For many players, games from the cozy genre are one of the most relaxing and addicting genres out there and My Time at Sandrock is no exception. With its unique post-apocalyptic desert setting, colorful 3D graphics, multiple storylines, emphasis on rebuilding the town, and witty and charming dialogue, My Time at Sandrock is an enjoyable casual gaming experience that every fan of the genre must try.
Starting out on your journey to make Sandrock a livelier and safer town might seem daunting at first, but as a fan of the game, I will guide you through crucial tips as you progress through the world of Sandrock.
Here are the top 25 tips on how to progress and what to do first in the arid but incredibly colorful and charming world of Sandrock:
25. Create and customize your character’s appearance
Create your own cute character with several cosmetic options, or create an abomination; the townsfolk of Sandrock don't judge
The first task you must do when starting your life at Sandrock is creating and customizing your character. My Time at Sandrock offers various customization options, and more are unlocked later when you reach a certain milestone in your rebuilding efforts.
As this is your character, feel free to play around with the different voice options and adjust the various hairstyles to your liking. You can also add makeup, tattoos, change eye shape and skin tone, among several other options.
Want to make a green-skinned monstrous abomination? Go for it; the mostly friendly townsfolk of Sandrock won’t judge. Your character’s appearance and body type do not affect the gameplay in any way.
Extra tip: You unlock the ability to change your appearance down the road, so don’t fret too much if you aren't fully satisfied with your initial cosmetic choices.
24. Choose your birthdate
Choose your birthday
The character creation screen is also where you choose your birthdate, which is the day that the townsfolk you’ve befriended shower you with gifts. These gifts range from food to furniture to crafting resources. Oh, and you will also get happy birthday messages from the townsfolk, of course!
Extra tip: The game begins on the first day of summer, so if you choose your birthday in spring, you will have to wait longer until you celebrate your first birthday in Sandrock.
23. Avoid cutting trees near the town
Cutting down trees is not allowed near the town
Soon after you arrive in Sandrock, you’ll have access to your first tool: a Stone Axe, which is found within your workshop’s yard. Wood is scarce in the desert, but as tempting as it is, you must avoid cutting down the trees (or cactuses) that are near the town as it is against the law.
If you decide to be a rebel and start cutting down trees, Burgess, the bubbly but law-enforcing resident of Sandrock, will come after you to punish you. At first, he will give you a warning, but following subsequent attempts, he will start fining you. And if that is not enough, even the residents of Sandrock might start disliking you.
22. Build and place multiple machines in your workshop
Two furnaces in the process of being built
Early on, you will need to build a Recycler. Recyclers are one of several machines that you’ll use frequently in the game. Machines in general are essential for producing all kinds of items, ranging from simple crafting materials, to usable weapons and tools.
It is recommended to have at least two recyclers and two furnaces in your workshop, as these two types of machines (recyclers and furnaces) are heavily used throughout the game.
21. Always keep your recyclers and furnaces producing materials
Two furnaces producing resources are better than one
Continuing from the last point, it is useful to keep recyclers and furnaces running and producing resources at all times. Even if you don’t immediately need the material that your machine is in the middle of producing, you’re going to need it eventually!
20. Always have plenty of water for your workshop
The water of Sandrock is well-protected
Running machines cost resources. Fuel and water are going to be constantly consumed by your machines.
Water in particular can be difficult to keep a constant supply of, which makes sense in the arid setting of Sandrock. Luckily, there is a valuable water source in town—the oasis! Not so luckily, it is not free; Burgess once again stands in your way as he is the one who is in charge of guarding the water.
One of the options to acquire water is to buy it from Burgess’s shop, “Water World”. It is by far the most convenient option, but the price goes up the more water you buy (the price resets periodically).
Water can also be crafted from Dew, which can be collected by gathering plants, cutting down bushes, and by building and setting up Dew Collectors in your workshop’s yard.
Extra Tip: Eventually, you’ll unlock farming, which you guessed it: also requires water. So be prepared!
19. Keep food in your inventory in case you need extra Stamina Points
Drying Racks are essential for producing a variety of stamina-restoring foods
Stamina points are crucial for fulfilling all sorts of tasks in Sandrock. From chopping down dead trees to mining to fighting, you can be sure that you’ll be running low on stamina points from time to time, especially early on in the game.
Fortunately, there are various ways to regain stamina points without resorting to going to bed every night. These include dining at the town’s restaurant “The Blue Moon”, and eating food from your inventory.
Early on in the game, you’ll be given the diagram to build a Drying Rack. A Drying Rack is useful for making some great stamina-recovering edibles such as Jerky, Dried Sandberries, and Salted Fish.
18. Sleep in your bed before midnight for buffs
There are several bed types for your cosmetic needs
Failing to sleep before 3:00 AM in the game will make your character pass out and wake up the next day with dark circles under their eyes. A builder can only work for so long before their physical health gets affected!
On the contrary, if you go to sleep in your bed before midnight, you will wake up feeling well rested and you will notice that you have a couple of buffs. These buffs last for the whole day, so they are a boon worth considering.
Extra tip: You can extend the need to sleep in your bed to 3 AM with the correct perk from the Gathering Knowledge tree and still get the buffs.
17. Adjust your Game Speed Slider to tweak the passage of time
Mi-an, a fellow builder, enjoying a break
By now, you’ll have a good feel for how fast or slow the time in Sandrock passes. If you don’t like the default speed of the time passage, you can tweak it in the game’s options.
You can either slow the passage of time for a potentially more relaxing experience or speed it up. But why would anyone want to speed it up?
16. Acquire storage chests to store and organize your resources
You can color and name your chests to organize your items in a strategic manner
There are many items to collect in Sandrock, and you’ll likely not have enough space in your inventory to carry everything. This is where storage chests come in handy.
As the name suggests, storage chests are pieces of furniture that are placed in your workshop and are used to store all of your items. They can either be built or purchased.
You can place multiple storage chests in your workshop, and can even name and paint them to further organize your stored items.
Here’s a fun and convenient fact about turning in requested items for missions in Sandrock: you don’t have to carry requested items in your inventory to complete missions because the items are automatically pulled from the storage back at your workshop if you own them!
At first, you’ll start with the Mini Storage Boxes which can only store 15 items, but eventually, you will upgrade to Large Storage Boxes which can store up to 40 items.
Large Storage Boxes can be a bit tricky to find. The main way to acquire them is to purchase them from the Mysterious Man (more on him in the next entry).
Extra tip: You can upgrade your Mini Storage Box to a bigger Storage Box by placing the next tier of Storage Box on top of it.
15. Keep an eye out for the Mysterious Man to acquire Large Storage Boxes
The Mysterious Man, an enigmatic figure that roams Sandrock periodically to sale his wares
Every month, a mask-wearing character wanders the town of Sandrock for a couple of days. Aptly named the “Mysterious Man”, he is not just a man, but a merchant that carries around uncommon items to sell.
One of the most coveted items that he offers to players are recipes to build the very useful Large Storage Boxes! Once you acquire a recipe, you can build as many Large Storage Boxes as your heart desires.
The Mysterious Man also sells other rare wares, including rare cooking ingredients, rare pieces of furniture, and even a crucial item required to get married.
The Mysterious Man makes his appearance on the 20th and 21st day of every month.
14. Mind your Toughness Points during battle
Getting the hang of combat is easy, but mastering it could be another story
Combat in My Time at Sandrock is easy to get the hang of. With that said, you should always keep an eye on your Toughness Points.
Toughness Points are represented by the little circles over your inventory hot bar. As you get hit by enemies, you will lose them. What happens when you reach 0 Toughness Points? You will be broken and start flinching when hit; you will also start taking extra damage!
Enemies also have this Toughness Point system, which means that you can use it to your advantage and BREAK their defenses! Try to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee by Dodge Rolling and striking at the most efficient moments in battle.
Extra Tip: You can spar with many characters in Sandrock and practice fighting with no consequences.
13. Specialize in a melee weapon
The Combat Knowledge tree is where you can invest your Knowledge Points to specialize in different fighting styles
There are several melee weapon types in My Time at Sandrock, including Daggers, Spears, Heavy Swords, and Sword and Shield.
As you progress in the game, you earn Knowledge Points and can invest these into improving your combat abilities in the skill tree (among other areas).
The issue is that you can only improve your melee combat so far before the skill tree starts branching off to specialize in the four melee weapon types, so it might be a good idea to specialize in one type of weapon.
Extra tip: You can visit Fang and pay him to perform Acupuncture on you to reset your Knowledge Points.
12. Complete commissions daily for easy money and additional rewards
Several commissions are posted each day on the Commision Board inside the Commerce Guild
Soon after settling in Sandrock and becoming an official builder, you will be able to take commissions from the Commerce Guild.
Commissions are small tasks that you must complete for whoever posted the commission. These tasks involve delivering certain items and they vary in difficulty and complexity.
At first, you will only be able to take one commission per day, but over time, your workshop will rank up and you’ll be able to take multiple commissions every day.
Commissions are easy ways to earn gols (the name of the money in Sandrock), experience, and even relationship points for characters that posted the commissions. So be sure to go for those commissions from characters that you fancy if you want to get to know them faster.
11. Place advertisements on the board for bonus rewards
It is best to have an ad active when completing commissions
Now is a good time to mention the newsstand that is just outside of the City Hall. In addition to reading about the news in Sandrock, players can also place an advertisement on it to reap bonus experience, reputation, and gols from completing commissions.
Placing an ad costs very few gols and lasts a week before you will have to renew it, but the bonuses are very worth it!
10. Check your missions, some have time limits
There are time limits for certain missions in Sandrock; this mission here for instance, will expire in 15 in-game hours
Soon after starting your life in Sandrock, you will likely have multiple missions in progress. Many missions are given in Sandrock but luckily you can keep track of them with your handy Mission List (accessible by keyboard by pressing L by default).
It is important to note that some missions are timed; that is, you will fail them if you do not complete them before the time is up. Most commissions are timed, but you’ll come across other types of missions that are also timed and can be failed!
So, be sure to prioritize your missions and keep track of the time.
9. Make a habit of checking your calendar for important dates
The Day of the Bright Sun is one of several festivals celebrated in My Time at Sandrock. An aircraft flies over the town, dropping presents in a chaotic free-for-all
By now, you will have probably met at least a few of Sandrock’s many residents. Most of the townsfolk have a birthday date that you can check on the calendar once you reach the Associate relationship level with them (you will need to chat with them so that they can reveal their birth dates to you).
Gifting items to characters on their birthdays can net you huge amounts of relation points if you give them an item that they love!
Another important use of the calendar is to check for any upcoming festivals. Festivals are special events meant to be fun holidays for the townsfolk of Sandrock to participate in. You can often earn rewards by participating in them.
Birthdays and festivals can be easily missed, so make sure to check your calendar periodically!
8. Building relationships offers more than friendship and romance, you get bonuses in all kinds of aspects
Many benefits come from friends: discounts, gifts, and more
My Time at Sandrock is unique in the sense that earning relationship points with the various townsfolk of Sandrock not only makes them friendlier with you, you also unlock various perks.
For example, earning enough relation points with Arvio (the local merchant of Sandrock) unlocks the perk of having a 10% discount whenever you purchase items at his shop. Earn enough relationship points with the crafty merchant and this discount perk can go up to 25% off!
Another example would be Burgess mailing you free water every so often if you earn enough relationship points with him. Burgess is not so bad after all.
As you can see, the perks are quite varied, so explore all the perks that each character offers and prioritize if you wish!
7. Decorate your workshop to get bonus stats
Seveal decorations are pictured here, placed on top of a player's home
Not only does decorating your workshop with various furniture pieces make it livelier and nicer to look at, they also provide bonuses to your character’s attributes!
Different furniture pieces provide different attribute bonuses, ranging from bonus attack damage to bonus stamina points, so it is best to experiment.
6. Place a relic in your workshop’s yard for easy relationship points
This Jeweled Egg, when placed on a workshop yard, will attract townsfolk to admire it. It is one of many relics that you can restore
Once you start restoring relics and own a few, place one in your yard. By doing this, your workshop will begin to be visited by random townsfolk of Sandrock so they can admire the displayed relic.
Every time that a character stops by to admire your relic, you will gain a few relationship points with them. No extra effort is needed on your part. Who doesn’t like passive sources of relationship points?
5. Get a pet. Or several of them!
Nemo in the middle of digging up resources for his owner. Who's a good boy?
It is worthwhile to not only befriend the human characters of Sandrock but also the creature characters that roam the town as well.
At a certain point in the game, you unlock the pet adoption system. With this feature unlocked, you gain the ability to adopt pets and have them live in your workshop after you reach a certain relationship level with them.
Pets do far more than simply wander around in your workshop and be cute, they can also be ordered to go out and collect items for you. Items that they can retrieve for you include various ores, scrap, and water!
Additionally, with a recent free update, pets can also fight alongside you! You can now tame monsters!
4. Buy or rent a mount for faster travel speed
Horses are available as mounts, in addition to Camels and Yakmels. Horses are the fastest, but the other two have their advantages
Traversing Sandrock and its exteriors can be time-consuming when you go running around everywhere on foot. Luckily, after a certain point in the game, mounts become available to purchase or rent.
Mounts are animals that players can ride to increase travel speed, so it is always a good idea to get one. There are several types of mounts so be sure to pick one that fits your play style.
3. Hate fishing? Breed them instead
A builder inspecting his fish living in his Sandfish Pond
Cozy games are riddled with fishing and fishing minigames, and My Time at Sandrock is no exception. For those who dislike fishing, Sandfish Ponds and Sandfish Aquariums are a must.
Sandfish Ponds are large structures that can be placed in your workshop’s exterior, while Sandfish Aquariums are smaller and can be placed inside buildings. Both of these can be used to breed fish, as long as they are provided with two of the same kinds of fish.
Extra tip: The Sandfish Pond can be upgraded to an Expert Sandfish Pond for those who want to take their fishing-avoidant lifestyle to the next level!
2. Cut the price of expanding your workshop by befriending Trudy
At first, your yard is tiny but you can greatly expand it
Expanding your workshop’s yard can get quite expensive. The last workshop yard expansion costs 350,000 gols for instance! There has to be a way to cut the costs right?
Fortunately, there is. You can slash the prices of expanding your yard by up to 25% if you earn enough relationship points with a character named Trudy.
If you haven’t met Trudy yet, she is one of many characters that you will eventually meet in Sandrock, and trust me, there are many faces to meet!
1. Always have Qi researching a blueprint
Qi, the scientist of Sandrock, will help you with unlocking crucial machines
Many machines are utilized throughout the game’s story, but they aren’t available right away; they need to be unlocked first.
In order to unlock them, you will have to bring Data Discs to the local researcher Qi so he can research and make blueprints for you. Once you have the blueprint, you can build the machine in your workshop.
The problem is that it takes several days for Qi to research blueprints. Additionally, he can only research one blueprint at a time. This slow process of unlocking blueprints for machines can be problematic and halt your progress if you aren’t prepared!
It is best to always have Qi busy researching new blueprints for you. Ideally, as soon as you receive a blueprint, you should return to Qi to start a new blueprint research process.
Extra tip: You can give additional Data Discs to Qi to speed up the research process if you have extra!
