Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie
JunkPunk
JUNKPUNK Developer Update 2025
Hello everyone. Rich here. It's been a tough year for the studio. I have made a video explaining whats gone on. Why updates slowed down and what we are doing in the future. I have tried to cover all the topics that have caused issues this year and moving on into 2025 we hope to rectify these.
2024 as you all know has been one of the toughest years in the games industry that I can personally remember. Thousands of jobs have gone and hundreds of studios have closed.
We have also been badly effected by the changing games market/industry and we've had to do everything we could over the last year to survive. Thankfully we have done so and we're still here to continue doing what we love.
We don't expect everyone to understand but we wanted to offer an explanation as to why we've been AWOL for the last 6 months.
Thank you for your patience and continued support. We will be back with you in the new year with some more developer updates!
We are going to be releasing more information about game updates coming in Jan 2025.
Until then i wish everyone a happy new year and all the best for 2025!
All the best to everyone.
Rich and SCT
Monolith 1 Rework- Progress Update
Hey guys, Russell here with a progress update on the Monolith 1 Rework.
It has been a while & we have been extremely busy behind the scenes at SCT, the video below is a discussion between Rich and I about the current state of JP.
A summary of the video
We are aiming to deliver everything that we promised to the community in the previous steam announcement, and as such, it takes time to complete everything to the standard we aim to release.
Here are the things we have completed so far which are discussed in the video:
The spawnpoint has been changed within the game to a new underground location beneath Monolith 1.
The Biological and Tech keys have been removed and replaced with a redesigned, more visual system.
There has been a full overhaul to the crafting recipe tree and changes made to what can be harvested from scrap piles. This has been done with long term development in mind and aims to bridge a better gap between Monolith 1 and Monolith 2.
Nickel has been added as a new resource.
The Scrap bot has been modelled, with a deposit station and crafting bench on the way.
The interior of Monolith 1 has undergone a full visual redesign, with the third floor being showcased in the video. This has been done to better fit the new quest progression to complete M1.
A new laboratory has been added to the world to encourage player exploration. This also ties into the quest progression of M1.
And those are just the things mentioned in the video! We have also:
Begun the process of moving Junkpunk from Unreal 4 to Unreal 5, a large task which is a time consuming one.
Redesigned the player power and health system.
Written a full tutorial rework ready to implement.
Completely rewritten and solidified the lore, which will be sprinkled throughout the game accordingly.
Planned out a full UI overhaul.
And designed/developed many more smaller QOL changes!
I want to thank everyone for their patience on this update. We are still here, we are still working on JP, and we will deliver an incredible update once it is ready. We are not going anywhere. But it will continue to take time and we do not have a release date to give to you just yet.
All the best
Russell
Full Monolith 1 Rework Update
Hello everyone Russell here and I am announcing that we are moving ahead with a full rework of Monolith 1 in Junkpunk!
The video is a talk between Richard and I about the current state of JP and what we believe to be the best course of action for improving the game, which is overhauling Monolith 1.
A summary of the video
Having completed my playthrough of Junkpunk, It is clear that there are fundamental changes that need to happen in order to improve player experience. Designing and developing a Monolith 3 update which does nothing to solve the root issues will do nothing to benefit gameplay.
That's why although it will be frustrating for some of you to hear, we are pushing back Monolith 3 in order to iron out Monolith 1 and 2.
For now the focus is on the current rework of Monolith 1, followed by a similar overhaul update to Monolith 2, of which then we will progress with Monolith 3 once the foundations of Junkpunk have been cleared up.
There is a lot to be excited about! Multiple areas of Junkpunk will be getting content adjustments, additions and even some removals, all to benefit the game in ways that I and us at SCT see fit.
Here are the major changes that will be coming in this update
Not including the many more minor tweaks that will be implemented.
A full overhaul of the activation process within Monolith 1
Removing the Biological Key
Removing the entire farming aspect of the scrap (and NWR) Tier
Introducing a new, more atmosphere relevant key to replace the biological key
Adding an "Activation specific" Item that can be found somewhere on the island for the new atmosphere key.
Bringing in a unique quest line to find said item.
New areas, buildings, and places to explore within the island.
Reworking the game intro
A fully redesigned start of the game, removing the crash site and replacing it with a new location.
Revamped tutorial, one with far clearer instructions and prompts.
Changing the tutorial so the player goes directly to Monolith 1 first, so they can start building their factory there instead of another location on the island.
A continuous tutorial/quest line to help guide the player all the way through Monolith 1.
UI Overhaul
Complete rework of the player & object inventory UI.
Addition of a sort button to chests and inventory.
Changes to the upgrade station to make items clearer in purpose.
Redesigned item icons.
Many other small QOL changes to improve gameplay.
New Content
Introduction of a "Scrap Drone." A resource harvester in the scrap tier.
The Scrap Drone will come with its own unique tier 1 crafting & deposit station.
Removal of the Scrap Laser Machines
Introduction of a "Scrap Recycler." An object that converts items back into their base resources.
A complete overhaul of the health and player power system, combining the two into something new.
More extreme environmental visuals to improve world ambience.
And much more to be excited about!
There is a lot to clean up in Junkpunk and I think these changes will set JP on the path to reaching its full potential. This is all part of my plan to tackle the games fundamental issues and I think it will really help. This also means that Monolith 2 will eventually get the same treatment, there are other gameplay issues surrounding that so when the time comes, Monolith 2 will likely get an even bigger overhaul with similar changes.
Once the way has been properly paved, Monolith 3 will come! With a whole new host of exciting content!
Thanks to you all and have a good weekend.
Russell
Developer Update!
Hello everyone, my name is Russell and I am the new game designer at SCT!
Rich has brought me into the team to help with exclusive development on Junkpunk for the time being so here I am! The YouTube video is a conversation between rich and I about our envisioned plans for the future of Junkpunk, leading up to the release of the anticipated Monolith 3 update.
I have been getting to grips with Junkpunk lately and learning about the game and it's mechanics. I absolutely love the concept and have plenty of ideas and ways to improve the general gameplay and quality of life experience for players.
What I will be focusing on...
1. I am heavily invested in the story and lore side of the game and this is something I want to focus on. I love the themes of cleaning up a planet to make it habitable again and I think having a solid written narrative for the game would improve all areas of gameplay and new added content!
2. I'm looking to enhance the player experience through incentives to explore the map and world of Junkpunk. This will come hand in hand with the lore and story side, as the player explores the map searching for new content, they will discover and become more immersed in the story of Junkpunk.
3. I have already seen plenty of steam reviews and received feedback from players surrounding the UI and UX issues. (Something I have also encountered in my playthrough) and so I will be working to get that cleaned up and polished!
4. Monolith 3! The reality is that there is a huge amount to be done, Richard has done an amazing job so far but his hands are full with other projects (which is why i'm here.) So I will be taking the gradual necessary steps towards the release of Monolith 3. I have plenty of ideas on how to add new content for it as well as redevelop aspects of Monolith 1 & 2 so rest assured that i'm working to get it done! In the near future we should be putting out some kind of update about when Monolith 3 might be getting released ;)
5. Send me feedback! I'm Dimir in the Junkpunk discord so just shoot me a message with anything you would like to see added, changed, or even removed from the game!
I'm really looking forward to getting to work on Junkpunk, once again i just love the sci-fi nature of it all and can't wait to start putting new content out there. But patience is the key, i promise it will all be worth it.
Take care everyone!
Russell
Monolith 3 - Dev Log 5
Hey everyone Rich here today I'm dropping a new video with a Junkpunk developer update. Today ill be going over the some of the things we've been working on most importantly ill be discussing a new tech that we have designed which allows us to grow foliage in real time across the entire world and a new UI rework. This will of course all come on top of all the content already coming in the next monolith update.
I'm going to drop a video link below for you all to check it out. I am super aware we have pushed back on the release date of Monolith 3.
There is a few good reasons for this and I'm hoping that within the next few weeks I can get a solid update date for Monolith 3 to be finally wrapped and pushed out.
For those of you who don't want to watch the video. Or want to read more;
1. We have some really exciting news that we will be releasing in due course about our studio. We cant say what it is just yet but it's really great.
2. I have been re-doing all the UX/UI graphics, and inadequacies so when we push the next update the new UI should be great and playing the game overall should be easier to understand and more fun for people to play.
3. This is the longest one. We have designed new tech which allows us to grow foliage in real time across the entire map without needing to recompile anything. This means we can change the landscape at runtime. Something that we had no way of doing in the engine. So this has added weeks of time to the development. Unfortunately it's just one of those unforeseen technical hurdles that we had to get over as a studio. What this means however is that we can whenever we want, proceduraly generate worlds that change without needing to load or compile. This has been a major breakthrough and it has come with a tonne of technical leaps we have had to get over.
To put this in perspective. Some of you might have played games where you place say, a garden or a "farm" where things will grow in that space. That is fine easily doable. However our new system will allow us to change an entire map in real time, taking into account the exact textures that should have certain things on them. In the video I will show the latest demo version. It's very simple it just generates grass at runtime and we can turn that on and off as we wish. But we are really proud of it and it opens the technical doors to tonnes of stuff.
When we planned out the monoliths we thought we could leverage the foliage system inside the engine to get everything we need and make it happen when we fired monolith 3. However that was not the case as you need to hand place / design and implement all the foliage and plants before you compile the game. This is perfectly fine for a game say Kingdom Come Deliverance where nothing changes you can compile the map/maps and when events fire you have a way of pausing the player and they can "sleep" ( load all the new stuff in a loading screen ).
We needed to have monolith 3 changing the entire world at runtime with no loading screen. So we needed to work out a way to generate that on the fly with a press of a button without a loading screen. It's been quite a massive challenge and one that we underestimated. However we thing that's probably the biggest challenge of the development.
So yeah unfortunately it has blown the update time frame to pieces but we have made something really, really cool and I promise it will be worth the wait.
Thanks everyone and have a good weekend.
Rich and SCT.
Monolith 3 dev log 4
Hello everyone Rich here, today im releasing a 20 minute video on whats to come with the game over the next few weeks and months. We have been doing a lot of play testing and I've decided to push back the next update slightly because theres more I want to do for it. I have linked below so you can all watch the progression and ideas we are looking into.
In short;
1. I really want to fix some more QOL and user experience issues.
2. We really want to improve how the player interacts with certain things such as machines and items in the game.
3. We are looking into everything even the controls to make Junkpunk really comfortable to play.
4. We are greatly improving our belts system to be better in almost every way.
5. I've also changed a lot of the landscape to allow for easier building and a better overall experience.
6. We are adding explosives to the game so you can mine more than one junk pile at a time.
7. There's a lot more than this but I will release a full changes and improvements list closer to the time.
We really want feedback for this update, please let us know in the Discord or the Forums what you would like to be improved! This does mean a slight delay on the next monolith however I think it will be worth it.
Take care everyone.
Best
Rich
Monolith 3 Update - Plants and Trees
Our new drone A.I, plants, farms and systems are making great progress!
Hey everyone Rich here hope you're well. Today i'm releasing a nearly 30 minute video showing all the progress we've made on the next stage of the game.
I will do a quick summary here for all of you that want a run down without watching;
We have now finished farm, hive and water implementation. This includes manufacturing drones that grow and harvest plants and trees in the world.
Plants and trees now grow in our world. When you create a hive and a farm you can start to grow a verity of plants on the planets surface.
We have had a lot of discussions about how the game plays and we've got a long list of improvements to bring with M3. We are going to introduce the ability to teleport items so you can chain bases together and not lose production.
We are improving all machine UI's so they are consistent and easy to understand going forward.
We are aiming to deliver Monolith 3 by the end of August 2023! No date yet but hopefully we can put one in soon.
Theres some more to come but i'll let you check out the video if you want the super details.
Take care!
Rich and SCT.
Monolith 3 Update - Features Preview
Enjoy a look at an early preview of Monolith 3's features and mechanics.
Hey everyone Rich here!
Dev log update 2 is out tonight at 6PM UK time! Some exciting stuff to check out and enjoy!
Also whilst you wait we have some more Junkpunk soundtrack to share with you!
As always let me know your thoughts and feedback. See you all soon ❤️
Major News! Monolith 3 and 4 in production!
Hi everyone Rich here hope you're well. We have a major news update for everyone tonight. I have made a video thats going live at 6PM UK time you can see it here;
For everyone that wants to see some cool stuff but not the video i'll do a small write up down below explaining what we're doing and how we're doing it.
Both Monolith 3 and 4 are in production and we've been using Midjourney to help us with our concepts. I'll show the final 2 concepts were going for then ill go through some of the process.
This was MidJourney's first interpretation of an "Ocean monolith" lol....
Monolith 3
Monolith 4
We've used generations to help us plan out our designs and help us make the next stages of the game for both the exteriors and interiors of the monoliths.
We have gone full tilt into the insect vibe with our vegetation monolith were we want to have a "hive" and a "farm" that are both robotic and have robots growing and collecting seeds all over the farms that you place.
We want these to hover and fly not be on 8 legs but we couldnt get this to generate how we wanted.
But we have got some amazing plans and I will show a really small intro into Monolith 4 in the video if you're interested.
It's been really fun planning out these monoliths and their game designs and we cant wait to show you all some working content which will be coming in the next few weeks and months. We don't expect this to take as long as usual as our core systems are almost finished and were now just into the content making!
A big thank you for your continued support and we can't wait to drop the next monolith to play for Junkpunk! Please consider also dropping a review if you're enjoying the game!
Take Care
Rich!
Drone Update
Hey everyone Rich here tonight were releasing a small update to drones, we've made some improvements that should help the drone navigation and understanding what they are doing, weve added a log into the UI to show you exactly what drones are doing.
We've also added a splitter that sorts out what you would like to output left and right as that was a heavily requested feature.
Im putting this live in the update_test branch for people to test and checkout before I make it live for everyone. As Usual feedback is welcome!
