Pixel behavior
Sand
The starting material and the game's namesake: mine it, move it, sift it and keep it from burying the factory.
Material reference
Sandustry Resources & Pixel Physics
In Sandustry, the material is also the machine input, the transport problem and sometimes the environmental hazard. This page keeps the first resource relationships in one place while leaving exact patch-sensitive recipes for in-game verification.
Materials to learn first
Pixel behavior
Water
Water can be absorbed by sand and becomes part of the planning problem when reservoirs are limited.
Pixel behavior
Ice & steam
Heat can melt ice into water; boiling can turn water into steam that rises and may return as rain.
Pixel behavior
Seeds & spores
The official description highlights growth, ignition and biological materials as part of the wider resource web.
A reaction-first mental model
- Observe first: watch a small sample interact with heat, water, gravity or a machine.
- Contain second: build walls, channels or spacing before scaling the reaction.
- Transport third: decide whether the material belongs on a belt, in a pipe or with a drone.
- Record the result: production notes are more reliable than a recipe copied from an older build.
Material deep dives
- Sand and Wet Sand: the 1 Sand + 1 Water → 2 Wet Sand recipe and the Shaker's 25% Gold chance are laid out in the first Gold factory guide.
- Water, ice and steam: the full ice–water–steam–rain cycle, pump rules and three renewable water sources are on the water and steam page.
- Crackstone: the hard material basic tools cannot touch — what breaks it and why it drops nothing — is covered in the Crackstone explainer.
- Unlocking the processors: the research order guide lists the cost of every machine that turns these materials into something useful.
Sources
Material behavior on this page is summarized from the Steam description and the official itch.io page; check patch notes before treating any exact reaction or recipe as permanent.