Because of the holidays, we’ve been a little silent… but we are now back in action (and larger than ever – more on that next time)! If you’re following the news section here on Steam, you know that Timberborn’s closed beta is underway and has received a few important updates.

• We have new models for our flora – trees and berries. We're about to release new, optimized models for the crops as well.
  
• Labor house and labor flag have been replaced with four separate structures. Work continues on a slew of brand new buildings with fresh functionalities.
  
• We fixed quite a few issues (such as the beavers’ inability to demolish resources) and improved the game’s balance.
  
• Most importantly, we have upgraded the rendering engine, improving the GPU performance by up to 50%, and added real shadows.

Some of you might be wondering: why haven’t I received a beta key yet and can’t play with that myself?

For starters, we sent out a small-ish wave of invites this week and we have more to come. And if you haven’t signed up for the beta access yet, here’s the form you need to fill.

Now, there’s another way of getting the key – either for you or your friend. If you visit us on Twitter within the next few days, you'll find a giveaway there. You can get the beta key for a measly price of “retweet & follow”! We want more people to know about Timberborn, so we hope you join the party!

ːsteamhappyː JOIN THE TWITTER GIVEAWAY ːsteamhappyː


Speaking of Twitter, expect a lot of tasty sneak-peeks there. This week, for example, we showed you the work-in-progress on the reworked natural resources system. Soon, you will be able to build fields and orchards in any shape you want! That's just an option, though. You could also turn them into a glorious mess similar to this:



That’s just one of the many features we are working on, including new buildings, races and ways of customizing your settlement. Dams are coming together, too. However, we want to know what YOU would like to see in Timberborn.




Soon we're going to invite you to share your wildest Timberborn dreams in a new format. Here's a hint: our official Discord channel will come in handy, and you can already join the discussion. Plus, you're going to find a lot of great community creations there. Just look at this marvellous structure built by seedback!



Or check out one of the amazing entries to our beavart contest, courtesy of Bunfire~ (a.k.a. @Lowest_Fi on Twitter – be sure to have a look if you're into chibi art :3 ).



Okay, we think the message is clear here: you just need to join our Twitter giveaway and win that beta key.

Seriously though – we look forward to communicating with you on a more regular basis. It's about dam time.

We have released a small patch that fixes demolishing resources. Beavers will now successfully remove mature trees and bushes from the map, so your crews can go back to messing with Mother Nature.

A fresh update to Timberborn Closed Beta is now live! We call it "The Shadow Update" because, you guessed it, it adds shadows to the game. Here's a complete list of changes:

We think they look gorgeous but you're the ones to judge, so send us your feedback! Best seen in High or Ultra quality.

Trees and bushes have a brand new style to better match the overall aesthetics of the game.

The game's GPU performance is now considerably better. In practical terms it means that if you play on Low quality, the game runs up to 50% faster than before, and if you're on Ultra quality, it both looks better and runs about 10% faster. Note that this update focuses on graphics performance which mostly affects the FPS on normal speed. Future updates will improve the CPU performance, which will allow you to reach higher populations, while playing on faster speeds.

- The middle/half-grown stage of trees and bushes has been removed. This is meant to simplify this part of the game, in preparation for new resources that we plan to add in the near future.
- Birches now grow 35% faster but yield 1 log instead of 2, differentiating them from Pines.

We have fixed a bug which caused the game to crash for a few people over the last week. Thanks to everyone who submitted the crash reports.

The new build is already available on Steam. If you don't have a beta key yet, you can get a chance to get one by filling out this form: https://mechanistry.com/betaform

We have just released a fix to a bug which caused the game to crash when selecting a dead beaver.

A new update just went live addressing a number of issues related to audio:

• We have redesigned the underlying audio system. This should improve performance in certain situations as well as fix problems reported by many of you, such as distorted / crackling sound or no audio at all.
  
• Trees and bushes now emit a distinct sound when selected. Shafts also emit a sound on a close up.
  
• We have identified another bug causing beavers to ignore some trees marked for cutting or demolishing. This is hopefully now fixed.

We have just released a hotfix patch:

• Fixes a bug introduced yesterday which caused Forester to stop planting trees after loading a saved game.
  
• Fixes a bug causing beavers to ignore some trees marked for cutting or demolishing.

A minor update to Timberborn is now available for download. The update makes it easier to submit crash reports:

• When the game crashes, it generates a ZIP file with log files and a save game in Documents\Timberborn\Error reports.
  
• You can send that report to us with a click of a button from the crash screen. Alternatively, you can send the ZIP file to us manually on Discord.

Sometimes, you may still have to send us a bug report the old way:

1. When the game does not start at all due to hardware issues.
   
2. When the game does not crash but something does not work the way it should.

In those situations you can submit a traditional bug report by following the instructions here: https://mechanistry.com/bug.
You can also use the #bugs channel on our Discord server: https://mechanistry.com/discord. If you do so, please include screenshots, a save game and a log file, as explained in the link.

We have just released a patch which fixes a number of issues:

• Fixes a bug causing a crash when using the new Demolish tool.
  
• Fixes a bug causing a Forester to plant trees outside its walking range.
  
• Fixes a bug causing trees planted by a Forester to grow at the same time which resulted in FPS drops. Note that the fix only works with newly planted trees.
  
• Limits the distance that a Camera can move during performance drops, which makes problems such as the one above less irritating.
  
• Resolves a bug which resulted in the "Nothing" label in the resource list to disappear in certain screen configurations.

See yesterday's update for a complete list of gameplay changes.

A new build of Timberborn is now live on Steam! The new version introduces two experimental changes:

Labor house and Labor flag have been replaced with four buildings: Builder's Hut, Builder Flag, Lumberjack Flag and Gatherer Flag. That change addresses a number of problems brought up by the community. Most importantly, you now have better control of how many beavers cut trees, gather berries and build new structures. It also allows the game to better communicate when there is a problem which stops your beavers from working, such as a missing log pile or a warehouse.

We have replaced the underlying rendering solution with a more modern one. The immediate effect is that the game runs on average 15-20% faster. In the long run, it will also allow us to improve the graphics of the game - a small taste of that is the newly added fog effect and slightly fine-tuned colors.

In terms of balancing, the game starts with an increased amount of berries in the initial warehouse but fewer berry bushes on the map.

And now... We. Need. Your. Feedback! Let us know what you think of the new buildings and if you're seeing improved (or degraded...) performance - share your observations in our Discord.

A word of caution: The new version is technically compatible with older save games but your Labor houses will be replaced with Builder's huts which do not cut trees or berries. Because of that we recommend that you start a new game. Also, for those of you who create or play on custom maps, the starting location now takes up more space: 3x4 tiles instead of 2x3. The custom map must have enough room for the larger start area, or you will not be able to play.

Have fun playing!

The latest patch fixes a minor bug causing the new resource list to disappear in certain situations.

All other changes from earlier today, including the new features are listed in the previous announcement.