Hello, everyone!

On January 26th, after over seven months, we will be turning off the Timberborn closed beta in its current state. We would like to thank everyone who spent hours building settlements full of hungry and homeless happy beavers, and shared their valuable feedback with us.

Mechanistry is an indie team of seven. It is your suggestions that help us set the direction for Timberborn’s development and shape the bright lumberpunk future.

Now, now, why the log face?

With thousands of applications, it was impossible to grant beta access to everyone who signed up or participated in the giveaways. You asked us, time and time again, to let more people play Timberborn.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Want to know what’s the next step? Check back next week. We think you’re gonna like it.

PS Yes, that's the new beaver model.

We have just released a hotfix patch:

• Fixed a bug causing some beavers to be transparent on macOS.
  
• Fixed a bug causing some beavers to emit delicate light at night.
  
• Reduced VRAM usage by up to 1 GB depending on your hardware.

After the previous hotfix patch, the game is now much more stable. We're aware of the framerate drops at certain points (when the drought comes, for example), and we'll address that down the road. With today's update, we have addressed a few other bugs.

• Soil now fluidly transitions between wet and dry textures.
  
• Beavers no longer ignore resources in paused buildings.
  
• The “No tree in range” warning no longer shows up if there are seedlings in range.
  
• The status icon above resources marked for demolition no longer disappears above water.

Again, if you do experience a crash after this update, please send us an error report via the post-crash screen. We review them all and it makes it easier to identify and solve the problem quickly. You may also post the report on our forums.

As promised in the patch notes for the new update, we would like to show you the magic of Droughts in Irrigation live on stream!

Need a hint on how to keep your beaver settlement alive after the changes? Want a beta key? Or maybe you're interested in a sneak-peek of what’s coming in 2021?

Join us on December 22nd, 2 PM GMT, for a special holiday developer stream! You can also tune in on our Twitch or on YouTube.

Update at 5:20 PM GMT +1: the stream has concluded but we have left the rebroadcast running for a moment after a request from our players. Later today, we'll put it down and put it back up later (tomorrow?) with the "waiting" part removed and the "rebroadcast" label added.

Update on Dec. 23rd: You can rewatch the stream below. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

We've fixed the most annoying bugs reported by players. Another batch of fixes is coming next week.

• Fixed a problem causing the game to use 2-4x more memory (RAM and VRAM) than needed. The game should no longer crash on machines with less RAM.
  
• Fixed a bug causing the game to crash after flooding a settlement.
  
• Fixed a crash when emptying certain buildings.
  
• Bush seedlings no longer provide berries.
  
• Science point counter now correctly updates after unlocking a building during pause.
  
• Fixed Water Wheel sound not stopping when the wheel stops turning
  
• Added missing sounds to Water, Power and Landscaping buildings

If you do experience a crash after this update, please send us an error report via the post-crash screen. We review them all and it makes it easier to identify and solve the problem quickly. You may also post the report on our forums.

Hello everyone!

The previous patch added dynamic water that can be rerouted and controlled with dams. Let's put that to good use! With this update, we’re implementing two mechanics that dramatically affect Timberborn’s gameplay: droughts and irrigation.

Before we get into details, a PSA. Droughts, famine and lack of drinking water are very real issues across the world. It’s a Holiday season, and we would like to encourage you to support a charity of your choice helping the drought-stricken regions. For example, Polish Humanitarian Action is a respected entity that works with such issues, and there’s the United Nations’ World Food Programme. You could also check GiveWell for a list of other trustworthy charities. Thanks!

NOTE: All maps have been rebalanced with droughts and irrigation in mind, and the old saves may break. We strongly recommend you start a new game!



The post-apocalypse continues! Crops and forests can now only grow if they have water – from rivers, artificial lakes and canals, the new irrigation towers. Without water, desert creeps in and plants begin to wither. If you don’t fix the problem, they die. We are also introducing Small Water Tank, to be paired with a rebalanced Water Pump that now stores less water.

• Plant life can now only be sustained in the vicinity of a water source. The time before a plant on unwatered ground dies depends on the plant’s type.
  
• New building: Irrigation Tower (200 SP to unlock; 15x log, 20x plank to build; uses 2x water per hour; employs 1 worker) – waters a surrounding area.
  
• New building: Small Water Tank (no unlock cost; 15x log to build; stores 30x water).
  
• Water Pump now only stores 15x water.
  
• Water Wheel now stops when the water current is not strong enough. In the future, the power output will depend on the current’s strength.

The world now cycles between wet and dry seasons. You will always begin in the wet season, and you will be warned ahead of the dry season. Dry seasons are semi-random and become longer over time. When a dry season comes, water on the map begins to disappear. Deeper water sources take longer to dry up, so artificial reservoirs will help you store water for a longer period.

• New mechanic: cyclical wet and dry seasons. Dry season causes open water sources (rivers, canals, reservoirs) to dry up gradually.
  
• Added new UI elements informing you about the progress of the wet/dry cycle and warning about upcoming droughts.

Human ruins will now provide your beavers with a finite amount of metal. Metal is a new resource used to build some of the existing high-end buildings (check the next section).

• Added a new resource, metal, collected from ruins. Amount of metal depends on the size of a ruins block. Depleted blocks disappear.
  
• New building: Scavenger’s Hut (75 SP to unlock; 20x log, 15x plank, 5x gear to build; employs 2 workers) – used to acquire metal from ruins in range.

To account for the addition of metal, we have changed the resources needed to build some structures. At the moment, metal comes only from ruins, which may be hard to reach and are limited. We'll be closely monitoring feedback on the game's balance here.

• Triple Platform: now costs 4x log, 4x plank, 2x metal. Single and Double Platforms have not been changed.
  
• Printing Press: now costs 50x plank, 30x gear, 30x metal.
  
• Engine: now costs 20x log, 5x gear, 10x gear.
  
• Carousel: now costs 50x plank, 50x gear, 40x metal.
  
• Tribute to Ingenuity: now costs 400x plank, 200x gear, 300x metal.

It’s not very safe to task your ordinary Joe Beaver with preparing explosives, so we have added a dedicated building that handles the hazardous production.

• New building: Explosives Factory (150 SP to unlock; 10x log, 30x plank, 10x gear to build; requires 150 HP to operate; employs 1 worker); crafts 1x explosive from 3x paper.
  
• Dynamite: now requires 1x explosive to build.
  
• Added a new Dynamite model.

Droughts and the need for irrigation required changing existing maps once again. We’re sorry if your beaver paradise suddenly turns into a wasteland. Time to build a new one!

• Redesigned all maps to work better with the wet/dry seasons and encourage playing with irrigation.
  
• Added “natural dams” called Barriers that can be demolished to unlock additional water areas without Dynamite.
  
• Plains (256x256) is now a recommended map when starting a new game. Really, start a new game.

We know the new visuals are a major shift in the game’s esthetics, especially when you open an older save. However, the contrast between post-apocalyptic feel and life brought by beavers has always been our goal.

• Made major changes to the look of the land, now split into desert areas and the living, irrigated ground.
  
• Replaced water shaders.
  
• Added models of withering and dead flora (including ivy on ruins found in the desert!).
  
• Made minor tweaks to textures of trees, slopes, and some buildings.

Stackable buildings are now referred to as “Solid”. We’re doing this in anticipation of the future. Over time, buildings in Timberborn will receive different keywords making it easier to understand their role.

• Fixed a bug that caused haulers not to deliver logs to the Engine.
  
• Fixed a few bugs and exceptions causing the game to crash.
  
• Fixed an issue with Energy Shafts attaching to a Mirrored Lodge on the wrong side.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Options panel re-opening after closing the Save game panel with Esc.
  
• Fixed an issue with trees aggressively spreading onto field areas.
  
• Right-clicking while marking resources will now correctly turn the tool off.

Need a hint on how to keep your settlement alive after the changes? Want a beta key? Or maybe you're interested in a sneak-peek of what’s coming in 2021? On December 22nd, 2 PM GMT, we’re going live on our Twitch! We’ll be streaming simultaneously here on Steam and on our YouTube channel. 🤩



Thanks to our awesome players' votes, Timberborn made it to the top 100 games in the Indie of the Year 2020 contest! You rule! Your votes put us in the second and final round, and we're now reaching for the “Best upcoming” title. If you think Timberborn deserves this, please vote for us! No registration required. It’s the first time we participate in a contest like this and your support means a lot for us. Thank you!



That's it for today. Do you like the changes? How difficult is the game with droughts and irrigation? Tell us either on Steam forums or on our Discord server! 🙏

PS If you're not in the beta yet, check your inbox – we've just added quite a few testers to our pool! And check our Twitter – starting on December 24th we'll have a week of daily mini-giveaways.

Wood day, everyone!

Here's what to expect from Team Timberborn in December. In short: there are more ways of snapping a closed beta key and the game will receive an update with droughts! 👇


The first opportunity to grab a beta key is a flash giveaway on IndieDB, the go-to source of information on indie games. To participate, go here. Important note: the giveaway lasts until 23:59 GMT December 7th. That means there are about 8 hours left to participate!

While there, we have a request. IndieDB is running Indie of the Year 2020 Awards. Timberborn isn’t released yet, but we do have a shot in the “Best upcoming” category. We haven’t participated in any similar contests yet, so your vote would mean a world to us. The voting is open until December 10th, it requires a single click here and no registration.




Of course, we will also have a regular wave of beta invitations sent to those signed up via our sign-up form. We want to match it with the next important update to the closed beta – which should be deployed before Holidays. Here's what's coming:

• You’ll notice there is a timer warning you about an upcoming drought that causes rivers to disappear for a while. You need to prepare for that by stockpiling food and water. It's a recurring event, and further droughts may be longer or more frequent.
  
• Droughts are a danger because starting with the new update, forests and crops will need to be on the watered ground to survive (duh). You will have to dig canals!
  
• While it's still an early iteration of the system, you will also be able to build a Scavenger’s Hut and extract metal from ruins (that are often scarce and remote). You need metal to build an engine, a carousel, the most advanced monument etc.
  
• Allowing all beavers to play with dynamite isn’t safe, so we're also adding an Explosives Factory, a new building that handles the hazardous production (below).
  
• There are other tweaks coming, including new desert visuals. Yay, post-apocalypse!

We're still working on the update, and we'll let you know as soon as we have an exact release date. There will also be a short developer stream on Twitch beforehand! By the way, our debut stream held on November 2nd didn't record properly. However, we have prepared a separate gameplay video with developer commentary. You can find it here.



Before the patch hits, you'll be able to grab a beta key via our second Twitter giveaway. It will go live this Friday, December 11th, and last through the weekend. It's a matter of simple “retweet & follow” – so you could already fulfil the second condition and follow us there. When the giveaway post goes up, you’ll be the first to know!

Finally, each day from December 25th through December 31st, we'll have a little Twitter challenge where you can get a closed beta key if you're quick and nimble as a beaver!

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That's it for today! Thanks for reading and until next time – we'll be even closer to the Early Access launch planned for Q1 2021. We should have some exciting news! 🤩

We have deployed a small patch to fix a few bugs related to the new features of the November 3 update (Dam & Blast). Thanks for the reports, everyone, keep 'em coming!

• Fixed a crash due to an error in the water physics logic.
  
• Corrected ruins buttons in the map editor.
  
• Fixed a bug causing farmers to plant crops outside the range of a Farmhouse.

Our most explosive update ever is live! To read about Dam & Blast, watch our new gameplay trailer, and learn about the game’s future, including the Early Access plans, go here. For the actual patch notes, keep on reading.

NOTE: After you download the patch, we strongly recommend starting an entirely new game. Old saves and maps may or may not break, resulting in crashes, missing buildings, and other nasty surprises.

NOTE 2: This is the largest update to the closed beta we’ve ever had. Now more than ever we ask you to share your feedback either here or on our official Discord server.

• Added water physics – water now has dynamic depth and flow, allowing you to manipulate it with dams and dynamite (see below)
  
• Water may overflow depending on the strength of the current but will eventually dry out after the water levels stabilize
  
• Beavers try to avoid staying in water but will drown if unable to escape
  
• Buildings underwater become inaccessible, preventing them from working (exceptions apply such as already fuelled engine connected to a merry-go-round)
  
• Additional systems utilizing water (such as irrigation and droughts) will be added at a later date

• New structure: Dam (80 SPs to unlock, 10x log to build); partially blocks water, allows some water to pass through a spillway at the top; unstackable
  
• New structure: Levee (120 SPs to unlock, 12x log to build); blocks water completely; stackable; beavers can walk on it, and you can put other buildings on it

• New structure: Dynamite (250 SPs to unlock, 3x paper to build); click Detonate to blow up a single voxel of the ground underneath; adjacent dynamites auto-explode, triggering a chain reaction
  
• Beavers are instantly killed if caught within an explosion :(

• Replaced previous farming and forestry system with two new tools: Plant Crops and Plant trees and bushes; use them to mark custom-shaped areas where you want to plant Carrots/Potatoes/Wheat or Blueberries/Birches/Maples/Pine
  
• These tools need Farmhouse and Forester buildings in range, respectively
  
• New building: Farmhouse (no unlock cost, 25x log to build, employs 2 workers, requires a Warehouse in range); in the building’s settings you can set a priority to either harvesting or planting, and choose the prioritized plant
  
• Seedlings can no longer be harvested but can still be demolished
  
• Lumberjacks now remember the areas assigned to them and automatically cut trees from that area; rumor is they use mnemonic techniques such as songs to do that
  
• Gatherers automatically collect fruit from adult bushes within range

• New building: Power wheel (no unlock cost, 40x log to build, employs 1 worker; 50 HP output)
  
• New building: Engine (200 SPs to unlock, 20x log, 5x plank, 5x gear to build, employs 1 worker, consumes 1x log per hour as fuel; 200 HP output)

• Removed Scaffoldings and Footbridges
  
• New building: Platform in three variants, 1/2/3-levels high (100/150/200 SPs to unlock, 4x plank and 2x/4x/8x log to build)
  
• Platforms are stackable, can be built on water, allow beavers to walk on top and below; paths, stairs, and energy shafts can be built below; other buildings can be placed on top

• New building: Lodge (mirrored) (no unlock cost, no additional building cost)
  
• Removed Watering place
  
• Water pump no longer requires unlocking, now costs 12 logs to build

• Two new maps: Meander (128x128) and Thousand Isles (256x256), offering completely new challenges
  
• Waterfalls (128x128), Canyon (128x128) and Plains (256x256) updated to encourage experiments with rivers among other things
  
• Ruin modules added to the maps and the map editor as cosmetic additions; while they serve no gameplay functionalities right now, they’ll act as a source for metal later

• Replaced Water shaders
  
• Water sources are now represented by a mound of stones
  
• Changed crops models
  
• Changed texture of desert areas

• Added art to the main menu and the loading screen
  
• Tweaked GUI colors
  
• New clock design
  
• Reorganized action bar
  
• Range of all monuments is now displayed when building a new monument
  
• Minor changes to building and resource descriptions
  
• When in construction or planting mode, water becomes semi-transparent
  
• Most tools, including tree cutting, planting and demolishing, now stick to the terrain level where the click started

• Added music to the main menu

• Added a toggle for disabling auto-save
  
• Camera rotation speed can now be adjusted in Settings
  
• Keyboard camera speed can now be adjusted in Settings
  
• Adjusted edge pan camera speeds available in Settings

• The cursor no longer disappears after hitting the 70-beavers pop up
  
• Material counter now can exceed 4-digit numbers. Go nuts with these logs!
  
• Hovering over some UI elements in Settings no longer prevents scrolling with a mouse wheel
  
• Exiting to main menu now correctly creates an exit save game
  
• Fixed memory leak causing the game to use more RAM with every new or loaded game
  
• Fixed a rare crash caused by InputController
  
• Fixed a bug causing performance to drop over time after selecting large clusters of buildings

Let the terraforming begin!

Hot dam! It feels great to finally share today’s update with you. Dam & Blast (a.k.a. Dam Good Update or The Smoke and the Water, as we couldn’t agree on a name) turned out to be the largest update to the game so far. You could say it opens the floodgates to all future releases!

But first, moving pictures.



If you have watched the trailer till the very end, you know what’s coming. Timberborn is all about beavers – and dams have been the most anticipated feature. It required adding water physics, changing how water is rendered and how it interacts with objects in the game – but it’s here.

The first iteration of the system allows you to put up Dams and Levees. The Levee modules block all water and can be stacked on top of each other, and you can build on them. Dams, on the other hand, allow some water to pass through.



If you mess with a river, you need a way to redirect its waters – and that’s why we’re equipping our post-apocalyptic beavers with dynamite. Once you arm it, it blows up a single voxel of the ground beneath (and if there are more explosives nearby, a chain reaction follows). This way, you can dig new canals and reservoirs. Just be careful: accidents happen. You could cause the river to flood your settlement, paralyzing your buildings and threatening the life of your colony.



For now, the system makes it easier to expand your settlement and provide it with water and energy, but it’s just a beginning. Rivers will be at the core of new mechanics we plan to add to the game, such as droughts and irrigation. We’ll share more about that in the coming months.

With the new update, you will be able to build fields and orchards in any shapes you want. You can finally cover the steep hills of Beaverville with golden wheat and rows of carrots!



A similar tool is used to plant bushes and trees. We have also simplified how gathering and tree cutting work. Once you mark an area for your tail-wiggling lumberjacks, they will remember about it when trees grow back, while gatherers automatically collect fruits within reach.

This feature required a lot of work under the hood, but it paves the ground for adding fresh content, such as new resources. We’ll get to one of the upcoming resources in a moment.

In order to make the new systems work, we changed how Foresters operate and added a Farmhouse you see above – a new building facilitating two beavers that handle the crops nearby.

There are also two new ways of providing your settlement with energy. Just like dams & dynamites, these are more of a simple “another option” now, but when droughts strike and you can no longer rely on water energy, you’ll definitely want to have them at the ready.

Power wheel is an idea the beaver borrowed from a certain lesser species.



Engine, on the other hand, is a much more advanced building that uses logs as fuel.



We are replacing footbridges and scaffoldings with a universal Platform module that comes in three variants (1-, 2-, 3-levels high). You can stack platforms and build on them – and the beavers will be able to walk on them or beneath. You can place dirt paths below the platforms, and shafts fit in there too. Oh, and you can build them on the water.



The new platforms open up a lot of possibilities, such as running paths or your energy grid below buildings building more condensed and higher living quarters.

And since we all love the vertical building mechanics, we have even more tools coming. We’ve heard your requests for overhangs, L-shaped stairs etc. We’ll see what can be done!

The post-apocalyptic aspect of Timberborn hasn’t been prominent so far, but we’re starting to change that. For now, ruins are a mostly cosmetic addition, but in the future, we’ll make it a scarce resource. You will need metal to build the most advanced structures of your settlement.



We’re adding ruins to the map editor as well, so after the update is released, be sure to play around with them when you work on your new creations and share them with the community!

Speaking of maps: we’re adding two new playable levels. We have also redesigned the existing maps with the new water system (and destructible terrain) in mind. They pose a whole new challenge – see how a few well-placed dynamites can change their layouts!

Dam & Blast adds even more novelties, such as a UI refresh. While the UI is still temporary, we have changed the colors, installed a non-awful clock etc. We’ve also added freshly baked art to the main menu and loading screens. When you visit the menu, be sure to stay awhile and listen.



There are some other minor surprises coming, but we’ll let you discover them yourselves. Spoiler: one of them is mirrored in one of the screenshots.

If you’re a closed beta tester, you’ll be able to download the update on November 3rd.

If you’re not, don’t worry. We’re not ending the closed beta yet – in fact, we’ll have a flood of beta invitations before the update releases! You still have a few days to sign up for the beta access – check this thread for more details. Also, join our Discord to share your feedback!

As you might have noted in the new trailer, we have decided to push the Early Access launch to the first quarter of 2021. We know this might come as a disappointment to many of you, but we’re doing that because we do not want you to spend your money and be disappointed later.

We’re going to use that time to add more content needed to make Timberborn more complex, engaging and, well, “lumberpunk”. With Dam & Blast, the core of the game is here and adding fresh features will be quicker – but we won’t be able to hit our internal goals this autumn.

Before Early Access launches in Q1 2021, we want to add more features, resources, and buildings. We still need to rework some older stuff – the game requires a better UI and more fleshed out beaver races. There are also some other, less flashy changes that need to be made – for example, getting the game ready for translation. Oh, right, we haven’t mentioned that.

For Early Access, Timberborn will be available in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, French, Simplified Chinese, Russian and, of course, Polish. Additional translations may come in later, perhaps with the help of volunteers and Steam Workshop.

To give you all an additional sneak peek of the new update, we’ll be hosting our first-ever developer stream on 3 PM GMT on November 2nd! We’ll see you on our Twitch channel!

Until then, remember to hop on our official Discord channel!