Hey Autonomics!

First off - WOW, what a crazy week and a half it’s been! We've hit $410K on Kickstarter thanks to your incredible support. You're making Autonomica bigger and better every day, and we’re beyond grateful.

Now, for everyone who missed all the latest news since our last update here, let’s play a little catch-up game, because we have some cool stuff to showcase and share with you.

First of all, for anyone who’s into Kickstarter but missed some of the updates: besides actual rewards, tiers, and add-ons, we also have a lootable system. By achieving mini-goals toward the next stretch goals, we unlock funny items for all Kickstarter backers that they can wear.

Here’s what we’ve achieved so far:

UNLOCKED 🤖 – IdleTwin™ A floating mini version of you that mimics your idle animations... just a few seconds too late.
It hovers beside your backpack and occasionally plays quirky little animations of its own.
Cute. Slightly unsettling. Absolutely yours.

UNLOCKED🐰 Flaffers™ (Wearable - Footwear) – Fluffy rabbit slippers that occasionally scream like they’ve glimpsed the void. No off switch. No mercy. Pure panic.

UNLOCKED🌀 Hoodie.exe™ (Wearable - Hoodie) – A glitchy hoodie with a forever-loading progress bar. Sometimes it finishes. It never means it.

UNLOCKED 🗿 Spice Idol™ (Furniture - Statue) – Turn your favorite NPC into a life-sized statue. Poseable. Dressable. Regret optional.

Now, if you're not so much into Kickstarter, let’s dive into some of the new additions to the game that have already been unlocked as stretch goals.

First, we unlocked Modular Aquariums and showed off some fish you can catch and display in your house. We’re thinking about doing a deep dive on this mechanic, so if you want to know more about how fishing works in Autonomica, let us know!

Modular Aquariums are a new construction system that lets you display your catches in style. You’ll get access to new building pieces like round and square tanks, which can be placed on their own or snapped together side by side or stacked vertically. Once connected, they merge into one larger tank. The more you merge, the more water they’ll need and the more fish they can hold.

So you'll have the choice to build a massive maze of aquariums, show off your seasonal or futuristic fish collection, and display it for everyone who visits your house.

And speaking of fish: they’re tied to seasons, weather, and region, all part of our discoverability system. NPCs, hidden notes, and world clues will help you track down what to catch and when. Plus, when you travel to the future through Time Capsules, you’ll be able to find rare, timeline-exclusive species depending on whether you pick Peaceful or Hostile timeframes for exploration.

Next up, we had another big unlock: Aquaponic Farming. This is a new system where you can design advanced, modular farming setups that blend water and plant life together. You can build them outside or indoors, futuristic or rustic. The choice is totally up to you!

Now this one is pretty exciting, because we’ve been building huge structures for the trailer, and now you can too! The new Construction Drone allows your character to stay on the ground and build things that would normally be out of reach. You will build comfortably in first-person perspective.

Activate it, and it will fly out of your backpack while your character smoothly transitions into drone-control mode, guiding construction safely and precisely. No scaffolding or parachute required.
Below, you can check out the finished 3D model we have chosen as the default drone.

We’re offering the community the opportunity to vote for one additional drone design from the concept lineup below that we will make available with the Alpha Release.

Cast your vote on our Discord server[discord.gg] and help decide which of these concepts will join you in-game. Choose carefully; the drone you pick might end up seeing you fall more often than you would like to admit.

Speaking of new heights, we also unlocked character height customization where you can make your character taller or shorter or maybe even somewhere in the middle. This might seem like a super simple unlock, but there’s significant tweaks to be made to character rigs and animations. Just like real humans, characters have internal bones that will need to be adjusted. Imagine the digital equivalent of multiple orthopedic visits!

[[i]This one is a work in progress, so we don't have anything to show yet, but just imagine your character being taller or shorter![/i]]

Next on our list: Animals!

We are also happy to introduce a new additions to our animals that are coming to the game:
Zebras, Giraffes, Ostriches, Bisons, and Rabbits.

Each animal in the game has its own set of preferences and characteristics. For instance, there's Privacy, so you'll need to build and populate enclosures just right to keep your animals happy. If there's not enough space or the enclosure becomes overcrowded, animals can get stressed or even sick. Horses need plenty of room, while chickens don’t mind being packed together.

There's also compatibility, which determines which species can comfortably live together. It's perfectly fine to mix ducks and chickens, but if you put crocodiles and chickens together, you might find your chickens mysteriously disappearing.

Every animal you capture will need its own spot in your shelter. This means placing animal resting areas, or as we call them, animal beds. During bad weather or nighttime, animals will seek out their beds. Without one, they'll grow restless, unhappy, and eventually fall ill.

Animal Breeding is another exciting addition. Every animal species inhabits its own biome. You'll find giraffes in deserts, crocodiles in swamps, rabbits in forests, and so forth. Animals come in both traditional and rare exotic color variations. Exotic animals only appear under special world conditions. Capture these rare specimens and breed them to produce offspring inheriting their parents' unique colors. If you breed two differently colored animals, their offspring will have a blended color hue from both parents.

To help with breeding, we’re developing something we affectionately call the Animal Dating Site. It's a special facility where you can introduce two animals, male and female, and help them produce offspring. But you'll need to stimulate the romance by preparing their favorite dish, perhaps a carrot cake for rabbits or a strawberry pie for cows.

If you spend enough time caring for a particular animal, your relationship with it will grow. After reaching a certain bond level, that animal can become your personal pet and travel with you. Each pet provides special perks to your character stats. For example, llamas might speed up your stamina regeneration by 7%, crocodiles could improve your endurance, and cows may boost your health by 10 points. We're even planning (planning being the keyword, as we’re still perfecting the pathfinding system) to let you have multiple pets traveling alongside you. Additionally, you'll be able to mount mid-sized animals and ride them across the islands.

Finally, animals tie directly into your automation systems. Set up cheese or milk production, create yogurt supplies for local businesses, and watch communities thrive with your support. Harvester Stations staffed by Harvy bots will automatically collect animal-produced products and deliver them straight to your conveyor lines.

Lastly, on the big stretch goals news, we’ve reached pools and ponds!

Ponds and Basic Terraforming:
You can now create custom ponds by digging directly into the terrain. Use the landscaping tool to adjust ground textures, add paths, grass, and decorative elements like boulders, logs, or mossy rocks. After shaping and decorating your pond, you'll connect water pipes to fill it. The game uses a dynamic raycasting system to automatically detect the pond's shape and size. Once filled, you can further enhance your pond by placing floating decorations and populating it with fish you've caught.

Dynamic Pools:
Pools can be placed onto suitable terrain directly from your construction menu. You'll have the ability to stretch and reshape pools horizontally and vertically using interactive points during construction. Customize pool surfaces by selecting various colors and tile materials. Pools also include additional decorative items such as slides, umbrellas, loungers, and swimwear props.

This is it for the actual unlocked stretch goals during the campaign, but we also wanted to share a little bit more about the progression of the game and how it is structured.

The primary goal in developing Autonomica is to create a richly diverse world that lets you craft your ideal gameplay experience, whether you are a cozy farmer, an automation engineer, or a competitive ghost hunter.

Right from the start, you'll have the freedom to shape your own development journey. You're not limited to a single path-you can unlock and explore multiple development areas simultaneously or sequentially, in any order that suits your playstyle. Most unlocks in the game are accessed through special placeable objects called "Research Stations," which you can freely position wherever you'd like. There are five distinct stations:

Botanical Station, Mining Station, Husbandry Station, Manufacturing Station, Cooking Station

Each station is dedicated to technologies associated with specific game mechanics. Within these stations, you'll find "Licenses," each containing multiple "Technologies." To unlock new tools, construction elements, seeds, and other useful technologies, you'll fulfill resource or product requirements within these Technologies. Progressing through Licenses expands your abilities, allowing deeper customization and more advanced gameplay.

Licenses for these Stations can be acquired in multiple ways-some can be purchased from specialized NPCs in towns, others discovered by exploring the world or by traveling to future time frames. Time travel in Autonomica allows you to visit different points in the future, uncovering advanced technologies, unique resources, animals, crops, and rare Licenses not found in the present. Various Time Frames are available for you to choose from-you can jump to peaceful survival Time Frames or competitive PvPvE Time Frames. We will share more about this functionality later. Additionally, some Licenses will be unlocked early to give you a headstart in the game.

Basically, each station represents a dynamic research path for specific categories in the game, offering players the freedom to craft their own experience. You can set up your farms exactly the way you want, whether that's cozy farming with minimal or no automation, or fully automated megafactories efficiently producing products in mass.

Phew, this is pretty much it for the big news from the past week, but we do have a few other points to share with you.

If you are a big fan of cosmetic items, we encourage you to join our Discord and claim some goodies through our Discord bot. Right now, you can claim a Chipmunk backpack!

This backpack is designed to honor two incredible people who’ve been with us since the early days: Linn & Hunter. These two have been championing Autonomica to the French-speaking world, helping us grow, share, and celebrate this wild journey—and we wanted to give them something that lasts. So we took their mascot... and turned it into an in-game backpack. With tiny keychains. Yes, really.

Here’s how to claim your reward:
👉 Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/autonomica
👉 Head to the #claim-reward channel
👉 Type /secure_reward to reserve the Chipmunk Backpack

Your key will arrive via DM from Blackbox, and you’ll be able to use it when the game releases.

This one’s a limited-time deal, running only through the end of our Kickstarter campaign. Snag it while you can! You don't need to be a Backer to claim it!

Lastly, we just had an AMA on our Discord server where we answered a lot of questions from the community. This was not the last AMA, and we will have another one down the road, but everyone had fun with it. You can check out the video we recorded here:

Community Corner

Furo made a little short about us on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5shpShVJacM

Thairy Games mentioned us in their video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUXNHi43T7o

Strudel the Dog made a short about us in Italian!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t2A6_l1DJVQ

T1nksy made a pretty in depth video about us!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRZzsknoYY

Also, as a tribute to Linn and Hunter, we’ve got a special squirrel backpack you can get in-game from our Discord for free! Check it out!

We can’t believe how many of you have come out and supported us! We’re super excited to shape the game with you, and we hope you will love what we’re doing.

That’s all for this week! Thank you for tuning in, and we can’t wait to see you in the next update!