Welcome back Module Makers. It's time for another Dev Log series! In this series Jarvs sits down with the dev team to talk about the vision, challenges, and creative process behind Modulus. For this first part, we’re looking at the bigger picture: how the game has evolved since its earliest prototypes and the key moments that shaped its direction. Let's dive in and find out exactly what goes in to making a fresh take on the factory-automation genre.
Jarvs (Head of Comms): Hi, everyone. For this interview I wanted to shoot for a more relaxed conversation with the team, where we get to share what goes into making Modulus.
One of the great things about Happy Volcano is that we genuinely have a wonderful team, everyone here is just awesome and I want you to see how passionate they are about everything we’re doing with Modulus. So, let’s dive in:
How has Modulus evolved since its first prototype?
David (Game Director): When we were first building the prototype, the main question was whether this new mechanic would actually work. There are already a lot of automation games, but ours was taking a different approach; letting players build any shape they wanted in their factories. The prototype was really about testing: if we give players this freedom, does the whole system still function as a factory game?
So the prototype was just based on figuring out if this whole thing works and we could actually make it into a factory game. At that stage, it was just the raw mechanic. Later on we added purpose and structure; things like buildings, islands, and delivery targets. That’s when it started to feel like a complete experience rather than just an experiment.
Jarvs: Looking back at early footage before I joined, it’s amazing to see how much it’s evolved. The game feels so different now, both in how it looks and how it plays. Watching old playtests of Thomas tinkering with earlier builds, compared to now, really shows how much progress has been made in a short time. You should all be proud; it’s come such a long way and it looks gorgeous.
Right next question:
Was there a moment where the game really clicked for you?
Oliver (Senior Engineer): For me, that moment came when we added progression; the tech tree, island unlocking, and that sense of being driven forward. Suddenly, there was flow, and the systems began working together. That’s when it felt like the game was really becoming something awesome for me.
David: In a factory game, you have so many systems that need to interlock. If they don’t all work together, the game doesn’t feel whole. But once they do click, it’s magic.
Mick (Lead Developer): What’s also magical is how much hasn’t changed since the prototype. Some of the core technical aspects, like how shapes are combined or split etc. are unchanged from those early days. We prototyped for quite a while, and some of that work was literally carried straight into the final game. That’s a great sign that the core mechanic was solid from the start.
Antoine (Art Director & Lead Artist): For me, it clicked during our first vertical slice. For the first time, you could go from mining Polyrock to constructing the first building and completing the full loop. It worked, it was fun, and it looked great. That was a real proof of concept.
Jarvs: Yeah, that’s awesome. Being able to see the full loop from start to finish must have been really satisfying.
Okay, moving forward:
Were there any early ideas that didn't survive but shaped what we have now?
David: Yes, there was a big one. After we proved the core mechanic, we needed a stronger sense of purpose for the game. For a long while, we explored mixing city management with factory automation; building cities, managing citizens, that kind of thing.
It was interesting, but it didn’t really work out. There were too many systems layered on top of each other, and it became overly complex. Eventually, we realized the core factory gameplay was already rich enough. We didn’t need to mix in another genre.
Jarvs: That would’ve been a very different game if it had stayed in!
David: Exactly. It would have been too big and trying to do too many things at once. We’re glad we focused on what makes Modulus strong.
That covers how Modulus has grown from a small prototype into the full experience the team is building today, and how some big early decisions shaped the game we see now.
In the next part of this Dev Deep Dive, we’ll explore the challenges behind that evolution: the trickiest systems to balance, the features that took the longest to get right, and the breakthroughs that finally made everything click.
Don’t forget to wishlist the game and follow it on Steam so you are notified when we drop the next part.
Thanks as always for your support.
Team Happy Volcano.