I picked Techtonica up in the Steam Winter Sale, though it launched in EA back in July. I’ve got something for production optimization games, obviously. It recently hit v0.3, which is all about efficiency, my kind of patch!

For starters, Techtonica is what Satisfactory (mod-free) would be on a smaller map and much, much less finicky controls. Factorio-3D to a large degree. This reduced scale improves accessibility, because you don’t need to build a 72-step factory in the early game that takes up all your screen space. Techtonica instead focuses on exploration and gradual automation. Progress is gated behind milestones, each bound to a specific station. You start with Lima, which acts as a tutorial. Victor is next, and the game effectively opens nearly every aspect here, and gives you the space to build a multi-floor factory. Xray is next, and that is about large scale automation with monorails. The milestones aren’t incredibly burdensome, you’ll need 200 of a given item and most production rates are enough that you can get buy with a half dozen harvesters. Compare this to Satisfactory where you needed dozens upon dozens of harvesters/foundries to get even the most basic elements running.

An extremely large quality of life feature is that the game is more or less voxel based, meaning there’s no real possibility of being mis-aligned or not clearly understanding how space is managed. You can’t clip objects, which re-enforces the mathematical optimization. Vertical belts (rather than super spaghetti) allow for cleaner and more optimized multi-story factories. The ability to quickly copy objects is the first step for blueprints (which really only matter in large scale things), and the replacer tool almost acts as an upgrade mechanic.

Now, Dyson Sphere Program (if you turn off Dark Fog) is still the gold standard here, and Techtonica has some rather large QoL bits to figure out. Some items require tremendous amounts of material and the results can stack to crazy amounts (you’ll know when you make monorail bits), which makes it hard to manage crafting chains. Research is done through cores, which must be physically placed in the world, taking up huge chunks of room. Assemblers have rate inputs that simply cannot be met by inserter tools, certainly the long variants, which adds unnecessary puzzle mechanics and overly complicate production chains (you’ll need many storage containers to manage overflow).

One piece that annoys me to a great degree in these games is the concept of intermediary steps, especially those that are single material ones. The only purpose they hold is to create artificial time gates – or allow scaling when belts/inserters cannot provide. For example, Iron Mechanisms. They need 100x Iron Components. Those require 2 Iron Ingots, which come from 2 Iron Ores. Do the math, and each Mechanism takes 400 Iron Ores. Related, when you encounter one of these steps, your prior balanced production rates of say, 10x/minute now require 100x/minute, which means more scaling is required.

Now that is an issue with the genre as a whole, and if the tooling is there to manage the scale issues, then no real biggie. Again, Dyson Sphere Program completely knocks it out of the park when it comes to scaling tools, which Satisfactory is the lead-chip-eating-cousin. It remains to be seen how Techtonica addresses scaling as more content is added… because it’s not like you have infinite space to build with.

As for a roadmap, with “Desert MIRAGE” as a content point, I am assuming that open space may be on the horizon. Given prior history, it’s likely 6 months away. At this point, I’d recommend a watchlist rather than giving it a shot. It’s good, but unless you really love the genre and willing to have the odd bug muck-up an optimized belt maze, well… your library is likely chock full of options.

There is a very wide continuum between trend setting and trend chasing. In both cases, people will look at you weird.

Trend setters are on the edge of greatness, a particular idea that has great potential, but struggling with the clear execution. They are first out of the gate, and may get credit, but it’s those just behind them that have the opportunity to learn, correct, and improve. Meridian59, Ultima Online, Everquest, and World of Warcraft fit into that model, each larger than the last.

Trend chasers are those that are late to the party and don’t quite understand why everyone is dressed in red. They then show up in red at the next party when everyone is now in blue. This is the group that only see the what and doesn’t understand the why. They may personally experience joy in the consumption of the thing, but don’t quite digest exactly why that is. I could list a dozen themepark MMOs here, but without question Wildstar is one of the best examples.

As with most trends, time is short and fickle. MOBAs are done. Auto-battlers had like 5 minutes of fame. Puzzlers are extremely rare. A small group of developers who are agile can get something decent out the door, with low overhead and some potential decent returns. A large corporation may take 4 years to get something out, by which time it’s simply too late.

I’ll pick on Anthem here for a minute, because damn, astoundingly poor leadership killed that game. The why of the co-op shooter genre should not be hard to digest. Surmounting increasingly difficult challenges as a group of people, and receiving incremental rewards hits just the right spot in the back of the brain. I get better because we get better because I get better. The why isn’t what killed Anthem. The how killed Anthem. Bugs aside (and were there ever bugs), the mechanics of group play were generally broken as the “door to entry” wasn’t tested. Individual progressing was in line with Diablo 3 at launch, meaning dozens of hours of absolute garbage for a miniscule % increment. At launch, more time was spent promoting cosmetics that addressing shortcomings. Had they paused for a year, and addressed the absolute obvious issues, I’d wager we’d still be playing Anthem today!

Today’s corporate drug of choice is live services. The need to have multiplayer content that is subsidized through micro-transactions that are time-gated. Battle passes are one thing (which makes money off FOMO), but the sheer concepts behind them that if you build it, they will pay money, is just mind blowing. I mean, I get it. Live Service games were a huge lifeline during the pandemic to keep social bonds. We are not in a pandemic, we are in a near global recession, where money spent in one place cannot be spent elsewhere. The conversation of “value vs. money vs. time” is now top of mind, and as more options are on the market, the choice of said value is multiple.

So, if I have the choice of spending $70 on say, “Skull and Bones” or “Suicide Squad”, I am in fact comparing those games to every other coop looter/shooter live service game. This is no different than Warhammer Online launching after World of Warcraft, with worse quests, more bugs, worse graphics, and poorer social tools. Or, as above, Wildstar launching with no social tools and only hardcore content. Do you understand the market segment? You’re late to the party, so you need to show up with near-perfection.

Will these games kill live service offerings? Not a chance, they are the model for today’s microtransactions and the lifeline when games cost more than $100m to develop. And honestly, live service can work! Do they remind developers that they actually need a GOOD GAME for folks to want to spend their money and stick around? That is also unlikely, at least at a large scale when you have accountants at the game development table. If it’s a good idea, and it’s well executed, people will want to play it and want to pay you for it. You can make more money with decent marketing and thoughts about monetization, but that’s after you have a good game, not before. You shouldn’t have a game mechanic that is designed to extract maximum $$$ from players (*cough* lootboxes *cough*).

Now, do I think this is the start of the end of major studios dominating the gaming space? I would wager a yes on that. Game development is democratized and has a very low barrier to entry now (Valheim had like 3 developers). The lack of quality for AAA games, combined with real world financial pressures is making people pay more attention to where to spend $70 a go. Embracer Group may be the best example of why consolidation for assets is not such a great idea if you are the asset.

In that vein, I remain optimistic about the gaming industry. Great developers are out there with amazing ideas. Navigating the chaos of the boardrooms has become unattractive, so let’s see what the new model looks like.

Of note, the first large patch was released recently, which was more in the “this is obviously broken” than anything truly balance related. There are still some fairly large outliers.

Where Enshrouded starts as most survival games (punch a tree, kick a rock, build a hut), it quickly takes a turn out of the natural punishment of the genre, and instead focus on exploration. Probably best viewed as an action-RPG with survival elements. What I mean by that is that the risk / reward mechanisms skew much more to the latter. There’s no perma-death, no item loss, things never get destroyed, your death leaves you with all your armor/weapons, and teleportation has very minor limitations. Compared to Valheim where death causes skill loss, all items are dropped, and you can’t teleport metals… well this is easy as cake.

Some general tips however can save some time and help guide the more confusing parts of the game:

• There is an absolutely massive balance issue between ranged attacks and melee. Wands are what combat should be, the rest feels under-balanced.
• Magic attacks are strong but initially require “charges”, which you need to craft. Eternal Ice (no charges, more mana use, less damage) is unlocked through a quest, other Eternal spells come through exploration of new material. Eternal Acid Bite = insanely strong, but you won’t see it til very late.
• NPCs can craft armor and very weak weapons. Open chests to find new weapons. Chests respawn when you reload the world.
• Flame altars are cheap to build (5 stone), provide free teleportation, and a respawn point. Use them, especially near higher points where you can glide.
• Armor stats are broken, except +dmg, +hp, +mana. Rings generally don’t work.
• Levels (25 max) matter due to skill points, and progress is extremely slow until the teens. 
• For skills, Double Jump is mandatory. Water Aura (and INT) are currently the meta, and negate most healing requirements. Resetting skills costs 10 runes, which is pretty much free.
• Bow users need to craft arrows. The material costs are high and long to acquire. Feathers in particular cannot be found without killing birds… very frustrating, and less damage than a wand.
• A roof, walls, fire and place to sit provided a Rested buff, which increases stamina. You lose it when you die. Try to always have it active.
• Comfort level extends the duration of Rested. No real need to invest here that much as the material requirements are kind of high.
• Berries are a great healing option til the mid point of the game. Bandages are ok.
• Collect the 5 NPCs as a priority. They provide quests (they are the breadcrumbs for progress) and unlocks that make a massive difference in options.
• Clearing “Wells” outside of the starter quest is mostly optional. It does provide a skill point, but can be quite challenging until you’re about level 15. Shroud Roots (hit with an axe) provide the same skill point and no real challenge.
• You will need a lot of water. A lot. Collect it when you can, and build a well when you have the option.
• You will never have too much Flax. Quite ridiculous in point of fact.
• The rake is OP. Use it to create level surfaces anywhere (better than a pickaxe). Use it to “extend” farm soil for free – then use a pickaxe to collect the free soil!
• Food buffs are “meh” for most of the game. The top tier ones give +5 to a stat but require complex materials and go away when you die.
• Upgrade the Flame Power (the middle option) as that allows you to enter more dangerous shroud (red), and create more portals (up to 8), plus gives attribute points. The final piece for each upgrade is tied to an NPC quest to kill a boss. If you’ve got the final piece, then upgrading is now the #1 priority.
• Keep your first base, it has trees, berries, nearby water, shroud material, flintstone, and clay. There’s no good reason to move it aside from aesthetics. Which of course, matter later! (I moved to Fort Kelvin, looks cool)
• There are 5 large beacon towers (you can see them clearly). Unlock them quickly, as they open the larger map and allow teleports. Gliding from a tower = very fast travel.
• The basic gilder + hook should be built ASAP. The next glider upgrade is very useful. The 3rd is not, because the 4th glider is in a chest in the south end of the map and comes around at pretty much the same time. (Updraft skill is moderately useful, but can only be used once per glide. If you could use it multiple times, it would skyrocket in value.)
• Carry at least 5 lockpicks at all times.
• You’re going to need a lot of storage. Magic Chests allow NPCs to craft from chests (not stations), but the costs are quite high to make them until later in the game. 
• There are a LOT of materials in this game. Every time you see something new, chop or chip it to see what it may give, especially in Shroud areas. 
• Most crafting options only unlock if you harvest the material, not if you find it in a pot/chest/ground. 
• There are 6 bosses:
  • Thunderbrute: avoid standing directly in front of them. Can find them in pairs.
  • Matron: Dodge to avoid the poison throw, which may 1-shot you. Usually fought in tight quarters and the primary example why melee is broken in this game.
  • Brawler: If you are too far out of range, they will jump, stomp the ground, and 1 shot you.
  • Wispwyvern: Strafe until it takes a deep breath, shoot an arrow to stun it, then attack. Insects will attack you at the same time. Thankfully only 1 of these.
  • Monstrosity: Always found in the Shroud, shoots projectiles in front for low-ish damage. Didn’t even realize this was a boss.
  • Sicklescythe: Floating death. Dodge forward to avoid the sickle projectiles, and run like hell when they do their AE charge attack. Even at max level, with the best gear, you will die to these.

I would personally consider the game “complete” when you acquire the final glider, as pretty much everything past that point is cosmetic.

I get that many people will be comparing Enshrouded to Valheim. Sure, they have survival mechanics and base building, but that’s about as fair as comparing Valheim to Minecraft. Enshrouded has way more in common with Return to Moria. I’m just happy the genre is exploring non-PvP options and we are able to see some really amazing results from some small/mid-sized developers. It’s much more than punching trees.

Ubisoft has some rather serious internal issues to resolve. Similar to many large AAA studios, they have been chasing trends rather than focusing on quality. No one, and I mean no one, outside of a board position would think that NFTs are a worthwhile investment at scale. If the focus is chasing trends, then what are you really doing?

The recent Prince of Persia game is an unfortunate example of this. Metroidvanias are “in”, so much so that the concepts themselves are simple enough to understand, should have a relatively “low” development cost, and are generally easy to digest by the solo gaming masses. But if you don’t understand why the genre is popular and you’re simply mimicking others, then you need to hit that thing out of the damn park! Charging AAA prices for something that is less than other smaller shops have done is insanity. Now, for a smaller shop selling 300k and making $15m would be amazing. For Ubisoft…I saw the credits roll at the end, there were a lot of people involved and this wasn’t a weekend’s effort. Would it have sold more copies at a different price point? That’s a marketing question, but a $70 entry fee when there’s a literal glut of great games out there seems an odd choice – and I won’t open up the subscription convo here.

Anyone recall the Avatar game that launched before the holidays? It was supposed to launch next to the movie, but was delayed. Next film isn’t out til 2025, so that’s a heck of a no-man’s land. No real marketing push, the game is decent (from what I hear, but I’m not paying $70 for it) and most certainly won’t make it’s money back.

For a long time, it was a developers market. It was certainly shareware city in the 90s (and virus city I guess), but the 00’s to 10’s centralized development into mega studios. For every Horizon Zero Dawn, Steam will see 20,000 games come out – admittedly of middling quality. Big studios have some existential questions facing them. It simply is not sustainable to ask 200 people to spend 5 years building something and think that’s a realistic investment. Nor would it seem like industry wants to continue that path. Quite an interesting pivot ahead.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Microsoft cut 1900 employees following their deal close out for Activision/Blizzard. Bobby Kotick got a nice sunset paycheck reward as a result, and Ybarra was shown the door. It’s simply continual sad news to be in game development these past few years, mostly because the price to entry and return on investment math is long gone (like the themepark MMO rush of the mid 00s). Blizzard in particular has simply been unable to right the ship of poor investment decisions that don’t have the word “battle pass” attached.

I want to pick on a particular thread in this larger convo though, and that’s specifically on survival game that’s been in dev for 6+ years – Odyssey. The math on this is simply mind boggling… and a testament to both the deep pockets and sheer madness of game development today. Tangent first:

Survival games are by their very nature, niche. And I say that in the context of a AAA game shop, where 1 million players is niche compared to things like Call of Duty. PvP games in this setting are popular yet struggle with tremendous griefing (try Rust for a week, let me know how that goes). PvE game are a rare event that can truly capture attention for more than a few weeks without procedurally generated content (Palworld and Enshrouded attention spans will be interesting.)

Minecraft is the absolute perfect example. Designed by a very small team with a fixed vision, it truly launched the survival wave with simple voxel mechanics and procedurally generated environments. Content was added over time, for FREE, and the game made mint. So much so, that Microsoft bought them, and has made every attempt under the sun to further monetize the game (Realms has had moderate success as a server hosting option, Dungeons and Legends failed big time). Taking the “big corporate” view on Minecraft simply has not worked.

In that vein, Blizzard’s seeming game direction was to not use an industry tool, but an in-house mobile variant to support 100 players simultaneously. Make it big and maintain the boil the ocean approach of “when it’s ready”. Throw a ton of developers on it, and invest a lot of capital. Which is truly a quite fascinating approach for a company who has struggled for decades to launch any new IP outside of Overwatch.

Reports internally were that the dev team was relatively enthused by the potential, but hamstrung by the executive choice of dev engine. Morale-wise, that’s got to be a hell of a slog. I’ve harped enough about the glory days of game dev, and rose colored glasses abound. There’s a larger reckoning underway in the games industry, where the ideas are less important that the boards. The democratization of development is making AAA game studios seem more and more irrelevant. And the kids’ dream of being a game developer has become even less clear than before.