If you follow Techtonica here on Steam, this likely won’t come as a surprise. Factory automation games like Techtonica have a narrow, dedicated following, especially when compared to other marquee genres like the typical action, adventure, or FPS fare.
That’s why we were pleasantly surprised to see such a positive reaction from a wealth of players completely new to the genre at Day of the Devs.
Double Fine (of Psychonauts fame) partnered with iam8bit (purveyor of great video game merchandise, including vinyl that we adore) in order to host Day of the Devs, a one-day-event aimed at providing select indie studios a place to showcase their upcoming games. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the show and the first in-person event since before the pandemic.
We were picked to join the event, along with more than 70 other devs, and we took the trip to San Francisco with the demo in hand to show some new folks the wild world of factory automation and black hole gun-wielding.
It was a ton of fun!
Over the span of five hours, the show floor was open to players of all kinds as they listened to live music, wandered from station to station, and played some great indie games. Joey (that’s me!) ran the demo for the event, and Techtonica never sat unplayed as folks were treated to the very beginning of the demo and jumped to a later save with the M.O.L.E. built and ready to eat through some of Calyx’s walls.
What did we learn? Factory automation is an up-and-coming genre, people love wielding a black hole gun, and the voice performance for Sparks is really good.
We did catch a few factory automation fans, of course, with each of them super eager to share how many hours they’ve spent building factories across games. They took to Techtonica right away, laying belts, building machines, and upgrading tech.
This was a super cool event, and we were thrilled to showcase Techtonica to folks who would have never otherwise had a chance to play it.
If you were there and found us on Steam, say hello! Also, join our Discord!
Don’t forget to Wishlist Techtonica!