A new contest is here now! My Time at Sandrock is released in Early Access at the end of May and now we're going to start the multiplayer alpha test (Join here). This screenshot contest is for players to share happiness, and 5 winners will win prizes set!
Share a nice screenshot showing the beautiful scenery in My Time at Sandrock! We are thankful to our partner, @EKSA headset, for sponsoring these prizes.
Rules just like before:
Share your screenshot on Twitter/Instagram with the hashtags #MyTimeAtSandrock and #scenery, or join our Discord share it in the sandrock-imagery channel with the key word #scenery!
Entry time: from now (July 12th) until 26th , 6am PT / 9am ET / 1pm UTC
Each winner will get a prize pack containing: a Sandrock Themed @EKSA headphone, OST key, and US$20 Steam card!
One entry per account (so pick up your best one first)!
This could be your favorite location, somewhere you’ve just discovered, or an NPCs’ funniest action you like. Share this on Twitter/Instagram/Discord with the hashtags #MyTimeAtSandrock and #scenery between now and Tuesday, July 26th!
We’ll be judging based on originality, creativity, and artistic composition, but don’t forget to include both hashtags in your post too. We’ll be retweeting some of our favorites, and our dev team will first pick our favorites and vote with the Discord community to choose the winners.
Starting today, we will begin recruiting Early access players to participate in My Time at Sandrock Closed-Alpha Multiplayer Playtest.
For technical reasons, we will only be conducting the test on Steam this time. Other platforms should follow soon after.
As an Early Access player, you'll have a chance to receive 2 test keys and participate in the multiplayer testing next month.
Moreover, by joining our Discord, players with access will receive 2 additional keys (more details on how to get keys will be announced later) to experience My Time at Sandrock Multiplayer Closed-Alpha with your friends before the official multiplayer campaign launch in Early Access!
Notice: only players with the base game and testing key will have access to the Closed-Alpha, the testing keys will be revoked once the test ends.
Are you ready? Please check the details below to apply!
Qualification: Steam users who have played more than 20 hours of Sandrock and have reviewed the game on Steam (honest reviews please!) Test scope: multiplayer function, gameplay, and server pressure testing Number of testers required: 4000 Application Period: From now to - July 21, 2022, 2AM PT/5AM ET/9AM UTC
First come, first serve! Once 4000 testers are selected, the recruitment process will stop immediately. If we end up not getting 4000 testers by the end, we will continue with the number of testers we have at that time Keys will be sent out on July 23, 2022. Multiplayer Playtest Date: August 8 - August 15, 2022
Two Ways to sign up for the multiplayer testing:
1. Fill out the form below, with your early access hours and attach a screenshot to your review. Please be honest in your review! Whether it’s positive or negative, it won’t affect the qualification process.
2. If you don't have enough gameplay hours or simply forgot to submit the survey in time, don't worry! You can always join our Discord and ask players who got spare keys to share with you!
In addition to receiving 2 test keys, players with multiplayer test access will receive 2 additional keys if they join our Discord server. Therefore we would recommend you to join our Discord server as well and ask for spare keys from others!
Note
This Closed-Alpha Multiplayer testing will be available from August 8th to 15th for all players who have test keys and base game.
The keys will be distributed on July 23rd and all keys will be deactivated after the end of the Closed-Alpha test.
Only players with the base game on Steam will be able to access the Closed-Alpha this time.
We plan to open multiplayer servers in both Europe and North America this time around. Please be aware that players outside of these regions may experience latency issues.
The Closed-Alpha multiplayer version may have bugs, crashes, and many other issues. Please report it on our dedicated Discord channel when you find it, thanks!
Because this is a pressure test, we may experience unexpected server maintenance during the Closed-Alpha period.
Player progress in Closed-Alpha will not carry over to future playtests and the full game.
On top of the 2 keys that players will receive in the email, we plan to grant 2 additional keys to these players if they join our Discord server. Please check your email once it arrives to find out how to claim these keys later!
As a Closed-Alpha test, all test players will have to follow the NDA guidelines detailed in the email. By activating multiplayer keys players will automatically agree to the NDA. Players will be able to install and try out multiplayer on your device and therefore have access to sensitive content in Sandrock, including character content and dialogue, plot, game mechanics, etc. The content you will play should not be public and must keep private for a certain period of time. However, we welcome you to share and talk about this content in multiplayer channels (require access) within our Discord server.
Don't forget to join the Pathea Games Discord server now and we'll invite testers to the designated channels as soon as the keys are sent out! The Closed-Alpha testing channel is the place where you can discuss your experience with others, find your teammates, and participate in the party and events we are organizing!
If you’re unable to participate this time, don't worry! We plan to host another multiplayer playtest round in the near future so stay tuned.
Big thanks to everyone for patiently waiting and showing us your love and support! Let's make Sandrock a better town!
While still working on the optimization, we’ve decreased the entry and exit loading time by several seconds and will keep adding more content to the Early Access.
Here is a summary of what is in the shop for the first major update!
New stories of lovely townfolks
Perhaps you crossed someone who piqued your interest in Sandrock and wondered about their stories? Now you can learn more about them!
Explore new dungeons to gather more resources
We're still designing and tweaking them, here is a preview of what they will look like:
Other improvements and features include new items：
The farming commissions
The party system
New main stories & new characters
Frame rate improvements
among many more.
We will provide another preview of these new elements as we get close to the release of the major update. Please keep an eye on our social channels to not miss them!
Multiplayer closed alpha will start soon, and process and plans are ongoing for Early Access players to participate!
A new update has been released to address some bugs that may cause trouble with your builder career and improve some gameplay experiences. Take a look at the changes below to see how you might enjoy Sandrock more:
Adjusted & Added:
Added a option in the setting to allow players to switch the type (PS/XBOX) of their controllers' button
Added the quality display in item descriptions
Added the quality display to tracking quests
Added the ability to track up to two quests simultaneously
Adjusted the unlocking conditions of the achievement "First Love", and the achievement will be unlocked directly after loading
Increase the speed of gathering dropped items
Fixed:
Fixed the unlock conditions of the achievement "Got Served", now the first place in any mode can unlock the achievement
Fixed unlock condition of the achievement "One of the Cool Kids", and making friends with 10 NPCs will unlock the achievement
Fixed the issue where some machine stats did not take effect correctly
Fixed the issue that the Fire Powered Generator did not work properly
Fixed the problem where the Fire Powered Generator is incorrectly executed when the fuel supply is cancelled
Fixed the issue where abnormal weather may occur after loading
Fixed some incorrect item descriptions
Fixed a repeating selling problem in the Ranch shop
Fixed an issue that prevents players from going to the next level in the Abandoned Ruins
Fixed some collision issues on the 4th, 7th, and 8th floors of the Eufaula Salvage's ruins
Fixed incorrect text in the Wandering Y Store UI
Fixed a French-language crash issue
Fixed an issue where reminders would sometimes result in sleep errors
Please let us know if you find any other bugs or you have any suggestions on Steam, qa@pathea.net, or the Pathea Games Discord channel.
My Time at Sandrock is now available in Early Access. We are holding a screenshot contest to celebrate the release, and 5 winners will win a prize set! Share your workshop showing the beautiful home in My Time at Sandrock!
Rules:
Share your workshop design screenshot (outlook preferred) on Twitter/Instagram with the hashtags #MyTimeAtSandrock and #home, or join our Discord and share it in the #sandrock-imagery channel with the keyword #home!
Entry time: from now until July 5th, 6am PT / 9am ET / 1pm UTC
Each winner will get a prize pack containing: a Sandrock postcard set (20 pack), Sandrock gaming mousepad, OST key, and a US$20 Steam card!
One entry per account (so pick up your best one first)!
You can take a picture of your workshop from any angle from the outside. Share this on Twitter/Instagram/Discord with the hashtags #MyTimeAtSandrock and #home between now and Tuesday, July 5th!
We’ll be judging based on originality, creativity, and artistic composition, but don’t forget to include both hashtags in your post too.
We’ll be retweeting some of our favorites, and our dev team will first pick our favorites and vote with the Discord community to choose the winners.
Let’s share and win!
Interview with the CTO: Optimization goals
Howdy, Sandrock builders,
We interviewed the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) named Jinyang ("Magician" to us). During our conversation, he discussed the optimization goals that we're trying to achieve in the next few months. Here is the full video for your viewing pleasure, or check out our summary to find out the key answers.
Question: How can we optimize Sandrock's performance? The loading time is exceptionally long now when you load the game or maybe go in or out of the door. What can we do about that? Do you have any plans? Answer: A lot of players feel the most important question is about the loading time. The developer team read every single comment and found that the loading time is one the top feedback from our players. So the loading time optimizations are a key, and a constant focus area has to do in the next (major update) release. Our goal is to keep almost 3s when you go into an indoor area or go into your house and then when you come out. So you're not waiting for that ugly loading bar. Furthermore, in most cases, we want to achieve it's you don't even know this is loading, and It's instantaneous, which means zero-second loading! So that's what we want to move toward at the end. We want to make players very happy.
Questions: Can you tell us more about other optimization goals in the future? Answer: Absolutely. We're also looking at how to improve the frame rate. We noticed a lot of our CPU resources were spent on our lovingly crafted AI behaviors for the NPCs. We want to ensure those interactions are great and perfect, but unfortunately, they're spending too much of our CPU cycles. Everybody notices there are a lot of events happening. There are dancing events, festivals, and so many things, and all the NPCs react correctly to those things. That's one area we're focusing on while maintaining all those great interactions with the NPCs, but then, at the same time, the control of the NPCs uses fewer resources on the CPU. As a result, we estimate a 30% to 50% increase in frame rate for the next release (major update). As of right now, we're aiming to achieve that in the next major update, which would probably be two or three months from now.
The CTO and the team have clear goals and are confident. Our ultimate goal is to make players very happy, and that's what we intend to achieve. The 'Magician' mentioned at the end that we would appreciate comments, no matter what you think of the content or video.
The optimization requires reallocating some resources and ensuring goals, so the major update scheduled for early August may be delayed a bit. We hope to share the Dev team's progress with everyone and appreciate this opportunity to connect with all of you!
Thank you so much for watching and reading this interview.
We’ve just released a hotfix patch to address some issues found in the game. Please see the full changelist below.
Adjusted：
Adjusted Qi not to like Broken Power Stone
Deleted tools from Mian's desires
Adjusted the NPC's relationship network to make it more in line with the setting
Adjusted Krystal's behavior to prevent her from always staying at home and preventing players from turning in quests
Adjusted some scripts of some NPCs to correspond with their settings
Fixed:
Fixed Mian's abnormal behaviors that led by a walk into the Saloon in the mission "Takin' it Easy"
Fixed some NPCs' abnormal behaviors in the fireside meeting after the mission "Belly of the Beast"
Fixed an issue with the Achievement 'Sepia Toned Memories' not unlocking, the Mort's last photo can now be found in the Gecko Station Ruins.
Fixed an issue with the Achievement "First Love" not unlocking
Fixed a freezing issue when getting a lot of items at once
Fixed some sound effects' issues for Critters and mailboxes
Fixed an issue where mounting could cause falling damages
Fixed some errors that might cause lags when existing at the end of the cutscene
Fixed some other issues that might cause lags in the gathering system after loading
Fixed some errors that might cause lags with the Treasure Detector
Fixed some errors that might cause lags with the destructible items in the scenes
Fixed some errors that might cause lags when the train couldn't locate the rails
Fixed some clothing issues in the Day of Memories
Fixed an issue where repeatedly reloading would cause anomalous weapon attributes and anomalous damage.
If you find any other bugs or you have any suggestions, please let us them using our Report a Bug forum on Steam, qa@pathea.net, or the Pathea Games Discord channel.
Interview with the Director: An interpretation of the story and the NPCs
Question: Sandrock is a simulation RPG, but between simulation and RPG, which part do you think is more important in Sandrock? Answer: Roleplaying part is more important. I like storytelling in a game very much, that's why we made Portia a simulation game with stories. And we summarize and think it's a suitable mode we can follow, so I think RPG takes a more important role in Sandrock. This time, we spent a lot of time on the NPCs’ creating and the story writing. Then, we want to build the variety of personalities and characters, as well as the entire story will perform in-depth. But, we don't forget the simulation, the simulation elements are still prevalent, like the workshop, farming, etc.
Question: Compared to Portia, some players feel Sandrock’s NPCs aren't as friendly as Portia's, can you tell us a bit more about that? Answer: Portia is a super friendly place: a port town with lush green grass, you can feel the casual style and the atmosphere from the first look. Somehow Portia is like a fairy tale town, so it needs to be a nice beautiful town with very friendly characters. However, Sandrock is a wild desert town and residents live in a harsh environment, as players already know. So some people will still be friendly, but the diversity is a key, so some people have their own personalities.This is unlike Portia, where everyone is nice to you. For example, Yan, everyone wants to beat him! Haha, we have a story designed for Yan, so be patient and see his story through. In Sandrock, you can find these character flaws of some NPCs at the early stage, but growth will be in Sandrock, some of them will change because of you! Let's see! Like Elsie, some players may feel she acts immaturely in some situations, but you can see her growth in the future. More importantly, NPCs will change their attitude and dialogue along with the relationship points!
Question: Will NPCs be able to romance each other? Answer: We have discussed this in Portia before, with Nora and Arlo. We hope to make NPCs like real people. NPCs hate, love, laugh and cry just as much as real people do. But these kinds of NPCs won't be too numerous. So if you (players) aren't interested in some of the NPCs like 1 or 2 years in the game, why not let them fall in love?
Questions: Any other things you want to talk about with our Builders? Answer: Hmm… because we're still in Early Access, some stories and romanceable parts are still in development. We understand you may not be interested in all of the current NPCs that much yet, so you can wait a bit for more content to be added, and then, you start romance and enjoy it more. As well as Nia, your childhood friend, she will be here!
Last but not least, we hope you have a great time in Sandrock!!!
The new hotfix patch is out! We are trying to fix the freeze issues that have been reported most often and we hope this patch can help. Check out the changelist below:
Fixed:
Updated the audio engine and fixed some freezing issues caused by the audio (no more distorted audio before crashing!)
Fixed some issues with Mi-an's behavior after completing the mission “Builder Cruise”
Fixed some camera issues after completing the mission “The Inspector”
Fixed the issue where some players were not allowed to enter the dungeon in the mission “Operation De-Geeglate”
Fixed some NPCs’ eyeball issues
Fixed an issue when NPCs or mounts followed the player into the Running of the Yakmels event
Fixed the issue where weapons consume the stamina incorrectly
Fixed a dialogue error when NPC refuses to spar
Fixed some issues in the gathering system after loading
Fixed some issues in the furniture coloring system
Fixed an issue where the jump action may cause some issues after becoming camouflaged during the Ghosthunting event
Adjusted & Optimized:
Adjusted the probability of bombs appearing on the 3rd floor of the Abandoned Ruins and the 3rd and 9th floors of the Gecko Station
Optimized problem where some UI audios are too loud
Optimized the sound effects when multiple machines are running at the same time
As we continue adding content and optimizing the game, we may slow down the frequency of hotfix patches a little bit. But don't hesitate to tell us if you meet any problems or have any suggestions! You can send them to us on our Report a Bug forum, Pathea Games Discord, via this bug reporting form, or email us at qa@pathea.net. If you’ve encountered FPS or loading issues, we have a form for that, too!
Thanks for supporting and playing Sandrock, see you again soon!
Hotfix patch on June 3
Howdy builders,
A hotfix patch has just dropped, please see the checklist below:
Fixed some issues that were caused by the Yakmel milk after the mission: A Fake Friend.
Fixed some issues with the consumption items for the Refiner.
Fixed a few placement issues in the mission: A Window to the Cosmos (if you still have issues, go to bed and it should be resolved the next day).
Many thanks for the feedback; More hotfixes and optimization are in progress.
