Sandustry Map

The Sandustry map is a vertically layered, procedurally generated world: grass and sand on the surface, then distinct biomes stacked deeper as you dig - each with its own resources, hazards and secrets. There is no official map size in numbers; creator footage puts the Early Access world at roughly fifteen times the demo slice (community estimate; verify in current build). You descend with the S key, travel fast through portals, and read the world with the Material Scanner - the cheap Grabber upgrade the developer himself says most players never use. This guide covers the layers, what to look for, and how to prepare before digging into harder ground.

How the world is built

Worlds are procedurally generated - the layout differs every game, but the resource types and layer order stay consistent. The structure:

• Surface: sand and grass over a firm bedrock floor, with shallow water pools and lakes - your early source of wet sand
• Transitional bands: dirt layers separating biomes as you go down
• Deeper biomes: each depth introduces new materials and harder ground - more sand per block dug, new hazards, richer pockets

Because the map is the factory floor, where you dig decides what your factory can reach: water sources, lava positions, Fluxite pockets and artifact rooms all shape your layout. Plan your main mining route before committing - rerouting later costs hours.

The biome layers and what to find

Going down from the surface (PC Early Access):

• Snow and frost layers - snow burns into water, making these a renewable water source. Firn, a denser snow variant, must be loosened before burning
• RedSand zones - appear just past the initial sand layers, feeding the Fluxite plant chain
• Lava veins and chambers - mid-depth rock bands holding your ultimate heat source; also the home of portal puzzle rooms
• Caverns - natural open spaces, some containing artifact rooms and puzzle vaults. Light them before exploring - lava glow misleads your footing

Between biomes sit hard barriers that gate exploration: Crackstone walls need the rocket launcher, frostbed blockages are cleared with the gun, and some sealed areas only open with specific tools or upgrades. The rule the community repeats: if a wall will not break, come back later with better equipment - and check what the Material Scanner says about it first.

The Material Scanner: the upgrade you forgot to buy

The Scanner is a Grabber upgrade bought with Fluxite - cheap, low priority in the shop menu, and the single highest-value tool for exploring. Hover over any resource and it tells you what that material interacts with: what wets it, burns it, freezes it, or refines it. The developer featured it first in his own Early Access tips video precisely because most players ignore it.

Spend your first Fluxite on, in order:

1. Material Scanner - know what you are standing on
2. Grabber capacity - haul bigger loads
3. Hover / movement upgrades - survive vertical exploration
4. Digging speed after that

Fluxite itself comes from two sources: glowing deposits in the field (destroying them sends Fluxite straight to your inventory - no conveyor needed), and the Voidbloom-to-Flux Emanator chain later. Single deposits can exceed 1,000 units - enough to fill multiple upgrade trees.

Descending and coming back

Press S to descend through diggable ground - the core exploration verb. The minimap tracks objectives with yellow arrows, and its far zoom reportedly unlocks as you progress (single source; verify in current build).

For serious depth, the community standard is a three-column shaft: one lane lifting sand out (launcher stairs or belt zigzag), one piping water down, one ladder for you (platforms plus grappling hook, with lights every few tiles). Keep sand and water in separate lanes - they clump and flood when mixed.

Portals are the fast-travel system: research-gated, placement-restricted, connecting surface points and deep hubs. Conveyor portals (also research) carry material across regions - plan portal positions before you find a deep cavern you love, not after. Before any portal network exists, vertical shafts are the budget alternative.

Stop digging deeper when your launcher chains lag, water cannot reach the mixing stage, or Residue piles up faster than you can burn it - widen sideways at current depth instead. At the same depth, "a deep hole without shakers is just a hole."

What's coming to the map

The official Early Access plan refines procedural generation to be more granular and adds new biomes, resources and quests "as players proceed deeper into the planet" - depth is the progression axis, and the map grows with the game. Demo-era players note the old maps were much smaller and shallower; some demo community maps still circulate as challenge maps through the Map Loader mod.