Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

Now that we are getting closer and closer to the final release, we thought it might interest you to read more about the story and quests in the game. Lumberjacks’ Dynasty is not just about lumberjacking and lumberjack-like activities - oh no! Sure, chopping wood, running a business, operating heavy machinery - it’s all there. But if you chop it down a bit, you’ll see that it’s more than that. It’s about meeting people, getting to know them, and helping them out in times of need. And with the final release just around the corner, there’s some new stories and quests to discover.

Now, as much as we would love to tell you in detail about what’s coming, it does lead to heavy spoiler territory. So, we will keep it as general as we can, for the greater good! But, we can let you know that there are a few schemes happening in Pinewood. Polluted lakes, resorts that need building, herbs that need picking, and forests that need seeding. There will be many major scale projects for you to build around the community, which we can tease a little bit below.



It’s time to roll up our sleeves.



Let’s see how high we can go!

And one more thing! Remember, the choices you make can lead you to great rewards - and they’ll impact on the people that are around you. So be thoughtful of any decisions that you’ll make.

As always, thanks for joining us in reading our update and we hope that you’re feeling just that little bit excited by it. We will soon be announcing our release date, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for fresh info. And until next time!


Take care

Toplitz Productions Team

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

In the last few updates, we’ve let you know that in Lumberjack’s Dynasty Full Release you will find your kids (in game ones, not your real ones - just in case you are worried) and pets. Now it’s time to show you another new feature that’s coming. Today, let’s talk about weddings.

If your heart has ever been struck by Cupid's arrow, you know how it feels - you can't sleep, you can't eat, and all you can think about is spending some time with your beloved. If that’s what you feel, then there's only one thing left for you to do - you have to organise a wedding! Get on your knee, say what you feel, and ask your lady for her hand. After she says “YES!”, it’s time to prepare the celebration!



Here comes the Bride!



Say hello to the fresh honeymooners!


Such a big event is one that you’ll never forget. Say your vows in front of your family and friends and show your love and commitment to your future half. Soon you will become a family. And with a new partner in hand, you will be able to help one another out (Hint: If you store food in the pantry, your wife will prepare delicious meals which you can either eat or sell) and grow your business together.

After the wedding it’s time for a party! Good food, drinks, and dancing are a must! Occasions like these don't come to Pinegrove everyday.



The party is on!

Please note: these screenshots do not represent the final visual quality of the game.

Let us know your thoughts about the wedding feature in the comment section below. Do you have someone special on your mind in Pinegrove whom you want to marry? Or are you a single still looking for love? Or perhaps you’re single and you like it that way? Tell us, we want to know! And remember, there are more features which will be included in Lumberjack’s Dynasty 1.0 Release. Stay tuned for more info. We will be posting more updates soon.

Until next time,

Your Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

Grab your coffee, sit down, relax, and read about the next feature that is coming to Lumberjack’s Dynasty Full Release. This one is a good one. This time in our Incoming Features series, we are talking about Pets.

If you read our last update, we believe that children are great family members, but we can’t imagine a Lumberjack’s life without people's best friends - dogs and cats. Without a single bit of doubt, they add fun and love to whatever you do each day. It’s good to have a trusty companion by your side, always willing to get some cuddles, scratches and pats. After a long, hard day of work, they are always there, keeping you company. These furry friends are waiting to become members of your dynasty. Will you give them a home?



Mr Cat - he looks very smart, doesn’t he?



Dog - a man’s (and boy's) best friend.

Keep in mind that these screenshots do not represent the final visual quality.

Let us know what you think about the incoming pets in the comment section below. Do you want to add one to your family? Are you a dog person or a cat person? And remember, if you want to find out what else we prepared for you, follow our profile. We have another update with new features coming soon.


Until next time,
Your Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

This update is a start of our new series in which we describe all the new features coming to Lumberjack’s Dynasty 1.0 release. So let’s start with our first topic - your children.

Starting your new life in Pinegrove is not just about money and business - it’s family as well. With Lumberjack’s Dynasty Full Release, you will be able to do just that. You’ll be able to start your own legacy and dynasty. Once you’ll find your true love and get married, your little family might grow with a new baby boy or a girl, or both. You will be able to interact with your children, watch them play in the garden, and most importantly, they will add more love and fun to your life. Become the head of the family and watch your children develop and grow.



Your children, playing outside.



Children will interact with their environment.





They grow up so quick, don’t they?

And remember, these screenshots do not represent the final visual quality of the game. We are working on improving the graphics, but we just couldn’t wait to show you what we have in store.

Let us know your thoughts about this new series in the comment section below. If you want to find out what else is coming, make sure you follow our profile so you won't miss out on our next update.


Until next time,

Your Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

We have a quick announcement to make regarding Lumberjack’s Dynasty 1.0 release date. After internal chats, we decided to push back the release date a bit so that we can give you not only more content but much more improved graphics for the final release.

Since we only have one shot at a release, and to give you the best final release possible, we decided to substantially improve the game by giving you not only new content but improving the overall graphical quality too. Some of the additions coming to the 1.0 release are new animals, new quests, new machines, and lots more. We will also be upgrading our game’s graphics substantially, adding new animations, textures, and models, giving you a much better-looking experience. Stay tuned as we will give you more details about these additions and changes soon.

To give you all of this planned and bonus content as well as the graphical upgrades, we decided to push the release date a little bit further, just so that we have a bit more time to deliver on all of those additions. We don’t have the exact date yet, but it won’t be too far away. As soon as we have it set, we will let you know.

We hope that you won't mind waiting a little bit longer for a lot more Lumberjack's Dynasty goodness. And as always, do let us know your thoughts below. They do form the way the game is being shaped.

Take care and until next time,

Your Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

First up, we released a new patch just in time to make the Christmas in Pinewood even more special. From now on you can enjoy your time with better performance and improved graphics. You can find all the details in the changelog below.

But that’s not all! We have one more big news to share with you! After a nine-month Early Access phase, Lumberjack's Dynasty full release is coming on 21st of January 2021! As of next month you will get more content, new adventures, and loads, loads more!

We will give you more info on what's coming to Lumberjack’s Dynasty soon. And until then, enjoy your holidays, have a great New Year, and stay safe.


All the best,

Toplitz Team

Update to v0.48i – December 17th, 2020

• Main renderer and postprocessing pipeline changes/improvements.
  
• Improved HDR->SDR tone mapping, colour scales & brightness scaling resulting in better colour and brightness balance, more natural colours, and image saturation. Also, no overbright (sky) and too deep darkening of the screen (looking at sun or bright elements).
  
• Better bloom both in brightness cut-off and bloom lens cross shape.
  
• Proper water brightness and saturation scaling, water specular blooms, and properly shadowed water sun reflection.
  
• Better ambient and overall light saturation at night.
  
• Better water reflections at night.
  
• Better balance between night & owl potion.
  
• Sky leak bloom as a proper separate effect and appliance (though still regulated together by blooms & blurs video options). Sky leak bloom is soft and uniformly blurry, while other blooms tend to catch shapes from bloom areas and lens.
  
• Unified translucent (i.e. window panes) lighting between separate meshes and instanced buildings. (far building windowpanes used to shine, especially at night).
  
• A bit brighter and wider headlamp light cone.
  
• Proper postprocessing pipeline fixing some old and irritating issues (like jagged edges on some objects in Depth of Field, not DoFing FXs or blooms properly). Also, DoF takes AA into account properly now. Also bloomed distances had slightly different colours and brightness/contrasts - fixed too.
  
• A bit improved depth of field blur shapes and distances.
  
• Entering video options menu while in game does not enforce any strict settings (like blooms, or near focal DoF). Every change clicked on and off is visible in real time while in menu.
  
• Sun rays are a bit sharper.
  
• Some improvements to Fast Renderer - fall-back turned on when detecting low video hardware. Sharper, better colours/contrast, properly working projectors etc.

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

It’s here, fresh off the press - our first Lumberjack's Dynasty Q&A Video! Some time ago, we asked you to send us your Lumberjack’s Dynasty questions. We got a huge response from you and a lot of interesting questions too. So first of all, big, big thank you goes your way for all the questions you sent us. But without further ado, here it is - our first Lumberjack’s Dynasty Q&A Video.



Let us know what you think about this video below, and let us know if you want us to do more Q&A Videos like this one here in the future. We hope you enjoyed this Q&A and let’s speak soon!

Stay safe and until next time,

Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjack’s and Lumberjills,

Today we are releasing the remainder of our major Phase 3 content drop for Lumberjack’s Dynasty.

First up, we’ve added new ways and features to interact with furniture. From now on you can move the furniture around in your house till your heart’s content! We’ve also added a new furniture category, which is Kitchen Furniture. Hopefully with the new additions, you can unleash your inner interior decorator.





Example of interior arrangement.



Example of your new kitchen.

We also worked on improving fishing to make it better and more fun. We added different types of fish species, with some more common than the others. There are also more locations where you can relax and catch something on the hook. To find out where the rare fishes are, you will need to explore the map and find those special locations yourself. One thing to keep in mind - to catch those rare species, you will need better gear and also skills. Becoming a master fisherman is no easy feat.

We’ve also added some more goodies for you, like new Chainsaws, new Treasure Chests to discover, new Skills to unlock, and we gave you more quality of life improvements too. To see the full list, take a look at our Changelog.


NEW TOOLS:

• Two new Chainsaws (you can buy them at the Lumber Market).
  
• Fishing Rod with a Trolling Spoon (needed to catch predatory fish: pike, perch, and trout).

NEW FEATURES - FURNITURE

• Furniture Blueprints:
  
  1. Common.
     
  2. Rare - get them in NPCs quests (with random chance of ⅓).
     
  3. Very Rare - get them in Level 3 Treasure Chests.
• New Single Furniture available to be created in the Factory.
  
• New Furniture Category - Kitchen Furniture.

NEW FEATURES - FISHING:

• New Fish:
  
  1. Common (as they were, now roach and crucian).
     
  2. Rare (pike, perch and carp).
     
  3. Very Rare / Valuable (trout and tench).
• Fisherman Skill added (3 stages of skill) - determining the ability to recognize and catch fish.
  
• Fishing changes:
  
  1. Rare and Very Rare fish have specific places in the world where they live. These places are not visible on the map.
     
  2. New Mechanics of Fishing - for a fishing rod with a trolling spoon.

ADDITIONS:

• Treasure Chests:
  
  1. Level 1 (Basic) - contain food, random gardening tool, and random gardening seeds.
     
  2. Level 2 - contain food, random tool (other than those in Treasures Chests Level 1), and random potions.
     
  3. Level 3 - contain food, tree seedlings, something precious and highest level blueprints for Furniture Factory.

FIXES:

• Fishing mechanic bug fixed - where fish sometimes were caught immediately when the hook hit the water.
  
• Furniture Factory price fixed (lowered).
  
• Pretty Flowers fixed - adding more honey and adding SP.
  
• Tree Planter fixed - not planting multiple trees in one spot anymore.
  
• Ponsse Machines Painting System fixed - now you can paint the whole vehicle instead of one part.
  
• Plank Drying System fixed - planks are drying faster by 20% inside dryers. Planks left inside the buildings (every type but dryers) are drying 5 times slower.
  
• New Furniture layout fixed - furniture can be placed and picked up to be placed anywhere.
  
• Beds and kitchens in the store fixed - will no longer allow players to sleep/cook there.
  
• Fixed possible errors in the first font in item title or description for multibyte UTF8 languages.

Let us know your thoughts about the update below and we will keep you in the loop about what else that we are working on. We’re not finished with the updates. There’s still more coming to Pinewood.
[/list]


Take care and until next time,

Your Lumberjack’s Dynasty Team


Full Changelog (0.48h):

* Price for furniture factory lowered to 199000
* Easier (better) detection of furniture factory control center
* Furniture to spawn detects actual nearby vehicle shape (with some margin). Vehicles parked nearby no longer completely block the production.
* Fixed bug of pretty flowers not adding more honey and not giving SP.
* Prevented tree planter from planting multiple trees in the same spot when pressing F too fast.
* Painting a part of an auto connected Ponsse vehicle paints the whole vehicle, not just this part.
* Loading auto connected Ponsse vehicles properly restores color and dirt states to all parts.
* Added additional physics test for determining when fishing is possible (to not cast through walls).
* Increased effectiveness of plank dryers (approx by 20%)
* Plank palettes left inside buildings (like OSB building, or garage, or whatever get dried too. 5 times slower than in dryers, but still they do (and this is way faster than in reality). This means palettes left inside of unrepaired dryers will also dry up - just slow - and speed up after the player makes the dryer building functional.
* Old (basic) chainsaw has a proper icon reflecting it's actual look (color and rugged)
* Introduced 2 new chainsaws: faster and fastest.
* Faster chainsaw is being sold by Jack, fastest chainsaw is being sold by Ashton. Both are also sold by Eric at lumber market. May require to wait till morning for them to restock.
* Adjusted speeds and tolerances of chainsaws
* Introduced fish species: common (as they were, now roach and crucian), rare (pike, perch and carp) and very rare/valuable (trout and tench).
* Rare and very rare fish must have proper fishing skill to be able to recognize and catch.
* Rare and very rare fish have specific places in the world where they live.
* You must have proper fishing skill to recognize a specific fish living spot. Proper hint is displayed in specific places if you have proper skill.
* Another distinction to the fish: common (as they were) and predatory (pike, perch and trout). Predatory fish require a fishing rod with a trolling spoon to catch. Also the technique to use this rod is different. You won't catch a predatory fish on a common rod and vice versa.
* New item: fishing rod with a trolling spoon. Added to several salesmen, they should restock in the morning.
* New mechanics of catching fish using spinning with a trolling spoon. It has to be pulled constantly, not too fast, letting it drop occasionally.
* We don't change catches on a rod, these are permanently attached. Buy another rod.
* Food made with a rare fish does not have it's value increased. But the fish themselves are more expensive when sold raw, so it makes sense to catch them.
* Updated speeds and times of pulling fish hook with and without fish.
* Pulling fish actually out of water happens closer to the player.
* Fishing mechanic bug fixed - where fish sometimes were caught immediately when the hook hit the water.
* If fishing outside of a special fishing spot or using improper rod for special fish in this spot, the player may catch roach or crucian with basic rod or pike/perch if using a trolling spoon rod. But not that often as in special fishing places with proper rod.
* Basically catching in a special fishing place with a proper skill and a proper rod will give that special fish. Otherwise using normal rod will give one of 2 basic fish, or using spinning rod will give perch but more rarely.
* All fish have their distinct models if caught and icons in inventory.
* Introduced treasure chests, 3 levels depending on player lucky man skill.
* Chests level 1 (basic) contain some food, random gardening tool and random gardening seeds.
* Chests level 2 contain some food, random other tool and random potions.
* Chests level 3 contain some food, tree seedlings, something precious and highest level blueprints for furniture factory
* Furniture blueprints accessible as items (similar to cookbooks).
* Intermediate blueprints are awarded in NPC quests (with random chance of 1/3)
* Advanced (highest) blueprints are found in the highest skill chests.
* Things can be stored in chests as well.
* The first fisherman skill is given by Ryan after helping him out with wife. Second is given by John after finding sheep for Mary. Third will be given in incoming quests.
* First luckyman skill is now given after finding and bringing Christine. Second luckyman skill is given after saving deer with Logan. This is new. (third will be given in incoming quests).
* When hovering a mouse over a furniture icon in inventory, 3D furniture model is displayed.
* introduced manual furniture in the form of single furniture objects (chairs, tables etc), not crates.
* There's old furniture (all over the player house for instance) and new furniture in many types and forms.
* New single furniture can be created in a factory. There's an additional button in FF control menu.
* New furniture is created piece by piece and a proper wood amount is used as displayed on the left side of the menu.
* The same rules apply, so furniture drops must have an empty place, and a proper amount of wood has to be in the factory.
* Single furniture is created immediately, not after some time like the crate is. Just press a button.
* Created furniture has proper wood type visible on object as selected (pine, oak etc)
* Added new furniture category: kitchen furniture
* All furniture pieces have actual individual names instead of name+numbers
* Furniture creation levels 1 and 2 (count starts at 0 being basic) require blueprints now.
* Changed rotation of rendered furniture = always showing front at different angles.
* Furniture all over the world properly loads and saves.
* Unlocked blueprints properly load and save.
* New single furniture can also be bought in the store, but wood is not selectable there. Only what the store offers.
* Store furniture can be bought (and prompt is displayed) only if the player can afford this furniture. If he/she cannot, the furniture is highlighted green, but cannot be bought.
* New furniture, when belonging to the player, can be placed (if possible, i.e not too tight) and picked up to be placed anywhere else.
* Furniture put from inventory into furniture stores is automatically sold, so be careful. Proper prompt is displayed of course.
* Furniture picked up lands in player inventory, where it can be used to be put back again.
* Furniture created by the player properly remembers class, wood type etc throughout the inventory and saves.
* Optimised item titles and descriptions change when changing language
* Old furniture cannot be placed in inventory (picked up). It can be removed permanently (trashed). Player gets social points for trashing old furniture, but then has to replace it with new furniture if he wants any in the house.
* Furniture can be manipulated only if no other tool is selected, so no chainsaws, hammers of fishing rods in hand.
* When hands free and the player switches to Engineer Sight (RMB by default), he can manipulate furniture.
* When hands free and Engineer Sight is on, players can see furniture highlighted green for new (manipulable/buyable) furniture or yellow for old (removable only) furniture.
* When looking at furniture pieces, specific commands are prompted. So for example a player can look at bed and use E to go to sleep as usual, but when he is hands free and looks at the bed with ES, he can pick up (or remove if old) the bed and this is reflected with proper command prompt.
When hovering a mouse over a specific furniture icon, this specific furniture gets rendered in 3D in item description so it can be seen in detail.
* Specific player actions (sleeping, cooking) are not recognizable by a fixed marker now, but by an actual piece of furniture. So removing the old kitchen means the player will not be able to cook unless he/she buys/builds a new one. This means the player can rearrange his house not only visually, but also functionally.
* Fixed beds and kitchens in the store allowed sleeping/cooking there.
* Fixed possible errors in first font in item title or description for multibyte UTF8 languages.
* Improved textures and overall quality of Christine (uncle's pickup).
* Added new vehicle - lawnmower. In the western vehicle store.
* Lawnmower has a bit wider cutting range to make cutting faster.
* New set of sounds for lawn mower.

Hello Lumberjacks and Lumberjills,

To keep you in the loop with what we’ve been doing behind the scenes, today we want to tell you about the current state of the game and give you a little more info about the future plans we have. So here it is - our first Lumberjack’s Dynasty Current State and Future Plans Video:



Let us know your thoughts about the video in the comments below. And let us know if you would like us to do more of these videos. We hope that it was exactly what you were looking for.

Until next time,
Toplitz Team

Hello Lumberjack’s and Lumberjills,

As of right now, you can enjoy your brand new Phase 3 content from our Early Access Lumberjack’s Dynasty Roadmap! Let’s take a look at what you will get in this update.



NEW BUILDINGS:

• Furniture Factory / Workshop (ability to make furniture).
  
• Furniture Store (ability to buy and sell furniture).

Your new Workshop.

NEW FEATURES:

• New Furniture - over 100 pieces! Shelves, tables, chairs, beds, and more!
  
• Ability to create different furniture patterns, depending on the type of selected wood (same model of furniture will look different depending on the type of wood you make it with).
  
• Ability to create different building patterns, depending on the type of selected wood you chose for the rebuild process (same building will look different depending on the type of wood you use).
  
• New Types of Trees such as Pine and Oak.
  
• Logs and Planks have the appearance characteristic of the tree they come from.
  
• Other quality-of-life improvements.

The ability to make your own furniture will undoubtedly help you boost your household budget. Pinegrove is waiting.

You can find the notes here!

Regards,

Your Lumberjack’s Dynasty Team