Production Terminal - One of the main gating mechanics in the game. Players feed resources into it to progress their technology
Assembler - Takes in resources and constructs more complicated items
Mining Drill - Extracts raw resources from ore veins
Smelter - Smelts raw ore into ingots
Thresher - Takes in plants and separates them into seeds and usable organic materials
Planter - Uses seeds to grow additional plants
Mixer - Mixes together or separates complex materials into base components. Sadly did not make it into the game.
Crusher - Takes in resources and crushes them down into simpler resources via recipes
Crank Generators - Produces energy
Sand Pump - Extracts sand from the sand sea in the Desert Biome levels
Freight Elevator: Transport - Allows players to travel from level to level instantly
Freight Elevator: Excavation - Tracks overall dig progress in the world and allows assignment of excavator bits
Freight Elevator: Storage and Port Management - Allows players to send resources to other levels
Monorail Depot - Allows players to rapidly transport materials via a mini train system
Monorail Depot: Requester - Allows players to filter out materials mid-line with the monorail system. Sadly did not get into the final game.
Beacon Customization - Allows players to customize their placeable Beacons. Sadly did not get into the game.
I was responsible for designing and implementing the visuals for all of the machine menus in Techtonica. I worked closely with our designers to determine how to display the unique requirements for each machine interaction. The designs had to be both easy for players to undestand and flexible from a design perspective as there were multiple tiers for each machine that altered the functionality in subtle ways. For example, an Assembler would have ot account for either 3 or 4 inputs depending on the selected recipe, and depending on the tier, a Mining Drill could run on either organic fuel or electricity.
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The designs presented here are variations on each machine menu, some of which show functionality that did not make it into the final product.
