat maths between miners and smelters, just 'jam a lot of these on a belt to saturate it', which to the game's credit DID get tweaked shortly after too) 2) the overly complicated double byproduct loop just to get the first automatable fuel type for mining and smelting, something other factory games have down to literally just 'put a miner on a coal deposit, bam you're done'. and then the so-called 'band-aid' being that stacks and inventory sizes were huge to compensate 3) in an update, attempting to solve the byproduct issue for a chain that is essentially infinite (i.e. fuel for mining/smelting) by feeding it into a draw that's essentially finite (concrete for building blocks - no one's building stuff indefinitely to a point that it keeps up with infinite draw, that's just not how factory games work) If that sounds overly critical, that's not my intention - it's just to highlight how I've felt that the factory part of the game was supplementary to the overall experience, not the main focus. AND THAT'S TOTALLY FINE. I'd be totally up for playing an exploration-focused game where progression draws on some of the fundamentals of factory game stuff without diving too deep into it. Atrio did this hybrid intersection pretty damn well as well, and that's not the type of game you're making rows and rows of perfectly tuned/balanced belts of shit. I think where things went awry so to speak is, despite this broader goal in the type of game they wanted to make, a LOT of the game's marketing, from screenshots on the store page to the content creators that were helping market the game, WAS targeted the factory game crowd, and that feels like it set up for a disastrous launch in terms of retention, again for reasons you pointed out like disappointing metrics, an overall 'trial and error' style of factory building which just was at odds with the relative clunkiness of building things in first person, and most of the folks that the game was advertised to, myself included, decided to just wait till the game cooked a little more and sorted out its factory side of things. Which... if I were to similarly be frank and honest, really hasn't happened yet. I'm still at a point I eventually want to check it out and if you recall from our brief conversations I'm a very very cosmetic-oriented base building game player so that stuff that's in the game for that facet really, REALLY interests me, but I also know I'm going to get constantly frustrated with the almost-could-have-been factory game facet of the experience as it is, and neither 0.4 nor 0.5 have boosted my confidence in this regard. In some ways, and I really REALLY hope I'm wrong, it feels like the initial death throes of a team that knows their original 1.0 plans aren't coming to fruition due to a lack of funding/dev runway from a dismal Early Access launch just pivoting to making stuff they really wanted to make before the plug has to be pulled.
Someone needs to grab the devs by the collar and shake them a bit while firmly stating "FIGURE OUT YOUR TONE!!". You are a factory game, not an arcade FPS sandbox!
Exactly this! They are all over the bloody place! 🤦♀️🤷♀️ At the moment, it feels like a dozen devs have thrown their individual shit into the communal sink and not spoken to each other in months! What the fart are you guys doing? Laser tag games for crying out loud? Really?🙄 Disco floor tiles??? WTF? I'm feeling very duped atm as this has moved in the opposite direction to a factory game, or even an exploration sandbox with a story arc...
Totally agree. We play this game for the automation, nit the goofy gimicks. I dont mind some goofy gimicks added in for spice, but make thise spice, not the main course of updates.
I wonder if laser games was a name for the update for colored blocks and multiplayer entertainment? Idk definitely weird stuff with the updates for a factory game
You're right. But - when I play Grounded with my son, we build, we killed spiders, we run away, ... and at the end we play a little bit basketball... I think it's a funny idea to play Lasertag in a game, after a hard day in the factory. But it's important, that the next update will get back to the story and the factory. Let's wait and see...
For a game that advertised itself as "Underground Satisfactory" you'd think they'd take some tips from Coffee Stain Studios: "The game you're making is is just what it is, or another way to think about it is that the game that you're making is also specifically not what it isn't." -Jace That second part is very important.
If you look into the development rather than just taking the updates at face value, you would learn that that is not the case. The next large update that they are working on is called the Going Up update, and they have confirmed that it involves the elevator and ascending into a new biome with new mechanics and more storyline. The laser games update itself added to the story as well. The trailer shouldn't have focused as much on the laser games, but the devs have acknowledged their mistake in labelling it not only as a major update, but also their framing the laser games as the main focus.
I would say it's less that the game has an identity crisis and more that the game is not meant for hardcore factory gamers. It seems obvious to me at least that the game is being made and designed for a casual crowd, hence why something hardcore like machine output isn't in the game. Normal gamers don't design their factories like you do Bitz (just look at martiplier's satisfactory Let's Play). Being a casual gamer myself, i love the new direction that it's taking.
I appreciate your honesty.. I'm not knocking the game for being different, they are 100% allowed, and as i stated in another comment, its not the features I'm worried about its the timing and focus of things, I'm confused about. Metrics, if they was in at the start. They would not of had the downward spiral of players like they did. Hitting that core audience first is what matters, making that impression. Then from there, with proper timing and and focus on the content that is releasing it could be a lot better. As stated in another like i said, before if the laser tag was released around April fools, as a fun and quirky feature to the game, it would of gone down better with the community, i did not realise how bad this update was being hated on until I released this video, and seeing the feedback all over the place. (I don't just mean my channel either) I have hope for the future, and will be keeping my eye on it to see if I want to return or not.
@@ItsBitz Oh no i wasn't taking your concern as criticism. I was just trying to address your concern with a possible answer. It could be that the game is essentially complete feature wise and now they're focusing on other elements (like laser tag). I.E. they're not going to go in a direction that will please the audience that currently believes they are the target audience. At least that is simply how it appears to me. And if this is the direction they're going in then we may see some more non-factory style elements introduced to the game in time.
@ItsBitz I agree 100% personally I don't think I be playing again until it's done or they make it so the factory part needs to be more than a long line of assemblers.😢
It seems more like being developed by modders than by an actual producer. Everyone at work is simply doing what they think seems cool so you get all these piecemeal parts that in a finished product, yeah, seems cool, but when the actual product is seemingly not making progress than the rest is just bloat that's delaying and straying from the initial design.
Every update has given more dialogue, new quests and new areas to explore. New things to build. But they also wanted players to have freedom. With adding game mode options they've eliminated a lot of need for a lot of mods. Just like how satisfactory turned to look at what the mods were doing. So too did firehose, increase number of players able to join a world. Give them something to do when they run out of story. Let them build massive and beautifully unique factories and now laser arenas which i think was a side thought. They made a ping tool and realized it could be so much more and added more fun and playability. It's not just a factory builder, crunching efficiency till it's perfect. Because unlike satisfactory, the resources are Finite. You deplete a vein and it's gone. If there wasn't base building, or alternative play styles. It would be very bland and playing through more than once would be much less likely
Love the videos as always, but... I watch alot of diff creators who play factory games and a good lot of them always reference other factory builders like Satisfactory, Factorio etc.. if all that feedback was implemented, we wouldnt have any difference between them except the skins and recipes. Im not sure about why you dont like the adv options. Is there going to be a Satisfactory video about their advanced options coming before 1.0?? Modders always add these in theirs. Yes mods are not base game i understand and "usually" some of that content comes into the basic game in someway. I wouldnt want to be a dev for these kind of games at this current time. Its sometimes a very difficult decision to determine of the suggestion people give is actually just QOL or just something they like from another game in the genre. I like your point of views and it seems very unbiased as to what other factory games you play. Its going to be a more difficult for any developer going forward to have something diff and unique in this genre. I hope this dont come off negative. Look forward to more of your videos.
I 100% respect your feedback on this, and it defiantly does not come across negative. It's widely known, that the last 3 updates for satisfactory are my worst ones, and they are just filler updates before 1.0. because the Dev team split in 2, one for update 6,7 and 8 and the others are focusing on 1.0. So there was defiantly been an out of touch moment in the past year. The boombox, advanced weapons and ammo and advanced game settings are my 3 hated features. I love that fact they are trying to be unique, but I think the point I'm trying to get at, is the timing and how its marketed via the trailers is off. If the lasers, was released on April fools, for some fun and then left in for the memes I get that. But to put the lasers as the main update focus point is bad for me. I think possibly if the Fast travel was the highlighted, like I stated in the pin comment. But as stated in the video, everything is my own opinion and addressing's everybody else's concerns via this format instead of replying to 100's is a little easier whilst getting other feedback as well. I appreciate your message a lot!
I think they are having fun. When devs have fun they usually make awesome games. Also side note. Fortnite wasnt a game mode they made on purpose. Just some devs having fun with their Save the World game and making it into a battle royal.
100% Agree they should have fun with it. I played Fortnite, when it was a standalone and loved it. When it was literally a game to purchase, and then they removed it. But as stated I'm just confused on the audience they are trying to target here. I've seen hundreds of comments stating the same thing, in regards to "What is it?".. So I thought I would address, instead of replying to every single comment
I feel like it's coffee stain all over again. They (CSS) promised after update 3 that on the road map, the game would be in 1.0 within a year or so. Joey of Fire Hose said that Techtonica would be 2 to 3 years to 1.0. That timeline is now out the window. I agree with you they seem to have lost their way. I don't care much about the story, but having more products to build would be nice.
I enjoy playing, but I agree that this new update is really out of pocket. I like the fast travel idea, but these "game modes" are not needed. They should be considered AFTER release.
I was just about to buy it because it was on sale. Then I watched the trailer for update 4, it made me double take on what kind of game this was. Then I found this video and saw the trailer and ya I am in shock. I don't understand the No Quests pitch, because ya what's the point? That's how we get the last trailer.
We really need a performance update, mid to late game is horrible, I only get about 30 fps which I’d say is unplayable. I haven’t got the best pc, but in another factory game that might start with S I get about 90-120 fps on high settings, and it looks amazing. I’ve played Techtonica 3 times but never finished my third run as I got tired of the poor performance.
Ive been playing the game on and off over the last month. The laser tag stuff came up, and then i just kinda ignored it all. They added the metrics stuff, and im learning how to use it, but im new to the factory games genre. Maybe you could check it out and make some "tutorial" type videos to help players like me find ways to be more efficient. I want this game to succeed as well, and hope it does.
I played the demo that was on steam before the early access release, it had a good vibe but felt a bit clunky, and also had no numbers... I was already done with that. As for these updates, I wasn't aware. I was going to take a look at a playthrough after 1.0 and see how much it had improved and if I wanted to buy it, but from what I hear here, it doesn't sound like it's going to happen. Maybe we aren't their intended audience - which is weird, why make a game with factory elements if you don't market it to factory game players?
I feel the same way bitz it feels like they addet tiers 1 and 2 and then skip to full mod support without trying to make the game better polishing more depth , they bring stuff in that ppl will not play this game for , I dont understand their base game is not bad but it can do alot better , and now they bring in stuff that ppl are not gooing to do , I dont know i played it for about 5 ours and i got bored out of my mind , this game needs a major overhaul or iets gonne die very quick if it keeps on this path
Damn. Hope they get back on track. After all the research , thats the main reason i dont buyed this game right now. satis is getting 1.0 - Factorio gets a big addon . Foundry had big things to make for EA . Techtonica needs a lot more tech and progression like you say. greetings
Main factory game gameplay must be.... factory! I mean that there can be enemies like in satisfactory or factorio, but it's not a main gamplay.... it's just... something that slowdown your progression, add some difficulty to the game other than calculation of resources and building factories and belts
I think it can't be overlooked that this is an Xbox factory game. They have said themselves that it's intended to be a good first factory game. I actually played it with someone completely new to factory games. It went really well for them and the story and exploration aspects got them really engaged early. But, they got mentally fatigued much faster than me building production lines and scaling up the base. My guess is the intent for laser games was to offer a release valve for none core factory gamers to take a break from thinking but stay in the game.
They keep hinting at the elevator. Hopefully the next update will be massive and these past few updates were just fillers to hold us over while they worked on a new area. If not than I am very concerned as well.
I (mistakenly) bought the game just before the laser tag / disco flooring update dropped... That was a facepalm moment when I saw that... I realised I'd made a big mistake buying the game in early access... Lesson learned! Having played it these are my thoughts : Factory building is mah... No blueprints, no deconstruct, no in game way that I can find to unravel the build tree... In short, the factory building main game is a LONG LONG way behind Satisfactory... On the plus side, the exploration is ok. There is stuff to find (but it's piecemeal useful). It's a nice aspect to the game. The story arc is ok but painfully slow. It is also unfinished... You get to mid game (finish unlocking Victor and X-ray) and then you are left with a MASSIVE build request like 200 Assemblers, 100 Threshers and 50 Miners. I can't remember off the top of my head but it is a LOT! Which basically means a complete factory rebuild! If this isn't your main reason for playing the game... Walk away now!😯 The game currently is a mess. It does have potential... But it's definitely a mess! It is light years behind Satisfactory! I hope it gets it's shit together and gets the main story arc finished and the tech tree finished! Atm, it's only 25% of a game imo.
I could have made almost everyone of these same comments for Satisfactory Update 6. I haven't been keeping up with the overall direction of Techtonica to know if this is a trend or a one off because they have a bunch of other stuff going, but I can say that Laser Guns in this is about equivalent to all of the ammo/gun updates I largely ignored in SF Update 6 for all of the same reasons. (edit) And I think we can both agree we didn't have the same concerns for SF. Perhaps because we were more involved. Hard to say. So I guess if we reflect on this, what makes this different?
Hey runesun, it's widely known I did not like the addition of the Boombox, Weapons and Ammo and the Advanced Game settings. I've stated alot within the videos and streams update 6 was the worst update.
Agreed, the ammo/gun updates for Satisfactory did not make any sense to me either. That said though, Satisfactory does everything else so amazingly well that this mishap is not going to move the needle anyway.
almost wonder if part of why Joey left was because of where the game is currently headed development wise. like maybe he was one of a few trying to keep the game on track with core features as the main focus. but the development team keeps listening to feedback from sources about bonus content instead.
Wanted to buy this cause i like factory games. But after seeing this and that laser tag bs, yeah no. Thanks for the vid. Will buy something else rather. Glad i did some research before i bought it
I play a ton of factory games as well. For me I am happy to see devs do what ever they want. If they want to add laser tag to the game I say go for it. I applaud the devs for doing something outside the box and different. My personal opinion is players are getting really entitled thinking they get to decide how a company designs, builds, and ships their games. But I guess you need content, I just wish you could find ways to create content the didn't need to dump on the devs.
i got back into the game after playing some occupy mars and Starfield and i was excited thinking sweet now we can mine with lasers and add some more color to a factory but than as i went on i started thinking why do i need a laser gun who or what will i be shooting Game modes are a bit of a meh for me i was fin with each ore node having 9k ore made prioitizing what i made using what ore more important i dont know if i will return to the game if they dont explain why they added ligh floors and laser guns to a Factory and exploration game that has no hostiles at all
I have been waiting to see where the story goes and what happened but each update has me more confused. Yes laser games are cool but I also feel like the dev is trying to please fans rather than sticking to their vision. Bit sad when Joey left.
IS it a factory game or is it turning into a base defense game..?? Yes. I agree.. Hold off till they get more 1.0'ish end game content to really figure the game out but yeah, I saw that was weird with FPS combat. Not normal for a game that wasn't started nor marketed as a FPS combat game on intro release.
looks like they watch halfway through Snutts 1.0 announcement and stopped the video at "Laser update" before the joke was revealed. "awesome idea lets do lasers!" I honestly tuned out a bit form techtonica because it didn't really hook me in the demo. had no idea they had all these updates already.
Okay, first things first. I do not play Techtonica, but if this is a factory game, they really need to get their heads together. (Unless this is a case of 'Lets puts in the mods of our community in the main game.')
Weird stuff. Satisfactory did right to just have golf as a joke and not actually in the game. Loosing focus in dev will leave everybody just scratching their heads before moving on and doing something else.
i hear more that you are trying to find things to dislike more then to things to like not sure you be'eing guided by negative comments about this game in any case you should only play games you like playing and there is more then plenty to go around
Its a video game, not a lifestyle choice. And its one update. So why start acting like its jumped the shark? How long did S take from ea to 1.0? Anyway, i feel like i already got my monies worth
Game officially relesease nov 7th. Seeing how this is the only decen factory game availavle for xbox. (Satisfactory should aim for an xbox series x release. No excuse not to) its the best thing console gamers have for now.
They should have stayed to the story line and Factory stuff, seems like they went way overboard with stuff that should have been 1.0 or after stuff, but they either go a new CEO or a new team or they just lostt contrast witth tthe game.. Imagine if sattisfactory would have done this.
well so far what would make this game better: Fix all and any bugs that cause freezes or crashes. Add character customization and slightly change the aesthetic there is. Idk whats going on its hard on the eyes when you first start. The story needs to be more consistent and actually follow the theme of the game. So many people are complaining about the theme. Add more machines to create more stuff. Expand the map and add more tiers. MAKE THIS GAME DIFFERENT. Its a factory, Make it a factory game. Do not do none of this lazer tag stuff. FOCUS ON THE FACTORY CONTENT
Yeah this... laser game looks like a completely unrelated game to what the base game is. Why was it needed? Okay color blocks.. cool.. but we didn't need a laser tag game in a... game like this. As is the story sounds like it fit with single or a small team working to unlock something big. Why would in logical sense would any of that be put on hold and someone jumps up and says 'Lets gave a laser game match in the middle of this big journey!' That is so far from the objective that it don't feel like the same game anymore. What are the devs smoking to come up with such an idea that is so far past left field its in a whole other game setting?
Don’t care about techtonica I stopped playing after a few hours and went back to satisfactory sure they are different games but satisfactory is awesome
imho techtonica and foundry are very, very close to each other and they are now, whether they realize it or not, locked in a deathmatch to be the better block/automation game. at this point i feel like foundry is just better. which isn't to say techtonica isn't charming, but it's going to have to figure out something really cool to distinguish itself from foundry and pull back into the lead. i think this is why techtonica released the wierd game modes to try and make a bid for replayability because techtonica doesn't have random levels like foundry does. they are trying to distinguish themselves from their competitor.
I get where you going, but a disagree. You mighty been comparing too much with relative big factory games like Satisfactory. Techtonica is on Game Preview, the updates are smaller, they have to keep the players engaged at certain level. The laser games update bring Teleports, Color blocks, Pings and is more a update to give reason to multiplayer. Like is cool i can shoot my friends and have some way to interact with them. Otherwise it feels like a mod / server to other factory game. The gamemode update brings the options to setup you map, to bring more new players to the game. I lot of casuals quit when them find out that resources nodes are limited. I didnt play this new update because i rather play alone and build my factory in my own time, and thats why laser games dont sound appeling to me. But you have to understand that the game is building up, they have a business strategy and a little personal goals to put in it. You dont really think that big head effort can be replace with a core feature.
I would be even more worried infact, given that the game is so unpolished in so many aspects and now they are rushing a 1.0 release. I would say if anything I am probably more worried for game than the past unfortunately. I would have ventured to guess that the game should be in ea for a few years, instead what I think is happening because of lack community interest and perhaps also sales, they are wanting to finish up the game in some state and move onto other projects. So yes I'm worried of what 1.0 will end up being like.
@@jaredbasham2244 I think the 1.0 thing is so they can farm the console market. Depending on the $$$$$ they farm there will most likely determine the future of the game if there is any after that.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
Just to reiterate, I played the Alpha in 2022, not the early access release, which was in July 2023..
To add on top of the video, that I missed off was I think the timing of the updates and the focus of each update is marketed wrong.
Here is another food analogy, think of each Major Update as a burger, the main event of a burger is the meat which represents to core gameplay, this can be Story, Progression or QOL Additions that create a stepping stone to a bigger addition. And the salad and sauces are an additional filler content that compliment the meat..
😂😂😂 Hopefully that makes sense.
But again remember it's all my opinion and clarifies on why I'm holding off for now ❤
I think from a industry and automation game perspective I agree with you and the game is moving out of the realm of what I find interesting.
But if you start thinking Garys Mod, Roblox and Minecrafts Hypixel servers, then the trailer suddenly comes into a new light. Which is more as a creative sandbox with a industry/automation core.
What would your reaction be if Satisfactory added multiplayer FPS?
UCK! LORDY NO!
I completely agree with you blitz I play techtonica on launch on xbox and I dont know why they added that update why not release mk3 crafting
OMG I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. Things like laser games and game modes could have waited till after 1.0. they really need to get back to what the game is truly about.
Yeh, the core is what matters the most.. Bloating it with unnecessary still can damage it. In my eyes, i understand if they released it on April Fools, and left it in, meaning the game modes and Lasers.
Yea it’s a bit weird. All these features should have been post 1.0.
Concentrate in the base building, story, core features.
For the lasers, it seems like they added the lights, and thought “You know what would be cool to go with these, laser pointers”.
I love Techtonica, I just wish they would focus a little bit more on the core gameplay a bit more.
Yeh, like I said I agree. Like I 100% believe it will be fun for a small percentage of players, but the core is a priority with every major update, with some spicy things as a side quest within that update.
They added laser pointers as a multiplayer ping tool, and then thought it'll be cool to make a minigame out of it. So, most of the update is actually useful for base building and QoL features, but with this quirky feature on a side. Weirdly enough, they marketed the update with this one irrelevant thing upfront.
As soon as I heard it was Laser Games they were adding for the next update, I also just got confused and decided to wait until they make some more actual progress on the game. No idea why they thought this was a good idea.
I'm glad I'm not the only one! It feels like the original game designer left the company and it's been taken over by someone who has absolutely no interest in making a factory game. It's original creepy, mystery laden vibe has been replaced with a discotheque. They appear to be doing everything to negate the factory building and create something else entirely.
Can it be that they, for some (or no) reason, are being too self-conscious about their rivalry specifically with Satisfactory?
The trailer music is kinda resembling that of Satisfactory.
A big nod with the lasers, like "ha, we have lasers earlier than Satisfactory!"
I agree with Bitz's definition of it: identity crisis.
The music from the trailer gave me a strong, strong Satisfactory vibe, the one from the trailer with the *clapclap*. I can't have been the only one.
I'm okay with game's being inspired by others. Hence why i did not mention, that satisfactory released a New pioneer model, then a month later techtonica released one, also the same with laser, snutt has been memeing about laser being added into 1.0 for many months and then suddenly this update is about lasers.
The devs are very confused. Like next update will have fishing and npc romance options with a rogue-like twist 😂
You big troll!! Hhahahaha
A game a with bunch idea throw together
I mean, the lady spark does have a nice voice, quick! What's her favorite item? Gotta stockpile those gifts!!!
I hope for full on Golf courses and Rally cars! ^^ joking ofc!
agreeing with anything said. Had Techtonica on the watchlist for a long time. But it went down the list more and more. I hope they will find there way back to the Main route.
I think this update is made for people to have some fun while they wait for either the next part of the story to come out or maybe its something for friends to do while they are waiting for their factory to make certain things. I know sometimes when I play a factory game each time I start making things I try to make it have a surplus and overfill so that way while I am setting up the next steps I have extras.
I get that, but it just feels like the stuff that has been added, is very bloaty, especially for a Main Big Update, i can understand if it was a fun little thing along side a main feature update.
then they should be working on that next part and the story and not wasting time doing this. Plenty of other games feed us progression elements for updates, not useless stuff to 'hold us over' for said updates as that takes time and man power away from the updates we are waiting for. It's not like this whole laser tag thing was a push of a button, days or weeks of development had to go into the system, had to go into making the assets and program it all to work. WHY waste time doing such when they could be giving up updates to the story and further progression?! Plus it's fully useless to people who play single player. So they wasted a good load of time designing and programing a system no one asked for and a good chunk of their player base have no use for instead of working and giving us updates on the story and games actual progression.
How many factory game players do you think are playing with friends? LOL
@@fictitiousnightmares exactly. The only time I had played with any friends (satisfactory) was to show how to spiral a train rail around a stone pillar and not have it bumpy like a roller-coaster.
To be fair, they did say that a lot of the mechanics added with the "Laser Games" update were integral and needed for their next big story content update. Also, the laser games are not the only thing added with the patch. The trailer does a bad job at telling you that, making you think that the laser games were the only thing added when that simply isn't true.
If you read the dev notes and watch their videos, they initially had the dev team split up with some of them working on the main update, and others working on smaller content updates, which is why we had a bunch of weird small updates. They have now swapped to everyone focusing on the big update rather than splitting their focus. The other thing is that they were taking a lot of the input on their updates from the discord, and based off of what people said that they wanted, and what the devs thought they could quickly accomplish would dictate what was being made and when it was being released. What has been added has for the most part, been requested by the community on discord. I do agree that they did a bad job with the marketing on the latest update, and they themselves acknowledged that in their town hall Q&A recently. The one thing to recognize is that the game is still Early Access. Give it time to develop and come into its own.
Completely agree with you. The story element in Techtonica is the best part for me. I played until the end of the story currently available in the early access and thought they would release more of the story in the next update. But instead they give me laser games and dance floors. I'm worried like you. It just doesnt feel like a factory game any more.
Yeh, I'm really hoping they can recover. Fingers crossed the next update does not dig the hole deeper.
They did say that they have added a new person to the story, which add a new layer to the story, but really the laser game for me was a big waste of dev time and just add clutter to a game where there was already people complaining about performance issues, especially on Xbox.
Really I have played over 100h to techtonica, I like the game, but I'm scared with how the development goes. The update 4 was nice, but adding game modes before finishing the core game was in my mind a big mistake (Like Satisfactory they have waited a lot before adding the advanced games settings for a reason). And now laser games? What the hell. The core aspect of a factory games is building a factory, they should focus on that and the storyline instead of adding useless stuff that divert the attention to the main goal of the game.
My thoughts on this are a mixed bag, and I think it's one that can be summed up as "this is one of the problems with early access":
From a game development point of view, some items you critiqued wouldn't have taken away from development time at all - big heads, no-dismantle, and the such are relatively trivial. But that same argument absolutely doesn't apply to entire new world maps and game modes.
I agree that the lack of metrics at launch was bananas, yet their reasoning was sound - they knew they needed to do a UX pass ASAP, yet for some reason had to ship before that was done. Arguably, that's an extremely valid and right use of early access to get feedback, validate their design, and ensure they knew were to focus their effort.
The argument for laser tag is that it mixes up gameplay and gives you a break activity from the core gameplay. As a feature that's fine, but I'm not sure it's a flagship one they themselves should be promoting but rather allow the communtiy to discover and embrace when they realise the ping tool can PvP.
I do think the strapline and marketing for this update was a combination of developer excitement, and pure promotional concept. It creates clickbait news opportunities, and streamer focused content, rather than core playerbase content.
Imagine how different your thoughts would be if they let us, the players, inside their thoughts more. If they revealed that the lasertag map was them testing, and the asteriods game was one madcap dev's hobby project. If they trusted players to discover and embrace features and make their own dedicated maps. If they made it more clear why they were doing something, and how it either created the underpinnings for future features, or was an activity they were working on whilst the story & balance geniuses were pondering the next stage of the game.
One of the failure modes for early access is not fully embracing the community, not being open and transparent enough to reward the time and money we invest into supporting a game. To panic as you feel you've lost that opportunity for a big-bang 1.0 launch, so you try and capture stardust again, rather than trusting your product and players to shine.
Techtonica is still a dream game of mine, a cross between subnautica and satisfactory is so hella cool a concept. But early access success for these titles wasn't just down to the game - it was how openly they worked with the players, how much they dared to reveal publicly.
I feel similarily about the game atm. Its fun. But its also in a rough spot. I wanna build a cool looking automatic factory but with how rough and raw the gameplay is atm, I cannot really enjoy it too much. Its like in this area where I would put Slav Jank into. Where the game itself isnt made by neccesarily best in the business but still driven by passion and its showing. The environments are georgous, the story leads you on with a mystery, the voiceacting is fricking superb like... it puts some newer games I have seen as of late to shame Ill just have to say it. As a german, I am super happy with Paladins voiceactor. German accent but not poorly done and instead feels very respectful in how its brought over.
There is a lot of love put into Techtonica. But as a whole it also needs a lot of care.
Personally I dont mind the more community and longevity driven updates. It makes it so that if players are currently waiting for new content, they got stuff to do. Co-op being possible, lasertag and even being able to customize your world is honestly fun to some. If I had friends who played the game, I probably would build stuff with it. But no one I know plays it. So I play Singleplayer. And I feel this is also where my POV is coming from here as I personally dont really care for it too much. And I feel without wanting to assume, its where your POV comes from just as much. We both play it singleplayer. We dont got much use for it. Its what it is :o
I kinda paused playing after things got slightly cold. The story needs completion. It’s nice to hear that my sentiments are being shared by a lot of other players. I’d love some serious optimization to the different machines, numbers, and mechanics. I guess I’ll be waiting with you chief 👍
I'm right there with you. There are so many more things that need to be fixed/improved before they start pushing out silly things that don't even seem to be story, or even factory, related. For Example, they could have spent more time optimising the game so that FPS didn't die mid-game. I lower my settings to low with a 4070ti Super and still can't get above 30. Balancing is all wrong, and there are not enough resources in the game to cover the factory expansion required to mass produce parts. It is almost like they have no plans or idea on where to go next so they are just throwing crud against the wall to see what sticks.
After watching the laser trailer I’m definitely taking a break. It’s not a factory game as much as it’s a multiplayer party game
Its like they are trying to do too much before they finish polishing the game. After seeing that trailer I really don't want to get the game because it doesn't look like a factory or automation game anymore.
they did add metric in the game, it had some update since then
I know, I stated this in the video and shown an image from the patch notes
I feel like the most appropriate description for the apparent direction of the game is 'fannying about'.
Totally agree, who asked for Lazer tag at this stage, even the modes, it's starting to feel like a non dev is making decisions about the game
I’m relatively new to factory games and had this on my steam Wishlist for a while but watching that trailer nearly made me have a seizure
First thought was disco lazer tag. I totally agree with you Bitz; the updates just seem to be treats being thrown out and no type of molding to the original premiss of the game. The team should definitely sit down and have a look at what the community feedback looks like as well as looking at what they are doing and making sure it makes sense to the players.
I played a bunch when it first came out than took some breaks and after a bit decided to wait for it to get outta EA so the laser tag announcement really confused me.
As someone who worked for many years in the game industry, I think something that is not well understood is how companies need to manage their different resources throughout the development process. It is an incredibly subtle act, because you have artists who are basically done while coders are still at it either hammering bugs and/or tweaking features. Sometimes, instead of letting go of potentially great workers, game company will try to scope feature that can better take advantage of as many people as possible so as not to waste wages. Maybe I'm not explaining it well but yea, out of all the different expertise required to launch a game, and depending on the type of game, not everyone reach the finish line at the same pace.
Some of these puzzling features you are talking about might have been a result of a small team being done with their part while the bigger narrative is still figuring things out. Thanks for sharing, I look forward to how Techtonica evolves, cheers!
I feel this so much! I love factory games and resource management/efficiency games, which is what Fire Hose set out to make with Techtonica originally, and for a while there, it felt like they were doing a great job! These last few updates, however; it really feels like the team has lost their direction. Has there been any changes to the internal structure of Fire Hose Games? What happened to cause this very jarring and, quite frankly, vosceral change in design focus?
Okay - I'll just add my opinion to the mix here, since this is opinion-land we're off into here with this video.
I've played quite a bit of factory-automation games, (ie Factorio, Dyson Sphere, Captain of Industry, Planet Crafters), and while those are good and all, and Factorio definitely sort of invented and popularized the genre it's sort of "staid" and straight-forward and boring, and actually kind of passe'.. Dyson Sphere is really beautiful with the Unity engine that it uses, and it's really super complex is the later part of the game getting automated logistics going between planets and different Star Systems, I really love that along with the absolutely awesome Dyson Spheres (and swarms) you make in mid-late game, absolutely AWESOME!!
All that said - Techtonica being a decent up-coming factory-automation game is getting it's "feet under it" and making its niche in the genre. It's really beautiful (like Dyson!) in the underground caves. It's getting a decent sized tech-tree with a number of different recipes and ways to make things in later game. It's just "maturing" a little and I believe the dev's want this factory-automation game to be a little more whimsical, and out-of-the-ordinary as compared to the other factory-automation games with the new glowy blocks and the Laser-Tag aspects they added. It's just a little more FUN of a little different type that they added for people to enjoy.. Or Not!! You don't have to use the new Laser-Tag features if you don't want to, that's perfectly fine! I will probably check out the Laser-Tag Asteroids mini-game from time to time just to break up a long building and automation session.. Why Not??
While everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion on this great up and coming game, let's just all chill a little and enjoy the fun and interesting new features we have to play around with all the while reminding the dev's if there are features or additions we think would add to and enhance the actual factory-automation core aspects of the game.
For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the new story addition and eagerly jumped in and played through it last night. I liked it alot. I just wish there were more of it to enjoy!!
Anyway, just wanted to chime in and give my $0.02 on this. For my part I enjoy Techtonica and will continue to enjoy it!! Can't wait for 0.6!!
Thanks for you input! This was a great read and I appreciate your side to my confusion from the opposite side from most people.
I still have hope for future updates, as all games have an issue in everybody's own way. I think personally it can just be addressed better to the community, this include timing. This update honestly would of banged, if it was released around April fools, as a fun, crazy thing to play with as a limited event, put the main intention was to keep it in. It would not of received little to no negative interest, and to be fair, I did not realise how much people did not like this update until I released this video.. I don't have a problem with what there adding, its when a how they add it, that is my concern and confusion
It feels like they're building a car and they've started messing about adding spoilers and fancy rims before they've got the engine or the gearbox in.
Ey Ey Ey!!, Need for Speed 2 was a banger!!! Don't hate on the spoilers and wide body kits hahahahahaha.. But jokes aside, i get what you mean
This game had me enjoying digging in the dirt, exploring, waiting to hear a predictable story. I very much wanted to know what more the story had, What all was up that elevator having me thinking Metroid stuff, what's beyond that outer most wall the tool needed to be stronger for and had me interested in waiting however long they needed to do it, with a low version number and a tech tree that seemed like it could go farther, with a few more gadgets. Never expected Satisfactory, with Firehose being a small team, but they made a good amount of a game in 2 years and Satisfactory has had 5 years.
My concern started at me falling through floors and a month later they introduce "Opps All Concrete" at version 0.2.2. Seemed too fast through the versions and wall ascetics over a full game ruining bug? I saw "Big Head Mode" in patch notes and I thought, "You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking." With this Laser Tag at version 0.5.0...been so mad. Had something beautiful, then threw candy sprinkles and confetti on it. Game over, Man! Game over! You ruined it.
Looking over the patch notes for v0.5, if they still did only what was there but dropped those mini-game modes it would still be a solid update.
Thanks for this video Bitz, you covered the main issue pretty well. It's just has no focus, direction of travel and clear end goal. The Devs have failed to communicate their vision for this game. They are certainly not going to attract any more idiots like me that have bought the game after the last update... Lesson learned! Wait until you can see that the Devs know what they are doing... e.g. Like Satisfactory update 7 or 8 when the game mechanics where pretty much mapped out and you could see what you were buying. Only a little over two weeks to go before 10th September 1.0 release now! 😀
Enjoy playing Satisfactory while this title rumbles on in the background for the next few years!
Yes this is all true. We've had discussions with them and they realise - from the volume of complaints received - that they went about things the wrong way.
In their minds, they were working on what we think of as "actual updates" (factory, story, features, etc) - and that at the same time, different teams were working on other "fun" things.
On the whole, these fun features represent time and work that would have been much better spent on the core game, especially at this early stage.
Long story short, I think they have learnt their lesson :P
I had a meeting with the Game Director and community management about all of this before the Town meeting they had to address all the issue, they actually mention me in the town hall meeting as people did ask about this video.
@@ItsBitz Did you get positive vibes from it? How are your feeling on the game's progress and direction now?
I'm quite looking forward to 1.0, whenever that happens. I really hope it turns out to be great!
with you NOT sure what Lazer games / Disco Mode has to do with stuff right now, could be a after 1.0 release also. Fully agree with ya. Keep up the great vids!
Appreciate the support my man!
I've had the impression since the game had its first demo that it was Subnautica-esque exploration FIRST with factory game elements, rather than a factory game first with Subnautica-esque exploration elements.
I feel bad saying it, but similarly to your impressions I've felt that the folks designing the factory aspect of the game don't quite... 'get it', from
1) not really understanding why the core factory crowd would want to hard-math the production lines w/ metrics etc (and lol, the monkey's paw of when metrics were added, the realization that there literally was not any neat maths between miners and smelters, just 'jam a lot of these on a belt to saturate it', which to the game's credit DID get tweaked shortly after too)
2) the overly complicated double byproduct loop just to get the first automatable fuel type for mining and smelting, something other factory games have down to literally just 'put a miner on a coal deposit, bam you're done'. and then the so-called 'band-aid' being that stacks and inventory sizes were huge to compensate
3) in an update, attempting to solve the byproduct issue for a chain that is essentially infinite (i.e. fuel for mining/smelting) by feeding it into a draw that's essentially finite (concrete for building blocks - no one's building stuff indefinitely to a point that it keeps up with infinite draw, that's just not how factory games work)
If that sounds overly critical, that's not my intention - it's just to highlight how I've felt that the factory part of the game was supplementary to the overall experience, not the main focus. AND THAT'S TOTALLY FINE. I'd be totally up for playing an exploration-focused game where progression draws on some of the fundamentals of factory game stuff without diving too deep into it. Atrio did this hybrid intersection pretty damn well as well, and that's not the type of game you're making rows and rows of perfectly tuned/balanced belts of shit.
I think where things went awry so to speak is, despite this broader goal in the type of game they wanted to make, a LOT of the game's marketing, from screenshots on the store page to the content creators that were helping market the game, WAS targeted the factory game crowd, and that feels like it set up for a disastrous launch in terms of retention, again for reasons you pointed out like disappointing metrics, an overall 'trial and error' style of factory building which just was at odds with the relative clunkiness of building things in first person, and most of the folks that the game was advertised to, myself included, decided to just wait till the game cooked a little more and sorted out its factory side of things. Which... if I were to similarly be frank and honest, really hasn't happened yet.
I'm still at a point I eventually want to check it out and if you recall from our brief conversations I'm a very very cosmetic-oriented base building game player so that stuff that's in the game for that facet really, REALLY interests me, but I also know I'm going to get constantly frustrated with the almost-could-have-been factory game facet of the experience as it is, and neither 0.4 nor 0.5 have boosted my confidence in this regard.
In some ways, and I really REALLY hope I'm wrong, it feels like the initial death throes of a team that knows their original 1.0 plans aren't coming to fruition due to a lack of funding/dev runway from a dismal Early Access launch just pivoting to making stuff they really wanted to make before the plug has to be pulled.
Someone needs to grab the devs by the collar and shake them a bit while firmly stating "FIGURE OUT YOUR TONE!!". You are a factory game, not an arcade FPS sandbox!
Exactly this! They are all over the bloody place! 🤦♀️🤷♀️
At the moment, it feels like a dozen devs have thrown their individual shit into the communal sink and not spoken to each other in months!
What the fart are you guys doing? Laser tag games for crying out loud? Really?🙄
Disco floor tiles??? WTF?
I'm feeling very duped atm as this has moved in the opposite direction to a factory game, or even an exploration sandbox with a story arc...
It feels like the development leadership is allowing marketing team (who don't play factory games) influence the development pipeline.
Totally agree. We play this game for the automation, nit the goofy gimicks. I dont mind some goofy gimicks added in for spice, but make thise spice, not the main course of updates.
I wonder if laser games was a name for the update for colored blocks and multiplayer entertainment? Idk definitely weird stuff with the updates for a factory game
You're right. But - when I play Grounded with my son, we build, we killed spiders, we run away, ... and at the end we play a little bit basketball... I think it's a funny idea to play Lasertag in a game, after a hard day in the factory. But it's important, that the next update will get back to the story and the factory. Let's wait and see...
Metrics, hit the nail on the head, I haven't played in a long time, got frustrated with balancing aspect
I think they have fully lost touch with the player base. The vast majority are upset about adding laser tag and disco floors from what I have seen.
For a game that advertised itself as "Underground Satisfactory" you'd think they'd take some tips from Coffee Stain Studios:
"The game you're making is is just what it is, or another way to think about it is that the game that you're making is also specifically not what it isn't." -Jace
That second part is very important.
It looks like they're done developing the game core and are just adding bells and whistles
If you look into the development rather than just taking the updates at face value, you would learn that that is not the case. The next large update that they are working on is called the Going Up update, and they have confirmed that it involves the elevator and ascending into a new biome with new mechanics and more storyline. The laser games update itself added to the story as well. The trailer shouldn't have focused as much on the laser games, but the devs have acknowledged their mistake in labelling it not only as a major update, but also their framing the laser games as the main focus.
I would say it's less that the game has an identity crisis and more that the game is not meant for hardcore factory gamers. It seems obvious to me at least that the game is being made and designed for a casual crowd, hence why something hardcore like machine output isn't in the game. Normal gamers don't design their factories like you do Bitz (just look at martiplier's satisfactory Let's Play). Being a casual gamer myself, i love the new direction that it's taking.
I appreciate your honesty.. I'm not knocking the game for being different, they are 100% allowed, and as i stated in another comment, its not the features I'm worried about its the timing and focus of things, I'm confused about. Metrics, if they was in at the start. They would not of had the downward spiral of players like they did. Hitting that core audience first is what matters, making that impression. Then from there, with proper timing and and focus on the content that is releasing it could be a lot better. As stated in another like i said, before if the laser tag was released around April fools, as a fun and quirky feature to the game, it would of gone down better with the community, i did not realise how bad this update was being hated on until I released this video, and seeing the feedback all over the place. (I don't just mean my channel either)
I have hope for the future, and will be keeping my eye on it to see if I want to return or not.
@@ItsBitz Oh no i wasn't taking your concern as criticism. I was just trying to address your concern with a possible answer. It could be that the game is essentially complete feature wise and now they're focusing on other elements (like laser tag). I.E. they're not going to go in a direction that will please the audience that currently believes they are the target audience. At least that is simply how it appears to me. And if this is the direction they're going in then we may see some more non-factory style elements introduced to the game in time.
@ItsBitz I agree 100% personally I don't think I be playing again until it's done or they make it so the factory part needs to be more than a long line of assemblers.😢
Yeh, its a sad thing that has to happen, nobody should really have to stay clear of something because of features.
It seems more like being developed by modders than by an actual producer. Everyone at work is simply doing what they think seems cool so you get all these piecemeal parts that in a finished product, yeah, seems cool, but when the actual product is seemingly not making progress than the rest is just bloat that's delaying and straying from the initial design.
I've heard this a few time now about "Its like it's being developed by modders" Is this a known thing within the techtonica community?
Every update has given more dialogue, new quests and new areas to explore. New things to build. But they also wanted players to have freedom. With adding game mode options they've eliminated a lot of need for a lot of mods. Just like how satisfactory turned to look at what the mods were doing. So too did firehose, increase number of players able to join a world. Give them something to do when they run out of story. Let them build massive and beautifully unique factories and now laser arenas which i think was a side thought. They made a ping tool and realized it could be so much more and added more fun and playability. It's not just a factory builder, crunching efficiency till it's perfect. Because unlike satisfactory, the resources are Finite. You deplete a vein and it's gone.
If there wasn't base building, or alternative play styles. It would be very bland and playing through more than once would be much less likely
Love the videos as always, but... I watch alot of diff creators who play factory games and a good lot of them always reference other factory builders like Satisfactory, Factorio etc.. if all that feedback was implemented, we wouldnt have any difference between them except the skins and recipes. Im not sure about why you dont like the adv options. Is there going to be a Satisfactory video about their advanced options coming before 1.0?? Modders always add these in theirs. Yes mods are not base game i understand and "usually" some of that content comes into the basic game in someway. I wouldnt want to be a dev for these kind of games at this current time. Its sometimes a very difficult decision to determine of the suggestion people give is actually just QOL or just something they like from another game in the genre. I like your point of views and it seems very unbiased as to what other factory games you play. Its going to be a more difficult for any developer going forward to have something diff and unique in this genre. I hope this dont come off negative. Look forward to more of your videos.
I 100% respect your feedback on this, and it defiantly does not come across negative. It's widely known, that the last 3 updates for satisfactory are my worst ones, and they are just filler updates before 1.0. because the Dev team split in 2, one for update 6,7 and 8 and the others are focusing on 1.0. So there was defiantly been an out of touch moment in the past year.
The boombox, advanced weapons and ammo and advanced game settings are my 3 hated features.
I love that fact they are trying to be unique, but I think the point I'm trying to get at, is the timing and how its marketed via the trailers is off. If the lasers, was released on April fools, for some fun and then left in for the memes I get that. But to put the lasers as the main update focus point is bad for me. I think possibly if the Fast travel was the highlighted, like I stated in the pin comment.
But as stated in the video, everything is my own opinion and addressing's everybody else's concerns via this format instead of replying to 100's is a little easier whilst getting other feedback as well.
I appreciate your message a lot!
It's like if Satisfactory, back in update 6, released the mini-golf meme
I think they are having fun. When devs have fun they usually make awesome games.
Also side note.
Fortnite wasnt a game mode they made on purpose. Just some devs having fun with their Save the World game and making it into a battle royal.
100% Agree they should have fun with it. I played Fortnite, when it was a standalone and loved it. When it was literally a game to purchase, and then they removed it.
But as stated I'm just confused on the audience they are trying to target here. I've seen hundreds of comments stating the same thing, in regards to "What is it?"..
So I thought I would address, instead of replying to every single comment
I feel like it's coffee stain all over again. They (CSS) promised after update 3 that on the road map, the game would be in 1.0 within a year or so. Joey of Fire Hose said that Techtonica would be 2 to 3 years to 1.0. That timeline is now out the window. I agree with you they seem to have lost their way. I don't care much about the story, but having more products to build would be nice.
Man, Becky got her hands full week 1
She is going to do great!!!
I enjoy playing, but I agree that this new update is really out of pocket. I like the fast travel idea, but these "game modes" are not needed. They should be considered AFTER release.
I was just about to buy it because it was on sale. Then I watched the trailer for update 4, it made me double take on what kind of game this was. Then I found this video and saw the trailer and ya I am in shock. I don't understand the No Quests pitch, because ya what's the point? That's how we get the last trailer.
We really need a performance update, mid to late game is horrible, I only get about 30 fps which I’d say is unplayable.
I haven’t got the best pc, but in another factory game that might start with S I get about 90-120 fps on high settings, and it looks amazing.
I’ve played Techtonica 3 times but never finished my third run as I got tired of the poor performance.
Ive been playing the game on and off over the last month. The laser tag stuff came up, and then i just kinda ignored it all. They added the metrics stuff, and im learning how to use it, but im new to the factory games genre. Maybe you could check it out and make some "tutorial" type videos to help players like me find ways to be more efficient. I want this game to succeed as well, and hope it does.
I played the demo that was on steam before the early access release, it had a good vibe but felt a bit clunky, and also had no numbers... I was already done with that. As for these updates, I wasn't aware. I was going to take a look at a playthrough after 1.0 and see how much it had improved and if I wanted to buy it, but from what I hear here, it doesn't sound like it's going to happen. Maybe we aren't their intended audience - which is weird, why make a game with factory elements if you don't market it to factory game players?
I feel the same way bitz it feels like they addet tiers 1 and 2 and then skip to full mod support without trying to make the game better polishing more depth , they bring stuff in that ppl will not play this game for ,
I dont understand their base game is not bad but it can do alot better , and now they bring in stuff that ppl are not gooing to do ,
I dont know i played it for about 5 ours and i got bored out of my mind , this game needs a major overhaul or iets gonne die very quick if it keeps on this path
It seems like they want to make two different games here, but decided to put the second into the first.
Damn. Hope they get back on track. After all the research , thats the main reason i dont buyed this game right now.
satis is getting 1.0 - Factorio gets a big addon . Foundry had big things to make for EA .
Techtonica needs a lot more tech and progression like you say. greetings
Main factory game gameplay must be.... factory! I mean that there can be enemies like in satisfactory or factorio, but it's not a main gamplay.... it's just... something that slowdown your progression, add some difficulty to the game other than calculation of resources and building factories and belts
I think it can't be overlooked that this is an Xbox factory game. They have said themselves that it's intended to be a good first factory game.
I actually played it with someone completely new to factory games. It went really well for them and the story and exploration aspects got them really engaged early. But, they got mentally fatigued much faster than me building production lines and scaling up the base. My guess is the intent for laser games was to offer a release valve for none core factory gamers to take a break from thinking but stay in the game.
I feel the same way its all over the place so iv stopped playing it for now
They keep hinting at the elevator. Hopefully the next update will be massive and these past few updates were just fillers to hold us over while they worked on a new area. If not than I am very concerned as well.
I (mistakenly) bought the game just before the laser tag / disco flooring update dropped... That was a facepalm moment when I saw that... I realised I'd made a big mistake buying the game in early access... Lesson learned!
Having played it these are my thoughts :
Factory building is mah...
No blueprints, no deconstruct, no in game way that I can find to unravel the build tree... In short, the factory building main game is a LONG LONG way behind Satisfactory...
On the plus side, the exploration is ok. There is stuff to find (but it's piecemeal useful). It's a nice aspect to the game.
The story arc is ok but painfully slow. It is also unfinished...
You get to mid game (finish unlocking Victor and X-ray) and then you are left with a MASSIVE build request like 200 Assemblers, 100 Threshers and 50 Miners. I can't remember off the top of my head but it is a LOT! Which basically means a complete factory rebuild!
If this isn't your main reason for playing the game... Walk away now!😯
The game currently is a mess. It does have potential... But it's definitely a mess! It is light years behind Satisfactory! I hope it gets it's shit together and gets the main story arc finished and the tech tree finished!
Atm, it's only 25% of a game imo.
I could have made almost everyone of these same comments for Satisfactory Update 6. I haven't been keeping up with the overall direction of Techtonica to know if this is a trend or a one off because they have a bunch of other stuff going, but I can say that Laser Guns in this is about equivalent to all of the ammo/gun updates I largely ignored in SF Update 6 for all of the same reasons.
(edit) And I think we can both agree we didn't have the same concerns for SF. Perhaps because we were more involved. Hard to say. So I guess if we reflect on this, what makes this different?
Hey runesun, it's widely known I did not like the addition of the Boombox, Weapons and Ammo and the Advanced Game settings.
I've stated alot within the videos and streams update 6 was the worst update.
Agreed, the ammo/gun updates for Satisfactory did not make any sense to me either. That said though, Satisfactory does everything else so amazingly well that this mishap is not going to move the needle anyway.
Only difference is Those didn’t really feel out of place, laser games does
almost wonder if part of why Joey left was because of where the game is currently headed development wise. like maybe he was one of a few trying to keep the game on track with core features as the main focus. but the development team keeps listening to feedback from sources about bonus content instead.
Wanted to buy this cause i like factory games. But after seeing this and that laser tag bs, yeah no. Thanks for the vid. Will buy something else rather. Glad i did some research before i bought it
I play a ton of factory games as well. For me I am happy to see devs do what ever they want. If they want to add laser tag to the game I say go for it. I applaud the devs for doing something outside the box and different. My personal opinion is players are getting really entitled thinking they get to decide how a company designs, builds, and ships their games. But I guess you need content, I just wish you could find ways to create content the didn't need to dump on the devs.
i got back into the game after playing some occupy mars and Starfield and i was excited thinking sweet now we can mine with lasers and add some more color to a factory but than as i went on i started thinking why do i need a laser gun who or what will i be shooting Game modes are a bit of a meh for me i was fin with each ore node having 9k ore made prioitizing what i made using what ore more important i dont know if i will return to the game if they dont explain why they added ligh floors and laser guns to a Factory and exploration game that has no hostiles at all
Hey, maybe we'll get golf next! ;-)
Hahaha, literally laughed at this comment ❤️
I have been waiting to see where the story goes and what happened but each update has me more confused. Yes laser games are cool but I also feel like the dev is trying to please fans rather than sticking to their vision. Bit sad when Joey left.
The Devs want to put to much into the game, but it's all kinda rushed. It's not flavoured right.
Interesting he update Trailer has now been made Private
IS it a factory game or is it turning into a base defense game..??
Yes. I agree.. Hold off till they get more 1.0'ish end game content to really figure the game out but yeah, I saw that was weird with FPS combat. Not normal for a game that wasn't started nor marketed as a FPS combat game on intro release.
looks like they watch halfway through Snutts 1.0 announcement and stopped the video at "Laser update" before the joke was revealed. "awesome idea lets do lasers!"
I honestly tuned out a bit form techtonica because it didn't really hook me in the demo. had no idea they had all these updates already.
Yeh, there on V0.5 since july last year
Okay, first things first. I do not play Techtonica, but if this is a factory game, they really need to get their heads together. (Unless this is a case of 'Lets puts in the mods of our community in the main game.')
Weird stuff. Satisfactory did right to just have golf as a joke and not actually in the game. Loosing focus in dev will leave everybody just scratching their heads before moving on and doing something else.
I think the game will be fine. That is all.
i hear more that you are trying to find things to dislike more then to things to like not sure you be'eing guided by negative comments about this game in any case you should only play games you like playing and there is more then plenty to go around
Its a video game, not a lifestyle choice. And its one update. So why start acting like its jumped the shark? How long did S take from ea to 1.0? Anyway, i feel like i already got my monies worth
Will they fixed the part where you get kick out the entire game
Did any of you find any strange thing while you where playing?
It seems they're trying to make automation minecraft.
Game officially relesease nov 7th. Seeing how this is the only decen factory game availavle for xbox. (Satisfactory should aim for an xbox series x release. No excuse not to) its the best thing console gamers have for now.
Satisfactory is coming to consoles, its been announced
They should have stayed to the story line and Factory stuff, seems like they went way overboard with stuff that should have been 1.0 or after stuff, but they either go a new CEO or a new team or they just lostt contrast witth tthe game.. Imagine if sattisfactory would have done this.
well so far what would make this game better:
Fix all and any bugs that cause freezes or crashes.
Add character customization and slightly change the aesthetic there is. Idk whats going on its hard on the eyes when you first start.
The story needs to be more consistent and actually follow the theme of the game. So many people are complaining about the theme.
Add more machines to create more stuff.
Expand the map and add more tiers.
MAKE THIS GAME DIFFERENT. Its a factory, Make it a factory game. Do not do none of this lazer tag stuff.
FOCUS ON THE FACTORY CONTENT
Yeah this... laser game looks like a completely unrelated game to what the base game is. Why was it needed? Okay color blocks.. cool.. but we didn't need a laser tag game in a... game like this. As is the story sounds like it fit with single or a small team working to unlock something big. Why would in logical sense would any of that be put on hold and someone jumps up and says 'Lets gave a laser game match in the middle of this big journey!' That is so far from the objective that it don't feel like the same game anymore. What are the devs smoking to come up with such an idea that is so far past left field its in a whole other game setting?
Should watch the town hall.😊
N. 4 reporting for duty
Edit, also fist to comment
This is a casual game. Have you seen the game's pace when you start a new save? They aren't having you grind. It's just for fun.
Don’t care about techtonica I stopped playing after a few hours and went back to satisfactory sure they are different games but satisfactory is awesome
So what is better? satisfactory or this game? I saw this game on xbox, and I wanna play it, and satisfactory isn't on xbox
imho techtonica and foundry are very, very close to each other and they are now, whether they realize it or not, locked in a deathmatch to be the better block/automation game.
at this point i feel like foundry is just better. which isn't to say techtonica isn't charming, but it's going to have to figure out something really cool to distinguish itself from foundry and pull back into the lead.
i think this is why techtonica released the wierd game modes to try and make a bid for replayability because techtonica doesn't have random levels like foundry does. they are trying to distinguish themselves from their competitor.
Update 0.5 feels like it was meant to come out on April 1st.
Yeh, ive said this in many comments here lol
I get where you going, but a disagree. You mighty been comparing too much with relative big factory games like Satisfactory. Techtonica is on Game Preview, the updates are smaller, they have to keep the players engaged at certain level.
The laser games update bring Teleports, Color blocks, Pings and is more a update to give reason to multiplayer. Like is cool i can shoot my friends and have some way to interact with them. Otherwise it feels like a mod / server to other factory game.
The gamemode update brings the options to setup you map, to bring more new players to the game. I lot of casuals quit when them find out that resources nodes are limited.
I didnt play this new update because i rather play alone and build my factory in my own time, and thats why laser games dont sound appeling to me. But you have to understand that the game is building up, they have a business strategy and a little personal goals to put in it.
You dont really think that big head effort can be replace with a core feature.
1.0 announced, still worried?
I would be even more worried infact, given that the game is so unpolished in so many aspects and now they are rushing a 1.0 release. I would say if anything I am probably more worried for game than the past unfortunately. I would have ventured to guess that the game should be in ea for a few years, instead what I think is happening because of lack community interest and perhaps also sales, they are wanting to finish up the game in some state and move onto other projects. So yes I'm worried of what 1.0 will end up being like.
@@jaredbasham2244 I think the 1.0 thing is so they can farm the console market. Depending on the $$$$$ they farm there will most likely determine the future of the game if there is any after that.
sounds like a scam using Satisfactory teasers in away,,, so maybe they get some money for later games
Laser tag in a factory game is like a golf game inside Battlefield. Easily one of the worst updates i have seen in a game. What a disaster.
laser games? crap games, why.. does that even relate